1//2013 He is here.

Well, he's actually been here for 5 weeks at this point - he's grown quite a bit and lost a lot of hair since this photo was taken. I never imagined the time would go by so quickly, though we do little more than eat, sleep and change nappies (diapers). We are incredibly lucky to have a very chilled little fella who rarely makes a fuss. His mum and dad are completely and utterly in love.

Donnacha was a bigun... 9lbs 11oz, almost 22inches tall, and was too big for many of his clothes from the start. Thankfully all the things I made for him still fit, though I need to get to work on more! The mammy-made object I've been happiest with is the puerperium cardigan, knit with Madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK (in denim and candlewick). Both the pattern and the wool are a joy - I'm going to cast on a larger size as soon as I have a chance! I'll make the next one stripey too; just like babies, I love stripes!

a day in the sun

We ate cheese, walked by the river, had a little pick-er-nick and did some knitting (me) MIT OpenCourseWare (him), bought some more cheese, and walked home. What a glorious day!

Words

I've already fallen far, far behind on the #FEBphotoaday challenge. Ah well.

I had originally taken the above photo to match the keyword "words." It's my favorite cookbook, the Avoca Café Cookbook, the pages of which are crumpled and stuck together with splashes of soup and sauce and the like. I was going to match this with a post on my cookbook obsession/compulsion, but I think I'll save that for another day, and, instead, return to Simon's accursed knitted jumper (sweater).

The idea for this jumper started here, with Flint knit's wonderful retro hockey sweater. Simon likes plain, unadorned styles, so the Elizabeth Zimmerman Seamless Hybrid pattern seemed perfect. So, about 2 years ago, I ordered several skeins of Malabrigo worsted in azul profundo. Finally, last October, I cast on.

I decided to include a "secret message" for Simon on the inside of the bottom hem, á la Fricknits, and set about making the pattern using this site.

Between spelling errors (I can't spell "shiny," apparently), and the fact that I had never done color work before, it took me a while to get the hem right, but eventually I did my row of purl and started working my way up the body.

Even though I made good progress on the body and arms, I didn't manage to get the jumper done in time for Christmas, so I took it home to work on over the break. At one point, I absentmindedly put the knitted body, still on the needles, on my dresser top, only to later discover that I had laid it on top of an oil burner. When I picked it up again, it had managed to soak up a large quantity of paraffin oil, and it stank! The only thing to do was soak it, repeatedly, in detergent... Eventually, the smell shifted, but I was left with a semi-felted body. :(

I soldiered on. I think that most people find this pattern easy, but I have to say, I found it very difficult. The yoke was a three-steps-forward-two-steps-back affair. I initially tried the standard neck-back, only to have to rip it back (along with one of the shoulders). After coming across Brooklyn Tweed's post on the Seamless Hybrid, I decided to go for the Shirt Yoke and am very happy that I did.

Next came the neck. Again, a first attempt had to be ripped back, then a second attempt, bound off and everything, wouldn't go over Simon's head! Third time lucky! But when he finally got the jumper over his head, lo and behold it was at least 2 inches short!! Oh if I had only read EZ's instructions to provisionally cast on, so that the bottom can be finished later and lengthened if needed. So, I had to sit down and follow these instructions to pick up stitches at the bottom of the jumper, just before the hem, then begin working downwards. So all my work on the message for Simon, my shiny bright star, had to be cut off!

Well, he made some use of it anyway!

The jumper's still not finished. I'm working on the last few rows now and think it's time to turn and do the hem, but I don't think I'll put a message in this time, or it'll never be done. Not that I think Simon will get to wear it this winter anyway, given how warm it's been! The other thing is that I'm very disappointed with the Malabrigo wool. The whole paraffin incident aside, the wool has almost felted as I've been going along, making any ripping back that I had to do very difficult. The jumper already looks very worn and fuzzy and I'm worried it won't last long after all that work! A quick google search suggests many others have had the same problem... I won't be using Malabrigo again.

