Mommy Update

Sooo since I haven't bothered to blog in like 4 months I thought maybe I should type up a little update...

The reason for my extreme lack of time is little baby Alice Lee who arrived on August 19th at 6:07am! Labor lasted a whole 15-20 min which I know sounds like a dream, but is actually kind of scary and intense!

Of course since her arrival I have had precious little time for knitting, reading, or anything else but we're starting to get a schedule down and everything is getting back on track!

Her sister Kaylyn is a proud big sister and a great helper! She started preschool this September and loves that also!! Here she is singing Twinkle Twinkle to her sister.

When I do have time for reading I've been drifting towards some books by Jennifer Weiner. Namely Goodnight Nobody: A Novel and Fly Away Home: A Novel. I also am really into Nelson Mandela's new book Conversations with Myself which is a collection of notes and stories from his time in prision.

Unfortunately I have only had time to finish one knitting project since Alice was born and that was her Halloween costume. She went as a sock monkey this year, and idea I got off of Ravelry!!

Books, Books, Books!

Since the extreme heat has sent me and my 7 month pregnant belly into hiding indoors I have been on a heavy reading kick in addition to the usually heavy knitting kick! Working on and off at the library hasn't helped since I always feel the need to check out new books while I'm there. I do have a hard time trying to find ways to integrate my reading obsession with my knitting obsession so that I can do both at the same time but that's a story for another time...
Here is my personal rundown of some of the summer reading that is available right now. I won't go into too much detail...
  I figured I would start with one of the worst. While I understand the teenage need to make this series continue for as long as possible I found that this book was severely unnecessary. A short sad look at a small character that should have remained nameless.
Another example of a series that has run its course. While the basic story was good it felt a lot like the last 6 books of this series. Sex, murder, mythological creature... same ole same ole.  I think Charlaine should sit back and let the TV series make her some money!
So I know these two are kinda older but I read them because the newest one (#16) just came out. Both of these were well written, interesting, funny and page turning! I love Stephanie Plum as a character. I'm going to really try to stick with this series and hope that they are all good up to #16!
I read 1-3 of this series and while they were pretty good they were definitely young adult novels. With the first book it was ok and then I started to get tired of that special writing style that is only used in young adult novels... you know the style that's meant to be detailed enough to engage them but not detailed enough to overwhelm them... but for some reason I went ahead and read the third one and ended up wanting to beat myself in the head. Even though I couldn't get passed book 3, I think I just wasn't in the mood for this type of book, I  would recommend it for easy beach reading or young adult summer books!
Again I started this book so that I can eventually read the other two. This book was really good. I loved the characters and the story line. It was hard getting through maybe the first 3 chapters, but after that it really picked up and turned out to be a really good book!

So I'm going to Williamsburg for the weekend for our last hoorah before baby #2 comes. I'm taking The Swan Thieves and The Help with me so hopefully I can get a complete summer review up at some point!

Knitting Update!

I finally fulfilled my obligation to Kaylyn and finished her fairy dress! Now I can knit on the baby's blanket with a clear conscious!! I had the top part of Kaylyn's dress knitted up in not time but it was the sewing the tulle to the bottom that had me worried. Finally I got my 1973 Singer home, up and running, learned to thread it, and got started!! It was no where near as hard as I thought it would be and Kaylyn loves her dress!

With 4 baby hats done for the hospital donation, and 2 burp cloths done for the baby I've gotten a lot done with the baby's blanket. I really love the pattern I'm using from Frankie's Knitted Stuff. Its basically just 10 stitches in garter with some fancy corners!! I think I'll be done by next weekend!

Fun with Kool Aid

So I wanted some pretty green mitts for myself and couldn't find the color I was looking for... so I did what any good little knitter and yarn enthusiast does and dyed my own!! I started with some plain white wool that I got on sale at NEY and then just added a combination of lemonade, blue raspberry, and lime Kool Aid!! Here were the results...



It turned out a little more tie dyed than I had planned, but I still like it! I will post about the finished project when I get a chance to knit them!!

Knitting for Charity

So apparently I don't feel like I have enough knitting to do and I've been searching for more ideas about knitting for charity. So this is what I've come up with so far...

• Most hospitals will accept knitted hats, blankets, and layette sets for preemies and newborns. Preemie sizes are needed most!
• There is a website www.knittingforcharity.org that has some ideas but the site itself isn't much fun to navigate because of a lot unrelated advertising.
• There is a good article on about.com that has some great information including some of my favorite handmade based charities
• Artists Helping Children - makes toys, clothes, crafts, games, and projects in almost any artistic medium for needy children
• Binky Patrol - focuses on knitted, crocheted, or quilted blankets for at risk children to teens
• ChemoCaps - makes knitted and crocheted caps for chemo patients that have lost their hair.
• afghans for Afghans - which collects knitted and crocheted items for displaced people in Afghanistan
• Knit your Bit - collects knitted scarves, hats, mittens, blankets, etc. to send the National WWII museum to send to Veteran's through VA centers and other organizations
• Ravelry - has some great user groups for charities including my favorite Warm Up Winchester which collects hats for Winchester VA's homeless.
  
• Lionbrand.com also has a great tool for searching charities where you can enter your location, craft, and what you're interested in knitting.

Hopefully I will finish one of my many projects (see my Ravelry bars to the right) and be able to do some charity knitting!! Besides the baby hats for WMC which I now have 2 done!!!

Baby Hats!

I really like knitting baby hats! There are lots of different patterns and yarns to choose from, they're easy, and quick!!
I decided that taking a break to knit an occasional baby hat is good for the soul… so over the next 4 months I’m going to knit the occasional baby hat in between my dishcloths, and Stephen's mitts and my never ending lace scarf, and Kaylyn's fairy dress and hopefully eventually my baby's blanket! Then I'm going stock pile them so that when I go into labor I can bring the hospital a hat donation.

The picture at the top is of my first hat, it's an umbilical cord hat from Stitch n Bitch in preemie size, made with Patons SWS yarn on size 8 DPNs.


If you would like to add to my baby hat pile message or comment to me!!

Proud to be a knitter!!

So right now I'm feeling pretty proud to be a knitter! I was over at Ravelry, my main site for knitting addiction, looking over the 356 designers that are donating a portion of their pattern sales to Haiti relief funds and ran across a thread from yesterday where Casey (one of the Ravelry owners) announced that Ravelry donations had already totaled $47,254!!

Then while reading one of my favorite knitting blogs, the Yarn Harlot, I learned that the group she founded in 2004, Knitters without Borders, has helped them raise over $913, 000!! These donations mainly go to help Doctors without Borders who desperately need supplies and volunteers.

Another group, Knitting with Company, has started a program called Help Heel Haiti by Knitting, where they are promising to match dollar for dollar donations made by their vendors' sales up to $50,00.

Overall the knitting and crochet community has made huge efforts to support relief efforts in Haiti and it makes me very proud to be among them! It also goes to show you that any talent can be used for the better good!