Be careful what you wish for

Seven years ago, when I found out that I was pregnant with a boy, I felt a bit of panic. I grew up surrounded by girls, in a family where we had only a couple of boy cousins. I wondered, would I know what to do with a boy? How to play with him? How to relate to him and find common ground?

He is now six years old, and I have come a long way. Cars, trains, sports, hockey, I've learned about them all, alongside my son. True, I am still amazed at the level of energy, and I still have a hard time understanding how play-fighting is fun, but I can honestly say that I no longer have those worries about forming a bond. We are close, very close.

So you would think that I would have felt relief finding out that I was having a girl this time around, right? WRONG! Girls are complex and sensitive, and I started thinking of the importance of teaching them self-respect, and giving them confidence, showing them how to stand up for themselves. 

Of course these are all true for boys as well, but for whatever reason they never came to mind when I had Aidan.

And then I started worrying that I am already subjecting my children to a double-standard, when they are only this young. You can tell, I am sure that I have been driving myself mad!

In speaking to other moms though, I have come to realize that I am maybe over thinking the situation. The most important thing is to lead by example, pay attention, and also let their personality develop, as a lot depends on that as well.

So I have made the conscious decision to trust my motherly instincts and believe that I will know the right thing to do. The power of positive thinking, right? 

As if to reinforce this idea, a few weeks ago, I came across and advertisement for Dove, that to me, said it all. I decided to recreate it as a poster in Sienna's room.

It's quite a simple message, but I love it! If anyone else is interested in having it, click here for the JPEG version, and here for the PDF.


 

Never enough baby knits

Hi, and I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's day celebration. We had a beautiful day, a full house, lots of laughter and squealing children. I was planning a quick little post, but time just got away from me.

So I am back today to show off another adorable baby knit. I started this pattern while recovering from giving birth in the hospital. A dear friend of mine sent me this yarn from Berlin, and I wanted to make something special with it for my little one. 

A very popular baby cardigan on Ravelry is Puerperium (how DO you pronounce it?). It is written for a very small size, so it was perfect for my tiny 2lbs, 10oz baby. 

Well perfectly small for her to grow into anyway, as it still is a little big on her now, and she is 3 times as big.

It is a very fast and straightforward pattern. I enjoyed making it, and really like the way it turned out, but my absolute favourite part of this cardigan......the buttons! Aren't they adorable? Ever since I saw them in my friend's yarn shop, I planned on knitting a cardigan to fit them. I mean owls! You can never have enough owls!

The beautiful weather has finally arrived here in Montreal and I am planning on spending as much time outdoors as I can. What about you??

Loose ends - Colour Affection finished.

Maybe it's the spring, maybe it's nesting, but my focus lately has been to finish projects, to tie up loose ends as it may be. 

Looking back over my sparse blog posts of the last few months, I realized that I never posted photos of the finished Colour Affection shawl. So here it is.

This is a project that I started with my Stitch'n Bitch group, a knit that we all loved to hate. You may recall me agonizing over my colour choices, and the famous "to YO or not to YO" issue. The endless knit rows. 

I am happy I stuck it out however, because I have gotten quite a bit of wear out of it since I finished it, and it has also turned out to be quite a versatile piece of my wardrobe. I have paired it with a lot more outfits then I thought. And it has also been admired quite a bit. I love it when knits turn out like that, and let's be honest, that is not always the case. 

I would say that out of all of my knits, about three quarters I wear often, whereas the rest I have never worn more then a handful of times.

Which begs the question....what do YOU do with those knits? Do you frog them and re-use the yarn for better, more appropriate projects? Or is it too painful to undo all those hours of work? I am curious to know... 

Happy Easter

Easter preparations are in full swing at our house. Since my mom is here, she is going all out with traditional dishes. We are certainly spoiled this time around, and it feels fantastic!

While my mom is busy with these preparations, I have had some time to ponder what sort of crafty surprise I can make for the kids. My criteria is simple, it has to be fast, cute and inexpensive. 

Now that there are 4 kids in the family, my sister and I have worked hard to create traditions and lasting memories for them. We are having an Easter egg hunt (indoors because it's still cold out), they will be decorating easter eggs, but I wanted something new as well. And then it hit me!

Why not dye quail eggs for them? They are certainly healthier than their chicken counterpart, and just their size. Plus the fact that they are spotted, makes for a cute pattern when you are done. 

Here are some before and after shots. What do you think?

And that lovely candle you see in the background? Remember how I was talking about my uncle with the bee-hives? Well he makes these candles as well, and this one has an adorable bunny theme.

