A Winter Sweater in Summer, and Some Pumpkin Stocks

I finished a sweater for Jamie a few days ago. I thought about blocking it, then decided to leave it alone. It looks good as is, and is an acrylic/wool blend, so blocking is only marginally successful, in my experience. So here is the front.
Here is the back.
And here's a closer view of the back. I'm also making a hat to go with it in simple rib and stockinette. I do have a pattern for a cabled infant hat, so I may make that one as well. This was a Dale of Norway pattern (17504 Cardigan), using Patons Decor Sand and Sea. The hat that I had done earlier (it was a bit too small) was really just too cute, but somehow the sweater falls short of expectations. I do like it, and I'm particularly enamored of the buttons, but it's not as cute as I had hoped. Mama loves it, though. It worked up very fast, and was very easy to do and carry around, so I'll definitely be doing more baby sweaters. I'll probably do this sweater again, but in a solid. I'd like to do it in 100% wool but I don't have access to much pure wool yarn. I'm seriously tempted to order some online, but I'm so picky about color that it'd be like gambling. Eh. Maybe I will.

I also finished my purple scarf. I adore it! Thank you Amanda for the the yarn! I used a reversible cable pattern (here) that was very easy to do, and to memorize. It's so soft, and has a nice thickness without being bulky.

So I've been working on doula training and attended one birth. Congrats, John and Julie and baby Tommy! He's a gorgeous boy and has a shocking head of luscious black hair! I've learned a lot, and will continue doing everything I can to learn more and get better. The one birth I attended was very hard, but very rewarding. It's my opinion that no woman should give birth without a doula. Labor is a very hard process, and it's very easy to get disheartened and stress out, which causes labor to be complicated and harder than it needs to be (oh, how life is like that, also!). Doulas provide much needed emotional and physical support to laboring women and their loved ones, and gives them the tools they need to voice their wants and needs to each other and to the medical staff. The nurses at Memorial that we dealt with were wonderful, and the doctor was, too, but we didn't deal with her as much until the end. It was really hard work, and after being awake for 29 hours on only 4 hours sleep, I was spent. I tried to eat and get some sleep, but it was too late, I got a massive migraine. It wasn't until the next day that I felt better. One thing was so funny. Michael came in to check on me and went to throw out something, and stopped. He picked up the knotted off trash bag and held it up at eye level, and looked totally confused. In fact his expression said, "Dear God, what is this?" As he stood there examining it, I tried not to laugh even in my near dead state. I told him then how I'd thrown up in the trash can and knotted off the bag so it wouldn't stink. His face was blank for a moment, then said, "Oh. Okay." And then he left taking the bag with him. I found that inordinately amusing, and still do. He's priceless. Poor man didn't know how sick I was until then. The image of him standing there holding up that plastic bag at eye level, totally baffled and trying to analyze the contents, not realizing he was holding a bag of vomit amuses me still. HAHAHAHA.

I bought some new bras today. SOOOOO sexy! I weaned Jamie for health reasons (migraine management), and so now I don't need to wear the nursing bras and I don't leak anymore. I wore nursing bras or sleeping bras (a looser sort of athletic bra for nursing women) constantly, just as was recommended by the books to reduce sagging, and I my breasts are just as perky as before I had Jamie. Even so, when I went to Victoria's Secret for a fitting, I was prepared for a change, and there was a difference. Before I had Jamie, I was a 36-D, and now, at the same weight, I'm a 34-D. Yep, I'm a happy woman.

Tomorrow is our one year wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe! Two years ago Michael and I hadn't even met. One year ago we had our family and friends come together to witness our vows before God. It was a perfect day. Now we are happy and having a wonderful time together. I am even happier now than I was then. Even when the man annoys me, he is my perfect match. It's amazing how we fit together. We have so much fun just being together, just hanging out. Actually, if he didn't annoy me sometimes, I'd think he was too good to be true!

Well, sorry for the long rambling post. I know it's been a while, and it's light on crafting content, but I've been very busy. Child rearing, research, family life, doula training, the Diamond Rainbow quilt, Tommy's Garden Wall Quilt, my Garden lap quilt, Jamie's sweater, my purple scarf, three baby afghans, my first socks, etc... And so I leave you with photos of the growing things which Michael has tended so well this year.

Lots of Handi-Crafts, Lots of Work

I've been working really hard lately on pretty much everything. I got a new computer (Macbook) and spent a great deal of time setting up all of my work programs, and I still have some more to do, but it's basically up and running. I've been doing lots of research and trying to read papers. I'm notoriously bad at keeping up on all the latest publications. But enough about work. I finished the baby quilt/wall hanging for my friend Julie. Bridget and I hosted her baby shower on Saturday. I tricked her though. When I presented it to her, I showed her the back.



