WIP Wednesday: Little By Little

I haven’t exactly been a ball of fire lately but I’ve finally made some progress on a hat for Jellybean.

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I’m making the smallest size of Barley by Tin Can Knits. The yarn is Knit Picks Brava worsted in Wine.

This had been a quick and easy knit so far. Excellent for pregnancy brain knitting, lol. I’m itching to make some sort of Minion hat for Jellybean too. I just need to get my needles free!!!

Timing Is Everything

The birds finally accepted my offerings! Remember my cobbled together “yarn feeder” I put out last summer? Well it sat completely full all summer, fall and winter. I guess I missed prime best building season.

But spring has sprung and my yarn bits are quickly disappearing!

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And they don’t appear to be picky. The cotton, wool, blends, and acrylic are all being used.

Now if only I could spot some nests with my bright bits sticking out!

WIP Wednesday: Barley

Balancing my fatigue/all the time mornning sickness and desire to make adorable things for Jellybean is killing me! I have barely started my hexi-ghan. And by barely starting, I mean I have picked out two colors to alternate stripes in red-ish cotton and purple cotton.

Maybe I need something smaller and portable? After my success with Rye by Tin Can Knits, I thought about Barley by the same designer….

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(All photo rights to Tin Can Knits and their Ravelry page)

A nice worsted weight project with some neat design elements without being too masculine or feminine. Maybe in some nice Knit Picks Brava Worsted in a nice deep wine color?

Happy Wednesday!

A Little Creativity In The Family

My hubby wanted a cute way to let our friends and family know about Jellybean. He is an avid video gamer and found the cutest T-shirts online. Originally we wanted to take a photo wearing the t-shirts….but I’m 5’6″ and he’s 6’3″. Let’s just say we couldn’t get our middles to line up right. So he designed this….

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He can be pretty creative in between video games 🙂 It’s not knitting but it’s pretty adorable anyway.

Happy Monday!

Big Changes

I have alluded several times to some medical issues over the past couple of months. And not to worry….they are for a good reason! I’m proud to announce that the Hubby and I are having a baby!!

We are over the moon excited and due sometime early to mid October. As of today I’m around 12-13 weeks and moving into the second trimester! It’s been sooo hard to keep this a secret!!!

That being said…..I’ve been MISERABLY sick since about week four. My mother’s side has a history of hyperemesis gravidarum. This condition was highlighted famously last year by Duchess Catherine or Princess Kate, whichever you prefer. While I didn’t have to be hospitalized I did have a steep learning curve to finding ways to cope with the debilitating symptoms. I’ll spare you the gory details but around week two of symptoms I asked my Hubby if he was okay with only one child, lol. It has since become more manageable.

I am currently taking an anti-emetic medicine, eating a very high fiber and high protein diet, a B-6/Unisom combo for bed time nausea, I drink enough water to fill a swimming pool every day, and take a gummy prenatal vitamin because they are easier on the tummy. I eat almost no sugar, no caffeine at all, very little fried food, and eat 5-6 smalls meals a day instead of 3 large ones. I seriously feel like a gastric bypass patient. But most days it works for me. And the plus side that is all this morning sickness (or all day sickness) means a healthy baby, or so I’m told.

I still have a lot of symptoms but I can at least manage to make it through work. I’m hoping this tapers off in the second trimester. But my own mother had symptoms for her entire pregnancy. I’m praying that I don’t have to do the same….

I’m BONE TIRED most days and sleep 8-9 hours every night. I have had little energy to knit or anything fun. I can barely make sure the house has groceries and the laundry gets done once or twice a week. A big apology to my husband for all the sandwiches and chicken nuggets on the menu lately. Seriously, he’s been such a trooper and takes great care of me!

I can’t wait to start our nursery and pulling out all my baby hand knits I’ve been storing up over the years! Not to mention feeling better some day! Stay tuned for updates on our little Jellybean! (I don’t know want to find out the sex so I picked a gender neutral monicker lol)

Hallelujah, I Finally Have A LYS!!!

Hallelujah and Praise the fiber gods!! My happy hamlet of Topeka, KS has officially opened a LYS!

I introduce to you….Yak ‘n Yarn!

They are all about knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving, and so much more! I have been following their Facebook page and their Grand Opening at the end of March. They are going to even offer classes and Knit Nights! My inner knitting nerd is doing back flips! They have sort of odd hours right now so I sadly haven’t been able to get in there and explore the store. I am definitely going remedy that soon!

What is your favorite part of having a LYS near you?

2014 Stashbustin’ #14: Hexi-ghan

I think I have found my next project and it’s perfect for my current knitting mood! I give you Hexi-ghan by verybusymonkey!

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(Photo credit to @verybusymonkey and Hexi-ghan Rav page)

This afghan beauty is knit one hexagon at a time. After the first one you pick up some of the stitches from your finished hexagon to start the next one. So no seaming!!! This is the perfect project for my mood right now. Instant gratification when you complete a hexagon but it builds to a larger project.

I am planning to use up my stash of Bernat Cottontots cotton. Which is sadly discontinued now! (If anyone has any Cottontots hanging out in their stash they want to bargain/trade/donate PLEASE let me know. I seriously love this stuff!!)

I haven’t decided if I want to do colors by rows or just knit the colors randomly as I go. Do I want a patterned design or free form art….what would you do?

Spring Cleaning

After my hiatus from blogging/knitting the past couple of months, I haven’t been able to generate much interest in any of the WIPs I had on the needles. And I can’t knit something I don’t love, so I did some organizing!

2014 Stashbustin’ #11: Henry’s Sweater – FROGGED

Undated/Unnamed Baby Girl cotton baby blanket – FROGGED

2014 Stashbustin’ #5: Antrose – HYBERNATING

Calorimetry Headband – FROGGED

2014 Stashbustin’ #13: A Plain Rye Sock – ACTIVE WIP

Call it a Spring Clean! I just couldn’t bring myself to work on any of these so I made a frog-it or stash-it decision. Only my Antrose and Plain Rye Socks made it safely out of the frog pond. Antrose is great but it’s a lot more project than I want right now, so it’s safely tucked away! I’m hoping to start my second Plain Rye sock soon!

But all this begs an important question, what to do next? Pardon me, I’m off to peruse my Ravelry queue!

A Little Post Winter Pick Me Up

I managed to get my mitts on a new book. And I’m beyond in love with it!

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Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog!! I’ve only had time to read the first few pages and flip through the designs. I did manage to snag my seamstress/genius mother to take my measurements and plug them into the measurements page.

I’ve already fallen in love with some of the projects. How amazing is this Flutter Pullover? I’m not ready to dive into a sweater project just yet. So I’m content to just drool for now.

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Has anyone else out there knit a project from this book? I’d love to hear your experiences!

FO Friday: Assisted Hatchling

I finally have a FO to show!!! 2014 Stashbustin’ #12 is in the books!

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Pattern: Assisted Hatchling by Elizabeth Ditchburn Dew

Size: 3 months

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Pagoda

Needles: US 8 circulars and US 8 DPNs

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I used 217.7 yards of yarn or about 117 grams. This was just over half of one skein of yarn. The pattern is free and well written. I would definitely make this one again. My bind off at the hem went kind of wonky. Even blocking didn’t fix it all the way. Can’t decide if it bothers me enough to rip out and redo, lol. I do love the open neck detail that makes sure it fits over babies big noggin.

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Now I just need to add buttons at the next. Nothing in my “button stash” fits the character of this garment. So I need to go shopping. Or….I’m seriously considering snaps. How easy would those be for a new mommy to fasten!? Any thoughts from the blogging world?