Somethings Afoot

Recently I have learned that Patrick has thrush. Thrush isn't a particularly serious affliction but it can make life difficult. It is possible that thrush has been at the root of all our problems with nursing. I just wish it could have been dealt with weeks ago, Patrick is exclusively nursed and having major diffiulties with nursing at times has taken over our lives and can take some of the joy out of new parenthood. I had been to the breastfeeding clinic three times, the first 2 times were great, I dealt with helpful, caring nurses who helped both of us while being so reassuring at a time when I felt a whole lot of despair and hopelessness. The last time I went the nurse was not reassuring or helpful at all. She was either having a bad day or didn't like me personally. She told me there was nothing she could do for the pain and she had absolutely no suggestions on how to help (that is actually how she phrased it "I don't know what to do, I haven't even written anything on your file.) She told me that because Patrick was gaining weight everything was fine. (Because weeping uncontrollably from extreme pain and having to express 50% of the time is "fine") A month later I find out it's likely that we've had thrush all along. I don't fault her for not knowing what was wrong but I do wish she had at the very least recommended a doctor visit.

One of the solutions is a simple one and inexpensive. Gentian Violet. It's over the counter and about $6. The doctor had prescribed an ointment for me but Patrick hated the taste and refused to nurse (while screaming). Gentian Violet seems to be working...



Although it's a little difficult to take him seriously when he looks like that, I now have a bad habit of laughing when he cries...cause really...look at him!

I finally finished the Luminen Sweater. It is the greatest thing I have ever knitted. I have knit other things that looked better, but not other things that looked better on me! I still have to buy the clasps and sew them on but it's finished blocking and looks amazing!



Hey look...there are my toes...

I have also been knitting the Sleepy Hollow socks. Yarn Harlot knit them and I thought they were so cool that I bought the pattern right away. I bought some yarn that I thought was ideal but when I cast on and knit one repeat the pattern was totally obscured by the yarn variegations. I immediately frogged and switched to some Noro Silk Garden Sock I picked up in Duncan and it looks awesome!



Even better the first sock finished at the exact point to start the second one so it matches! I modified the sock so that the pattern doesn't stop mid leaf-I hate it when patterns do that! So the last 2 leaves go down the toe while I am doing the decreases, they look all pretty and stuff.



Oh and I also figured out a way to take pictures of my own feet that doesn't look gimpy!



Last weekend we went to Saltspring for Easter. It was a great trip and Patrick travelled really well. While we were there Mom, Mackenzie, Patrick and I went on a yarn crawl in Duncan and Victoria (I also ended up going to the yarn store on Saltspring). It was so much fun and I went to the Beehive Wool Shop in Victoria for the first time. I was literally giddy with excitement. Beehive yarns is such a great store with so many amazing yarns. I actually hyperventilated while I was there and eventually we had to leave because I couldn't handle the extreme yarniness of it all. I picked up some great stuff on my trip-Fleece Artist fibres and a discontinued Noro from the Loom in Duncan, Mirasol Merino Sock (in an awesome sunflower looking colourway) Habu silk and Noro Silk Garden Sock from Beehive in Victoria, and Mini Mochi and Noro Silk Garden Sock from Stitches on Saltspring. I went on a bit of a sock rampage...I couldn't control myself!



I am really looking forward to my next project! I have no idea what it is and for some reason that completely excites me! It could be anything! Another pair of socks! Another sweater! Something lacy! The possibilities are endless!

It's all coming together

Things are finally coming together on the fibre front. I actually finished a project!
I love the rainbowiness of this shawl...even though I don't wear rainbows...I am not sure what i am going to do with this shawl, I have an image of it in my head looking good wrapped around my neck while I am wearing a jean jacket...except I don't own a jean jacket.

