Month: December 2010

Vacation

An evening photo of Kevin by the Christmas tree on Friday night – champagne was to celebrate the beginning of vacation, since we’re both off work until January 4th.


(They’re painting my building and redoing all the carpets, plus moving all the offices around, so even if I wanted to log in and get something done there isn’t a computer there for me to log into. Kind of blissful. Kevin has extra vacation so decided to also take the time off and work on the fish tank and other house projects.)

I love this photo because it also includes the toddler tree setup – our barricade of coffee tables and end tables and toys has been more or less successful. Every now and then the kiddo takes it into his head to go over the top (hmm), but so far we’ve managed to catch an ankle before he can reach the light strands. His technique is to grab a strand and pull sharply (as if he was starting a mower) – luckily the ornaments have all bounced on the carpet rather than breaking.

Sharp little vest

I finished the sweater, finished the mittens, and was completely in the mood to cast on for something new, to the point of possibly making bad decisions. This yarn was an impulse buy two years ago (originally possibly for long fingerless gloves, but I’ve had trouble finding three-color patterns that seemed likely), and since then has just sat. It’s completely the wrong yarn for a toddler — thin, glossy, not exactly machine-washable, and that white is BRIGHT white.


And yet, I felt compelled to use it in little three-row stripes for a v-neck vest, and so off I went. I don’t have a pattern per se, and I definitely need to look into jogless striping, since the first few color changes have been pretty rough, but I’m all excited about it and whirring away the rows.


I should also probably check the sizing before I go too much further, and it wouldn’t hurt to make sure the black and green are color-safe. Such an ill-advised little project, but it was exactly what I wanted to knit, so off we go. 🙂

Mittens!

Funny to post for such a teeny tiny project, but it was such a satisfying knit that I’m not sorry. The kiddo’s hands have been freezing outside recently (it IS December), and so I took myself to Ravelry to search for great toddler mitten patterns. In a bit of wild serendipity, I already had the book that contained my favorite option, so I cast on with the remnants from last year’s pumpkin hat – doesn’t match the jacket (nothing will, it’s an unusual blue) but coordinates nicely. When I started to run out of yarn just after the thumb, I went stash diving deeper and found a mini ball of Karabella Aurora 8 left over from my very first sweater – perfect.

I think they’re so pretty. 🙂 And love that I managed to use up two tiny stash bits in one project. The 16 mos. kiddo, however, wants no part of any such things. He shakes his head no vigorously, he holds his hands behind his back, and if any mittens manage to make their way onto his hands, he pulls them off immediately and casts them onto the ground. Such intense dislike of the mittens! However, leave him alone with them, and you get 20 minutes of this:

Yecch. (He thinks that sound is funny, too.) At least my maternal/knitter guilt is assuaged – I provided mittens, not my fault if he’s a toddler and prefers to eat them rather than wear them. 🙂 At least Kevin likes them, too, so I’m not completely alone in my mitten fondness.