Archive for the ‘knitting’ Category
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Three months old already. La petite puce just hit 5 kilos (11 pounds). She’s packing on the grams, and at a much slower rate, adding some minutes of sleep to nightly cycles.
Her little pixie hat below, quite similar to the flower hats worn by some of T’s playmobil fairies.
She also models some poofy pants, poofy enough for her diapered butt, but flattering nonetheless:
And so time marches forward. Making the most of our last two months here and not thinking too much about the rest.
Happy June to you all.
Posted in Uncategorized, knitting, sewing | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 4th, 2010
Made, or rather, remembered to photograph in 2009.
I promised myself not to go there until 2010 arrived.
We returned home Saturday night from the southwest and spent Sunday taking apart the Christmas tree, unpacking and remembering how to live in a very “cozy” place along with Pere Noel’s space-sucking additions. And then it was time. I made C take down box after unpacked box from atop the closet–clothes I might not wear again in our time in France, clothes T will never wear again–and then I found what I was looking for, the suitcase stuffed with T’s baby debris taken from the storage unit this summer. I dumped everything out and refilled the suitcase with the latest pile of outgrown preschool-wear.
T and I sorted through the pile, talked about how small she used to be, tried the little socks on her stuffed animal friends, and then the sadness hit. There’s no telling what this next little girl’s preferences will be, but unless/until she insists that orange will not work for her as it did her big sister, she requires nothing. Hence the sadness. What to knit? What to sew? It’s all there already: piles of blankets, slings, little sweaters and full body knitted suits, home printed onesies, bibs, a load of little hats. I’ve decided that there’s no way I’m going down the sew-your-own diaper road. So, what is left?
I might add that the big January sales start on Wednesday. I foresee a few purchases, but what to make? What to make? Perhaps shirts like these?
Posted in knitting, sewing | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 27th, 2009
Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. It’s not a holiday here so we had a small celebration just the three of us, along with one turkey-hungry cat. Unfortunately her strict kidney-protecting diet makes it impossible to feed her human food, but it didn’t stop her from trolling the table and waiting patiently beneath the messy eater’s chair, just in case. I’m looking forward to gathering with friends on Sunday for a proper feast.
As winter sets in, the holidays approach and with some extra time I’ve gained by cutting French class, I’ve been plowing through some projects. T and I set to work on these felt balls. It started as a yarn stash elimination process, but of course, we needed new supplies as well. Not sure what we’ll do with them. Since we don’t have any holiday decorations here with us, I’m thinking about sewing them into a garland of some sort:
Also finished a cardigan to keep cow warm. He wasn’t.
And the first of T’s handmade presents:
I got the umbrella fabric in San Francisco this summer, and now that T has expressed an interest in button-down shirts, I was happy to find a use for it. Check out the pattern, an etsy find:
I suspect she’s too finicky these days for the overalls, but they are nice, hm?
Off to the library. Just a regular old non-cash-distributing Friday here.
Posted in knitting, sewing | 4 Comments »
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
T has been showing an increasing interest in my knitting of late. It’s gone from help feeding me the yarn, to interest in manipulating the needles, to a somewhat maniacal scissor experience on Tuesday when she really wanted to snip the tangled part. After the blood-draw, I started thinking about safer ways for her to participate, and then I remembered this little gizmo that I bought during the summer sales. I intended to save it for Christmas–and I really don’t know how anyone “saves” purchases from these sales for more than a few weeks–but the time was right yesterday.
I wish I could have taken a picture of her doing it, but my fingers are still essential for the process to work. We worked on the chain for almost two non-consecutive hours yesterday–clearly a hit. It’s a bit too much for small hands to master so I hold the spool and do the initial wrapping around the prongs and she lifts the loops with her “needle.” We changed colors a few times and waiting to see the new color emerge from the bottom of the spool proved to be a big motivator.
It’s started me thinking about other fiber-related skills she might try at this age. Perhaps one of those potholder makers? As for me, I might have to get one of these for myself, or possibly start amassing a collection of vintage ones. I’ve always hated making i-cords and wrapping yarn around a cute mushroom will be a good solution.
