Saturday was more of the same sicknesses as Thursday and Friday, with the main difference being that I was able to leave Jakob at home with Yannick when I went to work. This was the first time since Jakob’s birth that he’s been alone with Yannick for more than 3 hours, since the previous times they’d spent the day together I was still breastfeeding and Yannick brought Jakob to me to feed every 3 hours or so. My boys spent the day together on the couch, watching tv while Jakob slept in Yannick’s arms. He (Yannick) loved the feeling so much that he never got off the couch to do any of the tidying up I’d hoped for…but I can’t fault him. As much as it sucks when Jakob is sick, it is really sweet the way he cuddles. The gastro had the poor kid soiling his clothes so often that we got tired of doing laundry, so for a little while in the morning we gave him breakfast in only a bib and diaper. I can’t get over how tall he looks in this photo. He’s average height, but I find his arms and legs look so long!
Saturday night we went to the Biftheque with my family to celebrate last years’ birthdays. (We’re a bit behind). After dinner they all came back here to open gifts, and I FINALLY was able to give my mom the Montego Bay scarf I’d knit for her. It had been sitting in my drawer since November when I thought I’d be giving it to her on her actual birthday.
In other knitting gift news, my inlaws have both requested socks for Christmas this year. Everytime they were with Yannick when he was wearing his handknit socks, he kept raving about the fit, the comfort, etc. Could it be? Could I finally wind up with some family members (besides Yannick) who *gasp* appreciate my knitting?
Does anyone remember me talking about the Cabaret for the Cure? My friend’s leukemia fundraiser? Well, it is next week, so last weekend I got my tushie in gear and fixed the Montego Bay Scarf I’d knit for her.
Yeah. Um, no.
We won’t speak of that scarf again. I wove in the edge that got caught, and I spent 1.5 %&$^ hours carefully unpicking the part that had torn and ripped (of course it wasn’t the side that would unravel easily), and used new yarn to bind off, and wove in all the ends. Then I looked at it.
I had to admit that it was now a) a good 2 feet shorter, and b) still looked really fuzzy from getting attacked in the washing machine by some stray velcro. I did the only thing I could think of to tame the fuzz…I let it soak in Eucalan for 10 minutes, rinsed then gave it fresh water and a squirt of hair conditioner. I worked the conditioner through then put it in the dryer. Much of the fuzz was flattened, but even at this new, softer feel I had to admit that it still wasn’t good enough to be a charity-auctioned scarf. Hell, it wasn’t good enough to be a raffle prize!
I kept looking at another project I’m doing with the proper yarn, and realizing that I should never have skimped on the yarn for that project. Well, I didn’t really skimp to save money. I just honestly thought the sock yarn would be cute, since there was one in my LYS that was made with sock yarn and it was great. I should have realized that particular sock yarn was Regia Bamboo, which had a much silkier hand and feel than plain old sock yarn.
I didn’t want to leave my friend empty-handed or renege on my offer of knitted goods, so I looked around to see what I could offer. In the end I am giving them 3 sets of knitted goodies: all stuff I’d knit for Jakob. I don’t feel bad because a) I missed the boat on some articles that are already too small for Jakob, b) they have never been worn, c) they were knit with love, and d) they will go to make someone else’s child warm and happy, and that is much better than staying here and sitting in a bag.
Since they WERE originally knit for Jakob I took some photos of him wearing them, just to have for my records, and I will show them to you here.
This is the “Ice Cream Cardigan and Hat” knit from 2 balls of Regia Canadian Colors- Ottawa. I used my leftovers to knit “Christine’s Baby Booties” to match. Jakob was all giggles that day and I can’t help but crack up when I see these photos!
I think this one (below) was my favorite of his silly grins. He looks like a roly-poly little toy and I just want to pinch his cheeks! I will be giving away the Just Ducky Hat and Socks set. It is still too big for him, and I think by the time it would fit he would be too old to wear it.
I’m sorry…I think I’m going to gush here…but I LOVE this boy’s face!
The last set I will be giving away is the Froggy Hat and Socks set. I don’t know why but the hat is way too small but the socks are too big…it would have been cute when he was smaller but that would have been May and too warm…all in all I feel quite comfortable with giving it away. More of his favorite face…sucking in his lip. (He didn’t stay that way for long, I think I tickle-bombed him right after this photo was taken). Finally, some other knit photos to share. This is the Baby Cabled Cardigan I finally got around to finishing last week. I don’t know if this photo properly shows it, but the cardi is baggy and the sleeves are too long, which means it should fit for another 3-6 months- or until the Winter is over. But you can clearly see that the length is too short. Every time he moves his arms it rises, and since it has a hood the weight of it pulls the back down and the front rises up to about his mid-chest. I’m going to fix it once I finish my secret project.