I have been working rather diligently on "the" sweater. I am hoping to be finished in under a week. I have a really crappy picture of it to show you-


Patrick has slept long enough today for me to take on my latest planned etsy project

So far my etsy store has deal almost exclusively in handspun yarn but I am experimenting on expanding (and alliterations it seems). I am now going ot be including some spinnign supplies. Welcome electricbats!
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I am going to do 2 lines of batts, premium electricbatts and econoelectricbatts. I am doing the econoelectricbatts because I want to make sure that I have something that is affordable for everyone. I am also adding an art yarn kit with all kinds of yummy fibres and ribbons if it sells, I'll do more. Eventually I'd like to do an art yarn kit of the month club (there are already a bajillion batt of the month club so why not something different?)

On top of all that I have been getting lots of work done on the research front. All with a minimal amount of sleep!

It feels good to be productive!

Rainbows and Dead Squirrels

So I found the sleeve...well I didn't really find it, I went to the pub for Karaoke and the waitress gave it to me, I guess it had fallen out of my bag-it's a good thing they know me as "the lady that knits" or it could have been lost forever! I haven't returned to knitting the sweater yet because I am just finishing up my replacement-for-lost-sleeve knitting, a rainbow shawl that I will never wear. I don't wear rainbows. But I thought the pattern was cool and I thought it would look cool with the yarn! I'll knit it another time with a blood red Starry and then there might be a possibility that I would wear it.

It looks nifty, no?

The other day Patrick and I went for a walk and had a fabulous find.
A dead squirrel!! Unfortunately I did not have a plastic bag so I couldn't tak it home with me. I was very dissapointed. I was telling this to a couple people I know and they looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently "normal" people don't take dead things home with them. I have a fantastic animal bone collection that includes whale, seal, racoon, deer, coyote and other interesting animals- I really would have love to include a squirrel to my collection-just pop him in the back yard to be exposed to the elements for half a year or so and voila! Squirrel skeleton!

Patrick is growing at a frightening rate and is stretching his 0-3 months clothes to their limits. Since he is only 7 weeks old and was only 6 pounds 3 oz when he was born, this is rather alarming. I keep expecting to find him in the morning grown out of his skin like a snake or something.

My Aunt knit him a fantastic little snow suit and he look adorable in it! He gets lots of compliments when he wears it. It's very soft and as yet it's the only clothing he's actually professed an interest in, he likes the soft fuzzy wool against his skin!

The best laid plans and all that...

I had this rather triumphant plan for my retunr to blogging. I have been working on the Luminen Sweater by Mairi Munonen for a while now and yesterday should have heralded the connection of the sleeves to the body of the sweater. Now when I say should, it's pretty obvious that this monumental connection did not actually happen. There are a billion things that can cause even the best laid knitting goals to become waylaid-the most common one being the difficulty in estimating rate of knitting vs. time able to knit. This roadblock I have hit is a completely new one and especially frustrating in that there is only one solution to the problem and that solution does not seem to be immediately forthcoming...I lost a sleeve. Yes, that's right...I lost a $(&%#ing sleeve. How does this happen! I have been keeping this one project in on place-an enclosed place even-a cloth bag. 4 days ago both sleeves were in the bag. Yesterday one sleeve was in the bag. This totally fits with my current theory that I ahve "helpful" Brownies in my house causing mischief (including turnin the downstairs TV on and bring skeins of yarn halfway up the stairs and leaving them there.) How does one remedy such a ridiculous situation? One could either find the damn sleeve, or knit a new one. Since I am reasonably sure that I have exactly the amount of yarn I need to finish the project with absolutely no extras (this is not because I didn't plan well, this is because Malabrigo only does so much yarn per dyelot). So my only option is to find the sleeve (oh wait...i could totally knit a vest...yeah...)
So triumphant pictures and no sweater knitting.
Last night I cast on Gail in Mini Mochi...and felt guilty pleasure in knitting something besides and interminable XL long sleeve, long bodied, hooded sweater...

Now it's really been awhile...

My blogging has been like my knitting lately...nonexistent...
I have a really good reason this time!

