My Blue Phase

I just realized uploading my pictures I've knit a lot of blue lately. I just finished an Elleby by Comfort Wool for myself with some Happy Feet DK I had laying around. The pictures of it laying flat just don't do the pattern any justice, so I attempted to do a self-portrait of myself modeling it. Yeah I'm so not a photographer, or a model or a model capable of doing self-portraits -- but that hat is cute and while I wasn't entirely sure about the color for me while I was working on it I really like it now and I'm glad I use this yarn for this pattern. I also finished up a small shawl I kind of designed using some hand spun from Rain City Fiber Arts. I used the same cast on as the Faraway So Close but from there I just did my own thing and really followed what the yarn was doing and changed things up as needed. I love this shawl, adore the colors it was such a peaceful item to knit. I will be listing it as part of our 2 year anniversary stocking at Their Own Knitted World so stayed tuned for some better shots!

Spring has sprung -- kind of.

We've reached that time of year in Maine where the promise of spring and warmer weather taunts us. We get sneak peeks of the nicer weather to come followed with cold days to remind us that in Maine we frequently get snow as late as April. I've finished up another project though, these are small longies done with Yarnnoodles Ponderosa on Cestari, I messed with the settings a bit in editing to get this picture to show the true depth of color going on in this colorway and it still does not do the colorway justice. I love these little longies they were such a joy to knit.

I also received some spectacular handspun from Tara of Rain City Fiber Arts in the mail today for a special instock project for Their Own Knitted World in May. I have one small project I need to finish (a ruffle bottom soaker that I've been procrastinating on when it comes to putting the ruffles on) and then I can start working on my idea for this handspun -- I won't lie I'm pretty excited to knit this up.

Things are plugging along with V, the change in her speech is amazing but PT and OT wise her progress is a bit slow still. This week she will be 6 weeks out of surgery so I am hoping we start to see more improvement with her PT/OT issues soon.

Busy little bee

I've finished a few projects. First is the set that will be up for sale on Their Own Knitted World. This is a capri set knit using Lickety Stitch Purple Knit with buttons made by DigitDesigns (on Etsy). The capri's have a bell ruffle and a unique working button detail that allows you to add length in the form of an additional ruffle (which will be an option when they are listed). The shrug is the Little Girls Shrug pattern from Diane Soucy of Knitting Pure and Simple. I think this set is adorable and wish I had knit it in a size we could use if it doesn't not sell, sadly this is all approximately 18 months and wouldn't fit us here.

I also finished a Bel Cloche as part of a trade for Rain City Fibers, it came out amazing and I can't say enough about how amazing Tara's handspun yarn is. This was a merino silk blend I believe but I'm not sure on the colorway name. Look for some of her yarn featured in my instock item for May at Their Own Knitted World!

Right now I have a pair of small longies on the needles, using Yarnnoodles Ponderosa colorway on Cestari. Another project I am really enjoying and hope to having finished tomorrow.

Not much new going on with V she is still recovering well from surgery. It is hard to believe just looking at her that she had brain surgery 5 weeks ago but behavior wise and skills wise it isn't hard to remember. She is still mega hyper most of the time, but at least her sleeping has become better so we aren't dealing with mega hyper 3 1/2 year old until well past midnight. It seem post surgery I spend a good deal of our time in the car waiting for V at various therapies. She has speech twice a week for an hour, PT twice a week for an hour and OT once a week for an hour. Good thing little R is such a trooper and perfectly content to sit in her car seat and read books most of the time (although for a few of those we do go and run errands but they are all just far enough from home that coming home would mean turning around as soon as we get here to head back to pick up V). She is finally making huge amounts of progress in speech, in the last month she has made more progress in her speech therapy then she has since she began it a year ago. We are very happy with her progress and really hope that the auras she seems to be experiencing go away soon and do not turn into seizures.

Something for one of my kidlets

I finished a pair of longies for my youngest. These are WSK Madeline on Mountain Meadow. I've actually had them done since Sunday but I didn't get a chance until today to take pictures. This colorway is so nice and will match so many of her shirts. I'm working on a pair of shorties to list for sale with the leftovers!

I've been busy busy busy keeping up with everything for V. It feels like a full time job driving V to speech therapy, physical thereapy and occupational therapy every week. Oh and don't forget her special pre-k program twice a week. We took today off she is beat and needed a good nap and I have so many things I NEED to get done her but with our constant running I haven't had a chance to. She is doing great though, it looks like the surgery was a success she hasn't had a seizure in nearly a month now. Totally amazing that she has recovered this quickly and is doing so well, everything about her astounds me.

Plenty to show for my time

We are back from V's surgery and it went really well, it was definitely stressful but now that it is behind us I am glad that it is done. While I we were down there I got a lot of knitting done. I finished the pair of overalls. These are done with Cestari in the sage color and knit using the Foggy Mountain overalls pattern in the 12 months size. I have some darling little wooden buttons coming and then I will post final shots of this pair of overalls. I also started working on another pair of longies for our youngest -- they are done with WSK Madeline on Mountain Meadow Wool (my favorite base for my kids it seems to go on forever, it stands up just as well as Cestari and it is far easier on my hands to knit).

A sweater just for tapping.

Another finished project -- a "tap" sweater for my oldest. She picked the dark purple color and has now requested leg warmers to match. A friend gave me some vintage pattern books and there are two entire booklets dedicated to leg warmers so I plan on making her some rocking 80's style leg warmers. She is pretty happy with her new little sweater!

It's me!!

Finally an action shot of the sweater I finished for myself. This is the Elysium pattern and I knit this with some Universal Deluxe Worsted weight yarn I bought awhile ago. I really love the fit and weight of this sweater, it is comfortable and warm without being too much. I wore it to my part time teaching job today and my co-workers loved it, definitely a keeper. I think I've caught the sweaters for me bug, it is nice to be able to custom fit a sweater to my body instead of buying things off the rack the kind of fit. Plus I really love wearing things that I have made. On the needles now is a small Tap Sweater as my daughter calls it (really a ballet wrap), that should be finished this evening and then onto a pair of overalls (the yarn just came today).

The surgery is next week, which is such a mix of emotions. Excited that it is finally here but terrified that we are at this point. Working hard to get everything here at the house squared away for my parents who are watching the other two girls and make sure we have everything we need for our trip. We haven't explained too much of what will happen to V, she knows she is going to see the doctors but we haven't really explained about the surgery. She does seem to understand that this will help her and she is excited about getting to go to Boston again.