Plum Stitches

sweet

On Fridays Chloe comes home from school with a folder of all the art work she's done over the past week.  One of the teachers just started writing captions on the bottom of her work.  This one made my day!

I've been trying to go into Chloe's classroom once a week to volunteer.  Basically watching her do her 'work' and then reading to the children.  It's been really special and I feel fortunate enough to be home and have the time to do this.  Jim had a day off last week and went in.  They loved him.  Not many Dads are able to go in and volunteer, so they treated him like a rock star.

Have a great weekend!

details, details

Almost forgot the details on both of the projects I mentioned the other day.

Pattern:  Seamless Kimono Sweater
Yarn:  Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran (yes, I know not practical for a baby).  Almost 3 skeins, and then remnants for the i-cord
Needles:  Size 6 circular
Size:  3-6 months
Notes:  I love making this little sweater, knit in the round, with no seams!  Perfect for me :-)

Pattern:  Bold Banded Mittens, by Zoe Meller
Yarn:  Lion Brand Cotton-Ease
Needles: size 3 and 5 circular
Size:  3-4 years
Notes:  My first pair of mittens!  They were SUPER easy, highly recommend tackling mittens if you haven't already.  I used leftover yarn for this - a cotton/acrylic blend, which I'm not so sure if the best material for kids mittens.  At least if the weather is wet.  Oh, also I skipped the stripes that the pattern called for, simply too many ends for me to weave in at the end!

I could not resist these adorable shoes for Phoebe.  I was thinking she might be able to wear them to her baptism later in the spring, but I think they'll be too big.  You never know.  She's currently the size of a mini-line backer.  She goes in on Monday for her four month checkup.  Four months?  Where did that time go?

She's been sleeping at night really well, pretty much from when she was a few weeks old.  We lucked out!  Almost makes us think we could have another, almost.

The beginnings of another February Sweater, this time my plan is to do a straight stockinette stitch to replicate the Little Daisy Swing Coat, but without the seaming.

Seamless Kimono Sweater

I finished it!  Of course now I'm thinking that I'm not going to give it to the intended recipient.  Not sure what my problem is, but I'm having a hard time with a gift for this person, by the time I settle on something the child will probably be entering first grade!

I've almost finished these mittens for Chloe, which were surprisingly easy to knit.  Who knew!

We spent last weekend visiting my Mom and Stepfather in Vermont.  Cold, cold, cold, but we still had fun.  The sales guys that Jim works with gave him Wii as a Christmas gift, so we spent quite a bit of time with it.  We also got to catch up with friends of mine from high school, which was great.  Just too short of a visit with them.

It takes us about five hours to get up there, normally great time for me to knit, but with two kids now, we traveled at night.  On the way back I had a little reading light and was actually able to knit, awkwardly.  

slipping, just a bit

A week into the new year and I must admit my efforts to organize our house has not moved as quickly as I had hoped.  In my fantasy world, I thought I ould go floor by floor, but it's been more ad-hoc, which I suppose isn't so bad.  I've been eying the P-Touch, thinking that might help, but who am I kidding?  (I've secretly always wanted a P-Touch, so I think getting organized is my excuse. 

Since Chloe started school, I've been trying to figure out where to dedicate a wall to all of the paintings and craft projects.  I finally just bought these clips to hang things on.  Plus, I thought they would be good if we decided to shift where we were hanging her projects.

One thing that's a major drag about our house is that we don't have a basement or an attic, so we have all sorts of stuff crammed into our closets.  Enough about about my home organization woes...

On the knitting front...After my disaster with the Daisy Swing Coat, I searched on Ravelry for a new pattern and stumbled upon this Seamless Kimono Sweater Pattern.  It's knit from the top down, with virtually no seams.  I went for the 3-6 month size, although it appears to be a bit bigger.

I've also made some progress on the Tomten Jacket.  The yarn is from my stash (woohoo!)  I'm almost done with one of the sleeves and am hoping to wrap this up soon.  I'm not sure who this will be gifted to, but I like the idea of having a surplus of completed projects to give as birthdays approach.

resolutions

Hard to believe it's 2009, where did 2008 go?  I feel like I'm on the road to recovery from the holidays and from illness in our household.  Chloe came down with a nasty bug on her last day of school before break.  Which I managed to catch a few days later.  Then on New Year's eve I managed to get a stomach bug.  Hopefully, we've paid our dues for the season and we won't get sick again.  Wishful thinking, right?

So here I am thinking about resolutions.  You know the usual: 

• more blog posting
• get back on track with my knitting and sewing
  
• get in shape
• figure out what I want to be when I grow up
• organize every corner of my house and become anal rententive about maintaining order!!
  
• etc. 
  

All of which, I suppose, are easily attainable.  As for the getting in shape, I really want to run another 1/2 marathon at some point late this spring.  Thanks to that nasty stomach bug my pants are fitting a little looser (one bonus to getting sick) and now that Phoebe is three months I can check her into the childminding at our gym.  No excuses!

A friend from high school is in the city for the weekend and I met up with her in the West Village at Le Pain Quoitidien.  I love that place, Jim can't stand it - I think he dreams of a giant deli sandwich, not a petite Belgian one! 

On my way home I made a quick stop at Bonpoint, which has gorgeous kids/baby clothing, but very pricey.  The funny thing is everything is very simple, they use Liberty of London fabrics and would be easy to make.  It's great for inspiration.  Very similar to Makie in SOHO. 

And, I made another quick stop at City Cricket, which is also great for inspiration.  Of course it's all kids/baby stuff, but I suppose that's where I am these days.

Happy New Year!