Knit a Long

This is my friend Chrissy. Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful? (You have totally caught me quoting, and in fact singing as I type, a Stevie Wonder song) I have known this amazing human being since I was in the seventh grade. She was the older and so cool that I could hardly speak in her presence sister to my junior high bff. Flash forward 20 or so years and I find myself doing the happy clap dance whenever I get an email from her, or plotting for months so that we can see a movie together. Plotting is required because unfortunately I live 9 hours away from my darling friend.

Chrissy is the kind of girlfriend that you hope that you end up living with in Miami when you are eighty (a la Golden Girls.). If that scenario ever plays out I hope that I am a mix between Betty White and Bea Arthur (you know sarcastic but fun and funny at the same time but not as ditzy as Rose). Anyway I digress.  She is an amazing mama, and her cooking is to die for.  Seriously, she needs to prepare my last meal for me.  She is also a devoted gardener and one of those women that always has perfect hair. 

A few months back Chrissy and I decided to do a knit a long of the Nanook pattern by Heidi Kirrmaier out of the lovely Quince and Co. yarn, Lark.  The amount of glee that was enjoyed planning this knit a long and actually doing this knit a long is hard to describe.  First there was deciding on colors (I LOVE her choice!!), then the receiving of yarn and then casting on.  So much happy clapping and giggling happened (at least on my end) that I am surprised that I was still able to complete (most of) my responsibilities here at home.  It was not all rainbows and sunshine though, we both had to rip out substantial portions of our sweaters in order to achieve the project we had in mind.  Had to may be a misstep there, what I should say is that we are both perfectionists and chose to rip back sweaters to repair minute errors that would have called to us from our closets in the night had we ignored them.  But even ripping out isn't so bad when you have a friend to commiserate with.

I spend a lot of time missing Chrissy, or lamenting that making cinnamon rolls with her would be so much more fun, and wishing that I could call her up and say, "Let's go shoe shopping, be there in 5."  But during our knit along I kinda felt like we were hanging out, both working on the same thing at the same time.  Conquering lace patterns, and wishing that a seemingly easy edging detail would die is so much more fun when you are doing them with your friend.

4 Month Sweater

I am a fast knitter, like creepy fast. Generally I am able to make an adult sized sweater in 2-3 weeks, a child's in just days. I need to forget about my previous sweater finishing abilities. Now with baby in tow and two big kids to drive to and from school I am finding that my knitting has slowed to a crawl. This sweater was started about 3 weeks before Willa's birth and was finished just last week. Ugh, a 4 month sweater. Staring at the same yarn, the same pattern for 4 months was completely foreign to me and it bothered me.

But then on a run I decided the following: Any knitting, and any finished product is a triumph when you have 3 babies, a husband, a home to care for and a job. I also decided to put the lace knitting on the back burner and stick to easier projects for the time being. Seems like a sound plan, lets hope that I can put it into practice.

Welcome Willa!

This sweet little bundle of love came to us on October 22, at 3:33pm (funny since she is our third baby). She has added her gentle cooing to the loud, happy noises of her brother and sister and expanded her parents' hearts to the point of explosion. She is just the little someone that we needed and now that she is in our care we are forever grateful for her health and enjoying each tiny smile.

Sing a song

Growing up I knew a very large family, seven children! I had already (before meeting them) had fallen in love with the idea of having a gaggle of kids. The idea of giving each child his or her own song however was directly stolen from them. Even though I will not be having seven, or even four children (my husband did not board my crazy train) I did decide to run with the song idea. Now 3 times I have poured over music until finding a tune for each of my children. Charlotte and Max love their songs. We play them now only a couple times a month, usually on a long car ride. About the time that they are getting really sleepy and about to drift to sleep, cozy in their car seats, one of them will ask for their song to be played. So this Mama rolls to it on her IPOD and while they listen, I get to remember picking it out for them and singing to them while they were inside the belly.

