the girl's got rhythm

babies, and hats, and socks, oh my

Here is little miss Sophie wearing her Neapolitan Ice Cream Hat:



It's just a tad too big. Better too big than too small, though (another hat I made her for christmas turned out too small :(... oh well, I know a little baby who would look good in it).

And here's where I was at on my first sock yesterday afternoon:




I finished it last night and cast on for the second one a few hours ago. These two HAVE to match up! My favorite part of knitting the first one was turning the heel, it was almost like magic... I just followed along the row-by-row instructions, and it just turned itself!

winter wonderland

We had a very busy christmas around here... Santa brought Sophie a tunnel to crawl through, cardboard bricks, and wooden building blocks. She loves to stack things up and build things, as you can see here -



Instead of coloring with the crayons, she stacks them up.

She got lots of new clothes and some fun books, which she might enjoy someday... hopefully someday soon.

Mama got lots of neat things as well, including yarn and new needles (pictures to come soon!). I'm almost done with my first sock ever... I think I like knitting socks!

happy solstice!

The days are getting longer now... thank goodness! It seems like it's already been winter for a very, very long time.

I've been knitting with my new double pointed needles, my first project was a doll hat -



See?


And then I had to make another one for Sophie's friend Sierra. Because I'm sure her baby doll needs a hat too.

This is my second Robin's Egg Blue Hat - I still haven't taken any pictures of the first one, but this one turned out better anyways. I just put the button on this morning:




Not the greatest picture of me, but you get the idea. The only thing I don't like is how pointy the top is... if I make another one, I'll buy the right size double pointeds first so that there isn't a seam right in the front of the hat also. Another christmas present wrapped and ready to go...


And Sophie turns 19 months old today.

(I think I have more fun with these blocks than she does)

all wrapped up

Finally finished up a project that's been "done" for a while but needed the finishing touches... these mittens (same pattern as my last post but knitted up the same size, thank you very much!) needed to be lined with polar fleece for gifting.



Ta-da - lining 2-year-old size mittens is really much harder than it looks. I only stabbed myself with the sewing needle once (sewing needles are a lot sharper than darning needles!) on the way to getting it done...



...and now they're all wrapped up and ready to go.

It's supposed to be -20 degrees F tomorrow, and Sophie and I are planning a shopping expedition... we'll see how that goes!

why knitting during finals week isn't a good idea

Aside from the common sense reason that knitting takes away valuable time that should be spent studying for said finals?

This happens.



Yeah. See those two mittens? They are supposed to be a pair. As in they are supposed to be the same size.

They were both knitted in the same amount of time, with the same yarn, same pattern, same needles, same exact number of rows and stitches.

What the heck happened?? Well, I knitted one on Monday (the day before my Anatomy & Physiology final) and I knitted the other one on Wednesday (the day after my A&P final). Check out my gauge:



.... Yeah. I think I was maybe a little stressed when I did the first one? And a little relieved when I did the second one?

Ha!

I think I may have learned my lesson now... just in time for finals to be over! I'm so happy I'm done!!

the perfect lunch

There's just nothing better than homemade pel meni. Mine are potato, not meat, with some onion and garlic thrown in for good measure as well.

Eaten smothered in Sriracha hot sauce, rice vinegar, sprinkled with curry powder, fresh cilantro if you like, and sour cream on the side.

Food of the gods.