catching my breath

wowzers.

we hibernated last week due to a nasty virus infestation. stella and eli had it bad, up all night for about 4 nights coughing like crazy. broke out the nebulizer again. i have a love hate relationship with that thing. freaks me out, but it works...so i don't know. we all camped in the living room...it was the only way we got any rest. stella had to sleep almost completely upright, so she was on the couch. i pulled her mattress onto the floor where i crashed and had eli by my side, all propped up on pillows. not fun. and quite exhausting. glad they are better now...

in the meantime, i had delusions of glorious hours of knitting as they napped away their illness, but no. i barely got anything done! but i'm back at it now. the hourglass body is finished and i'm halfway done sleeve #1. looking good (might still be a bit baggy, even with doing the smaller size!...oh well. it'll be cozy) i panicked about the bagginess one night and had to set it aside. so i cast on elizabeth zimmerman's february baby sweater. so cute and easy. i can't give details because the recipient reads this! wink wink lura. i got some hours to myself on sunday (thanks chris) so that i could hit the yarn store again (what a problem!)...they were having a great sale! 30% off ALL yarns. i got some nice merino for more baby items and some luscious malabrigo for a sweater for stella and an aran for me. i'm going to try to design it myself! this may not happen for a while...but the stash is now sufficiently overflowing with goodness. also got some great sock yarn...i still never knit socks! gotta try it.

so...my pay it forward friends, your gifts are now planned and hopefully will be completed by the end of the month. i'll keep you posted!

hope to be back into blogging mode now...see you soon!

some photos

taking from rachel, but not so "artsy"...some phone-photos:
first, stella's self portraits...love those lips!




and hourglass progress...


***dangit...i don't know how to make them bigger. rachel? any advice?

knitting know-how

so...it's decided. i'm "frogging" (whatever...i keep reading this word and feel the need to incorporate it into my knitting vocab. means: to take the whole darn thing apart) what i've knit so far into my hourglass sweater to begin again in the 33" size. here's how i came to my conclusion.

1. comments from ann and jen helped a ton.
2. read a ton on ravelry (it's worth the waitlist if you knit/crochet...sign up!)
3. read in elizabeth zimmermann's book about how to figure the best fit. she says pick out your favorite sweater and measure it. ignore your own measurements. i did it. i got 34".
4. posted a comment on this blog post and got my definitive answer. Last Minute Knitted Gifts is written by Joelle Hoverson, owner of Purl, a great fabric/yarn store. she answered me directly and sid to go for the 33 unless i wanted a very roomy sweater. i don't. so a-frogging i will go and restart on the 33" size. meaning i will probably have some noro cash iroha left over...hmm. thinky thinky.

so thanks for all the help here...i'll be restarting today and will let you know of the progress.

oh, and i did request tickets for the martha stewart show on handknitting...fingers crossed, i'll go for my birthday wearing my hourglass sweater!!!

by the way, unrelated...did you see rachel's post on her tutorial for heat therapy bags for those who don't sew. genius and beautiful, written in rachel's signature, humorously honest way. go read it.

****edited to reflect ann-krestene's REAL blog address...oops! thanks, rachel!