Serious Hezekiah.
Sweet Hezekiah.
As you can see, I finished Hezekiah’s Pi Hat. He was thrilled with it and proudly took it to show-and-tell in his third grade class. I’m not sure if the other eight-year-olds were as impressed with he was, but he loves his hat!
And just in case you have an eight-year-old now clamoring for a Pi Hat, I got the Pi Knitting Chart off of Ravelry. I don’t use a pattern to knit simple hats (I’ve knit dozens and dozens). For this I used Cascade 220 (it washes great), knit a couple of inches of ribbing, then began the Pi chart and finished with a basic decrease method.
And now for a few funny quotes from Apollo. And one from me.
The other night when Apollo had a fever, he awoke in the middle of the night and said:
“See, I told you it wasn’t fun to play in the water. There’s crocodiles!”
Then he rolled over and went back to sleep. Until he woke up saying:
“I want the other sword! Give me the other sword”.
As soon as I said he could have the other sword, he fell asleep.
The other day as we were leaving the local yarn store he looked at me and said,
“Why don’t you ever knit me Star Wars stuff?”
Yesterday Kalina needed help with Language Arts and asked what a consonant was. In my sleep-deprived state I responded:
“A consonant is any word that’s not a noun”.
Um, yeah.
Looks like I need to get a wee bit more sleep at night.
{And by the way, Dr. Seuss’ birthday is coming up March 2nd. Why not throw a Dr. Seuss Birthday Party like Hilary and I did a few years back? And wow, it looks like my photography’s come a long way in the last three years, those photos are embarrassing!}
There was once a not-so-old lady who lived in a house.
She had so many children, people said she bred like a mouse.
She wanted to knit some socks bright and new.
But her children all acted like they lived in a zoo.
There’s a dirty little secret in the knitting world, and it’s this: the cutest yarn is always sock yarn.
It’s true, ask any knitter you know. There is self-striping sock yarn. luscious sock yarn who’s colors melt into one another. But the stuff is so darn small, it’s like Peter Parker trying to knit his Spider-Man suit out of webbing.
And here’s the other thing about sock yarn: it isn’t cheap. You spend anywhere from $20-$30 on sock yarn and then spend twenty hours knitting socks with needles the size of toothpicks.
And yet I’m still drawn to this mystic skill. Socks are the perfect small project to stuff in you diaper bag, purse or pocket. So portable! So tiny!
Last winter I spent $21 on a skein of yarn, intent on mastering socks. A friend sent me a basic pattern and off I went. Sock Number One was completed in a couple of weeks. I put it on my foot and proudly showed it to my husband. He smiled and said, “I’ll be impressed when you finish the second one”.
And here’s the second dirty little secret about knitting: Second Sock Syndrome. Really, I did not make that up. It is the inability to knit a second sock…
I was determined not to succumb (and determined to impress that hot hunk of a husband). I immediately cast-on and made wonderful progress on my second sock. Nevermind the coffee spilled on the pattern. I was going to finish that sock.
Then one day, I walked over to my knitting basket to find that one of my children pulled the toothpick sized needles out of my sock…and had pulled out several rows of stitches. Not only that, but my pattern was in shreds, no longer readable.
And I lost heart.
I have no idea where I am in the pattern or where I am with decreases. I am hoping to have a friend help me unravel the mystery later this week.
Still that sock yarn calls to me. It speaks to me. When I was away a few weekends ago and bought the lovely yarn for Apollo’s new vest, I saw a gorgeous sock yarn called Jubilee…and yet, how could I justify buying it? I couldn’t. So I didn’t.
Now, that lone sock-and-two-thirds beckons me. And I *will* finish that second sock. And you can bet the moment I do, I’ll be off shopping for more sock yarn.
This photo totally cracks me up- Apollo looks like he’s been studying How to Pose guides in fashion magazines…when really he just didn’t want his picture taken!
I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due! The pattern for this Toddler T-Shirt Vest is from Sam Lamb. I am so thankful for the generosity of fellow knitters. This vest probably looks familiar, I’ve knit it several times for Apollo.
Here is the first one I ever knit him:
Look at those sweet, sad eyes…
{More pics of Apollo in his vest here}
Next I knit him this version:
Look at those mismatched teeth! So darling!
This was my absolute favorite version of this vest…then one of my children threw it in the diaper pail and it got washed on very hot water. Now it is a newborn size felted vest.
*sniff sniff*
{More photos of sweet Apollo in his vest here}
This is the Baby T-Shirt Vest, also from Sam Lamb. I did need to increase it quite a bit to fit my two-and-a-half year old.
One thing I love about knitting is you can use the very same pattern and make little adjustments here and there to make it look entirely different. I love the bold stripes on Apollo’s latest sweater. It is knit with Cascade 220. The only down side is, I now want to buy three or four more skeins to knit more multi-striped goodness. Oh well, at least my hobby is making clothing for my children. It could be worse, right?
How about you? Knit anything cute lately? Working on anything?
Leave a comment (or better yet link to a photo). I’d love to hear about it!
Ah, now that’s money well spent. It brings me a little bit of happiness…peace in the midst of chaos…something to fill my hands and often my mind…Now to decide what to do with all that alpaca-goodness!
{Thank you to everyone who has followed me over here to my new blog…I am still working on getting everything up and running. Don’t forget to change the address if you have a link to me on your sidebar! Thanks, Renee}
