Happy Birthday!

Four years ago today, my life changed: at 12:09 PM on February 21, 2003, my daughter Grace Elizabeth was born. She amazes me every day with her intelligence and insight, she loves her brother very much and plays nicely with him (most of the time). I am so lucky to have her.

Brand new!

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!


Okay, so it’s not knitting, but I did make the dress she’s wearing in the last picture. (I made the outfit she’s wearing in her 2yo picture too, but that’s ancient history ;) )

I *have* been knitting, just haven’t had the time, energy, or brainpower to do any writing about it. I finished my orange Silja socks last Wednesday and have worn them twice since. I love them, though I could’ve used at least 4 fewer stitches and quite possibly 8 fewer - they’re looser than I like. Still comfy, though!

Silja color 346, 2 skeins minus about 7 yards used. Corded Rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks

I think this pair took me about 7-10 days to knit, a lot speedier than the previous pair. I found the pattern rather tedious and dull, but it did go by quickly if I had distractions. TV is good for something!

I’ve only got two more balls of Silja in my stash - lime green. I’m thinking they’ll be pulled out after I finish the current sock project, as it’s quite non-colorful. Socks for Chris in Trekking XXL, color 128. It’s listed as pink/brown/black there but really it’s beige, black/charcoal, and peach. I don’t love it but he seems happy enough with it. I started the first one last Wednesday evening, turned the heel on Friday, and could’ve finished the sock on Saturday night but fell asleep putting kids to bed - I wore myself out at the Knit Out at the MOA (totally lame, BTW). I finished the toe Sunday and then cast on for the next one that evening. I’m about 4″ into the cuff, will probably finish the cuff and start the heel flap tomorrow at ECFE. Yay.

I’ve also started a new Wonderful Wallaby for Arlo - his old one still fits, but just barely. Grace needs a new one sooner or later too, but since she chose purple for her current one and purple doesn’t look good on Arlo (makes him look deathly pale), I started his first. I’ve got Cascade 220 in a lovely rich blue (color 8891). I switched the ribbing to seed stitch, we’ll see how that works out. I think I’ll put seed stitch on the hood and on the placket too. Slightly more interesting than ribbing and/or garter stitch, though SLOW. Good thing he’ll love the sweater! He had no interest in choosing his yarn, so Grace picked it out. I had to steer her away from the pink, but that was the only poor choice. I can tell she’ll probably pick pink for hers, though I’m going to push her toward green - I never get to knit with green.

Still no progress on my sweater. I’m going to wind up some fresh balls of the Peace Fleece and retire the overworked stuff to a kid sweater, I think. Otherwise I *should* be good to go. Just need to figure the waist shaping and such once more before I start. Luckily, this is Minnesota and it’ll be cold enough for sweater wearing for 2-3 more months. *sigh* (Wait, maybe I shouldn’t say that. What if Annie Modesitt sees this and I scare her away? Really Annie, it’s lovely here! Honest!)

Wow, babble much Jess?