She said how cool it was, and I said, "Oh, wait, there's more." Then I showed her the front.


She liked it so much she almost cried.


And here is a gratuitous photo of my Jamie.


It's a weird photo, but it's from a project we're doing, and he just looks so happy. It's a great one of him. He has two teeth now, and still hates to sleep. He's finally letting me put him to sleep at night. Okay, it's worked exactly twice and both times were tonight. But the second time I put him down, he went a lot faster and without so much fussing, and no crying. No crying is a MAJOR improvement. Seriously, the boy hates to miss anything and wants to be in the thick of it. Anyway. He discovered the computer a month ago and LOVES it. Given any chance he tries to type on it. He bangs on the keyboard, and then looks at the screen. Seriously. It just blows me away. He knows the names of things and responds to verbal cues. Today, I said the name of his favorite toy, and he smiled and looked over at it. This whole learning thing is just too cool.

I've been knitting when possible. (HA! Like there's time for anything that isn't work.) I finished my first sock. Now on to it's mate. No photos as yet. I have the suspicion that if I take a photo of it and post on it, I'll never finish it. I have superstitions already. I really liked making it, though. I'll be making more. The main problem is the shortage of sock yarn in the area. I'll have to go into Chicago to find any sort of selection. I've also been working on my new winter scarf. I have photos, but they're way old and I've posted them before. And no self respecting blogger would repeat post. ;)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  This being my second Mother's Day (first if you don't count when I was pregnant, but I do so there!) I was again reminded of all the hopes and joys and fears I have for my son as a human being and for myself as a mother.  These hopes and joys and fears are the same that mothers throughout human existence have felt, and so it's really nothing new.  I shouldn't worry about the things that could go wrong, because no matter how good a mother I am or will be (I'm counting on getting better with time and experience) I will screw up and scar Jamie in some way.  I know that there are things beyond my control, but I hope I get to see Jamie grow up, and I hope he gets to grow up.  But again, I worry.  My imagination is too creative sometimes, and parenting websites and magazines are just fodder for my worst nightmares.  In the end, all I can do is love my family, enjoy my son and be the best mother I can be, and pray that God will take care of the things I can't see.  AND STOP TAKING EXTRANEOUS SHIT SO SERIOUSLY.  

On a lighter note, I passed my oral exam and now have a Master's Degree.  Because my exam occurred 13 days past the deadline for May graduation, the date on it will be 2009.  2009!  Officially the conferment date will be in January.  Okay, seriously, why is the December graduation dated in January?  Okay, whatever.  I'm over it.  I was so worried that I would fail.  I'm so paranoid.  But in the end I passed after only 10 minutes of discussion, part of which was about whether or not some members of my committee were interested in helping us do some observations.  My friends Julie, Trevor (yay, Dr. Trevor), and Tam were there during my exam and I'm very grateful for their support.  Those in the outer room during the exam heard occasional laughter, and figured things must have been going well.  They were.  While we waited for the decision to down from on high, we heard laughter.  And I knew I had passed.  :)

Five days before my exam, my computer decided to start acting up.  I couldn't start up the linux partition and Knoppix couldn't access it to recover any data.  Totally scared me silly.  Then, very mysteriously, it decided to load up normally.  *head banging hard on the table*  So I was able to get all that I needed for my exam.  But I decided it was time for a new computer.  And so I ordered a macbook.  I like that I can do my command line coding without separate partitions and I can still have Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  My macbook arrived on Wednesday, and I've been in love with it ever since.  I just LOVE not having to go back and forth between partitions, but I do miss the games that came with RedHat.  Oh, well.  I had quite a time getting a fortran compiler to work on here, and then I had trouble with a mysterious error that I had seen before that no one was able to fix.  So I handed the computer to My Darling, and said in a piteous voice, "Fix... it... Please... fit... it..."  And he did.  God I love that man!  He has a sexy brain.

Okay, now on to knitting!  I am still working on my first pair of socks.  Or, actually, I'm still working on my first sock.  I'm about to do the toe.  I have very little knitting time, but I take it with me where ever I go so I can try to get some knitting done everyday.  I'd go nuts otherwise.  I still have Jamie's sweater, Mama's scarf, and my scarf ready to work on, but with Jamie, research, pumping breastmilk all the damn time, and doing doula training, I am very very very busy.  And loving it!  Mostly. 

Jamie is eating solids now.  If you call baby food solid.  They're really just thick liquids.  Anyway, he loves solid food.  He's had carrots, peas, and a little bit of potato.  And he is trying hard to get up and walk around.  He'll just frantically move his legs back and forth like he's walking when you hold him on your lap.  He reaches for things all the time now, and rolls over consistently.

