Uli's Creative Corner

One last look at the pinks for Project Spectrum March (since I'm not finished with the project you'll see more of it in the weeks to come) but for now it's my last pink/red Project Spectrum mention.  I've completed the body of the Hearts and Lace sweater.  I've started the first sleeve.  I feel a bit like I'm in a sleeve world because I have sleeves on at least 3 projects waiting for me.

A real girly little top - just right for my girly princess

Yellow and oranges here we come........... hmmm, not my colours but I did discover some yellow and even some orange in the stash.

And to finish off for tonight, here are a couple of new pictures of the kids:

Chubby Cheeks.........

JR and I are off to Fiberfest International tomorrow while Daddy and Erika are off to the car show.

And like many others, I'll try and come here tomorrow to "flash my stash".

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments.  Finishing this project and having the pictures turn out so well has given me a great boost.  I know I didn't give very good details about the origin of the pattern so for those of you interested, the pattern is a Trendsetter Yarns pattern.  It is called Merino 6 Mitered Corner Poncho/Wrap and a picture of the pattern can be seen here.  As to where to track it down.... I bought it froma vendor at Stitches 2005 and I can't remember who that was.  A quick search on google will lead to various sources for the pattern, I'm sure.

I'm sitting here in our bedroom with the blinds still closed.  The desk is facing the window.  It's supposed to be a wet and rainy day but at only 10 am, I can feel the sun coming through the blinds.  Maybe it won't be a great big wash out of a day after all and the little guy and I can get out for a good walk this afternoon.  That would be good, especially since our first session of the Mom and Baby aerobics class yesterday had to be cancelled because the instructor didn't show up.  Nobody knew where she was which apparently was very unusual.  Ah well.... try again next week. 

I've been working on 2 UFOs and one of them is perfect to finish out the dying days of March and Project Spectrum's pink/red month.  I just don't have pictures quite at this moment.  I have finished the body of the Heart Lace sweater for Erika.  Just two sleeves with lots of eyelets to knit.  And then I dug out a little old UFO that I started and never even mentioned.  It's Lucy Neatby's Celestial Baby sweater (scroll down on link to find).  I started it with a ball of Opal Rodeo some time ago and never did a thing with it.  I had finished the back and nothing else.  Well, I have almost finished the front now.  Today I hope to cast on for one of the sleeves for the Heart Lace sweater as well as finish the front of the baby sweater.

And to round off today, I finished the Simply Lovely Lace socks from the Spring 2006 Interweave Knits.  I made the sportweight version from a skein of yarn I had in my stash.  That skein of yarn was waiting for the perfect use...... this was it.

I'm making progess in finishing some things.  I don't get a lot of knitting time each day but since I'm focusing my efforts a bit more on one project at a time, I'm actually seeing some finished things coming off the needles.

Okay, I said I would clean my sewing room today while Jonathan is napping.  I've already used a bunch of that precious nap time to update here - which is more fun than cleaning - so I should really go now and do a few things before he totally wakes up.  He's already stirring.

Here they are......... the model shots to show off what the capelet really looks like.

The Front View (on a sunny day by our front door)

From Behind

The Casual Pose

So what do you think?  I'd really like to hear opinions on this one.  I'm quite proud of it.  On 4 mm needles it seemed like quite a big project.  And for once, I actually am quite pleased with pictures of myself.  All in all, I would say it's a successful project.

And how about my new jeans?  You know it's a deal when................. well, it's a deal when you get to buy a pair of jeans 2 sizes smaller than your pre-pregnancy size (and when you were expecting to only be able to buy one size larger).  It's an even better deal when those said jeans are marked down.  And yet a better deal when a $40 pair of jeans is extremely comfortable and after all the mark downs come off ends up costing $7.50.  They're comfortable and make me feel pretty good so I call it a good deal.  And what's an even better deal?  When you buy another two pairs of similar pants (navy blue and dark brown) for the same price and 3 pairs of perfectly fine pairs of pants end up costing $25 after taxes.  That I was able to afford on maternity leave. :-)

See ya later.

Here is the blocking Trendsetter Mitered Corner Capelet in the blocking stages.  I will put the finishing touches on today - it needs buttons and then I will get some photos of me wearing it to show off how it fits together.  I'm very pleased with it after blocking and I think I will get use out of it right about now as the temperatures are warming up just a little but not enough to go in short sleeves yet.

