The Ugly Period

Hello there all!

proof that not everything I make is ugly...tummy time...Wee One loves to help Wee Too

So between Tummy Time and Storey Time and Outside Time, there has been some crafting time. Not much and admittedly, it's not so pretty. I feel if a group were to look back at this segment in time at my crafting, it would be agreed this was The Ugly Period and deemed as such for all eternity. I also think it's reflective of my outside appearance most days too but am hopeful some additional sleep, makeup, and an undergarment with a very firm tummy panel would do the trick. Behold, Early Ugly:
boxy dishcloth, pattern can be found HERE
robot of my own creation for Wee One's second birthdayrobot innards...unbutton the flap and this is what you find

I made another albeit even uglier dishcloth but still need to upload those pics so it's not happening tonight. Today we worked on a Family Top Secret Paper Mache Project. Don't worry, I'll spill the deets as soon as I can. If I did so now, it could sabotage our chances of winning a grand race to come. And nobody wants that, right?

Lil' Twin Stars

So there are two in my life now. Two that must have attention and I must try to divide it evenly. Two that I love. Two.
I'm talking baby sweaters peeps; what did you think I was talking about???



I cast on for a vintage baby sweater with the yarn scooped up at the LYS recently. It's coming along but like so many of my projects, at a somewhat slow pace. With the use of a boppy I can actually knit while nursing the Wee One. In fact, this might be TMI but we are nursing atop the boppy as I type this out. Since discovering this I hope to knit much more.

Anyway, the pattern for the Red Sweater is from one of the books that Nature Boy's mother gave me from some books that his grandmother had and used. She told me that her mother had knit many a sweater for babies from the two books she gifted to me; I wonder did she ever knit this one? I wonder if she also would have chosen to knit this one for the Wee One out of all the other patterns too?

The center stitch pattern is sort of a mock-cable. On the right side, it looks like this:
seed stitch 4, *slip 1, k 2, pass slipped stitch over 2 knitted stitches, seed stitch 4*; repeat between * once
Wrong side:
seed stitch 4, *p1, yo, p1, seed stitch 4,*;repeat between * once.
The next two rows are as follows:
seed stitch 4, *k3, seed stitch 4*; repeat between * once.
seed stitch 4, *p3, seed stitch 4*; repeat between * once.
The slipped stitch ends up crossing over in faux cable fashion. The yo kind of disappears within the work but keeps the stitch count the same. I still prefer the real cable effect but this is kinda cool in its own way.

So Nature Boy doesn't read this unless forced to, which at first I took as an insult, but now I am OK with it. It means I can tell you about the Birthday Project. I need to make Nature Boy some socks for his upcoming birthday. We normally go camping for the weekend as he loves camping almost as much as he loves the Wee One! He gets that Camping Smile all over his face and just beams all weekend as he gathers the firewood and starts the fire, or as he hikes, or as he makes a mean mountain pie pizza for dinner. I happen to have in my stash a skein of Bernat Sox Yarn in Camouflage which a. will suit Nature Boy because of the green colors; b. will be perfect for socks and not a sweater (Nature Boy will not wear sweaters, no ifs, ands or buts) and finally, c. will make him happy that I actually used yarn I ALREADY POSSESS instead of buying more. So I need a nice pattern for a pair of plainish men's socks with some ribbing due to the use of vegan (therefore not wool and not as innately stretchy) fibre. This has been more difficult than one might think. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to send 'em my way.

Plenty of good things too--my orchid is blooming again (I cut off the last blooms and yay, it decided to bloom for us):