first of all, thanks to all the moms that chimed in on my last post. in true toddler fashion, peanut popped through 2 new molars late last week and started eating again. i feel like she's always teething! i introduced sunflower seeds and have basically been feeding her anything that we have on hand. i realize that she likes sesame flavored things (she really enjoyed sesame peanut noodles leftover from chinese takeout and this salad dressing that had sesame oil in it too.) she even used a spoon to feed herself the other day! i got it on camera and will upload it to vimeo soon enough. hopefully things will get better as more of her teeth come in.
after lunch
i have no real knitting to show, sorry for all of you knitting folks in the audience. i am working on things but it's same old same old. i have to take pictures of flair but it's FREAKING hot here! i can barely look at it much less put it on.
since my freelance is coming to an end and i'm due to work on popknits exclusively until the launch, i decided to start a photo project for myself. i've joined the 365ers and posted my first photo today! you can keep up with me through my flickr account. friend me and i'll friend ya back.
365.001 - workin'
also, if you're interested, i'm tweeting on a fairly regular basis as well. if i'm not following you, please let me know you're on twitter and we'll follow each other.
ok, back to work so that i can be done by the july 4th holiday.
i could use some help from the mamas and papas out there. the peanut is proving to be a picky eater and i really thought that she would have lightened up about it now. there are only like 4 things on earth that she likes to eat and, with the way that she's going, it'll be 2 by week's end. just when i thought potatoes were ok, today she absolutely refused to put them in her mouth. i've tried a lot of tricks. she's not interested in a spoon or fork. she'll do finger foods. she likes most fruits, cheese, and bread. i'm trying to get more protein in her but she refuses things like boca burgers, beans, and tofu.
i could use some advice or recipes to try. remember that we're vegetarian and don't have any meat in the house (not even fish.) she's also not breastfeeding anymore which is another reason why i feel like protein is essential. please feel free to write or put suggestions in the comments. thanks!
without much prompting from us, camille stood up today and took her very first steps. 15 months exactly! thank god the camera was on hand for this. it's too cute to pass up.
you're going to see the pictures below and think "wow, she's all done with flair!" but no, sorry. i am not.
before blocking...
after blocking...
i knew this yarn would grow upon blocking (according to my swatch which could have lied but didn't, thankfully) so i knit to the length proscribed in the pattern and bound off. then i blocked to see if it would look good on me, and it didn't. 10 inches in length is not nearly enough for a tall woman like myself. it was way too cropped and made me look all stumpy. sadness. i thought i was done!
after a week of mulling it over, i decided that 1) the yarn was too beautiful to waste and 2) this is my first major knit since the birth of the peanut so i want to wear it all the time. therefore, cropped was not going to cut it. so i had to cut it. yes, you heard me. i tried to frog it but the fibers were too sticky to make that worthwhile. i threaded in a smaller size circular needle as a life line and cut off the bottom with some scissors.
what i ripped out
it was scary but worth it. i'm now going to knit on it to 12.5 inches and then do 1.5 inches of seed stitch. that is just the right amount of length for a girl of my height.
to distract from the negative progress on flair, here's a swiffer cover.
exciting, i know. it works great but is a little large once wet and washed. the one i'm knitting now is a smaller version of the one i found on ravelry. (here's the one that i really made.) i can share the information here if you like. just let me know. i love the fact that these things save me time and money. for really-o. it's so much easier to use one of these than my wet mop and bucket.
on saturday next, we all leave on vacation for a whole week! i'm so excited! we're going to the outer banks in north carolina with my side of the family, and staying at a house with a pool that's only a block away from the ocean. i'll be reading and knitting the whole time. i can't wait.
oh, and there was some interest in the peanut last time i posted. she's great. teething like mad (she has 4 teeth coming in at once, no joke.) and changing up her nap schedule to boot.
mmmmmm
we've been taking her out to the park as much as possible.
two seconds before i flipped out the screen
and she really loves looking at herself on the camera's screen.
after
here are two videos to top off this post! hopefully it'll be enough to tide you over till late next week. i've got freelance to get done before the popknits submission deadline on the 15th of june. if you're planning on submitting, don't forget!
this post is brought to you by grand theft auto 4 which arrived on our doorstep this afternoon. hallelujah!