The hood however…let’s not go there.
Cute elfin look- yes. Practical and useful hood- no. In theory the hood would fit a normal head, but the cables pull it in too much. I really don’t feel like knitting a border, and I can’t pick up more sts at the neckline and work up since the hood already grows up from the front edges of the cardi. So the hood will be purely decorative. I’m ok with that.
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. 🙂
It’s been a really hectic week! We are part of a playgroup that meets every Thursday at a different mom’s house. This week was our turn. With a baby you don’t want to leave stuff for the last minute, so on Tuesday I made my lists of what I needed, and picked up all my groceries. On Wednesday after the movies (we saw The Feast of Love…it was a tearjerker but which was totally NOT for kids…lots of nudity and sex and stuff…) I went home and began to prepare whatever I could prepare in advance. Finally, on Thursday at lunch time, everything was ready. We’d locked Sam in the basement, vacuumed, cleaned, set out the food, arranged all the furniture and toys for maximum space, and voila- this was how my house looked:
This is the view of our dining room from standing in the living room. Normally the table is in the middle of the room and there aren’t any toys in there.
Each mom who hosts provides the food so no one has to bring anything. We usually provide finger foods because it’s a bit unweildly to wrangle a baby and a knife and fork. I put out pasta, Caesar salad, cold pizzas, veggies and dip, nachos and salsa, and 3 different kinds of cheeses, cubed, with crackers.
This was the “dessert” area, LOL. In the bowls there are Smarties, tropical dried fruits and Ringolos, then popcorn, then a platter with 3 different kinds of cookies.
This is the view going the other way, looking into the living room.
And this is how that same view looked a few hours later! In this photo there are 11 moms and 12 babies, and by the end of the day there were a total of 15 moms and 17 babies (2 sets of twins). Whew!
It was a lot of work to get ready, it probably doesn’t look that way but each time I’d get in the middle of something, like slicing veggies or boiling water for the pasta, Jakob would cry and need to be held, or fed, or changed, or I had to make dinner for Yannick and I…it’s a lot of “stops” and “starts” with a baby around, but in the end it was all worth it. I love to entertain so we had a really good time having a house full of people. Plus I’d invited my neighbor (literally 2 doors over) who has twins 6 months older than Jakob, and it was the first time we’d gotten together since we’ve moved here, so it was nice to get a chance to get to know her a bit more.
On Wednesday I’d finished the Montego Bay Scarf. Yay! I was really, really happy with how it came out, and needed only to wash it and it would be ready to give away.
Here’s a closeup of the stitch pattern.
Finally, on Thursday night I started swatching for the Hallowe’en costume. No one has guessed it yet… 🙂
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?
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!
Ok, truthfully my birthday started at midnight, when I opened up my first card. I was confused because there was no name on the outside, but it was all explained when the card turned out to be from our cat, Sam. He didn’t write my name on the outside of the card, since, DUH, cats can’t write. (Silly readers).
I signed up with a stroller walking group and since it was raining outside they were meeting at a local mall, so I packed up Jakob and went for some much-needed exercise. We were finished right about the time the stores were opening, so I went to go visit my brother at his work.
He took this lovely photo of us. Ignore my crazy-flat hair…I’d been sweating up a storm. Still…this is the only photo taken on my birthday that has ME in it, so here you go. For the first time ever I took advantage of my brother’s managerial discount to treat myself to something for my birthday. I keep hearing people praising Crocs (the real foam ones, not plastic knock-offs) and had been admiring the Mary-Jane style, so I picked up a pair of them in black. They are SO comfy! I wish I’d bought them earlier in the summer!
From Fairview Jakob and I went to the video game store to trade in the sucky game we’d bought that Saturday night a few weeks ago. I traded it for the 2 games I’m missing in the SpongeBob SquarePants series. Don’t laugh- the one I already have, The Battle For Bikini Bottom is a lot of fun, and not too hard that I can’t play it on my own. I picked up SpongeBob SquarePants: the Movie Game and Lights, Camera, Pants!. The first one is supposed to be similar to the one I have already, the second one is 30 mini-games that you can compete against others for “auditions” for a movie being filmed in Bikini Bottom.
We came home and spent the afternoon sewing in ends on my Knitty submission. (Well, I did. Jakob didn’t really help that much). Yannick has bowling every Tuesday so I didn’t feel guilty going to my first Knitting Guild meeting of the year. I didn’t think to ask my mom to babysit, so Jakob came with me.
He helped Norma teach the proper way of doing an SSK…
…and obediently modeled my Montego Bay Scarf-in-progress.
