Looooong background story about my life!

So, I've stepped away from this blog for quite some time. I have also stepped away from my knitting! I have always kept a project nearby (to look at I guess), but when I last wrote any blog posts I was going through a divorce. My knitting was pretty involved with my previous marriage because I was at home alone a lot since my ex worked odd jobs (because he always seemed to get in trouble and get fired, hence the divorce). I actually acquired a new flame at the moment I quit writing back in 2011. I met my current husband, who I think is TERRIFIC! He swept me away. We were involved with all kinds of activities. I didn't have time to be a knitter, even though I loved it. I was busy being a young, adventurous girlfriend. I left my husband right before our 4th wedding anniversary (and my 22nd birthday) on March 7, 2011. 

My new boyfriend and I claimed each other officially on May 1, 2011. He was willing to work with me through the divorce time-period. He was great. It was a rocky year emotionally, mostly because I became pregnant with my first son mid-August 2011! It was quite a surprise and a lot of stress as we both had a considerable amount of college left to finish! On December 19, 2011, M proposed to me at the mexican restaurant where we had the "gender reveal" party for our unborn child. We were surprised as we cut the cake and it was BLUE. We both wanted a boy!

Forward to April 30, 2012 and my first son was born perfect, named Paxton. Pax means peace in Latin. Even though now as an almost 3-year old he is anything but peaceful, he was a sweet little baby with no trouble and rare fusses. He still brings a new meaning of peace to my life each year; parenthood is so rewarding!

We both graduated college; my marketing degree was earned in December 2012 and my fiancee's mechanical engineering degree came August 2013. We moved to my hometown in rural Iowa in June when my husband took a new job for an airplane radio manufacturer as an industrial engineer. I left my wonderful job at a tech company to follow him. I began work in my hometown for a trailer manufacturer, doing all of their marketing to dealers and customers, and also took on the role of creating a Human Resource department. After being involved with both sales AND production, I became very attached to our employees and always tried to look out for them. I became Safety Coordinator. Now with 3 job titles, we are supposed to move away, because my husband accepted a NEW position to assess energy data and implement new energy efficiency strategies for companies - 3 hours away!

Good part - we will be close to M's folks, who are very involved with Pax.
Sucky part - I have to find a new job (or try to get them to let me work remotely with marketing which would help so much). And we have to sell our house. And we have to live apart until we get enough money. With an almost 3-yr-old in the mix!

Aaaaaaaaaaand.......

I'm about 10 weeks pregnant with #2! So it is easy to say we have a lot going on.

What sparked me to write a new blog post was:

1. I have been knitting again, YAY!
2. Things were so outdated, and
3. I found this draft in my blog unpublished:

Things I want to make
Baby stuff- my baby is due May 8, 2012, I have to get to work!This little boy is going to be spoiled with knitting. I wish I had the energy to design a baby quilt for him (maybe?)...but I doubt it will happen (the last time I made a quilt was over a decade ago-in the 5th grade).

• Newborn-sized booties to match the Little Treat hat. I made the hat last month. I'm glad its a boy because I wasn't sure when I picked out the yarn and made it.
• Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I have had the pattern & yarn for a couple of years now.
• Finish the Moderne Baby Blanket. This is getting more and more boring as I go along...

Cool because I did try and make the booties but the pattern was weird so I gave up. Didn't venture toward the baby surprise jacket but thats OK. But I did recently pick back up the Moderne Baby Blanket. And it's not so boring anymore since I am pregnant again and have a cause.

I am hoping for a girl. I found an unfinished twisted cable pink newborn hat that I want to finish!

On my needles:
Aside from the Moderne Baby Blanket of 2011, I have been making baby washcloths for a shower coming up this Sunday from scrap yarn.

M starts his new job 3 hours away on MONDAY 2/16. That means I am going to be lonely and probably knitting a lot more for comfort!

I am excited to get some projects done but I am worried that my journey will be tough.

What do you think of my story? Is my blog a grain of sand blown into the crater of a grand canyon?

syd

finishing the first block

Day 2 - Finishing Block 1

I was knitting my little fingers to the bone last night, finishing Block 1. It is going to be worth it. Can I just say, what a great project to work on in between homework and while watching shows. Wonderful. I even showed off for my hubbs and did a row without looking down at my knitting.

Here it is, Block 1 with all 36 ridges!