thanks to everyone for your warm wishes and support for the launch of popknits. it's been a labor of love for some time now and i'm really excited and especially nervous to see it live online and getting pattern proposals already! haven't seen any sock proposals yet, hint hint, but you never know what's going to come in the door in june.
anyway, let's get back to blog business. i have a small amount of progress to report.
mmmm, i love this fabric
flair is coming along nicely. i had one hiccup and had to frog back a little but not much. i did end up putting short row bust shaping in...
and i think it was a good idea! it fits well and will be even better once it's blocked (everything's a little tight right now.) i'm feeling positive about it.
one leg done, the other started
the peanut pants are creeping along slowly. i was on leg island there for a while, but i feel a renewed energy to knit them. they seem HUGE right now but according to the swatch they will shrink considerably.
garter stitch cuff
i opted for an easy peasy garter stitch cuff. nothing big here.
in other crafty news, i hope to sew this weekend! i've been meaning to drag out my sewing machine for over a week now but it just hasn't happened yet. i got some great fabric for skirts at brooklyn general.
new fabric
and i also have one from the stash that i'm using (sorry no pic.) tonight, i'm casting on for elijah (ravelry) as well. there's a certain baby being born right now that will be lonely without it. hopefully i'll have some pics later this week.
here are a few peanut pics to end the post.. i love shots of her eating!
cheesy!
this is what she looks like after eating mac & cheese. the hair! yuck. i can never give her mac & cheese for lunch. it always has to be dinner so that she can be bathed afterward.
messy
i gave her lentils recently. she sorta liked them but they ended up everywhere. next time, they will be mashed.
books!
and she could spend hours looking at her books. it's one of her favorite activities!
so the bath puff was everything that i thought it would be. basically a complete failure.
bath puff
looks cute, right? it's already been trashed. i finished it on sunday night and tried to put it to use monday morning. soap refused to lather on it so i was glad that i hadn't thrown away my old puff. then 8 hours later, it was still frakkin' wet! ugh. dishcloth cotton is really only good for dishclothes. maybe this puff would have been good in some acrylic blend? i have no idea. i'm certainly not going to make another one.
to distract you from the utter failure of the puff, i bring you food and peanut.
potato dinner rolls
i saw this recipe for potato dinner rolls in the veganomicon and HAD to make them. they were so good! i'll definitely make them again but next time i'll wait until we have mashed potatoes on hand instead of cooking some up especially for them.
standing!
the peanut is pulling herself up on pretty much everything now. walking is not too far off in the future, methinks. i was loading the dishwasher yesterday (she loves the dishwasher and the refrigerator) and i caught her standing up using the open door as a prop. then she lifted up one of her legs and tried to crawl in! had to put a stop to that quick!
here are two videos that we've shot in the past two months or so. the first one is of the two of us. i pointed the camera at us but flipped out the screen so that she could see herself on camera. her reaction is priceless. the second one is of her crawling. she's pretty good at it now!
p.s. i'm almost through the raglan section of flair so i'll post something about it later this week, i think.
ok, i've got a spare 8 minutes before i need to get in the shower so i thought that i would throw this post up and be on with the day.
started two new projects last weekend. one i'm crazy about. the other i think that i was crazy to start.
first, the love:
the ming is lovely
started flair by knitandtonic wendy. full details on ravelry. the good things? the yarn. ming from artfibers is just luscious in every way possible. soft and shiny, and the colors are amazing! i'm enjoying knitting with it so far. the drape is going to be very serious so i decided not to do buttons/buttonholes. i'm going to do snaps instead. i have some large sew-on ones from joann.com and i'm going to back them with felt before putting them on. should work. we'll see.
sorry about the overexposure
looks good in seed stitch too! happy day.
the not-so-in-love:
cotton hell
a bath puff (ravelry). boring and hard on my hand. i can't believe that there are several people on ravelry who have made SEVERAL of these. i want to claw my eyes out and it's only the second row. i'm going to finish it though and move on. i need a bath puff. if it turns out to be a horrible bath puff, i'll chuck it and buy a new one for $3 at the pharmacy. no biggie.
i have good video of the peanut crawling but that will take me at least 15 minutes to upload. in the meantime, look who's trying to stand?! good lord.
