The New Nirvana

The door to yarn heaven is in the middle of an unassuming glass storefront in Alexandria, Va., close to the waterfront. Just inside the Springwater Fiber Workshop hang rows and rows of yarn stretching high above my head. I wanted to touch every single one, and just stare at the colors.

I went there to specifically find this yarn for the Alien Illusion scarf in Limeade and Midnight Green. Then while I was there I decided to get the same yarn in Creme and Prairie Fire to make this snowflake illusion scarf, which I think will be my mom's Christmas present instead of the original knitting class scarf. I got some new Addis in Size 8 to do them both up.

But then I found THIS YARN in Asters (#5980). The shade card doesn't do it justice. It's gorgeous.

That's it.

No more yarn until after Christmas. Maybe someone will get me a gift certificate??

The De-volution of Woman

Apparently I have devolved/recovered from my Academy days.

I Get a Kick Outta This!

OK. I am insane. I now have a new Holy Grail of knitting.

I really want to knit boots. These were just on TV on "my show." Right after a WaPo Sunday Source feature about hip knits that featured knit boots.

Must. Have. Must. Knit.

Psst, Wanna See My Stash?

I am already starting to collect more yarn than my slow fingers are going to allow me to knit up before the holidays. Today's purchase: some Lion's Brand Wool-Ease in pumpkin orange for a scarf for my sister Rachel. I was going to do this Rowan Biggy Print, but she really likes orange, so I thought she would prefer this.

I already also have this Lion's Brand Mystery in white and black, which I thought about making up for me. Also have some random boucle and fun fur that I was going to try to combine for a scarf, though I'm not sure how it will turn out yet.

And I want to find the materials to make the Stitch 'n' Bitch Alien Illusion scarf (spread 3) for Oren for Hanukkah. Here they are! I think I'm going to go here and get them. I'll take it with me to my mom's at Christmas and work on Oren's scarf.

To Boob or Not to Boob

There is nothing that I am more proud of now than the fact that my kid can latch right on to the boob and get a nice meal of breastmilk whenever and wherever he wants it. If you had told me 6 months ago that I would have such a sense of accomplishment at something that I once thought was so simple, I would have thought you were high.

Of all the difficulties of pregnancy, labor and childrearing that I mentally prepared for, breastfeeding was not one of them. But Malcolm was 4 months old before I finally thought, "hey, I've gotten this down."

From the first week of engorgement to the [EDS NOTE: Gross description] bloody gashes on my nipples, the 4 doses of anti-yeast treatment and the Gentian Violet/Exorcist baby weekend, breastfeeding has taught me one big lesson: PERSISTENCE aka stubbornness.

To boob became my one quest. I walked around most days in the apartment topless to airdry what the Good Lord gave me and gave up some of my last shreds of dignity to attach myself to the Moo-Cow Machine (the Ameda Egnell Elite), just so he could have breakfast/elevenses/lunch/snack/dinner/late-night snack/midnight munch/Sleepers Awake stuffing.

This story is the best description I've ever seen about my experience. I laughed til I cried (or cried til I laughed?) when I read this.

I could not have made it through without the help of Pat Shelly at the Breastfeeding Center. She made me feel like I could do this. And now I am. Just whip it out, pop him on and BAM! Dinner.

So what's the point of this post?

Oren is reading aloud from "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. Malcolm is starting his first solid foods, bananas, cereal and avocados.

Time flies when you're having fun.

My First Scarf!!

Here it is, as modeled by the yucca tree:

Made with Rowan Biggy Print 100% merino wool (100g, 33 yds) 3 balls

Addi Turbo Size 19, 32in circular needles

I bastardized two patterns after the first one I started with wasn't coming out the way I wanted.

CO 9 sts. K1, P1 to create a seed stitch. Around 40 rows (?), I started to make the keyhole with the second ball of yarn. I knit/purled first four stitches of the row, then joined second ball of yarn to finish last five stitches in the row. Stitched about 10 rows with both balls, then rejoined the two sides by knitting with second ball of yarn across whole row. BO in pattern. Fringe.

Pretty cool, huh?

A back story?

I feel like I should give more details about myself than the cheesy blogspot profile lets you enter. But first, today's knit (will try to post photos later):

Rowan Ribbon Twist (70% wool, 25% acrylic, 5% polyamide) in cream, gray and taupe. 3 balls (100g, 66yds) This is some expensive, but beautiful yarn.

Addi Turbo (wow! fast...) Size US19, 32in circular needles

A take-off on a Stitch 'n' Bitch "Ribbed for Her Pleasure" scarf (the pink one in the photo).

CO 16 stitches. K2, P2. Ad nauseum...

So far only about 5inches long, and I want to make it for my stepdad Mike for Christmas. I want it closer to 60 inches long. I am soooooo impatient.

The only reason I've gotten that much done is that Oren took Malcolm and Mia the dog out for a walk in the park and I'm recuperating from a cold on the couch in front of the TV. cough, cough...

And another thing that makes me impatient: breastfeeding in the middle of the night when I'm sick. I love my kid, but it's a hell of a time to hit a growth spurt and wake up every two hours. I'm exhausted. And yet can't stop knitting...

My back story is that I just moved to DC in July with a month-old baby, a husband and a dog into a 550-sf apartment. I'm staying home with the kid for the time being, and got an attack of craftiness. So this month I took a beginning knitting class at Stitch DC here on Capitol Hill and just finished my first project: a keyhole scarf for my sister Sarah for Christmas.

Interestingly, it's not the project that we started in class. That is still a WIP (work in progress). Theoretically, it's a scarf for my mom for Christmas. With 4 sisters, 4 parents, a baby and a husband, Christmas/Hanukkah is coming too fast this year.

Off to cook dinner. I need to find a recipe for the shrimp, scallops and squid that I got the other day at Whole Foods. I want to cook the pasta birds nests that I got too.

Where are the boys?? Last thing I heard was a call 2 hours ago from Oren as he was backtracking looking for Malcolm's hat. Let's hope he hasn't also lost the dog or the baby. Wouldn't surprise me.

testing: k1, p2, k3

This blog is going to be a place for me to vent about mothering and knitting as I try my hand at both for the first time.

Malcolm is 5 mos old and my very first finished knitting project (a keyhole scarf) is just a day old. I like how both turned out.