Stitches

Well, after 11 days I have gotten my stitches out. Yes, I cut my finger badly two Sundays ago and ended up getting six stitches in my left index finger. Luckily my dad was down helping out with the house, so he drove me to urgent care (B does NOT do well with traumatic injuries with blood). It's been difficult to type or do much of all the things I love to do. The bag of clearanced beautiful organic soy yarn I picked up has had to wait... sigh.

With my much-improved mobility I'll be able to get the backlog of updates and photos.

And don't worry-- I'm not posting any photos of the injury.

Groundhog cake

Friends of ours had a Groundhog Day party (and super-secret B-day of Hostess C) last weekend. Instead of making something with our choice of tubers, B made a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. For those in the know, B's cheesecakes are amazing. Anyhow, to keep it in the theme, after B made and frosted the sucker (it had over 2 lbs of chocolate in it), I decorated it with a groundhog and some radishes sculpted out of marzipan.

I used leftover chocolate graham crackers from B's crust as "dirt" around Punxsutawney Phil and the tubers.

It was dee-lish. And cool lookin'! It almost made up for his prediction of six more weeks of winter.

January gift

January's gift is another woolen soaker from a different pattern. B's been calling them Butt Sweaters. The pattern called for adding hidden rows in the tush to accommodate the bulk of a cloth diaper, which I think I did okay on. There are some gaps on the sides, but it will function just fine as it is. Again, a new technique that I know I'll be more successful with the next time I make one. This one has a smaller crotch seam than the one I made in October and cuffed legs. The pattern was actually for long pants, but I just shortened them and added the little "Charlie Brown" zig zag.
I know it will be summer, and knowing how quickly babies grow, I didn't want to make long woolens only to have the babe grow out of them before we got to use them. I have a new pattern for yet a different style--it's constructed with applix tabs in the front like a bummis cover and knitted flat. I have the perfect monkey pattern to knit onto the butt.

December gift

For December I knew I wanted to make a toy... so here he is. It's a(nother!) Jess Hutch bunny, but with a knitted on pink and red sweater. And he's smaller than mine, more the size of Burke's bunny.
There's just something great about orange bunnies. And mohair blend yarn.
It took a while to finish; The stripes were trickier than I thought they would be and didn't turn out quite even like I wanted them to. I've noticed when things don't turn out how they "should," I have the tendency to just walk away and do something else. I really had to force myself to accept the little flaws and move on. The toy will be loved to felty goodness and I'm sure the imperfections won't be noticed.

Completed is sometimes better than perfect.

November's gift

I'm still working on one project a month for the new babe. November's project was a pair of booties. Sorry the pictures are kind of crummy; I think our camera is beginning to fail. Must be all that drywall dust and concrete powder it's ingested over the past year.
I used the pattern for Saartje's Booties, and made them using thin acrylic baby yarn in variegated rainbow and then cream for the top. I found wooden buttons at a local fabric store and used those to close the straps.
They turned out pretty good for a first attempt! Next time I'll make the button loops smaller and sew up the bottom using a different method. I'm just not every good at knitting stuff flat and sewing them up. I like making things in the round much more. Less seams, less fuss. But that's just me.

Beginnings

It's the beginning of a new month. For those of you who know us, this is always the hardest part. Once we get through the first few days, past the 4th and 5th of the month, things will be just fine, but getting past it is like walking on shaky ground. You never know what will bear the weight of sorrow and what will give way. Will it be thinking about the new teeth Burke would have cut? The smell of Dreft? The crying baby sitting forlorn and wailing in his stroller, his mama insisting he just stop crying 'cause it's drivin' her crazy? After all, shopping for Danielle Steele novels in the clearance bin is more important. I guess we'll just wait and see.

The footing seems firmer this month with the reassurance of pokes and wiggles from the baby in my belly. We had an ultrasound this week and everything checked out ok... or at least from the small glimpses the technician could catch. Just as I thought, this kiddo, like Burke is ABSOLUTELY NO FAN of the ultrasound. She managed to capture a fleeting picture of a foot before the babe flipped away from the wand. Every time she got close, the babe would shift away, rolling around and making me a little queasy. So, no pretty profiles, just a couple more of the baby's head as he or she waved those little hands in protest before lodging down by my bladder. And the fleeting foot.

On another note of hope and healing, my mama decided to sponsor a group of embroiderers in need through KIVA in Burke's name. They offer small micro-loans to people in developing regions to better their lives. When the small loan is repaid, she will take the money and find another group of crafters in need to help. Burke comes from crafty people on both sides of his family. From home builders and designers, woodworkers, quilters, knitters, engineers, jewelers, we have always worked with our hands. What better way to honor someone, allowing them to live on, than supporting someone trying to make a living doing the same thing?

Sigh. Just one step at a time through these tricky emotions. Focus on the now, be in love and be present each day, even if only for a moment. Every day I walk is an opportunity to remind myself: Peace is Every Step.