I'm 1-2 rows away from splitting up into the arm holes. I think I'll do the armholes as specified in EZ's pattern, but do some mods when I start the sleeves. I'm also making pretty good progress on my MIL's Swallowtail.
I'm on the third row of nupps, and it's moving along!
by Jessie! Thanks Jessie! I feel honored to join the ranks of all you other bloggers, it is amazing how much happiness, fun, and friendship I have gotten in the past year! I couldn't even narrow down 5 bloggers to name as Rockin' Girl Blogger, I think you guys are all awesome! And Robby says thanks too. And just to show how we aren't all fun and games around here, here is a picture of Robby when he wakes up from a nap and realized he's not in my lap :PHe's even cute when he's bawling, the little toot, he is SO sad. I also realized this last week that he wakes up from naps because he has to go to the bathroom, so I tried taking him to the bathroom to potty and it works! Weird, huh? Robby gives the blanket his seal of approval.See those little shoes he's wearing? I got them from Johanna. Her daughter Kaya was born the same day as Robby and is EXTREMELY cute, maybe Robby's future girlfriend :) Johanna makes shoes to sell on her etsy shop. These shoes are awesome, they are very flexible, which is good for babies feet, and they don't come off. Robby is an extremely active baby, and while crawling, scooting, walking, kicking, they didn't slip off once! And only 13 dollars for a custom pair made for Robby's big ol' feet.
Oh yeah, I better explain, see I was reading through my bloglines, and came across this. My husband saw it and told me this is the sweater that he's been wanting me to knit for him forever, so, I put in an order for some of the Beaverslide color cards. I'm a little nervous about all the mods Brooklyn Tweed did, the smaller hood, the short row shaping in the shoulders, etc., so I'm making a miniature version for Robby using the Malabrigo I got from Knitch. The yarn is a dream to knit up, so soft, and the chunky garter stitch is a nice departure from the entrelac done on sport weight, ugh, and the lace stuff I've been doing. I still love you Swallowtail, but Momma needs a break.
I think I've reached that point. It's not so much in the length of the blanket, but the width, and when I block it, it should grow considerably. I think I have maybe 6-8 more rows, and then BO, then sewing in off the ends. I have three weeks left till the recipient is born, wish me luck! Robby also turned seven months on July 4th, and of course I wouldn't want to let down all of his fans :) After all, after he was born, this blog went from blog to a blog about Robby with some knitting thrown in there :) Robby is getting SO big, 19 lbs, 29 inches long! This month has been a little rough with all the moving, and I've been trying to wean Robby off napping in my lap, I know, can you believe I'm still letting him do that :P Actually he's napping in my lap now, but I'm giving him a free pass because of his teething. I've been doing it gently, no crying, just waiting till he's asleep then setting him down in a playpen. If he cries, I pick him up and try again, and slowly but surely, he's starting to nap alone. When I get frustrated, I just try to remember that a month ago he wasn't doing it at all! I've been giving him solid food, twice a day, homemade rice cereal, butternut squash, avocado, but he hasn't shown interest in it, except for chewing on the spoon, and smearing it all over the place. I don't force the issue, I've read some babies don't like to eat and prefer to nurse when teething. I'm not in a rush, plus the 500 calories a day I'm burning nursing him don't hurt either! He's pulling himself up all the time, and now he'll crawl to me and want me to help him stand up on wobbly legs! Something about that really touches me, I guess maybe because it's the first time I've really seen him MOVE towards me and ask for my help, well he doesn't really ASK, but I know that's what he wants. He's thinking, "I want to stand, and Mommy will help me." He is starting to say "Mamamamamama", sometimes he just says "MOM", and sometimes he says "Ummah" which is the Korean word for mom. I don't know if he's just vocalizing or he's really calling me, but I like to think so, especially because I've invested so much time and energy into him so far! He's SO active, the only time he's still is when he's sleeping or nursing. He loves to pinch now and has a serious death grip. He's so happy and content most of the time and it's such a joy being his mom. Here is the obligatory bathtub shot that I will use to embarass him in front of his prom dates.Aren't those toofs cute?! He's been pretty cranky this past week, I think his top teeth are about to make their entrance.Here's the big hat shot.And here he is with his Aunt Kathy, everyone send out your good vibes, Auntie Kathy is in Costa Rica for a month having some fun in the sun, and I always worry about my little sister. She is an ESL teacher and is fluent in Spanish! Why she's still single, I don't know, she's been such a huge help to me, after Robby's birth she was over at our house every night after work, helping me do laundry, wash dishes and holding Robby if I needed a break! She's helped us pack, then unpack, and all she gets in return is some homemade Korean food made by me, and lots of slobber from Robby! We miss you Auntie Kathy, come back safe to us! We spent this 4th