wow, how is it already thursday? i swear that i meant to post monday, tuesday, and wednesday. i really don't know where those days went. they are a blur of baby toys, "the wire", and teething. the peanut is teething again. i saw her chewing on the side of the coffee table and i just knew we were in for trouble. incidentally, i'm very glad we bought this cheapo coffee table from ikea. just sayin'. her two top second teeth are coming down. they broke through her gums almost TWO MONTHS ago!
as you know, saturday was her birthday and we had a nice big party for her.
sarah, camille, and KP
we distracted her from all the people by putting her in a corner and giving her lots of books to play with.
most of our families and good friends were there to celebrate. it was a lot of fun!
thirsty nut
we sang happy birthday to her and she got a little freaked out but didn't cry. i was so proud! actually she barely shed a tear until someone she didn't know tried to pick her up. oh well. we're still working on that.
birthday cake
i wanted to show off two of the handmade gifts that she got. first, my aunt cyndy knit her a baby surprise jacket!
this jacket will be great in the spring
it's got a little 3/4 sleeve action going on it and will be a good little coat for the spring. she made it using berroco love it colors which is nice and squishy and stretchy. i really like the colors! i may have to get some of this yarn for myself.
so now what? hhmmm, good question. still working on the peanut pants. i'm through to the first leg so we're making progress there. i also started a bath puff (check out the pics at ravelry) which i hope to have done in the next day or so. i'm putting in a call to artfibers later today to see if they have more of some yarn that i have. i really didn't buy enough zodiac (which is now called zoe) so i'd like to purchase at least two more balls and get started on something.
man, i am waffling about starting a project for myself. i've been thinking about it for months now! what is my deal?
only two more days and the peanut will be ONE YEAR OLD! holy crap. we managed to make it through her whole first year without any fatalities. amazing. i'll have photos to post after this weekend. tomorrow we're heading upstate to my parents' place for some R&R before the big party on saturday. KP's hoping to golf with my parents and i'm hoping to get a little knitting done. we'll see. it's a whole new house to explore now that she's crawling.
mobile!
here she is in action. i can't stop her now! good thing i ordered a baby gate from amazon yesterday.
in honor of the peanut's big day, i made myself that skirt. the drafting turned out pretty good and i got to work last week on the actual sewing. had some problems with the zipper, of course. i guess you can't install a regular zipper like an invisible one like i thought i could. lesson learned.
skirt done!
here it is! it fits reasonably well and it's lined with the cotton sheeting that i used as a template. check out that blind hem stitch! i used this tutorial to figure it out. in the end, my zipper looks passable.
my zipper install
but here's what i'm going to do different for the next skirt.
install the zipper along the center of the seam. i used this video tutorial to install it and she had it placed to the side of the seam. well, it didn't turn out that great and i think that my stitching would be straighter if i placed it on center. if anyone has any tips, please pass them along.
i'm going to make the rise the same in the front and back. currently, my pattern has an extra .5" rise in the front and 1.5" rise in the back. this is what my measurements said to do but i think that i can cut it back to .5" on both the front and back and just use one pattern piece.
i'm going use this technique for hemming a curved hem. MY GOD i wish i had seen it before i tried the first time. my first hem was ATROCIOUS. so much so that i ended up hacking off the damn curve along the bottom. i made the hem straight and, while it doesn't look bad, i think that it would look better curved.
still gotta cut out a little more on the hips. man this patterner's got HIPS!
i'll make the next one a little shorter.
so all in all, a good experience and i like the outcome. now what? i think it's time to cast on for the second sock. this one's a little lonely.
in randomness, one of my favorite authors, arthur c. clarke, died this week. i distinctly remember reading childhood's end and rendezvous with rama as a teenager. ah, summer reading on our sun porch back in michigan! these two books really ignited a spark in me for great science-based fiction that has yet to die out. i really loved this article at wired about him. he was a truly great man and will be missed.
i don't know why i have so many problems starting a project. i can think of at least ten things that i'd like to cast-on for but then i get all nervous and think, "what if it doesn't work out? what if i wasted all that precious free time on it and it turns out to be crap." yes, i really do think that. lately, it HAS to be a sure thing. so i'm waffling. i really think that i should swatch and cast-on for flair but i hesitate. ugh.
