Tour de Bebé Sweater

Everyone is excited about the Tour de Fleece around here.

Even T.K. Is getting in the spirit.

Once I hit my goal of finishing the singles for my SPAKAL sweater, I desperately needed to spin something with COLOR. I knew that I wanted to spin for a sweater for Genevieve, but the rest of the details were a bit hazy.

I dug around in my stash for a bit and found a couple of bumps of fiber that I picked up at the CogKNITive Fiber retreat.

FreckleFace Fibers BFL "Enchanted"

I knew that 4.2 ounces wouldn't be enough, so I dug a little more and found a coordinating bump of fiber:

FreckleFace Fibers BFL "Midnight Moon"

But it still wasn't juuuuuust right, so I fished a little deeper and came up with a third bump, which I think will tie it all together nicely.

Abstract Fiber BFL "Maleficent"

Spinning BFL is wonderful; it's a longish fiber that is both silky and soft, and the SMELL. Mmmmm! It's the browned butter of the fiber world.

I've been making amazing progress - it practically spins itself! I can't wait to get it all plied up and start a (not-so) tiny sweater for my DangerMouse.

Spinning wheel goes VROOM!

My peleton awaits.

Still learning

It seems that parenting is - in essence - a course in perpetual continuing education. Whether you're constantly adapting to the needs of your growing child, or (re)taking a math class so that you can help with homework, it's some serious on-the-job training.

Get your bearings. I dare you.

I'm still struggling with the idea of slowing down - even moreso since Genevieve outgrew her infant carseat. That's right, my sweet DangerMouse is a DangerMoose! I love that she is robust and thriving, but the blasted booster seat doesn't clip in and out like the infant carseat did.

For those of you playing the home game, this means that if she falls asleep in the car, I have to WAKE HER UP in order to get her out of the car. The first rule of babies is NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY. (We learned this the hard way.)

You see the problem, right?

[Side note: If you have a solution, I would LOVE to hear it. Seriously. Please.)

It's not all bad, really. For years and years and years, I have run myself ragged, making long lists, overfilling my days with errands, work, and social activities. Hooray for being hyper-productive!

Tired cheeks.

But. Genevieve *desperately* needs her long afternoon nap, and we discovered that she sleeps soundly (flat, not being worn), if someone is sitting next to her. We have tried swaddling, white noise, and a number of other tricks to try to let her nap solo, but ultimately, none of it has worked as well as just sitting next to her. To save my back, this is totally do-able.

Fortunately, I can read (or spin) while she sleeps in the carrier, which is how I've been so productive during the Tour de Fleece. It's all the other stuff- laundry, cooking, errands - that I occasionally stress out that I'm *not* doing.

[SIDE NOTE: Who would have ever thought there could ever be any kind of contest between doing housework and snuggling a baby? Pfft.]

Like I said before, parenting is all about continuing education, and me personally? I'm still learning how to slow down.

Tour de SPAKAL

On the podcast, we are doing a SPAKAL (pronounced like spackle)- a SPin-A-Long-Knit-A-Long . I declared that we would ALL be spinning for a sweater between March and September.

Rambouillet X from a ram named "Carbon"

Spinning for a sweater isn't something unusual for me- I usually spin for 2 or 3 sweaters every year. You know, that I actually knit. (Andrew: this has ZERO bearing on how many fleeces I buy - or should be buying - every year.)

Awwww yeeeeeeah.

A lot of the podcast listeners have asked questions about spinning for sweaters. My mother is a big proponent of learning through doing. We were all going to do this project together, and learn from it, and we would like it if it KILLS US. (Or something like that.)

24 oz of singles

My initial Tour de Fleece goal was to spin the last half of my singles- 12 oz. I hadn't had a chance to spin much before and I really, truly thought that spinning 12 oz would be a stretch.

I knocked that goal out of the park. Currently, those lovely singles are waiting to be swatched.

Next stop: plying. Those singles all have lofty goals, the main one being to grow up into this sweater.

Eadon by Susanna IC

Vive le Tour!

Infectious

One of the things I love about Genevieve is that she cracks herself up.



Whether she's practicing her fake sneezes, or chatting with her toys, her giggles are infectious.

Ask anyone who is around her; you can't hear her giggle or see her smile without it spreading. Consider yourself exposed.

You're welcome.

- Posted using BlogPress

[Knitmore] Girls just wanna have fu-un

Yes, more nighties.