This project has been ongoing since last fall so it is a true UFO that now has been finished part of the Lent-Along.  This KAL is really encouraging me to keep working through my WIP/UFO (isn't every WIP a UFO once you start it?).

I also finished one of my abonded pairs of socks, another perfect example for the Lent-along as well as this months Project Spectrum colours:

The colours in this yarn are perfect for March's Project Spectrum - pink and red all combined into one.  The pattern is Peaks and Vallies from the book Knit Socks.  The yarn is Lang Jawoll Cotton Sock Yarn.  Done on 2.25 needles.  They look quite nice.  I started them last summer while we were on vacation on Vancouver Island and then after almost having one sock completed I put them away and I just recently rescued them.  Now I'm glad that they are done.  They will make nice spring socks.

I'd love to write some more but unfortunately, I'm being summoned by a 4 1/2 year old who needs some attention.  Yikes.  Better go.

Jonathan was 2 months old last week.  I guess that makes him 2 months and 1 week now.  Time is flying by.  This quick entry is more of a way to keep track of his development just for myself since I haven't had the chance to start a baby book or anything like that for him.  I don't even have a 2 month picture to show.  They always say.... you take way fewer pictures of a 2nd or 3rd baby than you did of your first.  I thought that was kind of silly but have to admit that it's definitely true in our house.  I should try and capture his gummy smiles as they are starting to develop and grow.

We had his 2 month check-up last Monday.  His weight was 9 lbs 3 ounces which indicates that he's eating and gaining weight well.  His adjusted age was one month and on the growth charts, 9 lbs 3 ounces puts a 1 month old at the 50th percentile.  My doctor is recording his weight and length on the growth chart using that adjusted age since he was a month premature.  He was also 21 1/2" so he's grown about 2 inches and his sleepers (or the lack thereof that fit any longer) are attributing to that fact.

The basic health checks came back fine and developmentally, he is right at the 2 month level or between 1 and 2 months.  His smiles and gurgles put him even with a full term 2 month old baby.  His neck strength and general body tone is apparently around where a full term infant would be right between 1 and 2 months.  So I think we're doing pretty well.

His sleep pattern is still very much up and down around the clock and some nights are better than others.  Last night was pretty good so I feel okay today.  During the day a real pattern is developing where he likes to nap and sleep in the morning time and is awake most of the afternoon.  He giggles and smiles has started cooing a little bit and seems like a pretty happy little guy in general.

The comedy of errors at the doctor's office was a different story.  When we first visited our family doctor after coming home from the hospital we weren't really sure when the next visit was in order.  There was a bit of a communication mishap and especially because he was preemie I wasn't sure if she wanted to follow the standard follow-up schedule.  So a week or so after the visit, I called the doctor's office to find out when we should come back and the girl at the front desk said that standard follow-ups are at 3 months and 6 months.  That sounded kind of fishy to me because I knew immunizations were to be given at 2 months.  So I figured I'd just make an appointment for his shots around his 2-month birthday.  That's when I made this appointment we had last week.  I specifically asked for an appointment to get his 2-month vaccines administered.  So I got the appointment.  Our doctor did the whole check-up etc. and then told me to dress him.  At that point I asked about his immunizations and she told me that she doesn't give them any longer and that I had to go through public health.  The little ones get 4 needles now and she doesn't want to adminster those.  She was surprised they didn't tell me at the front desk.  Then I went to tell her about the 3 month - 6 month visit schedule and that was wrong, too.  As I expected, standard visits should be at 2 months and then again at 4 months.  My doctor, unfortunately, doesn't have any real control over the girls at the front desk but they sure get a whole lot of things wrong.

All water under the bridge.  Now his shots are set for April 6th.

As for knitting content:

Right now the capelet is draining for its blocking and the Peaks and Valley socks are almost finished.  I'll have some new stuff to show later.  Maybe even later today.  I need to buy some buttons for the capelet and I need to go out and get groceries for tomorrow.  The inlaws are coming over.  Silly husband..... I thought we were inviting ourselves over instead of inviting them to our house.  Now I have to come up with a decent dinner.  Ah well, I'll make crock pot Hungarian Goulash, Spätzle (a German noodle type dish), red cabbage and a nice salad.

Better run downstairs to grab the capelet as the little Mr. is already promising to not let me get the blocking done.  Yikes.

A few new things to show off today.........