Jamie still fights sleep like a demon.  Some nights he will let us put him to sleep without a problem, and other nights he screams no matter what we do.  Rocking, walking, bouncing, singing, reading, feeding, breast feeding, etc.  Usually it works best to do several at once, but sometimes he just screams through it all.  All I can do is try to be consistent and comfort him and soothe him.  Oops there he is now.  I'm off to soothe the savage infant whom I love more than anything else.

Teething and Too Little Time

My Little Darling is teething. It's a top tooth on the left side. He is tolerating it rather well for now. He just chews on his clothes and blankets and stuffed animals and is a little extra fussy, but not much. Some of the books I read said babies could start teething now, but I thought it was a bit early. He's watching us eat food now, but doesn't seem to have the motion necessary to bring food to the back of his mouth rather than pushing it out. And breast milk isn't fully satisfying him anymore. He's not yet 4 months old, so he's not supposed to have solid food yet. But soon he'll be ready. I was thrilled to read that recent studies have shown it's unnecessary to hold off cows milk and peanuts and other high allergy foods until after the first birthday. They've found no increased incidence of allergies due to early exposure. So Jamie can have tastes of ice cream this summer. :)

I'm still working on the same projects. The socks are coming along nicely, and it looks like they may be wearable! If my first pair of socks are wearable, I will be SO happy! Once my oral exam is over I'll have more time for everything. I have a baby quilt to make for a friend, and there will only be a month to do it in. So many projects.... so little time!

St. Patrick's Day and Easter

Okay, I never really blog anymore, but I'm still terribly busy with all the aforementioned tasks. And I've started my TA duties again, so there's even more to do. And I feel like I'm behind in everything, even though that's not really true. I'm behind where I'd like to be, not where I need to me, so it's okay. Anyway. I ripped back the scarf I was making for Mama because I didn't like it and am trying something else. I'm doing 4 rows of stockinette and then reversing the "front" side of stockinette to make it reversible and keep it from rolling up all one way.

My boy is growing really fast. He now looks like a young boy, not a baby, even though he's getting a double chin. He seems to be over his colic. I'm now knocking on wood (quietly because he's sleeping), please do the same. He is getting very adept at many things. He can almost sit up without assistance. He really likes sitting up and seeing things. He knows the word "baba" for bottle, and telling him, "Baba? Baba coming" makes it easier for him to wait for the bottle as we heat it up. He really likes it that he gets breast milk most of the time. He smiles all the time now, and even laughs pretty frequently. It's a soft laugh, no squeals, yet. He doesn't usually get fussy during mass unless there's too long a time between songs. He listens for my voice and loves to hear me sing with the piano. Perhaps he'll be a musician.

Pumping has made breastfeeding so much easier, and I can provide breast milk for him without supplementing now, although we still do when we're out. I figured out why I was having such milk supply issues. Jamie doesn't drain the breast completely, just until the flow slows. Then he gets impatient and has a fit. This is likely because we had to supplement from the very beginning, but what can you do? There were just too many complications to have avoided the c-section and the complications from the c-section made it necessary to supplement him. But we've made it together, and I don't grieve over how his birth went anymore. I've worked hard to give him the best I can and it's paying off and he's happy. That's all that matters.

(Vaginal Birth After Cesarean), but my doctor said it was impossible for legal reasons. I asked a bunch of questions, and she didn't really give me answers. From what I could gather from her, if the uterus does rupture during an attempted I'm thinking of becoming a doula. Not full time, mind you, but once a month is very doable. My friend Bridget is training to become a doula and she's gotten me into it. Doulas are very helpful for women in labor, and I'm beginning to think it's important to have one with any birthing mother, even if she's had 10 kids before. There is an instructor in the area and at the local hospital, so if it's possible to go through the classes before my friend Julie has her baby, I'll do it. I'd like to have a doula with me the next time I have a baby. I'm also interested in doing a VBACVBAC, the result is just another c-section, not death of the mother or the baby, but of course the "risk remains" for both. And the incidence of rupture occurs in only 1% of VBACs. But they don't do them anymore because if the rupture occurs and there's any delay in the cesarean then they can be sued. Which doesn't make sense to me because the incidence of VBACs is up, according to all the other literature I've read. Anyway, I have a lot of time to consider the options before I actually need to make a decision. And we already have the names picked out for the next baby. Parenthood agrees with us.

It's been a bit rough for me the past couple of days. Two years ago at Easter, I lost someone I loved very much. She was taken from me with only brief warning. Her absence in my life is profound even though everything about my life has completely changed. I try not to think about this because my grief is still almost too much to bear, but it was brought to mind after reading a knitting blog. I was reading a blog I read pretty regularly, and she brought up the loss of someone she loved who reminded me of my friend. And so I began to be depressed. But I try to remember to have faith, and to treasure the time I have with those still near, especially Jamie, and I feel better able to cope. At mass on Sunday, the priest said to call to mind the ways in which God has blessed us, and I thought how God had blessed me best when he gave me Jamie, and I was comforted. Hopefully Jamie will know one day, that he is my blessing.