Welcome Patrick Brendan Court
January 21st 2010
6 lbs 3oz


Patrick is (mostly) a joy to have around. He's a very calm and happy baby. even when he fusses he (so far) has a good reason. He sleeps well at night (except for the occasional sleepless night). Yes I know I have a lot of brackets with adjustments to my statements...but if he was quiet, calm, and non fussy all the time, he would be freakishly lethargic.

Our hospital stay was a long one (5 days) due to minor complications on both our parts, but we have been home for a week and a half and are settling in well.

I haven't been knitting or spinning much at all. I got half a stranded mitten done, and half a bobbin of blue merino/silk done in the past week and a half. I am having minor difficulties with my wrist due to the placement of the IV (not the fault of the nurse, apparently the fault of my curvy, bendy veins). I also find I am able ot sit and do nothing. This is new to me. I can sit and not make things or do things...I can sit and watch TV and ONLY TV. It's weird. I'm not even that tired. It's like I subconsciously believe I have created my quota for awhile and am relaxing. Granted it's not all relaxing with a newborn, there is lots of feeding and diaper changing and laundry and tidying up and holding baby...feeding can take up a huge chunk of time...he eats 2-3 times more than the average baby his age (and he was preterm!) which makes for long feeding times, but I am not complaining because apparently he is sucking the life force out of me...in a totally good way-I'm shedding pregnancy weight like water!

Hopefully I will get my crafting/knitting/spinning bug back soon, there's all kinds of baby stuff I could make...

It's been a while

Distractions have been keeping me from blogging lately. Obsessive knitting and a trip out of town have been filling my time.

Last weekend Tiny, Mackenzie and I took a trip down to the coast. This was Mackenzie's Christmas present: a trip to Saltspring, a day in Vancouver and a Canucks game. Kenzie is an avid hockey fan, loves visiting her Froggy, Grandpa Abraham and Uncle Tim, and had never been to Vancouver before. We had a blast. The original plan was to go to Science World, but when we arrived there was a paper sign stating that it was closed for a private event. We went to the Vancouver Aquarium instead.

The Vancouver Aquarium is hugely changed from the last time I was there (probably about 15 years ago). The change is for the better. The animal habitats are much larger and more natural looking than they were before. It is greatly expanded. The BC Coast section is incredible, it makes the undersea world of our province look incredibly mysterious and exotic.

My favourite section was the jellyfish!

I was pleasantly surprised at how good a photo my crappy little camera took!

Kenzie found some kindred spirits at the aquarium...

We got put on the giant TV at GM Place which was pretty exciting (click to embiggen)

I am now knitting the ultimate project...the Luminen Jacket is one I have been thinking about knitting for a few months now. A month ago I bought the yarn neccessary for the project. Some incredibly soft Malabrigo Merino Worsted in a fabulous colourway called Red Mahogany. The yarn is actually a little bit of a heavy weight for this project (despite "Worsted" being in the actual name for the yarn it is an Aran weight yarn). So I dropped a size and am using a larger needle (4.5mm instead of 4mm) mathematically the gauge worked out that it should be the right size a month or 2 post baby (a good goal for after the baby is born! I have to fit that sweater!!). I have already modified it a bit, I really did not like the sleeves so I knit a cabled cuff and picked up the stitches ont he edge and started the sleeve from there. I think it will fit wiht the overall design of the sweater better (hehe sweater better). I also plan on NOT doing all those snowflakes. Mairi Muinonen is one of my favourite designers EVER but she often has at least one design element in a project that really doesn't appeal to me. I could have lived with the sleeves...but definitely not the snowflakes...so I won't be doing them-this means using less yarn (and my yarn overage is a little tight) and I won't have to sew them on (I HATE SEWING).

I love this sweater so far. I love how it looks. I especially love the construction of it. The cabling above the pocket is GENIUS!! I find the whole construction of it intriguing and interesting. Mairi Muinonen is brilliant! (Hopefully I will continue to enjoy this sweater towards the ends as much as I do now!)

Genius!!!

I just had to show the finished product...these socks made me feel like a GENIUS!