Black Friday Mittens

Last year for Christmas, I received the wonderful book Vettlingar frá Vorsabæ, and decided to make some mittens for Siggi, called Stubbur. I tried using some worsted yarn that i had bought at a local sheep farm, but they were too big. (I did use the finished one to clean snow off my car last winter while they were still in my knitting bag).

The day before Thanksgiving, we had snow, and had not yet gotten all the winter things for the kids, so Siggi had no mittens to wear in the snow. These were all done except the sewing the tops up and weaving the ends in (the part I always procrastinate on). So I finished them up in the car on the way to the record store on Black Friday. We always use that day to support local stores, including the record store.

I did make him a pair last year, with Brown Sheep Naturespun instead.

Maile Sweater, modelled

I was able to catch her in the sweater. Just in time; she’s starting to outgrow 3 months size clothes. The dress is a little bulky so it kept her from being able to button the top button. She got a few compliments for the sweater, though.

Ultrasound knitting, or what have I been up to all of this time

So it’s been quite some time since I posted. One of the reasons is I finally finished my university degree last spring, so I was spending all of ny available time on my acoustic beamforming project (which involved coding things twice when my computer hard drive completely failed a week before the warranty expired).

Another reason was born 10/10, Herborg Gígja. She was 8 lbs 10 oz and 22 inches. I’ll see if I can get her to model her sweater later.

I had an ultrasound appointment in the spring, and no knitting to keep me busy in the waiting room, so I stopped at the LYS on the way with a pattern in mind. I had exactly 10 minutes allowed to make it to my appointment on time, so I flew around the store and finally settled on a gender-neutral enough bluish-purple and grey Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Paints.

The sweater was done (and blocked!) before she was born, but the buttons hadn’t made it on until yesterday. Since it is a newborn size, I figured I had better finish it soon.

Finishing for Christmas

I started hat & mittens based on this pattern and a pattern from Robin Hansen for the mittens. They have been mostly done, but were waiting to be sewn together. Not wanting Gísli to be eaten up by the Yule Cat, I simply had to finish.

Cuddle cloth

I started this before any baby project, but it sat in my bag waiting to be finished until we went on a trip last weekend. I got the pattern from an Icelandic knitting magazine, but it’s a free pattern available from Garnstudio. I modified the bunny a little to make it more like a sheep, but hubby thinks it looks like a dog and big brother thinks it’s a bear.

T-shirt fun

I have been having fun decorating t-shirts and onesies. I really want to do some linoleum printing because I have some great ideas, but not sure when I would have time to carve lino tiles.

Method #1- Heat N Bond
Designs from Beehive Collective

Method #2 -Avery dark transfer paper for inkjet

Blanket in process

Since Gísli beat the blanket, I still work on it from time to time while he sleeps in my lap.

Bittersweet

The sad news: the last local bookstore near me is closing, for real estate reasons (rather than business ones).

The good news: all books were half off, so I acquired the great book Mend It Better by Kristin M Roach. A great reference for how to do various sewing repairs, plus some fun creative ideas on embellishing or upcycling. Some of these are things my mother never taught me, and it’s good to have a reference. I think this would be a great gift for a young girl going off to college.

One Month Old (plus a few days)

So my original due date must have been correct because a large but not post-term baby was born on 18 May; he was 8 lbs 14 oz (4 kg).

Here are some pictures, finally, from Gísli’s birth.

We are having a beautiful summer rain storm right now which feels great after the brief heat wave that we have had.

Impatient

I haven’t had much time to do anything between school and work and my little one, so I haven’t posted much lately.

The baby was originally due tomorrow, but my midwife told me early on that I was measuring big and asked was I really sure of the date… so she sent me for a sonogram that told me the baby was due on 5 May. I’m thinking the original date was probably more correct, but we’ve been kind of on edge since then, wondering what will happen. I’m still working although I have cut my hours back a little bit, because I want to have as long of a leave as possible after the baby comes. Since I only get 3 months, I don’t want to waste the time sitting around waiting.

I’m hoping the baby isn’t waiting for this blanket to be finished, because we will be waiting a long time…