with our really good friends, who I'm making the entrelac blanket for, and had a great time. Robby spent some quality time with the COOLEST DOGS EVER, Barkley and Hobbes.They may look fierce, but they are the sweetest, gentlest dogs I've ever known. Barkley is the oldest, he is kind of a "low quality" Doberman, but he has the best temperment. Lately, as he gets older, he's become much less energetic, and prefers to hide out in the barn...until nighttime when he roams around our friends property doing whatever it is that dogs do at night, mostly killing small critters and protecting their owners. This is Robby and Hobbes. Hobbes is the younger one, only a few years old, and he LOVES people. From the time he was a puppy, he just loves to cuddle and be with you. His mom died when she had just birthed the puppies and the breeders bottlefed all the puppies and took care of them as well as their own mother would have, which explains a lot of his personality. He actually is a distant relative of Barkley if I remember correctly. Robby loves dogs, he squeals and laughs and always tries to pull their fur, the good thing about Barkley and Hobbes, is I know they would never try to bite him and their fur is short :)See how Hobbes's ears are laid back? That's because he knows he needs to be gentle with Robby. Here is Robby chilling with Barkley, Barkley actually wanted to do his own thing, but he obeyed my "stay" command so I could get some good pictures in.And, here is a random shot of our house, we finally moved in and slowly but surely are getting it comfortable to live in, our first real house ever! I'll post some more pictures once I find the before shots, and we get it all nice and purty.
Sorry about such a long post! I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the hot hot weather!
two skeins of Malabrigo,
3 skeins of Cascade 220,
and I can't find the 4th skein I bought of the Cascade 220 in a reddish purple. The Malabrigo is for the Baby Surprise Jacket, I've been inspired by Adrian's BSJ. I'm going to make the biggest size so Robby will fit into it this winter. Talk about soft, I've heard alot about Malabrigo on the blogs, it's a single ply and will probably pill quite a bit, but I don't care, it will make a beautiful jacket for The Turd, and did I mention it was soft? The Cascade is for a felted vest I want to make for my Aunt, inspired by this. I'll have to buy a copy of Felted Knits. Does anyone have this book? What do you think of it? Are their other good patterns besides the vest? The EZ book is awesome, I love how she writes, very inspiring, and I'm watching Jared and Adrian's progress on their Tomten's because I want to knit one for Rob one of these days.
Here is a picture of it warming the shoulders of my halmoni, it was 80 degrees in the house but she was happy to oblige, I hope it keeps her cozy when the weather gets cold this fall. It's been great being with my family, but I really wish my Korean was better, it's so hard to communicate with my halmoni, I wish I could understand more of her stories, she was born in 1916 and has so many interesting stories I wish I could hear.
I'm already thinking of what I can make for my aunt for a present, a felted vest maybe....And speaking of presents, I started this for my mother in law, a belated birthday present, but heck, everything is belated these days!
Anyone know of a good use for almost 200 yards of KSH? So, I made an emergency trip to the yarn store. I'm not sure how it happened, but somewhow I walked out with some Addi Lace needles and this yarn,
destined to be a gift for my mother in law. Check out the tip comparison between the Inox and the Addi,
these are some seriously sharp tips people, I'm excited to try them out. These are a size 3 versus the size 4 Inox needles, but still, they have a very sharp tip.Here is Robby smiling at his mama!And here is a picture of him conversing with his friendly neighborhood Spiderman!
He's getting so big, and it gets more and more fun being his mom. He's not crawling yet, but will get on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. He can sit up for several seconds if he supports himself with his hands. He already tries to get out of the car seat, the other day I put him in it and walked away for a second, and he had rolled over in the seat and was attempting to back out of the chair! The past two mornings, when he wakes up, he makes these funny noises, he will purse his lips and "bthhhhh" sounds. And he has become a lot more vocal lately, while on his belly chewing a teething ring, he will say, "Wowohh wowooooh." He is such a happy baby, he is warming up to all of his aunts, cousins, and grandparents. I'm excited to see how he does around my half of the family, only ten days till I get to see them, and stuff my face with Korean food! I've been zooming along on Swallowtail, I'm done with the nupps, yay!
It's hard to get a good picture of the shawl, since I only have two hands, but I think these pictures show how drapey, light, and fluffy it is. I'm very happy with how it's turned out so far, and I have 10 days left to finish it.
I think my grandma will love it. I've definitely caught the lace bug, I bought a copy of Lace Style, there are some amazing patterns in it. I definitely think I want to do another lace project for myself, maybe Eunny's Print O' The Wave stole? I think I have a sickness, I finish one project and start two more...sigh.
