Category Archives: WIP


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halfway super

Today I took Jakob on some errands, and he looked so cute in his little black hoodie that I just had to share this photo.
We went to the post office because I was hoping my Blue Moon order was in, but it turned out just to be Jakob’s passport. Something about his little baby face in a passport really cracks me up!

In the evening Maaike and Erika came over for a knit-night. Robyn was supposed to come too but Sean was sick so they stayed home. I regret to inform you that not a stitch was knit all night. However, much playing was done and yummy supper was made and enjoyed by all.

Hopefully, once Jakob goes to bed, I will get a chance to keep working on his costume. In the meantime, here’s a progress shot:

We’re halfway there!


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success!

I tried the costume on Jakob and with the increased leg length, it fit great! Yay! The short row shaping in the tushie area worked great to add room for the diaper too. I’m going to fix the other leg, then add another 3 or so rows of short rows in the back, and 3 in the front (also for the diaper bulk) before continuing.

I think this costume thing just might work out!


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just a typical saturday night

Any major knitterly repairs had to wait until tonight, since we had a birthday party this afternoon. One of my best friends’ son turns 2 this week, and our little family was invited to his party. I’m not going to post photos of them since I forgot to ask permission, but I am going to post a different photo (hi Debbie!) to my friend Debbie who is one of the very few non-knitters who reads my blog.

Jakob’s friend Taylor was at the party too, since we’ve known her father since high school, and her mom for the last few years. Taylor is exactly one day older than Jakob.
Hey baby…come here often?
After supper tonight I decided to brave the Superman repairs. I took photos and will break down what I did, step-by-step. It turns out that while I’ve councelled others to do this same repair, I don’t think I’ve actually done it myself before. It was much easier than I’d thought!
First I took a circular needle and wove it through the stitches, making sure to pick up the left bar of every stitch, and verifying that I had the correct number of stitches on the needle. You can also pick up the right bar, it doesn’t matter as long as you consistently pick up the same side of each stitch.
Next, I grabbed a dpn and “picked up” stitches 2 rows below the one on the needles. I only picked up 6 sts at a time so the fabric wouldn’t pull too tightly. Once I had the first 6 sts on the needle, I CUT one stitch on the middle row…the one in between the two rows on needles. I used a spare needle to unpick the yarn from those 6 sts, then took another needle and picked up the next 6 sts, unpicked the middle row, etc… (Yes, I left the scissors in the photo on purpose. Looks ominous, huh? LOL).

Once I’d done that all the way around the row I had the two parts of the leg separate. I was then able to add another 12 rows (1.5″) in length to the foot part of the leg.
With the knitting done, I “tidied” up the two parts by arranging them on 2 dpns each, making sure that I had the front and back aligned properly (wouldn’t want to sew the foot on crooked!). I left a really long tail for grafting, then cut the yarn.
Finally, I Kitchenered (grafted) the foot part to the leg. You can kinda see here how much length was added. I’m breastfeeding (and don’t drink anyways) so I had a cup of Earl Gray as my fortification instead of the typical glass of wine. 😉 I was about to do the second leg when Yannick suggested that I wait until after Jakob wakes up tomorrow so that I can try it on him first and be sure that I didn’t add too much…or need to add more.
So there you have it. One leg lengthened by an inch and a half, with my first not-too-sucky graft. One more leg to go.

You can use this type of repair for any knitting that’s too short and you want to add length, OR you can use it for knitting that is too long.  Follow the same steps to separate the work into two pieces and then unravel the side that goes in the opposite direction of your knitting for the required length, plus one row.  If using my costume leg as an example, I wouldn’t be able to unravel the top piece without picking out each stitch one by one, as I’d be unravelling in the same direction as I’d knit and it would be very time consuming.  I would unravel down the lower (leg) piece as that would be going opposite the knitting and would frog easily.

So if I had a leg that was 10 rows too long, I would separate the work onto two sets of needles and then unravel until I’d removed 11 rows.  The grafting row will account for the difference, “putting back” one row as it joins the two halves together.