Charlotte's Song


Max's Song


Willa's Song is Happiness by The Weepies. Was unable to find a decent youtube video of it. If you have the time and inclination, give it a google and a listen.

Thar she grows

I love the way that time will appear to be slowly creeping by. It lulls you into a comfortable trance where you actually begin to think that it has frozen. Then SMACK, you are thrown back into reality and grasping to hold on for one more second of your former peace. This summer was the lull and for me this week is the smack.

My little girl started kindergarten this week. After an amazing weekend of proving to me just how grown up she is. This was done by declaring that she too wanted to be a knitter and then sitting beside me for hours while her tiny hands learned the feel of the needles and yarn. I cannot convey how sweet it was to have her tucked in beside me, intently focused on her goal and without one time trying to give up. What an amazing little person I helped create.

Today while I was supposed to be listening to the kindergarten teacher I found myself staring at my little person. How did we get to this day already? How was it that my heart was not completely empty before she came to fill it? And how on earth has it not exploded with the love that it holds for her brother and sister? Surely somewhere a physics professor toils on this very same question.

Getting something done

After a very busy 4th of July weekend, involving lots of family and very little sleep, I have decided to hibernate. Hibernation day one did not produce anything but greasy hair and a renewed love for Breakfast At Tiffany's. Day 2 however was just the kind of productive that I needed.
Way back in February my mom bought me a Moda layer cake of the It's a Hoot design line. I LOVED these fabrics so much that I allowed them to sit while dreaming of something exciting and fancy for them. Yesterday I decided however, that easy peasy had won the race. I sat down and sewed them together as is. It was nice to have a finished product that had zero glitches in it! Save one, because at one moment I decided to mentally check out and sewed a fabric in sideways (oh the humanity!) , but a quick visit from the seam ripper and all was repaired.
We have been living and loving the knowledge that our new little person is a girl for 2 weeks. Charlotte is overjoyed to have a little sister, Max not so much. I am excited because I will be able to sew for this new little person entirely from fabrics I already own! How convenient!
For three years now I have worn a necklace almost everyday that displays the first initial of each of my children. While I had already purchased (a girl scout is always prepared) an initial last summer for the new (not yet conceived) baby I have decided that the necklace is pretty big and bulky. So last night I ordered a new one from the Etsy shop tinytokensdesigns and cannot wait until it arrives!!
Now my big task is to make a list (total lie, making a list is a hobby not a task) of things to make for my new little lady. There is going to need to be some sewing, some knitting and a little bit of crafty sprinkled everywhere!

Knock. knock. "Who's there?"

18 weeks in with Baby Trois

This morning I woke up to a familiar but wonderful feeling. Our new baby decided that 6am was the best time to start practicing somersaults in my belly. Knowing that this is my last time to experience all of this wiggling and squiggling kept me happy amidst my new alarm clock and also in bed for at least 15 minutes just to feel this little person move. The baby is excited because today is the day we will find out just who is in there. Well, hopefully. We had an opportunity last month but someone (not going to name any names, mostly because not knowing who is in there, I can't) decided that shyness was the order of the day.

When I was pregnant with our second child I had a wave of panic pass over me. What if I did not love this child as much as I loved our first born? I was terrified. After experiencing the all powerful love that one feels for their child I wanted no part in short changing a new life. Of course, seconds after holding Max I never worried about that again. And now with this baby I have abandoned all such crazy fears. I was in love from the moment that this tiny person was given to me.

Charlotte and Max are very excited as well. We all take daily stock of the growth of my belly (which Max feels at time could just be a reminder of a meal taken way too far). I cannot wait to find out who is joining my little family, cannot wait to hold him or her, smother them in kisses. But also I am happy that we are only at week 22 and not 40, this time, the third time, I am soaking up every second. I want to file into memory every kick, every hiccup and roll. A habit I think that will continue long past birth as we welcome our last child, hoping to experience enough baby sweetness to last a lifetime.