in the meantime i've done some other crafty things. i'm working on a simple A-line skirt for myself. i've had this bonfit skirt patterner for years (i remember buying it at my old apartment so we're talking like SIX years now) and i've never used it until now. i think that i was a little intimidated by it seeing as my sewing skills are less than stellar, but i've got a little more confidence now and i gave it a shot.
my first drafting of the skirt (yes, i'm drafting on leftover christmas wrapping paper) didn't work out well in the hips. WAY too much hips. so i figured out how to cut them back and re-drafted the pattern. i'm working with some cotton sheeting that i bought at BG for my muslin, which i'm going to turn around and use as a lining when all is said and done.
fabric and zipper for my skirt
i also got this at BG. i saw those pink and red turtles and had to have it. should be cute when i'm done. so i'm thinking about installing this non-invisible (does that make it visible?) zipper as an invisible zipper. i know that i'll sort of see the zipper teeth in the seam but i don't care. will it work? i think so. i just ordered and received my zipper foot from sears the other day so i can get started tomorrow maybe.
i didn't want to be without something on the needles (and those miters? my god, i'm having trouble working on them. i think that i'll save them for our early summer trip to the NC outer banks.)
peanut knit pants
i'm making these knit pants for the peanut (ravelry) using the itchy fingers pattern i found through ravelry. i did all the measurements and the math and i think that we're on the right track. i even swatched! i took the swatch when i was done and threw it in with our regular wash and dried it. i'm glad i did this because there was a significant change in the gauge seeing as this is a cotton/linen blend yarn. so i have to count rows while doing these pants not go by inches.
under the hem
sorry this image is blurry but i wanted to show my waist mods. i did a turned hem instead of ribbing and i picked up all the stitches and knit them in except for this inch or so pictured here so that i can put in elastic. i'm waiting waiting waiting on a shipment from joanns. god, they are slow to ship.
that's what's going on here! oh yeah, and the peanut is crawling now and giving me all types of strokes and heart attacks as she does crazy stuff. i stopped her from killing herself at least three times today. but who cannot love this face?
i took a quick look at the calendar this morning and i'm reminded that a year ago this day i went on maternity leave from work. it seems like a lot more time has passed than a year! i can hardly believe that the peanut will be 1 year old in a few weeks! pretty amazing.
since i don't have a lot of crafting to show you today (i'm still working on my skirt and i've made some progress on the peanut pants), i thought that i would reminisce and give you a quick and certainly not-too-detailed account of my birth story which i never did elaborate on last year. it's in the extended entry. read it and weep (i always do) or not. i'll have crafty stuff in the next few days :)
i cast-on for the peanut's pants but it's nothing to show yet. i also washed and dried some fabric this week that i'm going to make a skirt out of. i've been reading up on pattern drafting and i hope to do all my measurements tonight and start on it tomorrow. so, since there's not much to show, i thought that i would pass on some randomness to give you something to do this friday.
first off, i ran across this article on wired on how to speed up your mac. i did pretty much everything that it suggested and i do see an improvement on my powerbook's performance so i'm passing it on to you.
and here are some videos (click through from RSS to see. i promise. it's only good stuff.)
about a week ago, i got this bug in my ear that told me that i should really finish KP's socks NOW so that i can just be done with them and move on. behold the beauty of knitting man-socks on size US5 needles.
ode to argyle socks
all the details are on ravelry. i made this pattern up but i have since seen similar ones in ravelry (just search for "socks diamond" and you'll see them) so there ya go.
diamonds
i placed them on the couch yesterday so that KP would see them when he got home. he immediately put them on and wore them all night. i suspect he's pleased! i really want to throw them in the wash though and hope some of the wonkiness comes out. let me tell you, near the end, i thought i was going to run out of yarn and have to join a new ball but thankfully i didn't. i realize now that i didn't because i totally forgot a whole row in one of the pattern repeats. whoops.
quickie mittens
i also whipped up a quick pair of mittens (ravelry) for the peanut using the SAME cashmerino i've used on every other peanut project since miss dashwood. i'm almost done with it! one more skein. i was hoping that if i made these mittens, spring would come. today it was 60 degrees. mission accomplished.
aside, do you realize that daylight saving time starts this weekend?! holy moses. where does the time go?
