House Bound

All children are unique and a true blessing. That said I kinda wish some features came standard on newborns. For instance sleeping mostly through the night. A block of uninterrupted sleep puts a whole different perspective on the day. When you can actually comprehend what someone is saying to you, and not just see their lips moving and vaguely wonder if they are speaking English or a foreign tongue, but basically not caring either way. Another bonus feature would be to enjoy  riding in the car. I know most babies do, but mine did not come with this option standard. This makes going anywhere difficult a living hell. We have a 20+ minute ride to go anywhere. She can do maybe 5 minutes. That leaves 15+ minutes of ear-splitting, teeth rattling screeching. She was blessed with a remarkable set of pipes. This means I limit our outings to Dr. appointments and times when the walls start closing in on me. When we do venture out what used to be a simple trip to the store now takes about 3 hours. (seriously)

I’m trying to use all this home time to best advantage. I have mentally redecorated my living room, numerous times. I’m catching up on my reading, but that too requires a trip to the library. Mostly since we still spend so much time nursing, I’m exploring Ravelries fantastic pattern collection. There are patterns for every conceivable project one would ever feel compelled to make.  Since my knitting time is still in short supply, my fantasy knitting life is in full swing. And let me tell you what an accomplished knitter I am in this life. Not only do I crank out the requisite cold weather woollens for my family, but my mother has two intricate lace shawls for Christmas, Alexandra has a new Debbie Bliss cabled cardigan (knitted on size 4 needles) that she will treasure for eternity, (and then  hand  down to her children thus becoming a family heirloom) and Craig has a Fair Isle sweater that encompasses all the  love and devotion that went into each tiny size 2 stitch.  And since he is color blind he doesn’t even mind the wee bit of purple I put in to make it “pop”.

At least all this time at home isn’t being wasted.

Knitting Time

Merino/silk. It's also superwash!

My knitting time these days is a precious commodity, actually any me time is in short supply.  So I’m trying to use what time I have to the utmost potential. Our weather has gone from quite warm to suddenly very cool.  I started a simple rolled brim stocking hat for the baby a couple of weeks ago from my hand painted merino/silk. I managed to get the knitting finished now all I need to do is add the embellishment and a tassel.

Since the hat used such a small amount of yarn I casted on for a pair of mittens. These are to cute for words and went really quickly. I especially like not having to put in thumbs, that is  my least favorite part of knitting mittens. Ashlyn wants me to make her a pair as well, I wonder if she would notice/mind if I skipped the thumbs on her pair. Probably.

Too cute!

I also started another soaker . I’ve never used these with my other children, but I have to say I absolutely love them. They hold in moisture and leaks but are still breathable. I’ve had two leaks so far with her and they were both in disposables. I’m using the Curly Purly Soaker pattern and my Blue faced leicester in dk weight. They recommend worsted weight (I have some of those too) but I’m finding no difference in their containment abilities. Maybe this will change as she grows, but she could be an Olympic contender in the urinating department.

When I finish the embellishments on the hat I’ll post the pattern.

Snippets of Time

2 1/2 weeks

Going home from the hospital

Our brains have a way of insulating us from unpleasant experiences from the past. We remember them but just not as vividly as when they were actually happening. I’ll give you a few examples:

1). Childbirth (this is still fresh in my mind). We all know it hurts, but our minds tend to blur the intensity of the pain and instead we remember the moment we first touched our babies.

2). Difficult financial times. Whether in college or just starting married life, we tend to laugh and describe how we had meat once a week, or we rode our bike everywhere we could to save gas,  or we had $50 for groceries not $50.01. It’s a lot funnier when we look back at it then when it was happening.

3). Life with a newborn.

This of course is the purpose of this post. I’ve had newborns before, I know they are time-consuming, but my mind played its tricks and I forgot just how much time goes into caring for a wee wonder.  I am breastfeeding. I think it is easier once it is established, which does take a little while, we aren’t there yet. At 3 weeks she is still eating, well almost constantly. I was joking the other day about our nursing chair having the imprint of my arse end, when I went to sit down at the next session I happened to glance down  and all joking aside there was a big ole imprint of my derriere. I’m trying to be all zen about how much time I’m spending in that chair. I know it is a temporary thing and she will grow very quickly and I will miss it, but when I see all the things I should/could be doing, well lets just say I doubt the Dalia Lama will be calling anytime soon.

Before Issy came I decided not to temporarily close my etsy shop, after all I had a little stock done ahead of time, I was trying for more but had a busy sales month in July. I’m not complaining:) Also not only would my two teenage girls be home, but my oldest daughter was staying for a week. I figured I had this covered. I can hear the Gods of  motherhood doubled over in laughter.  Since when do we ever have it “covered” ? Issy though a very good baby, doesn’t like to get to far away from the uhm.. food source. She likes constant contact when she is asleep. When she’s awake  she will sit in her wiggle chair as Craig calls it ( we thought her vibrator wasn’t exactly appropriate) or lay in her bassinet. This leaves precious little time to actually dye, take pictures, and post new colorways. So I’ve had to get creative. Cate my oldest daughter mad me a Moby wrap. This has been a life saver! Issy loves it and I get the use of my hands. When I dye I throw an apron on over it. I can do my computer work with two hands. Since my typing skills leave something to be desired two hands is a real plus.   So this is how life is at the moment. 5 minutes hear, 15 minutes there, it took me 7 hours to dye 5 skeins of yarn. Two of them where identical. This is a  stocking hat I started on Saturday for the baby, I should have it done by Christmas of 2011. It will never cease to amaze me how  lives can be so upturned by a wee being smaller than a watermelon, but so it is.