Phew, this was an epic post. Hopefully I'll post a pic of the FO in a week or so... I'll be happy to move on from this project! This, this, and this are on the needles!

#FEBphotoaday

I came across the February photo-a-day challenge on Fat Mum Slim... it's just what I need! Today's assignment: your view today. Nice and easy!

The photo captures my computer (my view everyday), a pleasingly (or challengingly) full fruit bowl, and my Elizabeth Zimmermann "Knitting Without Tears" book. I have been attempting to knit a Seamless Hybrid sweater for Simon for about 4 months now, and cannot vouch for the "without tears" part. I don't have particularly extensive knitting experience but it is definitely the hardest thing I've tried so far, with a whole lot of frogging going on. Hopefully I will write a post all about it when I'm finished. If that ever happens!

three | waiting

My needles are waiting to be put to use, and I'm waiting for this damned head cold to clear and take the cobwebs of my holiday-brain with it!

WIP Wednesday

Just a few of the many many things lying around here in various stages of (in)completion...

My very first Baby Surprise Jacket

Completing a Baby Surprise Jacket seems to be somewhat of a rite of passage for knitters. The BSJ, as it is known, is the number one pattern for babies on ravelry, which is how I came across it, and its author Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Elizabeth inspires total devotion from anyone who has read her work. As her obituary in the New York Times put it, she "brought a penetrating intellect and a sculptor's sensitivity to revolutionizing the ancient art of knitting." If you are thinking of learning to knit (or just picking it back up again), I would highly recommend Knitting Without Tears - a handbook full of basic tips and information that will serve you well no matter what you're working on. The best thing about EZ's work is that not only does it evince her obvious intelligence, but also her sharp and vibrant British wit, which makes it really fun to read (dare I say, even if you're not a knitter!).

Of the Baby Suprise Jacket, which is knitted in one piece and magically turns from an amorphous blob into a neat cardigan, she says, "Funny-looking object, isn't it? Well.. [some instructions for folding] ...hey presto eureka and lo - a baby sweater. The baby will be unmoved by this offering, but the parents may well be charmed and your friends will be AMAZED." She was right! When I finished knitting the jacket, I laid it out for 3 PhDs and asked them to try and make it into a cardigan with two simple folds. They were stumped... and, as promised, suitably impressed when I demonstrated the genius of the pattern.

This BSJ went to baby Maeve. Hopefully it will keep her warm now that the nippiness of autumn has really set in!

Right, I'm off to do my last long run before the marathon - only three weeks to go now!

II: A Finally Finished Object

Just before I went home to Ireland I finally finished the cardigan I had been working on for my friend's daughter Molly. It was originally meant as a welcome gift - but by the time I finally finished it, Molly was only a week away from her first birthday!!

I used the Betty Lou Lace Cardigan pattern from this book. In general, the pattern was fairly simple, but I found the lace section very slow-going. The lace body was a bit wonky-shaped in the end - I suppose my gauge must have changed over the 8 (!!) months I was working on it. Overall though, I'm fairly happy with it.

The yarn is Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (commonly known as KPPPM), colorway P136. I foolishly didn’t have a specific project in mind when I bought this wool, so I didn’t have enough, and had to order more after embarking on this project. The dye lot for the second batch of wool was very different. I had already started on the lace body and couldn't bear to start over so I ripped back the body as far as the yoke in the hope that the change in yarns wouldn’t be so noticeable. It's not too bad, I hope!

So, this project taught me two very important lessons:
Lesson Number 1: Do not buy wool without a specific project (and required yardage) in mind.
Lesson Number 2: Do not start a project without necessary yardage.

Lesson 1 should really be altered to read: Do not enter a yarn store without a specific project (and required yardage) in mind. I can never resist the temptations of those walls of color!

In other news, tonight it's so hot in our apartment that we're eating our chocolate biscuits with a spoon!