beautiful things

Happy 4th!

Yes, I'm still here, still mothering and STILL KNITTING!!! The baby
is great, doing really well, and we're by the lake for the 4th. In
fact, he is napping right now which means I get to sit on the terrace
and work on Elijah. Everyone else is down by the lake and we'll rejoin
them when he wakes up.

And guess what? IT ISN'T RAINING!!! It's a beautiful day actually,
yippee!

Happy July 4th America!

It's starting to look like a cardigan!

Knitting the second sleeve of Vivian was not the most exciting thing ever, having knitted the first one of course, but now I have joined the sleeves and body and am working on the yoke decreases... very exciting!

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day and I couldn't be happier. It's a gorgeous day and we are in Baltimore - my husband has a conference and we are tagging along. I'm sitting outside right now by the harbor typing this on my iPhone while the baby sleeps and hubby is in a seminar. We had a lovely breakfast and lunch together, the three of us, and he'll meet us here for an early dinner. Like I said, I couldn't be happier.

Motherhood is amazing. It's been three months and yes, it is challenging and tiring an stressful and repetitive and frustrating but, and maybe my memory is already blurring things into a rosy haze, but it has never felt hard. I know it is hard for some so I am endlessly grateful that it hasn't felt hard for us yet, also knowing that could change at any time as well. But it hasn't felt hard, mostly because we have a great baby who is easy to take care of, but also because I have a great husband, abundant family support, super supportive and helpful friends, both parents and non-parents, the means to buy the things we need and the extras that make things easier, the luxury of being able to take extra time off, a fantastic, kid-friendly, stroller accessible neighborhood, a wonderful group of other new mom's that I've been lucky enough to meet... the list is endless. I understand the "it takes a village" cliché a lot better now.

Mothers are amazing (fathers are too, but they get their own day). When I look around at the new moms I've been meeting I think how each one is struggling and triumphing in their own ways, all to give the best to their little bundle of joy. Most of us had mothers who did the same.

So Happy Mother's Day to mothers everywhere, past, present and future, and to all those who mother and who make mothering possible.

Beautiful neighborhood blossoms

Vivian resolved

Well, resolved for now.  I ended up going with a lazy version of option 2, that's to say I ripped out the second skein and reknit with a different skein that looked lighter and like a better match.  I did not rip out any of the first skein to alternate the new second skein in, which was kind of stupid as it wouldn't have been that much more work to do so, but it worked out pretty well.  Here we have "before" and after":

I think you can still see a little bit of a line, but not more than you might see in the middle of a skein, so I am trying not to obsess about it!  I will definitely alternate rows to transition to all the rest of the skeins but I don't want to alternate throughout the whole thing (although I may change my mind on that, I don't know).

Of course, now I'm worried that I overestimated the stretchiness of this thing and it's going to be too tight, but I'm trying not to obsess about that either. 

Onward I go!

Vivian dilemma

So, I have come to a bit of a... pause on Vivian.  I started the second skein and it is darker than the first.  As you can see, I went for about 10 rows in denial before confronting the situation, and I'm just not sure what to do.

I know it is common with hand-dyed yarns for there to be variation, but the skeins looked so well matched I completely forgot about the usual recommendation to alternate rows with different skeins.

Do I:

1) Rip out the second skein and some of the first skein and reknit by alternating rows and do I alternate every 2 rows or every other row (the latter would require more attention as I'd be working from the WS for some RS rows and vice versa).  But won't it just look stripy?

2) Rip out the second skein and some of the first skein and reknit with another lighter skein, also alternating rows (I still can't see a difference between skeins but if you compare strands of yarn at the start of each ball, there is a slight difference)

3) Leave as is but start alternating the other lighter skein in now and hope it will all generally blend in once you have the context and scale of the whole piece

On the one hand, ripping out is really annoying, especially with my precious little available knitting time.  It would be even more annoying if I ripped out and it didn't look any better or, heaven forbid, even looked worse.

On the other hand, it would be really annoying if I didn't rip out and continued to be bothered by what to me is a fairly obvious transition.

I knew writing this out would help me decide though, because looking over my options spelled out, I'm thinking of going with option 2.  Option 1 doesn't really make sense.  It looks like I have possibly two slightly lighter skeins, the first of which I have already used, so it makes sense to put those two together and then gradually blend in the darker skeins.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated though!  I'm probably going to mull this over a little longer.

Vivian is progressing!

One of the hardest things to give up with the baby has been knitting time... but I've been squeezing some in anyway. Vivian is coming along nicely - I finished the first of seven skeins earlier today in the park (good thing I spent precious sleep time in the middle of the night winding the other skeins!)

I'm loving how the MadTosh Worsted is knitting up - lovely and fluffy and soft! The pattern is as great as everyone says too, and easier than it looks, at least so far.

Isabella Oliver event

So, remember the maternity clothing I loved from Isabella Oliver?  No, I am not being paid to say this, but I did receive an e-mail from them inviting me to an event here in New York on Monday (March 30th) to view the new "365" collection ie a non-maternity ready-to-wear collection for women.  The event is 6.30-9.30pm in Chelsea, and you will receive 15% off anything you order that night, so if you're in New York and interested in going, there are a few spaces left, so send me an e-mail (feedbackATtracing.org) and I will get you the details!  

Woohoo!

Finally managed to cast-off by getting baby to sleep in stroller and heading to a local cafe for some knitting time. Hopefully it isn't too small already. Of course, now I'm kicking myself for not bringing a
needle so I can do the finishing too!

I will definitely be doing this more often if it means more knitting time! I love knitting and it's so relaxing - I miss being able to do it more.

And of course, blog posting is way down too, but I am still around and things continue to go pretty well. You can follow me on Twitter (see blog sidebar) for more frequent updatelets...

Contemplating...

So I never pulled the trigger and ordered the yarn for Girasole... I'm thinking maybe I start that late summer in preparation for next winter...

In the meantime, I have a fast developing new obsession - Vivian (ravelry, pattern).  As is often the case, I love the color it's shown in, except that it's called olive and looks a lot more aqua on my screen so is probably not true to life.  Also the specified yarn is not readily available in the US anyway.  I'm thinking of using a worsted merino and knitting a size up... I love and am comfortable working with merino.  I can't really find the right aqua so actually, I'm thinking,,, pink!  Of course, I already have my pink Sundara FSM that I'm planning on making Tempest (ravelry, pattern) with.  What is it about pink right now?  I think I'm just longing for spring,  

Of course, the question is, could I possibly finish this sweater before it's too warm to wear it at all?  And is this a crazy pick for my first "real" sweater?