Leif's First Hat

My baby needed a hat. The other babies in the NICU have their own cute little outfits and cute little stuffed animals and mine would have something cute if I could leave the stupid house to go shopping for him. So I made a hat last night and sent it up to him this morning. I hope it fits. I hope it doesn't get lost in the NICU before I can get a picture of him wearing it.

I'd love to find more baby hat patterns like Baby's First Hat. The cute premie patterns are too small, or too basic, or too girly... I've got a vision of my dream hat, but don't have the yarn to make it right now -- and may not have the skills, but as long as the hat is in the fantasy stages, that doesn't matter.

I'd like to try this pattern. I think I have the right colors in the house for an apple and leaves, and hopefully Alex has some brown in her stash that'll work for a stem. The pineapple hat is cute, too, but I know I don't have the right shade of yellow.

And what Leif really needs is a Viking hat! I followed the link expecting the chicken hat, but this is a real Viking one. I'd need to knit it even if my little guy didn't have a Viking name.

It's a Boy!

Leif was born January 17 at 7:36 am, weighed 4 pounds 11 ounces, and was 18 1/2 inches long. Is it weird that I also know his head circumfrence?

This isn't fun anymore...

I don't like my knitting anymore. I assume that's due to a combination of knitting non-stop for a month, not being able to go up the stairs to my sewing room and get the yarn I really want to play with, and small children who have sabotaged all three of my current WIPs.

Someone took one needle tip off of my Denise cables, and although I could finish Chaos without it, I'm using it as an excuse to avoid picking up stitches for the neck and button band, which doesn't seem like it can possibly work.

Someone took all of the needles out of my Opal sock, which I'd just put back on the needles for the third time in as many days. Then someone else put three of the needles and the sock back in the plastic bag and tried to convince me that it had just fallen off of the couch. I refuse to believe that something that started out in the bottom of my knitting bag could become separated from its needles without being removed from the bag first. But they did find the missing needle. So I could pick up all of those splitty little stitches....again....

Heath's sock came out the right size, and when I went to get the second ball of yarn from my knitting bag last night, there wasn't any yarn in there. It's been found and returned to me, but I had to hide the knitting bag and even if I did feel like getting up pulling it back out at the same time as I felt like casting on for the socks, I'm afraid that the needles might not be there.

I will feel like knitting again though, I'm sure of it! I just spent my Christmas money on a big order of sock yarn (lots more of the Sock Landscape I fell in love with when I was knitting the Cape Code socks) from Knitpicks. And, not five minutes later, I found out that I really really need some black and white wool to knit pirate stuff. There's a hat, which I fell head over heels for even before I saw the mittens, which are even neater. Too bad I didn't see them in time to order some yarn!

Chaos!

After a couple of false starts with other projects, I cast on for Chaos this morning. I'm in love with these random cables! Rolling the die over and over is tedious (especially re-rolling for the 5's and 6's) but the effect is worth it. And it's not like I don't have plenty of knitting time on my hands right now.

2005 - My Fo's

I actually finished 46 projects this year, some of them fairly large or complicated -- by my standards, at least. That's a lot more than last year, which puzzles me since I've spent 2005 having a new baby, buying a new house, and growing another new baby... I did knit a lot last month, but not THAT much!

Here's how it broke down --

6 pairs of adult socks
4 pairs baby socks
1 pair of socks for Heath
2 pairs of slippers for Alex
10 hats
8 scarves
4 shawls
2 baby blankets

There was also a baby sweater, a diaper soaker, and some other little stuff -- the full list of projects is in the side bar. I've decided that there's not much point comparing my own output from year to year (let alone comparing mine to anyone else's, even though that is fun!), but it's interesting to look back and see the trends I didn't notice until I saw all of the projects in one list. 2005 seems to have been my year of big flat things. Very few of the projects needed much finishing except for weaving in the ends, and I don't think I did a gauge swatch all year.

This year, I'm going to knit sweaters for me and all four kids. And tackle more complex sock patterns instead of the generic toe-up method I've been using. While I was in the hospital, I actually followed the pattern for the Gull Socks from Socks Socks Socks as written, gusset heel and all. Somehow, even though I was using yarn and needles that I happened to have with me, and forcing them to work, they fit! There are tons of patterns in that book I'd like to tackle, and I'm also waiting for the copy of Sensational Knitted Socks my mom ordered to replace a gift from her that had to be exchanged.

I'm also going to do more sewing this year. The 2006 Quilt Pattern a Day Calendar has some projects I can't wait to start in on once I'm allowed to sit up and use the sewing machine.

I'm still bewildered by the fact that a quick trip to the OB to make sure my latest stomach bug was nothing important turned into 22 days in the hospital. I was so positive it was nothing, and only made the drive into town because I'd be able to pick up some yarn for last minute Christmas knitting!

Once they got me weaned off of the nasty IV meds and onto stuff that left me feeling pretty much okay, there was nothing to do but watch Law & Order reruns, wait for the next meal, and knit....and knit...and knit...and call home and beg my husband to bring me more yarn because yes I had used up all four skeins of the red stuff he brought me last time....

My final total --

the Cape Cod socks
the baby bunting
the Lacy Kerchief Scarf
the Faorese Style Shawl from Cast On
Toddle
blue & brown Magic Stripes socks
Grey Gull socks
SOS! Slippers
Leaf Edge Baby Hat

Except for the Lacy Kerchief Scarf and the Cape Cod socks, which were both about half done, the rest was knit from start to finish in my hospital bed. And with 25 more days of bed rest before I can start getting back on my feet (if #4 will stay put for that long), I'm sure I'll be adding more to the list. Pictures will have to wait until I'm allowed to move around more.