so, now what? the only thing i have on the needles is my miters (forgot about them, did ya) i knit on one last night and will continue tonight but i need something new. i've decided to knit a pair of pants for the peanut using this itchy fingers pattern i found (ravelry). it's a great "recipe" pattern and i already swatched for it. i'll be using knitpicks cotlin in nightfall (which i keep thinking is called "midnight".) i just threw the swatch into the wash and dryer with a bunch of clothes because that's what i'll do to the pants when they're done. we'll see what i get and then i'll fill in the numbers and cast on.
likes it!
here's a gratuitous peanut pic just for kicks. she's trying out the new stroller we got, which i love. by the way, she's crawling now!!!! just started this week. huzzah!
next up? i'm making a skirt. at least, i think that i am. i may be making it too complicated on myself by trying this pattern that i have, but we'll see. and knitting? not sure. flair? maybe. ugh, i have too many ideas of what to make and no sure-thing.
well, i'm all switched over to using flickr as my primary image source. thanks everyone for the encouragement! i mentioned it at spiders on friday (yes, i actually made it into the city for a fun night on the town!) and had the most baffling conversation with lisa and virginia about how they upload pictures for their blogs. it's convoluted to say the least! so i'm going to write up a quick tutorial this week on how to streamline the process if you use a mac.
i do have an FO to show! i love it. i think that i even managed to make the right size for my head despite my laziness to make the bigger version.
gretel complete!
all the stats are on ravelry, of course. i decided to make the "regular" size and not the slouchy size after i decided that i really don't like cables. first koolhaas and now this, really, i'm done with cables for a while. they are pretty but so darn tedious!
from the top
now, about this DB pure cashmere. i didn't think that it was any softer than the cashmerino. it's nice, yes, but not as nice at the cashmere that jess and lisa got at rhinebeck two years ago. the plies of DB pure cashmere were perfect for a cabley project though. they really make those cables POP!
showing off the handknits
the peanut and i got a chance to go out and show off our handknits yesterday. it wasn't particularly warm but it was sunny!
ok, now for a little video i've been holding on to (no, it's not a peanut video. i still have to upload those!) saw this a few weeks ago and couldn't stop laughing. i love improv everywhere! (click through from RSS feed for video).
my apologies. the peanut is going through another growth spurt, i think. i swear that she looks bigger today than she did yesterday! she's been sleeping really crappy lately. a lot of late night screaming. yesterday, i was so bleary eyed and exhausted that i literally passed out when she took her nap. people, i do not nap. at least, i don't do it well. 9 times out of 10 i lay down to nap and my mind is buzzing and i can't fall asleep. so yeah, i'm pretty tired. last night she awoke again around 1:45AM and i had to go in and flip her on her back and go back to bed while listening to her cry. she was ok, just a little freaked out. if i had stayed with her, she would have cried for longer. yikes, i'm tired!
in my tiredness haze, i'm thinking about abandoning my gleek.net gallery. good or bad idea? i'll leave it there but i'm thinking about using flickr now as my primary place for images. i figure that if flickr ever gets bought out and defunct, i can always go back to my gallery because i keep everything saved on my hard drive. thoughts? i really want to use the flickr community more and uploading to two destinations is getting tiresome.
so anyway, speaking of flickr, i uploaded some pics of the spiders annual eat, knit, and be merry party at marie's that we had last weekend. we did a one sock swap and i gave my nutkin to its recipient, katie.
katie shows off my nutkin i made for her
i also made that cute bag too but didn't get a pic of it. you can see it on katie's site. i LOVED knitting the nutkin. it's cabling without cables. brilliant no? here's another pic of it.
love that toe
i did a short row toe for the first time. it was very easy and wow, i love how this one is finished. a little 3-needle bind-off right where the toe meets the foot of the sock. cute cute.
we are some serious knitters
i love how everyone in this picture is knitting. believe it or not, this party was a blast as are all of the spiders parties!
mmmm, so happy
here is the lovely sock that nancy made for me!! (ravelry) I LOVE IT SO! i can't wait to cast on for the second one... and i think that everyone is just as happy with theirs!
hahaha, couldn't resist
couldn't resist a group shot! anyway, it was a successful swap and party. full set on flickr.
i've got some videos to show you and other things to talk about but it'll have to wait till next time!
