Uhb-sessed

After having this little bundle of joy I've developed an obsession with all knitting for babies. The main obsession I've developed is for baby footwear. No surprise since I'm a shoe lover myself.


We all know and love the Saartje's Bootees pattern. They're easy, quick, and so darn cute! I've made a couple of pairs myself and think they're great to start with. After having a baby I know how hard it is to keep shoes on but you still want to keep their little toes warm.


I recently came across Baby Cowgirl Booties on Pinterest. After checking out these booties I read further down the page that there's a pattern. What?! I can knit these! I'm not necessarily a country fan but I can certainly see the need for Miss Avery to have a pair of these. Although the sizing is for newborns I can easily adapt it to make them bigger. Everyone needs a pair of cowboy boots- even a baby!

Thanks to Etsy I found a couple more patterns for baby booties. The Apple Baby Booties which have a sweet design on the tops of them and the Stylish Baby Boots which I can see good for staying on those tricky little baby feet since they have the high cuff.

I know Avery is too young to appreciate this or care but I'm going to start her early on appreciating good footwear. 

Pine Forest Progress

I never realized how difficult it would be to knit with a baby. Oh sure. Just put the baby down for a nap and knit away. Let's assume for a moment that she will actually sleep. In that short amount of time I have to decide 1) Will I nap? 2) Will I work on the crazy amount of laundry that is now piling up in my laundry room? 3) How about reading a book? I mean I am a Language Arts teacher for goodness sakes! 4) Maybe a little knitting? 5) Shower? 6) Workout to get rid of the remaining baby fat- yeah right! Good luck with that one.

Well needless to say I've done a little bit more knitting on the Pine Forest Baby Blanket. I just want to get done with it so that I can work on something for Avery. I really don't think I'm going to keep the blanket for her. I think I'll give it away to someone with a new baby.

I've been looking at patterns on Ravelry and Pinterest to get an idea for the next project. I love the Bow Scarf for when Avery gets a little bit bigger and for when it's colder here. What little girl doesn't need a chunky scarf with a big bow on it? I know my girl needs one! I'm sure a matching headband will be in order too.

Hurry up and finish the blanket already!

Back For A New Year

It's pretty unbelievable that I haven't blogged in over a year. Life got away from me and I haven't taken the time to write it down. One of the biggest life changes that happened this past year is the birth of my daughter, Avery. I never thought I would have kids and here she is! Surprise!

My entire pregnancy I wasn't able to knit. My fingers were swollen and I had horrible pains in my hands when I would try to knit. Now that it's been six weeks since Avery's birth I've finally settled back into knitting again for the same reason I taught myself to knit all those years ago- relaxation. Right now I'm working on the Pine Forest Baby Blanket. It's a pretty easy pattern that has an easy to remember gull lace pattern. I'm not sure if this will end up being for Avery or for someone else who is having a baby. We have so many baby blankets this one might just end up as a gift!

I don't normally make New Year's resolutions but I definitely think that this year I will be documenting this baby adventure and the knitting I do to go along with it. I have this weird desire to knit sweaters, hats, booties, socks, mittens (even though we live in Texas and the likelihood of needing them is minimal!), and anything and everything I can possibly knit for this little girl. With that being said, my goal is to blog weekly and actually finish knitting projects every month. There! I've put it out into the Universe.

Malabrigo Stashing

Since I'm back to my knitting after a short break for embroidery I went to look for a new project to work on. I have 4 hanks of Malabrigo worsted weight yarn in Cabernet. I browsed Ravelry for well over an hour and I can't decide what to make. A couple years ago, I made a slouchy beret out of one of the Malabrigo hanks. Yes, I've been holding on to these hanks for that long. I can't seem to find anything that is worthy of using the yarn on. I want to knit something up. I really want to knit it into a sweater or cardigan but I don't think I'm going to have enough. Plus, all the patterns I saw didn't move me. I desperately need some suggestions!!

I got back to work last night on the Grapevine Lace Scarf. Here's what I learned:

1. Don't wait until 8:00 to start knitting when you are exhausted.
2. Always keep track of the row you're on. Otherwise, as what happened to me, you'll end up with a crazy amount of stitches or too few!
3. Don't leave your knitting for months at a time and forget where you are (this should go with number 2).
4. As your eyes are closing because you're tired, at least finish the pattern repeats so that when you start on it again the following morning you know where you are.

