E is for Emergency

This week marked our first run to Urgent Care regarding the Little One. After a day in which she was cantankerous and refused to nap I had a lay-down when the Man came home from work. 15 minutes later there was a muffled, "I need help!" I sprung out of bed to see Little One bleeding from her head (quite profusely) and the Man with a soaked paper towel. I grabbed a clean towel from the cupboard pinned her down and we stopped the bleeding. Apparently she had somehow wrangled the food processor blade* out of the kitchen cabinet and fallen on it leaving a one inch gash in the center of her forehead near the hairline. I called the nurse hotline and was told to bring Little One over just in case stitches were needed. Somehow these things always happen during rush hour so we finally finally arrived at urgent care, got admitted, and a couple hours and a popsicle later the Little One had her wound cleaned and glued back together. On the whole scale of first-time emergency visits this one is not too bad.

*All bladey-type kitchen implements are now far removed from little hands. All I can think of is that after we moved we forgot to baby-proof a couple of cabinets in our haste to unpack.

Startitis Rules

The changing weather seems to be affecting my ability to focus on large projects. Small projects are leaping on and off my needles with astonishing speed. This Brandywine Shawl is growing quickly - I've already got 12 repeats of 15 completed. I'll attribute that to the amount of garter stitch in the pattern rather than my staying up all hours to work on it. This yarn is from Deep Stash (bottom of the cedar chest) and was purchased at my first Madrona several years ago. Tactile does beautiful natural dye jobs and I hope the store gets back in production. I've also got socks, bloomers for Little One, and a sweater for Little One on the needles at the moment and I'm thinking about adding something else today. Part of the casting on craziness comes from diving into my stash, seeing what I have, and wanting to knit it RIGHT NOW. If only I had an extra set of arms...

Lizard Mittens

I got an itch to cast on a small colorwork project Sunday night and dug a couple of partial skeins out of my stash. Voila! Lizard mittens! They're sized to fit a 3 to 5 year old.

Pattern: Lizard Mittens (free Ravelry pattern)
Yarn: Le Vieux Rouet Superwash Sock (blue) & Knit Picks Palette (green)
Needles: US #2 1/2
Mods: I knit these holding the yarn double so I got a nice thick mitten. It's helpful to have a bit of Selbuvotter knowledge while knitting these since the instructions are a bit brief.

PS - Thanks for all the lovely comments on my previous ranty post. It helps to know that other people have the same problems!

Dear Judgey Seattle Parents,

Please eff off. Seriously. The last thing I need when I take my kid to the playground is commentary on my wardrobe. My choice to wear a t-shirt with a zombie on it ( and a cardigan over it!) is not tantamount to wearing daisy dukes while smoking virginia slims and talking about how baby daddy just got back from prison. You probably wouldn't have even noticed it if I hadn't been fanning myself with one side of the cardigan. Take your crocs-with-socks wearing, North Face fleece clad, poorly chosen plaid Bermuda shorts and shove it. Hard. Just because I'm young and choose to wear Converse rather than sensibly ugly shoes does not mean I love my child any less than you do yours. Remember what Mom said about keeping your mouth shut unless you have something nice to say? Yeah, it still applies as an adult.

Sincerely,

Tired of Judgey Hippy Seattle Parents

Cece

I finished my mom's birthday sweater last week buuuut it's still sitting out waiting to be put in the mailbox. She's in Havasu basking in the desert warmth anyway so she'll have a nice surprise waiting for her when she gets home. The sweater is actually a lighter green but my camera really hates photographing green so this is as good as it gets.

Pattern: Cece from ChicKnits
Yarn: Vickie Howell Craft by SWTC in Cathie & Steve color
Needles: US #6 Harmony interchangeable
Mods: I lengthened the body by about 2 inches.

This & That

I realize I've been pretty quiet lately. Maybe that's because now that I'm done organizing our move I've been organizing a crap-ton of other stuff like Knit Night at the Rat City Rollergirls with some of my awesome knitting group. Yeah! I had soooo much fun and got a little over zealous reenacting jams with Stariel who was injured in my..um..excitement. Next up is my housewarming a la People's Pub which is in my new hood and a visit from my BFF at the end of the month. Now that Old Moldy is out of my life I've been doing quite a bit more knitting including my Mom's birthday sweater (Mom, pretend you didn't see this!). When I asked her what she wanted she sent me a picture of a big, woolly, cabley, collared sweater but with added text for something "summery". Ignoring the picture I immediately went to some organic cotton/milk fiber yarn that I've been wanting to try and hit up the ChicKnits patterns we have at the store. I should finish tonight with plenty of time for blocking, drying, and mailing before birthday time.

Louise Cardigan

I recently finished the Louise Cardigan from Vintage Baby Knits for a sometimes Purlygirl who is due...today! Wow! That went by quickly! It's a sweet little sweater and it was fun to knit.

Pattern: Louise Cardigan from Vintage Baby Knits
Yarn: Color Baby (Australian Merino is so soft!)
Needles: #3 Addi Turbo
Mods: None!
This sweater is knit bottom up and in the round. I had no problems except for trying to start the sleeves on my bamboo needles which totally hated the slip stitch pattern. I recommend something pointy and sharp like Addi Turbos for maneuvering those tiny little stitches.