Recent Happenings

It has been awhile..... 

Let me briefly share the following updates on my knitting committments & mothering:

• I was able to knit a few more squares over the holiday.  This is not the progress I hoped for, but progress, nonetheless.
• I received a set of circular looms for Christmas.  Hmmmm......they have made me curious & I have toyed with them a bit, making one hat and one more is in process.
• Lily is sleeping better!  After renting every book on babies & sleeping from the library, I've decided to be more routine in the times that I feed her cereal.  I have been quite sporadic, and since I've gone to feeding her rice cereal twice everyday, at 9 and 2, her sleeping has improved.   The night we returned from visiting family resulted in a ten hour stretch!!!  One word: AMAZING.  I thought it would be difficult to maintain this routine while visiting family, but instead found it quite easy.  Her six month check up will be Monday.
• Knitting is great because it's a convenient hobby that gives back.  I don't need to take up a whole table, I don't need a ton of tools... I just need a bag, some yarn & some needles: I love it! 

I leave you with the following epiphany:

How cool is it that God has given us the desire to create beautiful, unique things?  For this is His very nature, as OUR creator.  I am so thankful & humbled that He would allow me to experience just a taste of how divine it is to make something and acknowledge that it is good!

Season's Greetings

I have a confession.  The Garter Stitch Blanket (aka the second project I have embarked upon from the baby knits for beginners book by Debbie Bliss) is not a fun project.  It is in the sense that I can knit one of the squares fairly quickly..... But then I realize that all my squares are not as uniform as I'd hoped.   And then...then....I want to give up because I don't want to end up with a blanket that is all whopper-jawed and made of expensive yarn. Aargh.... Sigh.... 

Hence, I have put the completed "squares" in my knitting bag and have officially set it aside.   I hope that over Christmas break, I re-discover my motivation for this project.   In the meantime, I tried to start a stocking for my Lily.  Double-pointed needles=awkwardness and confusion.  It looks like I may need to spend some time once again on knittinghelp.com or in the presence of my Martha Stewart friend.   Now, don't you worry---I am not giving up entirely!  Just taking a mini-break.  You all definitely help in the accountability department...   

In the meantime, I plan to work on sleep.   You see, the other reason why I am not finding myself in the knitting mood lately is because my knitting time has been taking place between the time Lily goes to bed and when I got to bed.   The little one goes down around 7 or 8, and then proceeds to awaken half-a-dozen times before I hit the sack around 11.  And then, then....she is still waking another half-a-dozen times before the morning....   Yawn.   Growth spurt? Bad habits? Not sure.  But one thing is for sure: I am tired and I am not knitting.   

Sleep-deprived in Indiana.

Garter-Stitch Blanket

Thanksgiving has passed and the Christmas season is now in full swing!  The holidays are so different with a child.  Decorating our home was quite the challenge this year.  But my Lily certainly looked the part in her Santa pj's while squealing for my attention amid attempts to hang ornaments and string lights.  I kept trying to tell her that it was all for her, but she didn't seem to understand, or care really ;)  And I guess that's not entirely true either.... those decorations are as much for me as for anybody!  I adore Christmas time.   It is so magical to see the house and the town come to life in glows and bows!  Lily's first ornaments are also on the tree---a silver baby rattle and a blown glass bootie.    

And along with the snow and the decorations, comes the knitting pressure.  I want to knit gifts!  The next project in the book is a patchwork quilt made of garter stitch squares.  Easy enough, yet guess what the most difficult part of this project will be for me???? You guessed it: seaming.  Which is good, I need to work on this skill.  I splurged and purchased actual Debbie Bliss yarn for this creation, so here's to hoping it's not wasted on scars caused by my attempts at knitting seams.   At the very least, it will be super soft ;)

At this point I am becoming a bit nervous as each square is not completely the same & I may be in the market for a row counter....

If only my knitting exuded the same sparkle as the Christmas season.  I'll get there.  Someday....

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Have you wondered why the garter stitch is called a garter stitch?  It makes me think of weddings and one of our western traditions I hate most---the groom removing his bride's garter from around her thigh in front of a crowd of friends & family who clap, hoot, and gawk.  Why in the world do we do this?  It's disturbing to me.   Anyhow, my baby's garter-stitch-scarf will NOT be around her thigh, but will be cutely styled around her neck instead; though also for a crowd to enjoy!  And all of this leads me to my first mommy topic: breastfeeding :)

As I was knitting my first Debbie Bliss project, The Garter Stitch Scarf,  I thoroughly enjoyed the ease I've come to in my knitting.  Though I have far to go, it is with a smile that I can say I have mastered the garter stitch.  This project was a breeze for me.  Almost mindless.  I could do it while watching television, riding in the car, even while having a conversation!  And it turned out great.  Indeed, I believe I have in fact enhanced my Lily's life by making her such a creation.  

And then it occurred to me: I had come to the same place in my journey with breastfeeding.

If there was one thing that I didn't quite know what to think about in terms of becoming a mom, it was breastfeeding.  I knew I wanted to do it though.  It was healthiest for the baby and had benefits for me as well.  I had had friends and family members do it.  I could do it, too!  Months before Lily's birth, I stumbled upon the book, How My Breasts Saved the World by Lisa Shapiro.  The title alone was enough to convince me of reading it.  However, I was so focused on preparing for labor that I didn't start reading it until I'd gotten home from the hospital with Lily and had already begun to breastfeed.   In actuality, this was the perfect time to read it!  As I was adjusting to the process called breastfeeding, I could read about another brutally honest woman who related to my situation.  It was encouraging....  It was motivating.....  And it was hilarious!

The process at first involved feeding her every two hours, upright (me, not her) with pillows & a boppy all around; both arms in action.  It was exhausting and painful.  In fact, several times I used so much of that lanolin cream that my poor baby couldn't get a grip!  Twice, I went in to see a lactation consultant.   The good news throughout those first three months of breastfeeding was that Lily was certainly getting enough to eat.  I could hear her swallowing and her weight showed that she was healthy.  The first time she smiled occurred during a feeding. There I was curling my toes, counting down the minutes and then it happened: she looked up at me and grinned a big 'ol grin--losing her latch even.  I will forever remember that moment.  God used it to give me the courage to keep going.  There were times I wanted to give up.  It was awkward, and I often felt restricted by it.  But, I continued to persevere, trusting that things could improve.  And I can now say that they have!  I can feed Lily so easily now.  Like my knitting, it's virtually mindless.  I can have conversations, I can change the channels on the television, and I can even do it without a pillow!  

So, cheers to the garter stich!  And cheers to breastfeeding!  Thanks to Debbie Bliss, I now have a delightful little scarf to remind me to persevere in all things, for great is the reward ;)