newborn longies

I was probably a little too excited when a friend asked me about cloth diapering. I cloth diapered both of our boys, primarily using fitted diapers with wool covers.

In my overexcitement, I made the expectant parents these:



I didn't have any good soft to the skin gender neutral yarn, so I dyed this (plant material dye, frozen from last year's garden) single ply Uruguay merino for this project. I used my friend Heather's pattern, making them shorts length for the summer due date, and added a little owl cable.

sometimes the yarn talks to me

I have days when a particular yarn in my stash calls out to me, and demands that I do something with it. Some yarns ask to live at another house. Others have a particular item they would like to be transformed into. I purchased a single skein of black (the sheep was black, the skein is more of a charcoal) Wensleydale at a fiber festival last May. It was lovely yarn, and Wensleys are still very rare, especially on this side of the pond. Rare=expensive. I believe I spend just under 40$ on this single skein of aran weight, 200 yds from a local woman (gwyneth something??). It was worth every penny. Two nights ago I heard it whispering to me. It hoped I would take a break from spinning (I have about 2 oz left of some lovely merino, which will hopefully get finished this week), and knit it into the Star Crossed Beret. I complied.

Voila! Hopefully, the little sheepy voices in my head are appeased.

fiber samples

I was given a few tiny samples of Gotland fiber, in 4 colors (ranging from mist grey to charcoal). For those of you that don't know, Gotland was the fiber used to make the cloaks in the Lord of the Rings movies. It is really soft, given it's durability, and the spun yarn has this lovely pewtery-silvery sheen. I quickly spun up some singles from the tufts of wool, and knit it into a headband. I think I might be sold on the medium grey. After shearing this spring, I hope to get enough to spin and knit a cloak hooded cardigan.

Who socks

JMCO, kfab increases, fleegle heel, 1" 2x2 ribbed cuff, EZ sewn bind off. For those of you who can decipher code.

Adventurous knitting

I made two newborn hats this weekend.

The first was more densely knitted, for a baby boy due in February (any time now).

The second will be for my cousin, whose second boy is due this summer. I knit it with larger needles, so his little head doesn't overheat.

My blood pressure was elevated halfway through the second hat. Here is how much yarn was left after I cast off:

Ladies and Gentlemen, that is a hair less than one yard.

they insist on having boys

Little boys are wonderful creatures. I liked my first so much, I had another. Apparently, nearly everyone else in my life has the same idea. All of my cousins have had boys thus far, one is pregnant with her second. A friend is having her second boy. Both of these babies need hats. Here is the yarn I quickly spun up for them, over the past 2 days:

The base is BFL superwash, I spun it aran weight (more or less) for quick knitting. I received the roving in a gift exchange.

Happy Imbolc!

Today is the halfway point between the winter solstice, and the spring equinox. It has been a special day in many cultures with long winters, who call it Imbolc, St. Brigid's day (the Catholics attempted to civilize the old custom), Candlemas, Groundhog Day, and others.

It's traditional to open the windows during the day (to let in more light), keep the lights on all night, and bring fresh flowers into the home. Ironically, we have daffodils sprouting in our backyard at the moment. Jack Frost had a poor run this year.

We hung our white ribbon on our door, for St. Brigid to bless last night. Today the boys and I will be folding dodecandron star lanterns (well, I will be), and we'll be reciting the classic rhymes.

If candlemas day be fair and bright

winter will have another fight

If candlemas day brings cloud and rain,

winter won't come again

If candlemas day be dry and fair

the half of the winter's to come and mair

If candlemas day be wet and foul

the half o the winter's gane at yule.