On Saturday I had fun visiting the local Sewing and Needlework Show.  I had Jonathan in tow and he was such a good boy.  He didn't cry the whole time and slept right through everything and I got him all the way home without one complaint.  It was great.  I had a lot of fun looking around.  My budget for spending money was pretty negligible but I did come home with a few cute things:

• In the center: a quilt panel called Airline Fun - I was attracted to it thinking it would make a great floor play quilt for Jonathan
• Off to the right corner (very difficult to see) - a quiltable fabric book - it's soft flannel and it's a fun ducky story.  It's very simple to put together and I think this will be another great baby toy.
• And in the bottom left are thre sewing patterns from Favority Things Pattern Designs.  I picked up a very cute vest pattern as well as a very cute pajama pattern.  And for buying two patterns a received a Flying Geese quilt pattern for free.
• And hardly visible at all, right in front of the patterns is a ball of Cascade Fixation yarn.  They had a display of the cutest little baby hat and baby socks so I picked out one ball to make the set.

I also had some gift certificate money for my LYS burning a hole in my pocket and as a contribution to Project Spectrum (won't be knit in March but it's purchased in March), I picked up the bolero pattern that's springing up on lots of catalogues as well as blogs using the Kertzer Marble yarn.  It allowed me to buy myself a whole project for myself without going much over my gift certificate and that was a big deal.

Oh, and there's another ball of Cascade Fixation that came home with me, too - just because it was a great colour.

Baby crying...........

Cheer me on........ the knitting for the mitered squares capelet is all done.  I can't believe it.  With some ripping etc. that seemed like a really long haul  Pictures will follow soon!!! Now, I need to weave in all those darn ends and there are many of them even though I tried to weave in as many as I could while knitting each square.  I'm so excited though because I think it will look nice and the weather is just right for it, right now.  So, that's my first contribution to the Lent-Along in the attempt to finish off UFOs.  Next I think I will tackle the pink lace sweater for Erika.

It's a beautiful day today (and we had sleep last night - I slept in my own bed and not on the couch) so Jonathan and I are going on an outing.  Will tell you later if it was a successful outing.

Enjoy the weekend.  It will be a busy one around here. 

In the last couple of days, I was showered with the kindness of others.  It's so wonderful to receive unexpected surprises.

First off was this surprise:

Look at all these cute preemie hats.  Jackie over at Karpstyles read about my goal to knit the 21 hats for the special care nursery.  She thought about how busy and tired I must be right now with a 4-year old and an infant and she decided to help me get to my goal faster.  It was a complete surprise when I received all these cute hats in the mail.  Thanks Jackie..... your help is very much appreciated and you're just awesome.

And then on the next day, an RAOK found its way into my mailbox:

Bethanie showered me with some spring kindness.  Look at the great colours of that Sockota sock yarn.  The Addi Turbo crochet hook is great and the spring flowers on the pot holder will bring the feeling of spring into my kitchen.  What a great surprise.  Thank you so much!!!

And, I've joined the Lent-A-Long.

The idea of this KAL is to get as many of our UFOs finished during lent.  I gave up chocolate for Lent.  That didn't last long so I'm recommitting myself to my UFOs and will keep plugging away.  Between this KAL and Project Spectrum, March and April will keep me busy.

I'm tired today...... my little guy hasn't been wanting to sleep anywhere but on or with me.  Yawn.... he's been insatiable as well.  I vote for growth spurt as he's already almost putting 10 lbs on the scale.  I actually went out to Superstore (and spent over $50 with nothing to show for really) just to get him to sleep uninterruptedly for a while.  When we go out, he's a little sleepy saint.  He wasn't at home.  So I packed him up.  It worked.  For now, he's still asleep in the kitchen in his car seat.  Let sleeping babies lie.

Just this and that..........

For my walking adventure, I did a big walk yesterday.  I haven't mapped my progress but I had an awesome walk.  Now if I could walk and not have any chocolate after, it would be perfect.

Another contribution to Project Spectrum - March

Preemie Hat 3 of 21

It's a little bigger than preemie size.  It's just right for Jonathan and he's between 9 and 10 pounds now..... getting chubby quickly.  Erika was always a very skinny baby so this chubbiness is news to me.  Chubby cheeks and chubby legs.

I shall not jinx myself.......... but the Mitered Squares Capelet is almost finished.  I have 5 more mitered squares to do and a million ends to weave in.  I can't believe that this UFO is almost finished. 