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two legs

For some strange reason I find this photo adorable. 🙂 Two legs down, a body and two arms to go! My goal for tomorrow is to get the tighty-red-y part of the costume done…the underwear? bathing suit? short shorts? part. I’d like to say I’ll get done all the way to the belt, but I think that’s pushing it, since we have playgroup and stroller walking tomorrow. There IS good Thursday night TV though, so I’m hoping for a marathon knitting session.

Oh, and Lindsay…I think in all fairness, I DID ask people to guess, and you DID guess correctly, and that DOES deserve a prize! So if you can send me an email (off the blog) with your email address, and letting me know if you live in the US or Canada, then I can get your prize off to you! 🙂


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$%*&

I’m so mad. I’m SO mad. I have no one to be mad at but myself, but I am really, really so f*ing mad.

On Friday I ran a load of laundry before leaving the house for the day. I wanted to wash all the blankets and such that all the babies had touched/used during the playgroup, plus Jakob had spit up a few times and I didn’t want to leave his clothes in the hamper with milk on them. I also had the finished Montego Bay Scarf that I wanted to wash then let air dry before I gave it away. I ran the load, left for music class, then went to my parents’ house, and completely forgot about the laundry until I got home around 10pm.

Luckily (?) my mom had bought us some long-sleeved onesies in Plattsburg and Jakob had spit up again, so on Saturday morning I threw the new stuff into the washer with the old, damp load, refilled the machine and ran it again. I never looked at the clothes until I pulled them out of the washer on Saturday afternoon, ready to toss them into the dryer. I was eagerly waiting to pull out the Montego Bay Scarf to see how the Online sock yarn had held up to the washing… when I saw this:
And this:
&%**. I had accidentally left a velcro-closing bib in the laundry. I NEVER wash the bibs mixed in any more, I only do loads of ALL bibs, because I’ve had enough of the velcro getting caught and making a mess of our stuff. And now, the one time I forget to double-check it ruins not only a hand-knit, but something that isn’t even for me! It’s for charity! I’m SO mad. I will do my best to pull out the slack and weave in the end that got caught in the first photo, but there is nothing I can do for the run in the second photo. The yarn is actually torn. I will have to cut it just below, pick it out slowly and bind off, losing the extra foot or so in length. As a small miracle, the scarf grew in length after being washed, so losing the extra foot won’t really matter. What does matter to me is how fuzzy the scarf looks now after having velcro run along it. It doesn’t look “new” any more and I’m afraid they will think I’m donating a used scarf. I’m so mad.

In other knitting news, here is a project that is going well:
Yup, this is Jakob’s Hallowe’en costume progress.
C’mon, by now you should know what it is!
I couldn’t resist this shot of him modeling the work so far…you can see all the best parts- baby feet and that adorable grin. 🙂


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so close i can taste it

I finally have a chance to sit down at the computer! I’ve been using my snatches of time to catch up on your blogs and read my emails, so this is the first time I’ve had a small block of time where I can actually post. I’m not going to catch up any more, because, quite frankly, my days are boring and just blurs of more errands and more taking care of Jakob. I’ll still post photos, because if I didn’t I wouldn’t have anything to blog about!

We did do something different and special last week, though. On Friday we had Jakob’s first music class. There were about 25 or so moms and kids, ranging in age (the babies) from about 2 months until about a year. The class was hosted by a guy with a guitar, I think he called himself Loony Lorne or something. It was like “Sing-along with Raffi”…he played songs and sang and we all sang along and “danced” with our kids. At one point they all got toys and Jakob shook a maraca while I tried to keep it out of his mouth. Each week has a theme, and this week’s theme was the Beatles which was funny because we’d just seen the Beatles’ movie two days earlier, and Jakob really seems to like their songs.