Me: [Putting Genevieve down for a nap, hear the hum of Bernadette]
Me: [Whining] Mooooom! What are you dooooooooooing?
Mom: Sewing.
Me: [Whining] Noooooo. You're supposed to do all the crappy stuff, like pressing and pinning. *I'm* supposed to do all the fun sewing.

Very Professional

Genevieve turned six months old this week. It's amazing how much a life changes in six months. I can honestly say that I have never loved anyone as much or as fiercely as I love her.

This is the face that faked a thousand sneezes.

Recently, there have been a lot of huge developmental leaps for her, including reaching for me (!!!), teething, crawling/inchworming, growing, sitting, and uttering her first, clear, intentional word: Mama. (Mom heard it, too. Apparently, first words don't count unless you have a witness. And possibly a notary.)

Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. Good luck.

As we all know, change isn't easy, and developing neural pathways is flat-out exhausting. Genevieve has needed me more than she has before, in what I refer to as the "MOMMYMOMMYMOMMY" way. Meaning, nobody can make it better but me (and Andrew, but it's a hard sell, evidently).

She wants to physically be touching me almost all the time, which is a little challenging. She's close to 20 lbs already, and there have been a few days in the last few weeks where my lower back - and occasionally, knees - just *ache* with fatigue. And pain.

My core strength disappeared while I was pregnant, and I am slowly working on rebuilding it, partly by putting Genevieve in the Ergo carrier and bouncing on my pilates/birth/bounce-your-baby-to-sleep ball.

And it works! I do what I can while I wear her (which isn't much) and she sleeps soundly. I remind myself that housework will wait, and a well-rested baby is a happy baby. Happy babies usually have happy Mommies, and we all pay that love forward.

You can hear her snoring lightly in the background, if you listen for it.

Despite our challenges and growing pains, I love everything about her. I love sewing for her.

Dandelion nighties

I love that she has found her voice.

All of the things, they go in my mouth.

(Even though that voice is occasionally providing the dialog to - what sounds like - a very complicated and dramatic original telenovela, featuring the dastardly wooden bird on her play gym. From what I have observed, he is *quite* the villain.)

"¡Ay, no! ¡Tu eres muy mal, Pajaro!"

She still has a fantastic smirk, which I believe is courtesy of Unkie Sam, an Olympic a champion smirker.

How YOU doin'?

But really, I love all of the faces she makes. Especially her excited face, which usually is accompanied by a full-body wiggle. Because, to quote the Pointer Sisters, she's so excited, and she just can't hide it.

Wigglewigglewigglewigglewiggle, yeah!

She also learned about kisses, and she LOVES them. They only count if they're noisy and you say, "MWAH!" while you give her kisses. And the best part? She loves giving us kisses, too. (They're more like puppy kisses, but it's all about the intention, which is completely heartwarming.)

I love that she still laughs in her sleep- full, belly laughs. I also think it's charming that she will do the Ernie laugh.

You will do anything to make me smile.

Best of all, if you look closely when she laughs, you can see two Very Professional Teeth.

Mouse teeth!

A matched set

This last Saturday was all about Big and Little. (Which totally reminds me of Grover Monster's Near and Far bit.)

I'll admit it. I am a HUGE fan of matching stuff. When KidBrother Sam and I were little, Mom used to make us matching outfits. If Mom sewed me a dress, she sewed a matching one for my stuffed pig, Perfect. I LOVED it.

So, I'm knitting a few matching mother-daughter sweaters for Genevieve and me, starting with the Garter Yoke Cardigan, out of my handspun:

Also, matching dimples.

I loved knitting these sweaters. I think I might make matching ones in another color, once she outgrows this one. (That should be in about 12 minutes, for the record.) The thing I may love best (about the sweaters) is that my buttons are the same as the ones on Genevieve's sweater- except that mine are a little bigger.

TOES!!!

You may have noticed that she's wearing a hook bracelet. In Andrew's family, there is a tradition that when you go to St. Croix (and everyone does, eventually), you get a hook bracelet. Hook bracelets are worn at all significant family functions.

You can imagine how charmed and delighted I was when we opened a gift from Andrew's Uncle Ted (and family), and it was the tiniest hook bracelet you've ever seen. Given how big Andrew's hook bracelet is, I found it even more adorable, and an incredibly thoughtful gift.