when you have a baby, all you can think about sometimes is milestones. when will she smile? when will she eat solid food happily? crawl? walk? be potty-trained? with those milestones comes disruption, though, as we're finding out here at casa gleek. little peanut is going to crawl.. soon. she's obsessively getting on her stomach and thrusting her hips into the air. she's so obsessive about it that it's stopping her from sleeping well, and quite frankly, stopping everyone within two blocks of sleeping well! with age, the crying gets louder, unfortunately. so i'm a little worn out and i think that this post will be heavy on the pictures.
here, here are some happy peanut pics.
what's this?
happiness!
she loves those flowers sooooo much (thanks kate!) KP does a little puppet show with them and they make her giggle.
stop moving!
the eating part of lunchtime may not bring on the smiles, but funny faces from mom do.
in the box, yes, she still loves the box
cheerios make her happy too. especially the big yellow box.
standing!
and something that makes me happy: baby butt and legs.
know what else makes me happy? new things on the needles!
love yarn in little cakes
yep, i got busy on saturday night, winding up some yarn. then i cast on for gretel (ravelry)! finally something for myself. let's hope that it stays relatively cool outside so that i can wear it when i'm done with it.
and i also cast on for KP's second sock. he's not allowed to talk or ask about it again till it's done.
them's the rules. so i'm wrapping up this post so that i can watch project runway!
p.s. nutkin is pretty much done too. i just have to bind off the toe but i'm not going to do that until saturday when i present it to my secret pal. i'm SO nervous it's not going to fit. i've never knit for someone who has smaller feet than myself. i have confidence, but i'm not taking a chance by binding it off and weaving in the ends. i want her to love it and wear it!
i could use some advice from the mamas in my audience. i'm thinking about switching to cloth diapers and am wondering what's involved in making the switch. i think that this would be a good time to switch. without getting into the gory details, the peanut is pretty regular and not so messy. when she was small and just drinking breastmilk, that was a different story and would have been pretty gross all around. now i feel like we're putting too much waste into the landfills and we can cut back. i would probably still use a commercial overnite diaper at night but could go cloth during the day.
so what's involved? i have been watching glampyre make diapers for her baby. it seems labor intensive but look how colorful and fun! what would i need to get started? what's a typical laundry day like? do you do laundry everyday?
well, this entry is going to be a quickie. i'm thinking that 2008 is not starting off on such a great foot. the peanut is sick and miserable. this is her first time ever sick and, wow, she is not good at it. our boiler is on the fritz (yes, it was just installed two years ago.) it died around 6PM when i was trying to run a hot shower and steam the nut. of course, it died right before i was going to give her a bath. the whole rest of the night was downhill from there.
over the past two days, i've not changed out of my PJs (though i HAVE changed those) and i've only had two or three seconds to put together to stare out into space much less work on the new freelance i JUST got. yay. i'm hoping for longer peanut naps tomorrow. today she could only eke out three 45 minute naps. sad.
so instead of continuing to whine (i've heard enough "i'm sick and miserable" whining to last me a lifetime!) here's an FO, for ya.
happier, toastier times
pompoms make everything cute
it's the toasty topper (another cute shot.) i double-stranded cashmerino aran on size 8s for it. all the details are on ravelry. i even made a cute little pompom for the top (thanks kaitlyn!)
hopefully i'll be back soon with a better, happier update. i do have other things to talk about but no time.
ETA: heat and hot water have been restored to casa gleek. less than 24 hours! nice service. the starter was blown and the repairman had the part on him. little peanut is doing a bit better today so i'm hoping that some of the worst of it is behind us. be back after the weekend!
don't tell anyone.. but i'm knitting this sock for the spiders one-sock swap. no details as i don't really want to give away who it's for! all i can say is: koigu and nutkin (ravelry). i think that i've said too much already!
spiders one-sock swap (say that ten times fast)
so anyway, when i picked up the needles to cast-on for this project, KP cleared his throat and reminded me that i still had to knit him a companion sock to the first one i had completed. i think that i had to stop my head from spinning around and fire shooting from my eyes. after taking a good look at ravelry the other day, i realized that it's been 10 months since i've knit something for myself. at this rate, it may be a whole frackin' year until i do! no wonder the knitting mojo is so low. lovely virginia asked me if i would be casting on something for myself soon. god, i hope so! i'm hoping that this sock swap will give me an FO fast! like before the peanut turns one would be nice.