That all being said, I started on the scarf again this morning and discovered that I had made some mistakes on the repeats and had no clue where I was. Oh joy! I don't know why I don't learn from this because I make this same mistake pretty much every time I'm doing a project. I'm pushing on though. I'm going to finish this scarf. It needs some major blocking and will probably end up being 12 feet long and 3 feet wide!

Here's where I am so far in the scarf:

Can you spot the mistakes???

Grrr!! (That's supposed to reference this is about the dogs)

So I've been noticing that Mr. Collin (the pug) has had a red back end and has been scratching as of late. Yesterday, I noticed a cut on his forehead. Now Collin already has it a little rough since he has some major dry eye issues. He takes two different medications twice a day for them. He's also 6 years old and the poor  thing used to be a stray. But  to add to all this the itchy skin is just sad.

Next week I leave for Paris and since the hubs is out of town I have to board Roxy and Collin for two days. The place I wanted to board them called today to tell me that the vet has no record of Roxy's vaccinations. What?!?! So since Collin has itchy skin, needs new meds, and Roxy apparently needs vaccinations we all packed up into the car and spent a wonderful hour at the vet.

During that hour Roxy was vaccinated (no problem there) and Collin was examined to confirm my suspicions of itchy allergy skin and have his anal glands expressed. Oh. My. Goodness! The poor baby cried and Roxy whined in sympathy. He got his shot of cortisone and I walked out with a bill of over $300! But with that money Collin got shampoo, spray (for his itchy spots), antibiotics (because the dear boy also has a gum infection), and new meds for his dry eyes. Yes people it's been a good day. I'm $300 short, my husband is down $500 in Las Vegas (boys trip) and all this equates to less money to spend in Paris. *sigh* I love my pups and wouldn't trade them for the world!

Presto! Chango! And I'm Finally Finished With This Baby Sweater

I started the Presto Chango baby sweater back in November for my friend Mindy's daughter, Gabbi. It didn't take very long at all to finish the sweater or the sweet removable front panel. What took me forever was finding buttons to use. It's been so long I can't even remember where I got the buttons now. I love this sweater though. It's made from Dream in Color Classy. I purchased it from one of my favorite online knitting stores, Eat.Sleep.Knit (LOVE!). I want to make one for myself. The coolest thing about this sweater is the front panel is removable. There isn't a need to worry about washing the whole sweater. Just unbutton the front panel and clean it up. You still have a super cute cardigan!

This has been a major block for me in my knitting. I've been feeling like I can't start anything new until I finish this. I leave for Paris in two weeks and I'm trying to figure out what I can knit (and finish) in that time. I love doing embroidery but I still feel drawn to doing my knitting. Oh how my heart is tearing!

Embroidery Too?!?!

I just couldn't stand it anymore! I had to try something new. A very long time ago my aunt taught me to cross stitch. I loved doing cross stitch. I loved the floss and (at the time) it was only $.25 made me very happy! I loved being able to create something. I've always had that need to be creative and do something. As I got older the thing I didn't like about cross stitch were the designs and the feeling of being restricted to just what I could find. I hated that the designs seemed so old fashioned. There didn't seem to be anything out there for younger people. I quit cross stitching some time in my late teens.

I started researching embroidery. Okay it's kind of (not really) like cross stitch. I get to use the floss which I like. The designs and patterns can be anything I want them to be. Freedom! What I can embroider on can be anything. Freedom! Basically, only my imagination is the limit here. Hello embroidery my new craft for the summer when my knitting is on hiatus due to the extreme temps.

This morning I could hardly contain myself as I got dressed and decided to go to Joann Fabrics. I kind of had an idea of what I was looking for after researching and stumbling upon Sublime Stitching. Oh my goodness! I ordered but I couldn't wait until it came in.

My stash of goodies from Joann Fabrics

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Camelot and Game of Thrones and embroidering a placemat. I did it all in backstitch and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I only have 5 more to do!

 

 

Socks helping out