New Year, new stuff

So, it's been a while since my last post. A bunch of stuff, both crafty and not have happened. Let's start with the biggest news.

Hello, Baby Nathan!

Baby Nate showed up on January 3, 2013, and has been a wonderful addition to our family. He was in a big hurry to show up, and we were seriously half an hour away from a home-birth. Only Jamie's nervous nature and our midwives' sensible advice prevented that from happening. Here's a few more photos, since you really can't have enough photos of cute babies.

I didn't manage to finish his blanket before he arrived, but we've got so many from Andrew's baby days that I'm not worried. Still, I want Nathan to have something that was just his, so I'll be sure to finish it before too long. Being a second child myself who always got hand-me-downs from my older brother, I'm pretty conscious about making sure the younger child gets new stuff too.

Andrew's been adjusting to being a big brother, and more importantly, having to share our attention with Nathan. Can't say the transition hasn't been bumpy, and it continues to be a challenge, but we're happy with our family make-up. Here are some photos of Andrew to round out the kid-related part of this post.

Chinese New Year dinner at the grandparents'. We could only get him into half of his celebratory outfit.

With moments like this, we get the feeling that things will be okay. Then again, the camera didn't capture  Andrew diving onto Nathan.

In crafting news, here are some photos of things I finished since my last post.

Here's the finished doggie toy that I gifted to my good friend's daughter for Christmas.

Finally finished the Milkweed Shawl

Made this scarf for Andrew, which he refuses to wear

Just finished this hat for Nathan. I've since blocked it, but you get the idea

There's a bunch of stuff that I'd like to make for myself, but I'll save divulging those until a later date. Jamie is going away on business soon, so I'm pretty sure there will be no time for crafting until he gets back.

Our little aviator

Back in August, the three of us were in Picton attending Jamie's cousin's wedding. While there, I stumbled upon a wonderful little shop called the Rose Haven Farm Store. I could have easily spent a few hours in that store, but since we had a wedding to go to, I tried to keep my yarn ogling to a minimum. But that didn't mean I left empty handed. Knowing that winter would be hitting us before we could say 'in denial', it seemed like a good idea to make a hat for Andrew. We saw a cute little sample hat all knit up, and I decided that I'd make one for our little guy too. Fast forward to the end of November, and the hat was finally finished! I'm just slow at posting about stuff these days.


Pattern: Retro Flying Helmet by Sublime Yarns
Size: 6-12 months
Yarn: Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK (I forget the name of the colour now)
Needles: US6 for the stockinette, US4 for the seed stitch

This was a fun little knit. I kinda fiddled with the pattern a little though. The way it's written (and by the way, I have to say that I hated the way the pattern was written up - took a few read-through's in order to figure out just what they wanted me to do in certain sections), you knit each ear flap separately, knit the front flap, pile all the stitches from those sections on your needles and knit it all back and forth to make the body of the hat, then sew up the back seam. Well, I hate sewing seams, so I decided to knit the body of the hat in the round, and that seemed to work just fine. Seeing as I hate finishing, it bugged me a bit to have all sorts of ends to have to weave in, as well as sew the front flap down as it's purely decorative. Oh well.

I need to get over my dislike of finishing somehow - when it comes to knitting/crochet, it is truly the area where I am the least skilled. I've heard so many times that this is where your projects cross over from homemade to handmade, but I can't seem to make it over that hump. I often feel like everything I make still resides in the "homemade" category because of my lack of skill in finishing. Still, I know I've improved. Recently, I found the first pair of mittens I'd made; they were the Sacred & Profane mittens by Jillian Moreno. Oh boy, were those a mess in terms of finishing. You know that feeling you get where you stumble on an essay you wrote in, like, grade 6 that you thought was awesome at the time, but now realize had the same skill level as a monkey typing randomly at a typewriter? That's how I felt.

In any case, my model didn't seem to mind my lack of finishing skills.

The hat is still a touch too big for him, and the type of snowsuit we got him (which is so cute, I may have to post a photo of him in it here) already has a really nice hood built in. Still I may get him to use the hat a few times before the winter is through. It's not like he can say no yet anyway!

Matching hat

I made a little hat to go with the Tulips sweater. It's the same pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but I just used the leftover yarn from my sweater kit, and incorporated the same colour changes.

I had a debate with friends about what colour to make the I-cord. Since I don't know the gender of the baby, I wanted to keep it mostly gender neutral. I had a choice between the peach, and a mustard yellow. I liked the pop of the peach, but was worried that it might seem too girl-ish if the baby turned out to be a boy. But then my friends pointed out that a) I already have peach on the sweater, and b) what would the baby care anyway?

And Adrienne, no worries about not posting. Life is busy, and there are other priorities above blogging. I'm sure everyone has posting droughts.

Decided what to make

Well, I decided what to make to go with the baby sweater. I ended up settling on a hat. I took the pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, so it was a really super fast knit.

The photo is quite terrible - my apologies. Again, taking photos in the middle of the night proves to be a bad idea. I made the i-cord a bit too long. Hopefully it turns out okay.

I also blocked the cotton scarf I finished.

The cotton was soft to start with, but somehow feels even softer after blocking. Super nice stuff.