There and Back Again

Just a quick post to say that I'm back from Whistler and leaving for New Year's Camp. Tales of skiing, not skiing, hot buttered rum, and flat tires will be told when I get back. It's thrilling, I tell you.

2006: The (Knitted) Year in Review

Strange Little Mama has asked for people's list of FOs for 2006, along with your favorite finished project. I haven't been keeping very good track of what I've finished this year, and really, it's only recently that Adam has let me get much knitting done, but I'll play along.

Pink Stripey Bag
This was my first felting project, and it's now my fabulous knitting bag. I made it up as I went along, and I didn't realize it would shrink so much more in one direction, so it's a little shallower than I had planned, but quite a bit wider. I love the fabric I found to line it with.
Adam's Yellow Socks
My first socks, and the only things that fit Mr. Teutonic Calves without leaving red marks. even so, the woven-in cuff end has already popped out. He's his daddy's son, yes indeed. (These will be presented to him tonight as one of his final Hanukkah gifts. They had to be washed first, since he's worn them several times already, on mornings when I couldn't find any other clean socks.)
Kureyon Tea Cozy
Started way back when I was on bedrest, and finally finished up this summer. It still needs a teapot; once I find one that fits, I'll probably bring it to work.
Red Baby Hat
Part of my emergency gift stash. This is the umbilical cord hat from Stitch & Bitch without the excessive top bit, since knitting i-cord bores me to tears.
Multi-Color Baby Hat
See above: same pattern, same purpose.
Lighthouse Dishcloth
My first and only dishcloth since joining the monthly KAL. I like using them, but I don't much enjoy knitting them. I guess I'm just not one of the cool kids.
Freeform Kippah
It was supposed to be a circle, but it came out all ruffly. It looks fine on me, but a little silly on Adam.
Reverse Stockinette Kippah
Jennifer Tocker's pattern, although I actually prefer the knit side. This one came out fine, but it's not a terribly interesting knit.

I'll have lots of knitting time with our trips to Whistler and Vashon, so I hope to get these done by the end of the year too:

Blue Bag
Another felting project, with a buttonhole handle, rather than i-cord. I'm trying to keep this one from being to short, so it will probably end up being massively over-tall instead.
Monster Hat
A gift, and a fun seat-of-my-pants pattern. This has been a good way to use up my bargain bin acrylic.
Gryffindor Scarf
Another gift. This is done in silky wool (roughly sport weight), double knit, and will utimately be 60 inches long. It's taking for-frikkin'-ever.
Ladybug Hat
A baby gift for a college friend. This is my next priority, since I'll be seeing her on the 27th. Hello, car knitting.
Mystery Hat
A gift for someone who actually reads my blog. That's all I'm sayin'.
Elann Highland Bag
An excuse to play around with Elann's highland wool. I know they mean Peruvian highlands, but it always reads Scottish to me, and the pattern is a Greek key - I'm so confused.

And I finished these sewing projects:

Harry Potter Fleece Blanket
Flying car and owl print, backed with navy fleece. Super warm, and not the best choice for a summer sewing project. I pull it out on the rare days when I can sit on the sofa and read without help.
Adam's Fuzzy Blanket
One side red Minkee, one side gold satin, with red sating blanket binding. Crib sized. Will he have anything to do with it? Nope.
Corset
From the class I took back in February; a Victorian overbust style. Not terribly fancy, as it was mainly to learn the technique. I'd like to adjust the pattern a bit and try again.
Blue Circle Skirt
A quick-n-dirty "oh crap, I need something to wear with this corset" project. It's a bit indecent, but that was kind of the theme of the party.this is just a big circle with a smaller circle cut out of the middle, done in blue satin. Hemming a flat circle to become something three-dimensional is kind of a bitch, but you end up with a lovely full drape.

As for my favorite project? It's a toss-up.

I loved the corset, just because it amazes me to think that I could make something that complex and well-fitted. It's one thing to churn out skirts, where you only have to check waistline measurements, but the whole point of a corset is that it fit perfectly. Plus, it has grommets.

Ultimately, though, I'm going to have to go with the socks. Jessica is right: turning the heel of a sock makes you feel like a magician. I am a full-on sock junkie. I want more and more and more, in pretty colors and complicated patterns and up to my knees and--

'Scuse me. What I meant to say was, "Socks are fun. I quite enjoy them."

Yay, socks!

Listen Up, Seattle

I don't know which one of you pissed off the weather gods, but make with the hekatombs, already! Twenty-four hours in the cold and dark is plenty, thank you, and this "more snow on the way" business is utter crap.

No, Really, It Was a Swatch

* Newly annotated for non-knitters and other aliens *

Last night, I ripped out the nearly-completed monster hat. I'd been knitting along for a while, la-la-la-ing with my fingers in my ears over the fact that it was only barely big enough around, even before I knit a liner to protect the head from itchy, itchy Aura*. Monday night at PurlyGirls, though, I started the crown decreases**, and suddenly it wasn't so much a hat as one of those hemispherical popping toys - you pull it down over your head, and it sproings off and lands across the room. (Note to self: stop knitting by the seat of your pants just because you've done a bajillion hats before. At least pick a pattern to riff off of. Unlike good jazz, good knitting is not improvisational.)

I could have ripped back my decrease rows*** and knit some more length into it, or just finished it up and then picked up along the bottom**** to add some length, but the I really wasn't confident of even being able to find the stitches with the Aura fuzzing everything up. Better to start from scratch and fix everything.