We left in time to put him to bed, and just as I’d sat down on the couch to relax, Yannick walked in with a little treat for me:
A Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard cake from Dairy Queen! YUM. As much as I can’t wait to dig in, I DON’T want the temptation of eating the whole thing, so we put it right into the freezer and will cut it Wed night after dinner at my parents’ house.
We watched the Big Brother episode that I’d taped earlier (bye bye Jameka!) and FINALLY saw some footage from the Jury house! I’d been wondering when we were going to see the evicted houseguests again…
In sad news, we tried the 2 SpongeBob games, and the Lights, Camera, Pants! one was defective. 😦 Yannick will return it for me on Wed and pick up something new.
I don’t know where the time goes. I blink and it is a few days after I said I would post. Sorry, loyal reader(s)! 🙂 On Wednesday my mom, her friend Esther and I took Jakob to go see the movie Stardust. I loved it! They took a while to get the story, but I caught on right away and thought it was amazing. If you like The Princess Bride, you’ll like Stardust!
That afternoon we were supposed to have a playdate with Maaike and her daughter, and Robyn and her son, but they both cancelled on me so Jakob and I spent the afternoon making beef jerky for Yannick with our food dehydrator. I like beef jerky too but this time I used the “hot and spicy” spice mix, and it is WAY too hot for me.
On Thursday we spent the morning play around in bed.
We worked on some tummy time, which he is getting much better at. He’s always been good at holding his head up, but usually starts to fuss after a few minutes. He is now able to go much longer before getting frustrated or sore (holding up his head).
Thursday afternoon we were invited to join a friend’s playgroup. It was so much fun! Her daughter is only 1 day older than Jakob, and they were the two oldest kids there. There were 11 moms and kids total, and the youngest baby is two-and-a-half weeks old. I gave that mom great “props”- I certainly didn’t have the energy to go out that early! It was a riot watching all of these babies- just imagine all 11 together once they start to crawl! Right now they’re not doing much, but it is more for the mommies to get a chance to socialize. After the playgroup a few of us took our kids out with their strollers for a walk, then I went to the pharmacy then to my parents’ house. I had invited myself, Jakob and Yannick over for supper because I was going to go to my friend Jackie’s to watch Big Brother at 8:00pm, but Jackie had to cancel so I made sure I was home in time. I fed Jakob and spent the night working on the JCA project some more.
Friday we played around some more then went and did a few errands. I wanted to exchange one of the breastfeeding tops I’d bought at Thyme for a different one that was more flattering, and also wanted to return a toy I’d bought for Jakob since I wasn’t happy with it. Luckily both stores were in the same mall so I didn’t have to run around too much. Friday night we brought Jakob to my parents’ house to babysit and Yannick and I were going to see Stardust (I knew Yannick would love it) but last minute something came up so I came home alone to get a good chunk of knitting done, and Yannick went to help my parents clear out their backyard for a pool they are going to put in. (Yay!) The other good news is: I finished the JCA project! I just have a few ends to weave in, but those suckers are done! I’m very excited because I want to start new things already!
Today we went to Robyn’s dad’s store and I got my new digital camera. It is the Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph and I am so excited to finally have a camera small enough to throw into my purse or diaper bag. Our current Canon (PowerShot S2 lS) is wonderful but SO bulky! Robyn’s sister, my (wonderful, amazing, awesome, great) cousin Amy was working that day and not only gave us great service but made Jakob laugh and smile. After the store we had a playdate walk in the park with my grad date of all people! He had married his high school sweetheart (we had gone to grad as friends, with her permission) and they’d moved to the West Island and had a daughter just 2 months before Jakob was born. We went to Centennial Park and hung out at the dog park for a bit before going to sit by the lake and catch up. I can’t believe it- I haven’t seen him in 13 years! We found each other on Facebook of all places.
From there we went to my parents’ house for a short visit, then came home. We just finished supper and Jakob is napping so I’m going to weave in those ends so I can start working on my next project:
That’s the Montego Bay Scarf from this summer’s Interweave Knits. It is scarf 1 of my (hopefully) 3 items that I will be donating for my friend’s fundraiser auction.
This photo sucks but shows the color of the yarn a bit more true to life. Each strand of color is plied with black. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
The gastro had the poor kid soiling his clothes so often that we got tired of doing laundry, so for a little while in the morning we gave him breakfast in only a bib and diaper. I can’t get over how tall he looks in this photo. He’s average height, but I find his arms and legs look so long!
In other knitting gift news, my inlaws have both requested socks for Christmas this year. Everytime they were with Yannick when he was wearing his handknit socks, he kept raving about the fit, the comfort, etc. Could it be? Could I finally wind up with some family members (besides Yannick) who *gasp* appreciate my knitting?
On Wednesday I’d finished the Montego Bay Scarf. Yay! I was really, really happy with how it came out, and needed only to wash it and it would be ready to give away.
jeloca.com 