Mommy with Jakob at 19 (!) weeks. Like his shirt? It says “I Only Cry When Ugly People Hold Me”. :]
Here’s my progress on the Montego Bay scarf. Since Yannick is sleeping in the other room and I’ve been tired lately, instead of watching TV until late, I’ve been getting into bed as soon as Jakob is down for the night. I loaded up my iPod with some new podcasts, and have been knitting like mad until my eyes get too heavy.

All that is left of this to knit is that little ball hanging below the needle holder. I’m going to try and finish it today, because I have this
Smooth DK that needs swatching! I’m going to try to beat the clock and knit Jakob a Hallowe’en costume this year. Any guesses as to what he’ll be dressed as?


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crochet? worms? boxes? I thought this was a knitting blog!

It is. But I’m tired, and taking a break from knitting ‘cus I’m bored with repeating the same 4 rows over and over.

Today I took Jakob for his 4 month vaccinations. My big boy is 14 lbs 2 oz and 25″ long! He was great and didn’t really cry, but between the shots and his teething, he has been really needing extra cuddles today.

I went to Toys R Us on our way home to buy a gift for a friend’s daughter’s first birthday, which is coming up. While we were there I decided to buy Jakob a Gloworm. I like thinking that he’ll enjoy toys that I used to play with, but I was really disappointed to see that they changed the design!

This is the GloWorm I remember. I’m also having vague recollections of a TV cartoon…or am I crazy? Oh- speaking of cartoons, anyone remember The Racoons? Did it air outside of Canada?
Anyways…this is the new GloWorm:

It’s cute, but totally not the same thing. It does play a few different lullabies though, so I guess there is some improvement. I’m going to wait until Yannick is around to give it to Jakob and see what his reaction is. It’s rated for ages newborn and up, so we’re good.


When we got home there were more boxes waiting for us! I think there is only one more package to go, and then I can open up all my books. Woo hoo! 🙂
Tonight starts a holiday called Yom Kippur. It is the Jewish Day of Atonement. You’re supposed to fast until sundown tomorrow, but I’m breastfeeding so I get out of it. I got out of it last year too ‘cus I was pregnant. (If Jews had hell, I’d be SO going for saying I’m “getting out of it” LOL). We went to dinner at my mom’s for the traditional “eat before the fast” meal, and tomorrow will be going to a friend of the family’s for the “breaking of the fast” meal. As a hostess gift I’m making her a few crocheted dishcloths. (As many as I can do by tomorrow night). Here’s my progress on the first one:

Finally, for Tara, I will tell you what yarn I used for the hat, but only once I remember to bring up the ball band so I can tell you. 🙂


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and finally…today!

Whee! I’m all caught up! (for now….)

This morning we went for a stroller walk with Robyn & Sean, and a mom (Bonnie) from my Thursday playgroup. We walked for around an hour and a half and it felt good to get in even a minimal workout!

Jakob woke up towards the end of the walk and once we were done we put the strollers side by side so he could see his cousin.
He was in such a great mood! He didn’t stop giggling and talking…its too bad that we had to upset him again today.

We decided that Yannick would give him a bottle every day at the 7:00pm feed. That way Jakob would (eventually!) get used to having a bottle, but it wasn’t the last one before bed so he’d still get a good feeding to help him sleep. Unfortunately Yannick has bowling on Tuesdays, but so that we wouldn’t miss a day, he came home at lunch time to do the lunch time feeding. It didn’t go well. After an hour of crying, resisting and passing out from exhaustion, Yannick had to go back to work and there was still 1 oz of an original 3 oz of breastmilk in the bottle. What little he had drunk was by accident as it spilled into his mouth and he swallowed so he wouldn’t choke. He finally calmed down when I held him and I got him to at least accept the bottle in his mouth. He didn’t drink it, but he chewed it like it was a teething ring, and ended up getting the rest of the milk without realizing it. It’s going to be really tough until he takes it, because his crying is really hard to take. He looks and acts as if we don’t love him and are torturing him. I think tomorrow night I will physically leave the house when Yannick tries to feed him, both so that he can’t smell me (or the milk) and so I won’t have to hear him cry. I might give Yannick a new pillow to rest him against and have him sit somewhere different so he won’t have the familiarity of my usual breastfeeding pillow and spot with the unfamiliarity of Yannick giving him the bottle.