I taught myself the crochet cast on*****, which will make it much easier to knit the liner once I've finished (hooray for Montse Stanley******, by the way). I added eight stitches to my cast on******* and knit a few rounds right before bed. It's a pretty fast knit anyway, so hopefully I can get back to place at Knitting Guild tonight.

The good thing is, ripping it out didn't leave little shiny, fluffy bits everywhere, so it's unlikely to shed once it's done. Here at Zeitgeist, all of our handknits are rigorously tested for your comfort and convenience.

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* A type of novelty yarn made of little plastic shiny whiskery bits. Suffice it to say, you really don't want it next to your skin.

** The part where the hat gets smaller, so that it can eventually become a hat, rather than, say, a tube that you've put on your head for no good reason (snowboarders, I'm looking at you!).

*** "Decreasing for the crown;" "making smaller;" "non-tube;" see above.

**** Grabbing bits of yarn from the brim edge, which is now a closed system, and putting them back on the needle, in order to knit in the other direction. Fiddly and boring at the best of times.

***** Getting the yarn on the needle in such a way that stiches along the brim edge can later be returned to the needle - for knitting, say, a liner for an itchy hat. Negated the need for ****.

****** Author of The Knitter's Handbook, a comprehensive guide to everything you might ever want to do with yarn. Not exactly a gribbing read, but an invaluable reference.

******* This makes the hat wider, to counteract the sproinging effect mentioned earlier.

Breaking News

I'm not the designated putter-to-bedder.

I am the waker-upper, the bottle-getter, the morning diaper-changer, and the taker-to-daycare. At night, I hide out in the bedroom until Matt has gotten Adam to sleep. Some nights I hide for a very long time; sleeping has never been Adam's forte.

Last night, though, Matt went out. We've all been going stir-crazy from being snowed in, and I didn't begrudge him the time away, but it meant I had to do the bedtime routine, which I haven't done for at least a month. Add to that the fact that what little routine we had has been all screwed up since our trip to Portland, and I was definitely not looking forward to it.

The last time Matt was away for a few days, I'd gotten Adam into the habit of going into his crib tired, but not quite asleep, just like the various experts say you should. It turns out Matt and I didn't talk that one over very well, because Adam is definitely out of the habit now. Every time I got up from the sofa to carry him in to his bedroom, he woke right up and screamed.

Finally, I tried putting him in the crib anyway, since sometimes I can get him back to sleep with a backrub once he's in there. Nothing doing - he was moving into full fuss mode. I ducked out for a moment, figuring it was my only chance to use the bathroom, and pretending that the "he'll settle down once you're out of sight" thing has ever worked for us.

When I came back (mere moments later), he was standing up in the corner of his crib, letting out unearthly shrieks. I gave in. I picked him up. Something went thump.

This was my first actual mistake of the evening: I ignored it. Nothing seemed to have fallen, Adam was pissed off as all hell, but I didn't see any new reason for it, so I picked him up and carried him out to the sofa. I forgot about the thump.

It took quite a while to calm him down. I gave him a bottle of water, let him drool all over my shirt, and waited while he squirmed into the appropriate baby yoga pose next to me. The cries turned into whimpers (punctuated by gulping), and eventually his eyelids drooped again. At some point in there we both drifted off, but I woke up about twenty minutes later and succeeded, this time, in carrying him into his bedroom. I deposited him in his crib, where he lay very peacefully, snoring away on his downward slope.

Eh?

A moment of closer inspection led to hurriedly snatching him back up again when I realized that the thump had been the mattress portion of the crib completely dislodging from the cage part - one corner was now resting on the floor. The kid who had been trying to climb out of his crib only yesterday could now easily have slithered right under the walls. Who cares about nasty, exposed hardware? He's up-to-date on his DTaP. Thank G-d for friction, or I might have been dislodging his head from the gigantic fucking hole that showed up.

I made a nest out of blankets and settled him in the middle of the floor. Then I got into bed and shook for quite a while.

A few words on the death trap crib. Its origins are lost in the mists of time, but it has held at least three previous generations of Matt's family. This, apparently, makes it an heirloom of great emotional significance, rather than a rickety pile of sticks with sharp, poky metal bits, as I first assumed. It completely fails to meet all modern safety standards. Raising or lowering the side produces a screechy wail any banshee would be proud of, which means the side always stays up. Reaching over the side to deposit a sleeping child is almost, but not quite, impossible for me, and causes alarming creaking and swaying, in any case. The mattress itself cannot be raised or lowered, because after the umpteenth time that particular bit of hardware broke, it was apparently welded in place, but only on one side.

When I raised these concerns, I was met with a charming repetition of the family witticism, "they aren't making babies' heads any smaller," along with the logically idiotic "we used it for Matt, and he's just fine!" Pray tell me, at what point do the kids who didn't turn out just fine stand up and be counted?*

I gave in. Clearly, I ought to have fought harder. I didn't actually want any of my worries to be proven right.

Moral of the story: Adam is fine. Adam was lucky. Antiques belong in museums, and if there had been an axe handy at that particular moment, that thing would be in even more pieces than it currently is.

*Matt comes off badly in this telling. That's because I'm angry, and scared, and it's my blog. In the interest of fairnass, I should note that he is not actually careless with Adam, nor is he generally an asshole.