The Biggest and Littlest

When I was taking these pictures, I also noticed that Genevieve's outfit has a crab on the butt, and Andrew is wearing one of his Portland, ME lobster shirts. Total coincidence.

(Yes, I know that crabs and lobsters are totally different, but you see how they're *kind of* the same, too, right?)

Peas in a pod.

Down to our accessories, we're a matched set.

Real Moms

I seem to be fixated on this idea of "real". You know, like being a "real" GrownUp. Recently, the new obsession is with being a Real Mom_TM.

Don't confuse being a Real Mom_TM with being a Mom. Moms love, nurture, comfort, and parent. Real Moms_TM (by my standard) are the Moms that cook, bake, play, and create. I knit, yes, and I have (FINALLY) finished a few sweaters for Genevieve.

But Real Moms, they sew. And now, Real Moms_TM, I AM ONE OF YOU!!!

I used McCalls 8574

Last year my friend, Marvelous Maribel, was destashing a HUGE amount of beautiful knit fabric, and bequeathed it upon me- with the proviso that I started sewing.

My initial attempts were on a Singer Touch and Sew (which Elaine, the Singer Fairy, referred to as a Singer Yank and Curse) were ... not great. But a sewing machine is a sewing machine right?

Wrong.

The Yank-and-Curse was miserable to work with. It would jam. The slidy part over the bobbin had lost the latch, so that would come off and take forever to reseat. Mom offered to let me use one of her machines, but I'll be honest, I was so frustrated that - while I said it would be fine - my heart said, "Just forget about it."

Fast forward to Abby selling me Bernadette (my beautiful Bernina 910), and (later) the serger Andrew bought me for Mother's Day. It's amazing what having good equipment will do for you. (Also, let the record reflect that a serger isn't the same as getting a vacuum cleaner for mother's day.)

I have been assembly-line sewing nighties for Genevieve and it brings me immeasurable joy. Not only did we need more nighties for her, but these are easy to get on and off of her, and the lighter weight nighties are perfect for the warmish weather we have been having.

Oh, Envelope neckline! How I do adore you.

It could be mathematical in nature:

[Someone you grew] + [something you made] = Happiness

Pardon me; I'm off to sew (more) for my baby.

Lessons in motherhood

Me: I just feel crazy for worrying about Every. Little. Thing.
Mom: Welcome to Motherhood. It comes with the territory.

Blue Steel

Carcharias, canines, cuteness

Genevieve is teething.

"ROOOOOAR!"

Does it remind anyone else of this?

(Photographic dramatization)

Oh, good.

But seriously, wow. Teeth! They're so exciting, and there is nothing cuter than a lopsided, toothy grin, but, sweet mother of purl, my poor kid.

She's chewing on everything she can get her little hands on- especially Andrew's fingers, which - per my tech support buddy - DaddyFingers were both his kids' (and his grandkids') chewie of choice. (My poor computer has been having some real issues. My tech support buddy and I have gotten very close, if you couldn't tell.) I even polled Facebook for teething comfort measures.

We've tried frozen washcloths, we've tried classic teething rings, we've tried the teething bonbon (which we refer to as Genevieve's chilly bone), and we've tried green onions - which were a BRILLIANT suggestion from one of Genevieve's knitting aunties. (The green onions worked remarkably well, but WOW, a baby with onion breath is nothing short of shocking.)

I'm still nursing, and nursing a tiny shark teething baby is an interesting proposition. Whenever I have a question about anything boob-related, I turn to my breastfeeding bible. (Out of perverse fascination alone, I read the bit about nursing teething babies a long time ago, both there and in The Baby Book.)

Fortunately - and I have a hard time tying "fortunately" to the whole concept of being bitten - Genevieve did most of her biting before the tooth erupted. She would clamp down on me (usually) if my gaze had wandered anywhere but her charming maybe-green-maybe-brown eyes. So we used the same trick (training?) that we used when Niki went through his mouthy phase all those years ago.

[The trick, in case you're curious: immediately after a bite, break the latch, hold baby away from boob for 10-15 seconds, then offer the boob again. Three bites and baby gets handed to someone without The Boobs.]

She's been a little fussy - but, wouldn't you be? I remember when my wisdom teeth made their presence known, and WOW. Uncomfortable. 

I sewed the blanket she's laying on!

If only my mother had thought to swaddle my 16-year-old self, we might have all been a little more cheerful.