Robyn brought me the Jitterbug I’d eyed at Effiloche. I *must* stop buying yarn! I couldn’t resist this one though, the colors just catch my eye. It reminds both of a bird of paradise flower, and those glowing neon Tetra fish you see at pet stores.

Isn’t it pretty? I think these will become just plain stockinette stitch socks for me me me. I think the colors stand out enough that I wouldn’t need anything fancy to have some pretty funky feet! (Uh…that’s funky in a GOOD way).

Look- I have been knitting! This is the progress so far on the Montego Bay scarf. I decided not to frog it after all (thanks Maaike!) and am slogging away. It’s a very easy pattern to memorize and I wouldn’t have to pay too much attention to it except that I’m knitting it on addi turbos and the points aren’t sharp enough to do the k2togs without looking. I’d advise someone else knitting this to use a sharper needle.

Something about Jakob’s pose in that photo just cracks me up. It looks like he’s saying “hey- check ME out!”


My aunt Mimi came over before driving back to Toronto today, and she brought Jakob a really soft sweatsuit. We put it on him to see if it fit and couldn’t resist giving him a cuddle while he was so warm and snuggly. Could you resist this face?

Now I’m done. Fini. Caput. I’ve done laundry, exercised, showered, taken care of Jakob, fed him and he’s currently crying is bum off in bed. I think I’m going to take him out and let him sleep in my lap until the next feed at 10:00 while I watch Big Brother and Law & Order. I’ll try and get some knitting in, then can’t wait to hit the sack!


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Wednesday and Thursday, Sept 5 and 6

On Wednesday I decided not to bring Jakob to the Stars & Strollers because the movie was Mr. Bean’s Holiday…not to take anything away from Mr. Bean fans, but I’m not one. Instead of going there, we went out early and went over to Fairview shopping center. I wanted to give in Jakob’s passport application, and decided to park near the entrance for the photo studio to see if his portraits were ready. They weren’t. I knew they were supposed to be ready only on the 6th but I figured one day early shouldn’t matter. Well, it did, because Monday was a holiday so they didn’t get their shipments in. It worked out ok that we went to Sears though since I found a pacifier that you can put in the freezer.
It’s by Nuby (Luv ‘n Care), and the part that goes in the mouth is made of a gel that freezes but doesn’t get solid, so the baby can still bite down without hurting his gums. I got the blue and red one.

I’m glad I found their website while looking for that photo- I found these teethers online and the crocodille one is perfect for Jakob. I’ve been trying to find something narrow that he can get into his mouth to chew on, and the croc with the separate tail is exactly what I need. Hmm…Babies R Us can’t get it, anyone know where I can buy one of these?

While looking for the photos of the teether I bought, I found this little item at Amazon.com:


Check it out- it’s a diamond-studded pacifier. Can you believe it? It has 278 pave set diamonds (3 carat total diamond weight) and is set in European White Gold. For a cool $17,000 US, this swanky item can be yours! (Of course, if you read the fine print it says that it is not recommended for use. But you can get it in emeralds and rubies!)

I had brought some knitting with me and had expected to have a nice WIP photo to show you all during the wait at the passport office, but they called our turn so fast I barely had time to knit 3 stitches! Luckily the girl accepted one of Jakob’s photos so I don’t have to redo it, and in about 6 weeks our little guy will have his very own passport. By then he probably won’t look like the photo any longer, but whatever. Because he’s under a year old the passport is good for only 3 years but I can get it updated with a new photo for free, one time only. I’m kinda hoping he doesn’t change too much so that I don’t need to replace the passport, because if I don’t then I can keep it as “his first passport”. If I send in a new photo and have it changed, they keep the old one.

