A Bitter Knitter

So . . . how many times have I come back to this blog and said, "Oops, I guess it's been a while?"  Well, however many it has been (don't tell me), add one more.  On the upside, it's been less than a year since my last post. I got a new power cord for my old laptop (the left side of the screen is cracked and black, but 80% of the screen still works, so it's still mostly usable) and may actually blog again now that I'm on it.  It is SO MUCH EASIER, in my opinion, to blog from a computer than from a cell phone. One of the reasons for fewer blog posts is because there has been less knitting.  I completed only 14 projects in 2017.  (Only one of those was for myself, and I posted about that as my only posts last year. More selfish knitting!!!) The first project I made last year was this: She's a tooth fairy !  Jo had her first wiggly teeth last year in February (she was five) so I made a little tooth fairy.  Her apron is a pocket.  She's bas...

I started knitting on September 22, 2009, which means that as of today, September 21, 2013, I have been knitting for four years.  And also, as of today, I have completed 100 knitting projects.  Being the nerdy knitter that I am, I've made a pie chart: In four years, I've knit 22 hats, 18 pairs of booties and socks, 13 stuffed dolls and critters, 13 sweaters, vests, and dresses, 11 scarves, shawls, and cowls, 11 pairs of gloves, mitts, and mittens, 7 beaded bracelets (listed as "jewelry" on the pie chart, but they're all beaded bracelets) and 5 things that don't fit neatly into other categories. Unfortunately for you, project no.100 is a stealth project gift for a friend, so you can't see it.  (I'm good at those.)  There are at least 15 projects I haven't shown to you yet, so let's start with this one, finished back in April.  The pattern is called Sheepish , and it's totally darling.  I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to knit ...

Not that you would know it from reading my blog.  I am not good at keeping up with my blog.  It's the toddler's fault!  (Yes, I did just blame my lack of blog entries on my 19 month old.  [19 months!  I know, right?! Where has the time gone?!])  Toddler loves  to play on my laptop and thinks that if the laptop is open, it must be open for her to play on... and I hate blogging from my phone, so I just don't blog at all.  (On a related note, I hate answering email on my phone, so I apologize to everyone out there who is waiting for an email from me...) It seems that every few months I pop onto the blog and show you picture after picture of what I have knit since the last blog entry and then I disappear again.  Well, as it happens I have a dozen things that I have finished that I haven't shown you yet.  But I'm planning to spread them out and write a few posts with them.. then maybe you'll see me again before the new year. Without furth...

No, this post isn't about how long it's been since I last blogged (which actually wasn't that long ago...)  It's about how long a couple of my projects have been on the needles...  Since 2010, that's how long.  And when you consider that I only took up knitting in September of 2009, that's a long time!  Well, I finally finished two of those long standing UFOs (UnFinished Objects) this month! Confession: I started both of these projects with the intent of making them for my niece back when she was a toddler.  Uh huh... that was four years ago... I didn't finish them as quickly as I wanted to, and then she got too big for them, and then I had no one else to give them to.  Then I had a little girl of my own and finally got them finished! Project 1: Little Red Riding Hood Cape I started this in May of 2010.  I started the two-year-old size, because I was knitting it for my toddler niece.  Then I put it into hibernation mode because I heard of a ...

Well, maybe not for everyone , but I have been spreading the hand-knit love... and now that all those stealth projects have been gifted, I can share them. Last blog post (four and a half months ago!), I complained that I had too many WIP s (14) and vowed to finish a whole bunch of them before starting another, aiming to have no more than six WIPs at a time.  Let's see how that went, shall we? Mid-May, I had two pair of socks on the needles.  I finished one pair: and then cast on for another.  Having a pair of "vanilla" socks in progress at all times is a must... they are the best "on-the-go" knitting.  I may not have as much time with my hands free while I'm waiting around that I used to before I had a baby, but I still need my plain socks.  Since I did not finish the other pair of socks, I still have two pair in progress. I also had two pair of mitts in progress.  I finished these: but did not finish the other pair.  They are made from uns...

So... I'm composing this post via my cellphone during another of Jo's naps... Bear with me because I have no idea how the formatting will turn out. I last blogged over two months ago. Jo will be five months old next week! I haven't had much time for knitting, but I did complete a hat for the daughter of a friend of a friend who has leukaemia. Jo doesn't like it when I sit and knit. That's boring! But she doesn't mind watching me sort my stash or organise my WIPs because I'm moving around and that's more fun to watch! So I've organised my stash by yarn weight and gathered all of my WIPs together. I currently have 14 UFOs: 2 pair of socks 2 pair of mitts 2 pair of baby booties a sweater a vest a shawl a cowl a baby sweater a baby blanket a doll a "little red riding hood" cape I am determined not to cast on anything new until 10 of these are done! (Yeah... we'll see how that goes...) I have, however, written up the pattern ...

So... March... Where has the time gone?  My baby is now two and a half months old!  Jo is growing great, no longer a scrawny newborn.  She's currently napping, so I'm stealing a spare minute to update the blog! I'm blessed with a great sleeper, so on occasion, during a nap or while Jo hangs out with Daddy, I get to knit a row or two, so I have actually finished a few things... In early January, I finished promised Christmas presents: " Gamer's Gloves " for the eldest CS nephew--the giant!  His hands are huge, and he asked for fingerless gloves.  They're shown here on my hand, but his are MUCH bigger! And for my very patient husband for whom I promised one of these beanies, oh, say, a year ago, I finally finished his Biohazard Beanie : I also wanted to knit a hat for Jo to go with her blessing dress ... That didn't go so well.   The first one started out too small, so I pulled it back and made the next larger size... and...

At the end of the year, it seems that there is always a race to finish those WIPs...  Christmas deadlines and New Year's resolutions and other goals always seem to create a knitting rush.  There were some WIPs that I wanted to finish before Christmas and year's end and some that I had planned on finishing sometime in the next year. This WIP was one that I thought was going to wait until January... But ended up being a December surprise! My baby girl, whose moniker for this blog shall be "Jo," was born December 21st.  I had gone into the hospital for a non-stress test to monitor my blood pressure on the 20th and it was discovered that I had severe pre-eclampsia, so they decided to induce me early (37 weeks) for both our safety.  Jo weighed 5 lbs 5 oz at birth and is 19 inches long.  As you can see, she's got a head full of dark hair (except for a blonde patch in the back).  She's also got long fingers like her mommy. I'm loving being a mom. ...