Summer Knitting (aka Boring Post).

Knitting and running are my way of meditating / clearing my mind. I sure needed a lot of meditation last summer while both kids were driving me insane. Add to it hours of sitting in a car on a way to upstate NY, Vermont and Canada and back and I have plenty to show for it.

Dress / Vest

Love this pattern although it took me many hours and a lot of ripping until I was happy with a size.

How many of these skirts can I knit, you ask? As many as the number of friends and cousins Julia has.

My favorite hat pattern.

I wish this jacket pattern came in Julia's size.

I used a skirt pattern for a doll and modified it into a toddler size.

Instead of giving a present to a friend when her child was born, I gave it a year later. Never too late for a hand knitted present, right?

The cutest pattern I came across so far. Had to make it for a baby in our family.

Since I was away and had no other yarn, I used the leftover yarn from a turtle to make a sweater and a vest. Not the best yarn to use for the clothes, but it's a machine washable which parents with babies appreciate.

Easy pattern, had to make it. Next time I'll add some stripes, so it doesn't look so boring.

I'm almost done knitting something for David. I need to dry it in a dryer in order to shrink it a bit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it'll work and I'll post a picture of it next time.

Have a great weekend. If this rain ever stops, our weekend will be filled with soccer practice, soccer game, ice skating lessons, apple picking, drum lesson, swim team practice and going to a local carnival.

Knitting In The Summer.

Some of the below knits were done before the summer, but definitely after the snow has melted and we were hit with over a 90 degree weather. A lot of them didn't get a chance to be photographed. Since we have been living at the pool for the past month, I knit there too. The kids are comfortable swimming on their own (rather I'm more comfortable letting them go in the pool by themselves), so I can afford sitting back and knit while still keeping my eyes on them.

There is a skirt for Julia, another one for her cousin, a hat/booties/bib gift set for our librarian who's been very kind to us and mostly just random knits not necessarily intended for anyone yet. Once David's first tooth started wiggling, I knitted him a tooth "pillow" with a pocket on the back. He placed his tooth in the pocket and the tooth fairy left him a dollar coin there. He loved it.

We are off to the pool and I'm bringing my knitting bag that holds a very cute pattern. Stay tuned.

Simply Irresistible.

I've been knitting baby booties lately since purchasing "booties, blankets & bears" book. I didn't have a recipient in my mind when knitting them, I just had to make them. They are so cute (at least in the book) that I couldn't resist. I think I might start following Julia's example and ask random strangers if they are pregnant. While visiting Intrepid last weekend, Julia asked one of the workers there if she had a baby in her stomach. The woman's response was "No, it's all me".

(This picture has nothing to do with knitting. I thought I'll just throw in one picture of the kids.)

A Girl Can't Have Too Many Skirts.

I must stop coming across adorable skirt patterns. Since I I laid my eyes on a thinty a few days ago, my kids weren't fed, bathed or read to (well, not really thanks to Seth). But you get the idea. I couldn't put the needles down and two days later my girl was posing for the pictures in her new skirt.

And the reason I'm blogging instead of whipping 5 more of these skirts in the next 5 sizes (or helping Seth cook borcsh since it is 10 pm already)? David has been begging me to knit him a stuffed mouse which is not a fun project since a lot of sewing is involved. So, I'm delaying starting this project for as long as I can. But according to the kids, I should be knitting in a pattern -- first for Julia, then for David and then again for Julia and so forth. I'm already thinking of what to make David next. Maybe this shirt? Seth gave it two thumbs down. Personally, I think it's pretty cute since my boy is into ties. Maybe I'll let him decide.

Life.

My thoughts and feelings are scattered all over lately. There's fear, frustration, sadness and feeling of helplessness. Yet, at the end of the day I realize I have two healthy (still questionable about one of them) kids and life is really good.

Julia.... my Julia. I've been saying for years now that I should have studied child psychology before becoming a mother and more so now than ever. David has been reading Bible to us. Last night, Julia was woken up by a nightmare and later in a day she asked me: "Mommy, does God put bad dreams in our head while we are sleeping?". I'm not sure she was satisfied with my explanation though.

And then there are times when she talks back like a teenager. Her favorite phrase : "I don't care". It had been driving me nuts and after a few weeks of ignoring it, I finally snapped and asked her where she got it from and who in school talks this way (of course, I blame everything on school). She replied to me in a matter of fact voice "Dr. Seuss talks like that".

David now decided to go by Dave only on a paper though. Is it just sheer laziness of writing 5 letters? Who knows with him.

I've been knitting non-stop lately. The crazier my life gets, the more I knit, the less I sleep. I think I might have even found a knitting community in my town.

Julia has been begging me to teach her how to knit because according to her that's the only way she is going to get another knitted bunny.