Posted in art with t, child, knitting | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
T has become an obsessive tights wearer lately. If she doesn’t wear them to school, the first thing she does when she gets home is take off whatever she’s wearing and put on tights. If all of her tights are dirty, she goes in for leg warmers. Her whole ritual centers around the idea that one wears tights to exercise, and exercise is essential at the end of the day. So she disappears into her room and re-emerges in costume, ready for some downward dog/push up type exertions, after which we can go about our afternoon. It’s all really specific in that classic two year old way and very endearing.
A long way of saying: lots of tights require skirts, new knitted skirt above featuring stripes and orange, two keys to happiness for one little girl.
Posted in knitting | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
I set out to find the Paris equivalent to Chloe’s Closet, the San Francisco children’s consignment store we left behind. Something like it seems to exist and not very far from our house, but (I should have known) it’s closed until September. I kept walking in search of the local Goodwill/Salvation Army alternative and even though it’s open all year, it’s actually not, or it never was, or it’s about to reopen soon. No luck.
Then I hopped on the Metro to go to my first yarn stores here. Two of them appeared to be close to one another, one near Les Halles called La Droguerie and the other closer to the Marais. It took me a long time to find the site of the second which no longer exists, but the first was interesting. I was told “ne pas photos” as I whipped out my iphone so I can’t show you peg after peg of yarn hanging from the wall. There was a lot–linen, bamboo, various wools–but somehow not exactly what I wanted. You purchase by weight and each skein is 50 g, but there’s really no way to know the gauge of the yarn and there’s only an approximate measure on the wall of meters to kgs. The rest of the shop is filled with ribbon and buttons and feathers and lots of enticing things that made me glad I didn’t have a toddler with me. I was avoiding a trip to Bon Marché but it sounds like they might have the best selection of standard options. There doesn’t seem to be any local/regional yarn around, but I’ll keep looking. Since I haven’t gotten my hands on a sewing machine yet, knitting is returning to its role as the craft of honor.
Posted in finds, knitting, paris | 1 Comment »
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
This sweater is in conversation with stepintomythimble’s toddler pullover. I’m pleased with the results, although based on the fit and the fact that the recipient finds it too “itchy”, I don’t think I’ll bother with buttons. I really have to remember not to rely on old measurements when making clothes for T., and by old I mean those taken two months ago. A growth spurt can really mess with a knitting project.
Posted in knitting | 2 Comments »
Monday, February 11th, 2008
C. is out of town. The nap strike continues. In today’s edition, T. talked for about an hour and a half in her crib, talked for another 30 minutes in the car after we abandoned the at-home nap, and then totally passed out just as we arrived at Alamo Square.
I brought my knitting and we sat in the car, her passed out and drooling, me knitting, listening to the radio and wishing I’d gone to the bathroom before we’d left the house.
After mocking it the other day, I’m all over ravelry. The only upside to C’s absence is the extra free time after T’s gone to bed to obsessively upload old knitting projects. That’s where I’ll be.
Posted in child, knitting | No Comments »
Friday, January 4th, 2008
Living through some weather here
A STRONG WEATHER SYSTEM IS IMPACTING THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COASTTODAY BRINGING NUMEROUS THREATS TO THE AREA. THESE THREATS INCLUDEHIGH WIND ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN WHICH MAY RESULT IN URBAN ANDCOASTAL FLOODING.
but not quite enough to stay home.
Incredibly hard to focus with the trees swaying and the water pouring down so my thoughts have turned to knitting projects. I’ve started a poncho for T. that should go pretty fast. Then I think it’s time for something for me. Possibly this. Is it too “maternity” because that’s not the vibe the mother of a nearly 2 year old wants to send (unless it is, but in this case, it really isn’t)?
Posted in earth, home, knitting | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
My brother and sister-in-law came to visit this weekend and brought some things that my grandmother knitted for us when we were kids. T. can look forward to wearing this excellent beret with matching belted sweater when she gets a little bigger.
There was a time when I was seriously considering Fay as a girl’s name, but it just didn’t stick. At least the little one can learn about her through the knitwear. She hasn’t noticed the blanket yet, but the cat has…
Posted in knitting | 1 Comment »
