Yarny Yumminess

This arrived today. I want to start knitting right away. The Great American Yarns Merino is so soft and wonderful to knit with. Also, this is going to be not one but two samples for one of my new patterns soon to come!

Hex

Last year in June I got me some Kauni Lace yarn in the coveted colourway EQ from Tausendschoen. Once I received it I marveled at the size of the skein (280 g of lace yarn) and stashed it away. I had no idea what to do with it.




Then came Hex. For the last year or so I haven't been spending a lot of attention to knitty but some day I scanned the patterns of the Fall 2009 issue.

And there it was. The project ideal for my Kauni Lace in the coveted colourway EQ. Hex.

I felt attracted to the Stockinette heavy lace with the hexagon pattern - though I knew the size and form of the shawl wouldn't work for me. Not a problem, I have lots of yarn and can make it longer. So I wound my yarn into the biggest cake of lace yarn I have ever seen.




I started with a small swatch for the foam pattern, and didn't like how it came out. (Hm, even to me it seems now I'm a bit hard to please...) The Kauni is way different from the soft Malabrigo Lace and the drop stitches just didn't seem right. No foam then, I decided. I cast on and added one repeat, to make my shawl as big as I dared. I think my Hex sans Foam (Ravelry link) is going to be about 75" long and I haven't even figured out how wide it is. Huge, that's for sure.

I was worried that the pattern would become tedious over time, but the colour changes in the yarn kept it from getting there. I am still enchanted by the gradual changes from one colour to the next, and knowing the pattern by heart helps to enjoy the knitting process as I go.



The Kauni lace works up beautifully, and I do love the crunchiness (is that a word?) of the yarn. I'm sure it'll soften up some and so I'm not worried about any itch factor. My yarn cake has shrunk considerably over the last two months, and I'll just go on until there's nothing left.

By now I have only 67 grams to go, there will be seven colour repeats once I'm done.

Music on a Friday

Today Egg and I are off to a friend's house where we are going to meet lots of other babies and will play music and sing. Egg loves it, and I enjoy it as well.

Having said that, when no babies are around, playing Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" does the trick also. I wonder what Lady Gaga would have to say about that.

Hanging over my head

Old. All of a sudden this word threatens my existence as I know it. Well, not really suddenly, it's been creeping up for some time now. There have been some days in the last 2 years when I felt old. I have had back pain ever since Egg was born, but mostly right after I got up and when I was sitting for too long (more than half an hour that is) and then it went away.

A couple of weeks before Christmas I woke up to excruciating back pain. So bad that I wasn't able to pick up my toddler and even getting dressed was a painful ordeal. A trip to the emergency room revealed a kidney infection and, wait, a bit of Osteo-Arthritis in my back. Even now I wonder, is that like "a little bit" pregnant? (Which, to quash all expectations, I am not.) The kidney infection was dealt with, Antibiotics do the trick. But the other pain, the daily one that won't go away, is the reminder of said word at the beginning of my post. Thankfully the days when my husband had to lift me out of bed are over, but some days just sitting on the couch with a hot water bottle pressed against my back is the only thing that makes it bearable.

Having said all this, I totally know it could be worse. It could be my hands.



P.S. After trying three times to get her to nap, Egg slept for almost 45 minutes yesterday.

Monday

Random.

- Left over pizza for (second) breakfast for a toddler? (Hey, she insisted. At least it's home made.)
- Is she going to nap for more than 20 minutes today that I am alone with her? (She did so over the weekend, just to prove my complaints to my husband wrong.)
- Egg started saying her name on Saturday. It sounds a little bit as if her nose is stuffed up, but it's definitely recognizable.
- Big plans are in the make. Slowly. It involves Knitting and writing patterns.

I leave you with this:

Sleep or no sleep - Haiti doesn't care

In light of what has happened in Haiti I really shouldn't whine about disturbed night sleep and about a toddler not wanting to nap and being whiny all day long - but that's what's happening in my life, so it's important to me.

It was also important to me to make a donation for the relief effort in Haiti. Though it feels like darn little one can do to help out. Still, it's better than doing nothing. Right? Right!

First FO of 2010 - and lots of irritation

Gaaah. I'm having a bad day because Egg is having a bad day. She just does not want to nap. And I can tell she's tired, very tired. She's cranky, needy, pick-me-uppy, whiny...It's just - I have no words.

She's also wearing my first FO of 2010 - a dress made from Noro Iro which was a Christmas present.


I don't know how, but she must be aware that I am irritated beyond anything, because after our second try to get her to nap, she came to me and smiled, said 'hello' and tried to give me kisses, all the while not wanting to nap...Gaaah.

ETA at 3.35 p.m.: I might have overreacted. A little bit.

2009 Statistics

Blog statistics

6 unmoderated comments, discovered today. Yes, dear readers, I'm terribly sorry I didn't check better if someone had left one. Please excuse my sloppiness, I do very much appreciate comments, always! I got some unwanted crap, so I decided to moderate and look what happens...

To answer the questions:

@quinn: yes, it's her first - but most probably not her last.
@KnitandPurlMama: I picked the name Erna, 'cause that's what I secretly called Egg when I was pregnant before I knew she was a girl. Now we have another Erna around.
@lori: Erna didn't come with the sweater, I made it. And Egg was very excited about that. Just as excited as when I made the hat. She does appreciate hand knits.


Knitting statistics

Now to the other statistics, the knitting. Ravelry makes me look prolific, as my friend Melanie assures me. But then she clearly didn't have a closer look at how many childrens' hats I made to pump up the volume...no, not really, that just happened. I do admit though that there were a lot of smaller things I made in 2009, but also a baby blanket, two shawls and some scarves.

Projects begun before but finished in 2009:
- one baby raglan
- a pair of socks
- fingerless mitts for Rolf

That's 3 projects I won't include in the final tally.

Projects begun and finished in 2009:
- 8 baby/toddler tees, vests or shrugs
- 15 baby/toddler/kids sweaters or cardigans
- 11 scarves, cowls etc. (some lace)
- 2 lace shawls
- 7 pairs of baby/kids shoes or socks
- 1 pair of socks (OMG, just one pair?)
- 1 baby blanket
- 12 kids hats
- 2 hats
- 1 doll hat
- 1 doll sweater
- 1 kids tie
- 1 kids scarf
- 1 kids skirt

That's 64 projects, 1.23 projects a week. I was a bit stumped by the amount, I don't think I ever knit that much in one year.
Now I'm under pressure to make at least one more this year (which is, I can safely assume, not going to happen).

Happy 2010!

Egg and I wish you all a Happy New Year, may it be a good one for all of us!




(That's Egg last night having indulged in Orange Crush. She enjoyed it.)