Baby K is Four Months

We're now into the first week of K's fourth month! R just graduated from preschool yesterday, and D is wrapping up Grade One today. There's a lot to celebrate and a lot to be grateful for. D is about to have a birthday and we can hardly believe we've had him for seven amazing years! R is happy to be moving on to "big boy" school in the fall, so that he can be with his older brother and "hang" with his friends. K, she's just discovered her hands and feet, and is quite perplexed and entertained by these wonderful moving parts that will someday help her learn how to knit! However, to our surprise, she's also learned how to protest as loud as possible with her set of strong lungs and by arching her back in an attempt to slide off the chair in the above pic. It's enough to put a squeeze on the brain and rattle the eyeballs out of their sockets!

Gifted On Time

This little set, completed in May, was delivered just two days before a friend's baby boy was born last week. Whew, just in the nick of time! Quite a hip and handsome set, I think, consisting of the Baby Sophisticate and Kiddie Cadet, both found on Ravelry for more ideas. Hopefully, I will be able to see it on baby.

Foundation All Spun Up and Plied

The 4 ounces of sweetgeorgia BFL is now all spun up and Navajo plied. The yield: approximately 150 yards or 133 metres of squishy softness for... maybe.... fingerless mitts? Purty, isn't it? I think the colourway would have been even better with more deeper browns in it, but it's pleasing and calming to the eye nevertheless. It's also been so long since I've Navajo plied that I actually had to look up a tutorial to refresh myself! I think what that really means is that I have to keep up the spinning and plying.

This Girl Has a Voice

Our happy K has a loud clear voice and knows how to use it! She is often the last one to wake up in the morning, and once she does, she doesn't cry or bawl to tell us she's awake in the bedroom, she calls us expressively with her tonal sounds, as though she is calling us to come over and change her diaper before she gets a rash. I don't think there will be a future need to learn baby sign language.

There's Some Spinning Going On.....

I finally dove in and started spinning my BFL. It's soft and easy to spin, I'm happy to find, as it's my first time spinning blue faced leicester. I'm a bit rusty in my spinning, but the feel of it all comes back to you. I have no idea what drafting method I really use, but I know it's not Paula Simmons' one-handed draw for "softness and speed". I bought Paula Simmons' book, Spinning for Softness and Speed, but I just can't seem to get the hang of her method as useful and practical as it sounds with three kiddies around me. I'm way more comfortable drafting with two hands and do my best to limit the work done by the left hand-- the one that holds the bulk of the fiber mass. I also predraft in preparation for spinning to get the most even results.

Owl Mitts

I know it's nearly summer and I just gifted mittens to my sister who came home for a visit to meet her new niece. She's currently living in Edmonton where it has snowed as recently as mid-May apparently . Anyhow, she loves her mitts, even though the eyes that I embroidered on them look a tad bit evil. Button eyes just don't seem to work for me on my knit owls.

This ultra cute pattern, Give a Hoot, designed by Jocelyn Tunney, was probably found one late night while on Ravelry in late February. I'm sure I started this little number the same week K was born. It was a great quick knit resulting in excellent fitting mittens. I used Paton's Classic Merino Wool in dark grey and just followed the pattern without any mods. Easy pattern, really, one not too stressful for the sleep-deprived, "baby" brain..... one that may be also put to use for many Christmas gifts in the future.