I picked up some lunch on my way back through the mall to where I’d parked, then came home to feed Jakob and put him down for a nap.

I caught him sucking his thumb in his sleep! How cute! Half the time I’d prefer if he were to use a pacifier so I can control when/how long he uses it, but the downside is that if it falls out when he sleeps, he’ll cry and I’ll have to go put it back for him. The other half I’d prefer if he uses his hands ‘cus they’re always there. I think he’s made the decision for me- he doesn’t really like a pacifier at all, and always has his hands in his mouth. I did some research and it seems that if he stops by ages 4-6 (like most kids do) sucking his thumb WON’T cause too much trouble orthodontics-wise because his jaw and teeth will go back to how they should. It’s only if he continues after around 6 years old that it could be a problem that requires correcting in the future (like braces). Oy, I’m already worrying about braces?

Wednesday night I…I did something. I shouldn’t wait so long to catch up…I really have no idea what I did that night. I’m guessing I ordered in supper with Yannick, played with Jakob, and watched TV. So we’ll go with that. 🙂 What I do remember about Wed night is that Jakob had a REALLY HARD time with his teeth. He wouldn’t stop crying, and didn’t even take his final nap before bed ‘cus he was inconsolable. I had to resort to giving him a bit of baby tylenol right before bed because I KNEW it was his teething.

First thing Thursday morning I called his doctor to make an appointment. I did some reading and found out that the symptoms are very similar for teething as for an ear infection, and I didn’t want to assume it was his teeth and ignore something that needs treatment with antibiotics and could cause hearing problems. Luckily our doctor was free later this afternoon. After I fed him we went back to Fairview and I was able to pick up the portraits. When I remember I’ll scan them and post them here. I wasn’t too crazy about the quality of them…some look washed out and my free enlargement wasn’t sharp at all, in fact I’m having them reprint it because I’m not happy with how it came out. I think I’ll try Wal-Mart next time. I stopped by my brother’s work to show him the photos, then went up to the food court and had a bite to eat before packing us back up in the car.

I thought I was running late- we were registered for a 1:00pm class at the CLSC on Inroducing Solids to your Baby. It’s only offered every 6 weeks, and in another 6 weeks it will be just about time to start thinking about giving Jakob some solids, so I wanted to take it now. I got there and no one was there! Turns out it started at 1:30. So I wasn’t 10 min late, I was 20 min early! Oh well. The class was really informative and we got some recipes for puréeing our own baby food. I had to leave just before the end to make it to the doctor’s appointment on time.

Good news at the doctor’s office- it’s true what they say- a mother DOES know her child best. His ears are fine and his gums are swollen…HE’S TEETHING. And it has been going on for at least 3 weeks now. I can’t believe he’s teething so early! The teeth aren’t about to pop out yet or anything, but still…my little overacheiver! (Takes after his mommy LOL).

Thursday night is Big Brother 8 night, and we had fun watching the latest antics of the Donato family (Evel Dick and Daniele, for those who don’t watch, are a reunited father/daughter who haven’t spoken for 2 years. Dick had applied for the show, and Daniele was recruited. Dontcha love all the “reality” in the reality shows?). It was a cool episode, since Thursdays are the live episodes, and they had to do a week’s worth of challenges (kick someone off, choose a new Head of Household, nominate 2 people for eviction, have a Power of Veto competition, use/not use the Veto, kick someone off) all in one night. Whew- I was exhausted for them!

Jakob enjoyed watching with us…
…and here’s Yannick’s impersonation of Eric, America’s Player. He’s got the crazy eyebrow thing down!

Finally, I’ll leave you with a shot of my secret knitting. This is the second of the projects I want to submit to Knitty, and I’m designing it from scratch as I knit.
What’s that? You can’t see it well? Here, is this better?

🙂 If all goes well you’ll see a completed, UN-altered photo of it published in Knitty’s Winter issue!