David felt pity on me for carrying my yarn in my hands from one room to another, so he made me a "basket" just for my yarn.

And here are just some of the knits I've completed in the last few months:

I love to knit, but I despise sewing (if required) pieces together. So, I end up completing a project as I'm running out of the door with a wrapping paper in one hand. Thus, I don't get to photograph many of them.

My next few projects will be for my kids -- a mouse for David and a skirt for Julia.

I'll try my best to post more often, but honestly, I'd rather spend this time knitting. Thank you for stopping by here even though this place is not updated often.

A Bit of Knitting.

That's a bit of understatement. I've been knitting non-stop since last summer taking the yarn and needles with me everywhere. Now, as I joined the ranks of parents who wait for their kids to complete one activity after another, I realize this hobby of mine comes in handy.

Among all of my knits in the past few months (and there have been A LOT), my favorite is this Stella Pixie Hat . It was supposed to be a gift for someone else, but once Julia saw it, she asked to wear it and then demanded suggested it came with a flower. I didn't get a chance to block it as she insisted on wearing it to school this morning. I loved working with this yarn which I got at my friend's garage sale and it matches Julia's coat.

Vest.

As I posted in a previous blog, my little man is very much into his looks. David tells a barber that he didn't do a good job of cutting David's hair just after a guy complimented him on how well behaved he is. After his swim lesson he runs away from me into a man's locker room just so he could use a mouthwash and a hand cream. And don't even start me on the topic of his clothes and shoes.

So, I thought it was only appropriate to knit him something he would wear and maybe even appreciate (ok, I didn't really hope for an appreciation from a 5 year old). I must admit, I very rarely knit anything for my kids because it takes so much time to do so and seeing it being tossed in a corner of a closet and never used again kills me. Of course, I don't care someone else doing it to my knits as long as I don't have to witness it.

A few weeks ago I came across this post and immediately decided to knit a vest for David especially with his latest preference of wearing the button down shirts. How did he like it? See for yourself.

The vest still didn't get a chance to be blocked as as it doesn't leave David's back. One morning I found David at his art and craft table trying to make a tag for his vest. It turns out that David doesn't know which way is front because both sides look the same. This kid kills me (usually by raising my blood pressure about dozen times a day) with his cuteness. I think one of the reasons he wears his vest every single day is because he gets so many compliments on wearing a handmade piece that all the attention is starting to get to his head. His sister now insists on a vest too although I'm pretty sure she won't even try it on. In our house it's all about sibling rivalry.

I couldn't think of a name for this post. Just couldn't.

I wanted to vent a bit here, but if I started, there would be no end to it and I don't want to loose two people who visit my blog.

Instead, I'll show you some pictures of my finished knitted work. Seth's co-worker is pregnant, so before we left to New England, I knitted a blanket, a bib and a vest for her baby.

I've been also a bit obsessed with knitting the bibs from this site. They are very cute, a very quick knit which led me to make at least 10 of them.

What gets me through lately? Reminding myself of cute, clever, not so typical (for their age) things my kids do. This picture makes me smile. It's David packing for our vacation. I wrote him a list of things he needed to place in a bag and he picked it all on his own and would check off each item as he'd place them in a bag. I had promised myself I would trust him and not check on him. Once we got to Maine, we realized that the only thing he forgot to pack was his pajama top. Why is he so mature in some ways and extremely immature in others?

He's Finally Here.

David's teacher had a son this week. If you remember, I knitted him an alphabet blanket. Once I found out his gender on Tuesday, I completed the rest of the gift -- a bib, a pair of booties and a hat. David wrapped it up last night and brought it to the school this morning.

Considering I didn't know the baby's gender until this week, I figured there's a 50% chance it might be a girl (just because I prefer knitting for girls), so I had knitted this skirt and a pair of girlie booties. I still need to finish up some details, but otherwise it's ready to be gifted. Anyone's expecting a girl?

Handmade Presents.

I've been keeping myself busy after Seth and I put the kids to bed. Some time ago, I came across these very cute infant blocks and thought I could make and gift them to David's math teacher's son who just turned 1. We didn't give her any present when he was born because David just started school and I barely knew any teacher's name at the time. I used a different design (numbers=math teacher) and placed two bells inside of each block. I also included a knitted mouse which came out twice as big as the one in the pattern.

After David saw a mouse, he asked me to knit one for Julia since she likes mice. For her, I made it in purple and pink.

I think Julia approves.

Between those two projects, I whipped up another skirt I had knitted earlier for Julia. This one is a gift.

I found a pattern for knitted flowers and ended up embellishing the skirt with three of them.

There's nothing on my needles right now as I'm busy packing for a trip to Geneva. Julia and I are off tomorrow to visit my cousin and her family in Europe.