She had a contest a few weeks ago, and Pipie picked my name out of the hat! I love the sock yarn, Regia is the first yarn I used to make socks, a LONG time ago. I love that you can get two socks out of one skein of yarn. I'm going to make these leg warmers for Robby. Now that he is scooting around all over the place and our house has wood floors, these will be great for keeping him warm, but will make diaper changes a breeze and keep his knees protected! I'm thinking I will do them in a 1x1 rib so they will be extra cushiony, and I may even double the yarn. These will be so cute :) Thanks Francesca!
I'm thinking I will do the white and green together because the colors are kind of spring-y and a little more fun. Everything in my closet is some variation on black, gray, brown, or white, and it could use a little color, so I'm going to step out of my comfort zone. Like my yarn cakes? I bought the swift and ball winder last weekend, I can't believe I've waited so long, it saves me lots of time, which is very important when you have a baby, and my husband is free from yarn holding duty, so he was pretty excited about that. Like Adrian says, the combo of Kidsilk Haze, and wool (I'm using Cascade 220) is so soft. I got gauge first time, yay! I think I'll be working some mods, waist shaping, solid color ribbing on the front and neck, and I think, I'm going to beef up the shawl collar with short rows. Here is a another shot several rows in.
The jog isn't totally jogless, but its symetrical, which is good, and is a nice detail, think. It took me several tries to get it right, this website has a very detailed tutorial, and I finally got it after seeing these instructions. Talk about knitting as therapy, the yarn is so soft, and working with worsted on size 8 needles is SO speedy compared to the socks, blanket, and shawl, I have been working on. Robby is helping me,
he's become very grabby lately, and loves to grab on whatever yarn I'm working on, a future knitter maybe? He's not crawling yet, but scoots and shifts until he gets where he wants to be, and likes to grab onto anything that is NOT a baby toy and shake it or put it in his mouth. He actually got upset with me last night because I pulled some yarn out of his hand! We've both been feeling under the weather for the past two weeks, I can't shake a sore throat and sinus issues, and Robby's been super stuffy too, which means the booger sucker is being used a lot, and he's not too happy about that. Life is good, chaotic, but soon we will be moving into our new old house and we will finally be settled, I hope!
I've reached the border of the shawl, and am on my 3rd row of "nupps".
They are a k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, then on the next row you purl into each of those, making 5 stitches, then on the next row, you PURL 5 together, yuck. I wouldn't even want to try these on the Addi Turbos, thank goodness, my Inox circulars came in just in time, and they are working great. The surface of the needle is just the right amount of stickiness without being so sticky that the stitches don't slide easily. Plus, the tips are nice and pointy, so I can do those purl 5 togethers without too much trouble. In Robby news, check out these action shots, sorry about the blurriness, but it's hard to get Robby still these days unless he's sleeping.This is my favorite picture,even though it's blurry, you can tell he's smiling, excited about being able to almost crawl, and smiling at me because I'm cheering him on. When he's trying to crawl, he gets frustrated sometimes, but when we get down on the floor with him and cheer him on, he always tries harder, it's so great. Can you believe he's almost crawling? He just rocks back and forth now, and has mastered the art of scooting backwards, but hasn't developed the coordination it takes to crawl. It was only a few weeks ago he was rolling over...sniff... I'll blink and he'll be a pimply 16 year old asking for the keys to my car, gosh it goes by fast.
Looks like third time was the charm!
I've had a few scares, but since I understand the lace pattern now, I was able to fix mistakes without ripping out. It's not perfect, but the pursuit of perfection was abandoned a LONG time ago. I had one really scary incident involving this
guy getting tangled up in the yarn and dragging my knitting downstairs, thankfully no stitches were dropped in the process.
I'm thinking about ordering some Inox circulars, because I read they are not quite as slippery and have a nice sharp tip, that's suited for lace. Have no fear, I'm not giving up, it's a pride thing now, I'm on my third attempt, let's hope this one works out.
and then 
the magic happens. It's the Swallowtail Shawl from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits.
And the Jaywalkers for my Maw Maw.
Yayyy! I ordered the yarn for the Treeline cardigan I blogged about and am finally going to invest in a swift and a ball winder so I can make those yummy little yarn cakes. Joy and Colleen, save the ones at the yarn store for me! I have a whole crapload of skeins that need to be wound in our storage unit. Oh and if you happen to be moving into your brother in law's house temporarily and pack your yarn stash, put the box in front of the storage unit. My yarn is stuck behind a gajillion heavy Tupperware and will probably stay there until we move into our newly remodeled house...someday... And because it's too funny not to post, here is another installment in the Robby hat series. He used to fit into it, for about a week. 