The teal marker is at the end of Day 1 knitting. I am going to mark my pictures with these just for fun to keep track of progress. The orange marker was just helping me count ridges at the time.
Gotta get some homework done now!

beginning a moderne baby blanket

Hi everyone! On Sunday 1/16/11 I began knitting the Moderne Baby Blanket published in Mason-Dixon Knitting. I highly recommend this inspirational book by Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner; it is both unique and funny. The purpose of my Moderne Baby Blanket will be to use up some yarn-sale stash I bought a long time ago in baby colors and make something for my future kid(s).

Since I am such a procrastinator, I decided that in order to keep things rolling (and to try a new way to trick myself into working on the projects I start!) I will be posting sort of a follow-along with this specific project and my progress. Since the pattern is posted on Ravelry for free, I will be sharing my notes and modifications if I decide to make any. (Also, these posts will contain Ravelry links.)

Day 1 - Beginning the Blanket

I am using Bernat Softee Baby yarn, which is a DK weight and 100% acrylic (this is for a baby, people. think machine washable/dryable) in soft beige, soft fern, and fresh green.

The warm yellow yarn is actually pretty much the same yarn except it is called Bernat Satin Sport. I believe they just made the same yarn with a different name to separate it from the baby yarn market. Basically, what is in the picture is what I have. (This is supposed to be a stashbusting project. No purchasing allowed!)

The pattern says to use size 6 needles. I have nice wooden 7s that will work fine. A little bigger, a little quicker; especially since I knit tightly.

Make sure the first thing you do when you start a project is check the internet for ERRATA for the pattern. This is important. I checked the book out from the library so I would have had no idea that this very project has an error printed in the pattern. In our case, it is the 2nd paragraph for Block 9. What I did was just wrote the correction on a sticky note and stuck it right over the error in the book. Moving on.

Pay attention to special notes; in this case we have to make sure to pick up and bind off stitches on the right side (RS), better known as the front.

The blanket is supposed to measure 38" x 28" at the end (but who says we have to be perfect?) and it consists of 10 blocks.

I am so excited! Starting, I am doing my normal cast-on, long tail. Casting on 42 stitches. Here is a great video if you don't know how to do that.

Now all we do is knit every row! Garter stitch (easiest of easys)! Normally you would keep count of each row, but for this awesome easy project, you only need to count the ridges (the line of bumps that sticks up).

Block 1
Cast on 42 sts. Knit every row. Go until you have 36 ridges (so technically I think you'd have 72 rows).

Baby Socks

I'm so proud of these! I call them Batika Baby Socks after the yarn I chose, made in Turkey. The pattern, Two Tone Socks by Debbie Bliss, was really fun and interesting. I modified it to use one circular needle instead of dpns. Love those blue colors!

So excited to have my baby soon!

beginning block 4

It is Week Three and I have three blocks finished! I hope I continue to make such good progress.

Day 14 - Starting another block

For Block 4 I turned the piece counter clockwise and picked up 72 stitches along the bound off edge of block 2 and the right edge of block 3. I love how in this project when I need to pick up stitches I always come up with the right amount that the pattern says!

Then I knitted 6 garter ridges.

 




End of Week Two! (Jan 23 - 29)









Day 15 - Knitted 7 garter ridges
This morning we didn't make it to church, well, because we didn't feel like it since it wasn't Christian Fellowship. So we watched a service dvd instead which definitely was worth staying home to do. This is what I got done while watching it:

Now I have 13 garter ridges done :)

Day 16 - No knitting done tonight.
Went bowling tonight! And played laser tag! My first time ever!

Well that's my update from the last 3 days.

the week flew by

Day 8 - Some progress


Day 9 - No time for knitting!

Day 10 - Too much homework!

Day 11 - Went snowboarding and had outrageous fun again.


Day 12 - Knitted about 10 garter ridges

Day 13 - Finished Block 3!

This week was a little crazy because I was planning on being gone all night Wednesday so I was booking to get my homework done.  It totally paid off; I got to knit a lot at the end of the week in front of The Big Bang Theory.

My baby blanket is coming along so well! I figured I have knit about 180 rows in 13 days. Not too shabby.

Block 4 is looking really intimidating right now. Instead of 60 stitches wide it asks to pick up 72 stitches along the right side of Block 3 and across the bound off edge of Block 2. Block 4 will also require 36 garter ridges before it can be bound off.

Now I am switching to my final color, Fresh Green.

I think I will start that later.

block 3 going fast!

Day 7 - Major progress on Block 3
We went shopping in Des Moines, and with the father-in-law along to make conversation with the hubby, I got lots of knitting done! The 16 garter ridges I have left don't seem so far away.

End of Week One! (Jan 16 - 22)


I think for the first week, this project has gone really well and its helping me work on my Photoshop skills.

This is really fun :)