Curious what Jonathan's nursery looks like?  It's not totally organized and decorated yet but it's getting there.  The theme: Pirates!  All his furniture is white except that wood dresser.  My mother-in-law offered it to us to go with some furniture that was my bedroom for many years and will probably be his bedroom furniture when he grows up a bit.  This dresser matches and I didn't have a dresser.  My MIL couldn't store it at their house for another minute.... so now it's the one non-white piece of furniture in the room.  But, to be truthful, I don't mind (after I did a lot of bitching and complaining at first).  His white dresser is full of stuff he can currently fit into and wear.  This dresser is filled with all the stuff he has to yet grow into.  Shall I mention the fact that his room used to be our office/computer room and since the basement isn't finished yet, the closet in this room is still full of books and other stuff that's Evan's so we don't actually have any closet space for him yet.

And some of us in our house had a restful afternoon on Sunday:

Have a good day!!!

I only have time for a really short post right now although I have some pictures to show.... they'll have to wait.

One of my goals while I'm off on maternity leave is to not make the same mistake I made during my last maternity leave.  That was to give in to the craving for chocolate while I was breastfeeding and become pretty lazy in general - making excuses for why I should sit around more than being active.  It's so easy, too.  Baby falls asleep in your lap and it's comforting to just sit there and let the day pass you by.  I had worked hard to lose a lot of weight before trying to get pregnant with Erika.  I still had more weight to lose.  I was planning on losing the baby weight plus the rest of the weight during my maternity leave.  Instead, I gained and I gained more and ended up a good 20, maybe closer to 30 lbs heavier than 9 months pregnant with Erika by the time my leave was over.  How frustrating.  Since that, I managed to lose a bit - 10 lbs or so.  Well, my pregnancy with Jonathan was different and I was so freaked out about my weight that I was very, very careful.  I ended up hardly gaining anything at all and for some strange reason, during the last 2 weeks before his birth, I started mysteriously losing a whole bunch of weight.  No explanation given by my doctor - he had no idea why.  So to make a long story short, I am now facing the same situation again.  Being on maternity leave, craving chocolate like I did last time - but I am starting almost 20 lbs lower than my last Weight Watcher's weigh in when I first found out I was pregnant.  I feel good about that but it could get out of hand so easily.

I am totally chomping at the bit to get out for walks on nice days etc and have managed to do so when it's been nice.  Unfortunately, we've also had a lot of crappy weather.  I'm going to start some Mom and Baby workouts soon - there's a Low Impact aerobics Mom and Baby class starting up at our rec centre just a few blocks away from home at the end of March.  I'm also going to participate in a Baby & Mom Aquafit class starting in May at the YMCA where I'm a member at.  They also offer a class called "Baby Power" to help incorporate strength training with that "20 lb bundle of joy" as well as "Strollerrobics".  So, I'm going to sign up for some of these because it's an easy way to get out of the house.  If I'm signed up, I'm going to do my darndest to get there and for all of these babies are welcome (actually, they're required) so I don't have to worry about getting care for the little guy until he's a little older when I'll feel comfortable leaving him with the gym daycare during workouts.

But I still like to stick to the basic walking that you can do anytime, anywhere.... I'm very goal oriented so I always carry a pedometer and time my walks to figure out how well I'm doing and whether I'm improving.  Must come from my somewhat, sometimes A-type personality that I don't always let shine through.  So last night, I found this program after searching for some "virtual walk" type online programs.  It's the Country Harvest Walk Across Canada.  They have a walking route across Canada mapped out.  You sign up and every time you sign in, you report your steps taken since last time.  They have configured it so that when you complete 300,000 steps you have completed your virtual walk across Canada.  There are milestones to reach ie. walking from one city or province to the next.  Their suggestion is to keep a pedometer strapped on all the time and report your daily total steps.  My plan is to record my actual walks only.  It's not totally realistic because, of course, if you recorded only the distance walked, you'd be walking a lot more than 300,000 steps to cross the country but hey.... this is attainable and it's something that will keep me and Jonathan moving.  I'm all set to go!!!!

The activity will help me stay more focused and help me regain some of my fitness level as well, it will curb the weight gain that could happen very easily.  Then it will be back to Weight Watchers at some point in the not too distant future to keep on the weight loss band wagon, too.  It will happen.  I'm going to make it happen.

Let's get walking!!!!