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty

My Darling Boy had his shots yesterday. He zonked out right after the trauma of getting the shots. In the late afternoon, he woke up and was really upset and was crying and screaming in pain. Breastfeeding didn't comfort him, either. I desperately searched the web for tips for soothing his pain. One tip was to rub the injection site with Vicks Vap-O-Rub. I immediately did this and it did help. He didn't scream any more after that, but still cried and fussed and was very uncomfortable. I didn't think I should give him Baby Tylenol after reading about the children's cold medicine debate and the possible negative effects on children under 6. My friend Bridget asked her mom (a nurse) who recommended giving him the dosage for his weight, and Bridget said it had helped her niece and nephew when they had discomforts. So I sent Mama out to Walgreens to get some, and we gave him the lowest estimated dosage for his weight. And he was soothed. He then slept. Blessed relief. Today he slept a lot and was pretty happy when he was awake. He did scream and cry a few times when I accidentally bumped his thighs where the injections were given. A friend of mine told me about how his cousin's child got autism from vaccines. So I spent all day checking the Jamie still made eye contact and reading up on the whole autism vs. vaccines issue. From the studies I read I'm convinced that the appearance of a correlation to vaccines is a coincidence due to age of symptom onset (or when they first notice it and can't explain it away) and the frequency of vaccinations. One study in Japan showed that there was an increase in the incidence of autism even after discontinuing the vaccine in question (MMR). Also, with decreased vaccinations there has been an upswing in the cases of measles and mumps and polio, which have led to deaths of some infected children. Even after reading all of this and deciding that the connection did not seem scientifically reasonable, I still watched Jamie like a hawk and worried over every move he made. I logically believed that he was not in danger of contracting something debilitating. However, as a mother, my greatest fear is that I might do something that could harm my child. And so now I'm pretty stressed out. Jamie is fine. He's smiling and wide mouthed grinning at his Daddy's funny dancing. He's still a bit sore but he can be distracted from it and is interacting with us normally. I love that boy.

A Gratuitous Photo and Current Projects

Let us start this blog with a gratuitous photo of my darling boy. He's wearing his Winnie the Pooh jacket with the ears. He falls asleep in the carseat, but tends to wake up anytime the car stops, unless he's really tired. He's also wrapped in the blanket Mama knit him. It's one of our favorites and he uses it all the time.

After finishing Jamie's blanket, I had no problems finding a new project. I have some that are still unfinished, but after such a long time working on one project almost exclusively, I had to cast on for something new. That something was the reversible cable scarf in a purple variagated yarn Amanda gave to me years ago. I'd been looking for a pattern for this yarn, and finally found the perfect one and have been waiting to knit it up for almost a year. I didn't bring it with me to Livermore last summer because knitting wool in the summer in the deserts of California was just not an attractive idea. Then I had another project that took priority. :) It's not portable since I have to count rows and use a cable needle, but it's simple and easy and a snap for tv/breastfeeding knitting. The photo maybe a bit out of focus, but it shows off the pattern better than the other photos I took and is actually true to color.



I also found a yarn this week that is just gorgeous and so I cast on a scarf for my mom. She really liked the yarn and I couldn't think of what to make with it, and she needed a scarf. I made up a simple pattern, but I have to count rows, so it's not portable, but not mentally consuming either.



I also found an old project that I had started for a friend of mine when she was pregnant with her third and last child. I never finished it because after it got tedious I put it away and forgot about it. I later gave her a store bought gift she had been hinting about wanting. It's another baby afghan, this time crocheted, in greens and yellows. It's tedious because it's very simple and the yarn is very small and I'm using a small hook. It's going to take forever, but I really like the effect. The yarn is a very soft acrylic, so it'll be nice but probably not an heirloom. It's hard to see in this photo, but there are two greens. One is variagated green and the other is solid.



There's also a scarf I started while I was still pregnant in a bamboo yarn that is just lucious! It's a rich red color and there are creme beads. I started it for a friend for Christmas, but got derailed by the carpel tunnel. Now that my hands are mine again, it's become a nice project to work on while out and about. I put on the beads with a crochet hook as I go along, and you'd think it wasn't portable, but it is, and since I don't need to think about it as I go along, it's perfect for rides in the car.





Oh, and I'm making three quilts. And I'm preparing for my oral Candidacy Exam. And I'm raising an "active" son (a.k.a. pain in the butt precious darling who screams like a banshee when bored and will not sleep without someone else in the room).


PS:
This was posted on Feb. 24th, not Feb. 2nd. It took me that long to finish the post, and the photo of Jamie is from Feb 16th, the day before he was baptized "James Michael".