Stripes make me happy

It has been a tough winter, so I guess it is no shock that one of the first things I wanted to knit for my little one, was a cozy blanket, something to cuddle her in. I wanted to make an heirloom piece, that she would be able to use throughout her childhood, but then tuck away, to give to her own children one day.

But how to choose? There are so many beautiful patterns out there. I had to find a way to narrow it down. I wondered, should I go with a more intricate pattern, or something simple? To me, in order to show off an interesting pattern or stitch you are better served with a solid colour yarn, whereas if you want to play with colour you are better served by a plain stockinette or garter stitch, maybe even cables. Once I looked at it this way, I decided that I wanted a colourful blanket.

I had always admired these blankets by the Purl Bee, so I started researching yarn and colourways. I can tell you, I splurged....BIG TIME. Six skeins of Madeline Tosh Merino DK will set you back a bit. None of my LYS carry the colours I was looking for, so I had to take a chance and order based on how they looked on my computer's screen. I was a little nervous opening the package, but once opened I absolutely loved my choices. The colours are incredibly bright and intense, and the yarn itself, oh, so soft. The colours I chose are Calligraphy, Fragrant and Candlewick.

I cast on 140 stitches and off I went. I needed a mindless project like this, while I sat in the NICU waiting for my little munchkin to grow and get healthy.You would not believe how many moms and nurses approached me to ask, and talk about my knitting. I became known as the "knitting mom", and they would come and check in on my progress. Many stopped to chat about their own crafting (mis)adventures, and to say that they would love to learn, or re-start, knitting themselves. 

I am always amazed at how this craft can so easily bring people together. It speaks to a side of us that is open, kind and loving. Being able to connect over knitting, changed my relationship with them, it made it more open and, well...kind. Once again, proof that knitting brings people together. I am sure I have recruited some new knitters.

I finished the blanket a few nights before she came home. It gives me such joy to cuddle her in it now, and to think of what the future may hold for this little, and incredibly strong (and cute!) baby.

New life

When I last updated this blog I had promised myself that I would not let too much time pass before updating it again. Alas, I have broken my promise again. As much as I wanted to keep it, life, once again, got in the way.

Let's recap. The holidays were busy, but great, our biggest challenge this year being the weather. The bitter cold started much earlier this year, so we were unable to do some of our traditional outings. The Christmas market is no fun at -20 degrees or closer, neither is a walk around town to admire Christmas decorations. We will make up for it next year. This lack of outings and dreary weather have also resulted in very few photos being taken.  Thank you polar vortex!

I certainly have some serious catching up to do.

And just as I thought that I'd get a fresh start in 2014, my baby daughter decided to make her appearance 3 months early! I spent my days by her side, at first struggling to keep positive, then cautiously optimistic as she started improving. We worked hard to keep a routine going, mostly for my son, but also for ourselves, to help us keep our sanity.

It has been an emotional roller-coaster, having felt panic, paralyzing worry, guilt, helplessness, but also euphoria and happiness. 

Through it all, one thing has helped me cope, and that is the wonderfully calming effect of my knitting needles. Well, ok, to be honest also the occasional glass of wine and massive amounts of chocolate.

She has now been home for 2 weeks and a new stage has begun. A new routine, getting to know each other and lots of cuddling. 

For today I wanted to share a glimpse of my precious baby girl. 

Soon, I will share some finished FO's.

Advent Countdown

It's that time of the year again! The holidays have snuck up on us, the first snowfall has already happened, and the countdown to Christmas begins. 

Now that I have made an Advent Calendar for 3 years in a row, the expectation has been set, and my son started asking days ago when this years' will be ready.

I just finished setting it up yesterday, and I find that it makes the house look festive. We're slowly setting up our Christmas decorations and we have a few cookie baking days set aside, these also having been requested by my son. I have to say, I am pleased to see that the little traditions I started a few years ago seem to already be ingrained and looked forward to. To me it means that he will have happy memories as an adult and that is exactly what I was hoping for.

On a more practical note, I am starting to run out of ideas as to what to fill the calendar with! I started with a puzzle, went on to a Playmobil one, last year's was filled with activities, and this year, every day he will get to unveil a Lego piece. 
What about next year?

Ideas? Suggestions? I realize I have another year to come up with something....still....help!

Tell me about your Christmas traditions. Anything that makes the countdown special? Something the kids can't get enough of? I am open to ideas, so go ahead, share!

And A Happy Advent-time to everyone.