speaking of the nut, it's been a banner week here. i feel like whenever she gets her immunizations she gets smarter. some big milestone always occurs right after. this week, she spontaneously started clapping. before the nap, she had no idea what clapping was. after? she was clapping. amazing. i've been trying to get her to clap since she was 6 months old. really, it takes forever for the smallest thing with babies! i also introduced her to some new foods this week and... a FORK! my god, TOOLS!
look at that coordination!
now she no longer has to pick up the cold and wet cheese with her fingers (god forbid.) she loves it. i, of course, have to put the cheese on the fork for her, but she does put it in her mouth. she also, this week, started holding her own bottle. the first night she did it, she laughed like a crazy person after she was done. so proud she was. wow. by the way, this is so much more interesting than going to an office everyday. just sayin'.
and because i spend a lot of time on the internet, i'm introducing a new gleek.net feature.
p.s. i've decided to end all pretense of me using proper english. i generally do and i'm a pretty good speller as well, but my speech patterns are a helluva lot more conversational than the way that i write here on the blog. i'm changing that now. you may find that i sound a lot like dooce. thanks for the compliment. when i read her blog, i feel like i'm talking to my alter-speech ego. anyway, it's a new year! time to be more like myself.
i know that there are some readers (and lurkers) in brooklyn and i need some help. i need a pediatrician for the peanut. i've had some really bad luck with doctors lately so i REALLY need a recommendation. her first doctor who i loved moved to california. then the second doctor we saw left the practice. then the practice up and moved to brooklyn heights. so i found a new doctor but her bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired as does the office.. and they always make us wait 1.5 to 2 hours before seeing someone. i tried someone new today and they were even worse!! poor peanut. we waited over 1.5 hours to see the doctor, who wasn't very nice, and then she got shots and was very late for her nap. it's bad!! i really need a doctor that i can talk to about everything but i have no one!
so please, if you have a doctor you can recommend, please do. i'm at my wits end. (big thanks to sharon for already chiming in.. your doctor is pretty far away from me seeing as i don't have a car, but i may just have to take her there anyway!)
so i'm just back from a good drilling at the dentist and in a FANTASTIC mood and thought that i would write a blog entry. thankfully for all of you, i will be writing it over the next few days for a wednesday post and you will be spared most of my bitching.
i've been obsessed with finding "new" and interesting TV lately what with the writer's strike still going on (COME ON!! i'm sick of reality TV!) everyone who knows me knows that i despise all reality TV but project runway. i'm so glad it's back on the air! i was actually sorry to see elisa go last week. she had really grown on me. it's too bad that the challenge itself was such a snoozer. god, can we get a little more creative please? pour on the pressure, apply the heat! i wanna see these designers sweat!
in an effort to get more project runway into my veins, i started (and finished!) watching project runway canada (don't click on the link unless you want to know who won!) which is the greatest thing since sliced bread. i've gotta be honest here. i actually LOVE iman and brian baley more than heidi and tim. iman is amazing as a host. she really has strong opinions and i totally agreed with her on every decision. she also strikes me as being very sweet and caring.
brian baley and iman
brian baley, the mentor, was great too. he actually MENTORED. he had opinions and real words of advice for the designers. where i feel that tim gunn has pulled back from giving helpful commentary (maybe at the behest of the producers?) brian would come out and tell them what he thought was wrong (or right) with a garment and steer the designer in the right direction. mustache aside, i really adored him. i can't wait for the second season! too bad that it's not available in the US. watch it on youtube. trust me, you won't be sorry you did.
amongst all the PRC watching i was knitting on koolhaas finished koolhaas. this took me FOREVER to finish but it's because i was really only able to fit in a few rows here and there amongst all the other things.
large koolhaas
hiding
i made it large so that it would fit my dad. if it's a little too big, he can flip up the ribbing. looks great right? uuuuhhh, what's that? let's zoom in...
oops
ooooooops! forgot to cross one there! oh well, it still looks ok, i think! oh, and i got my new gorillapod. combined with the new camera, i expect my FO pics to be much better.
i also got to do a little sewing this past weekend. i whipped up two new pairs of cloth shoes for the peanut. these will be the last that i make seeing as she'll probably be crawling and walking sometime in the next 4 months.
pair #1
pair #2
i followed the tutorial again but used my pattern for making 6 to 12 month sizes. (i'll post this on the patterns page soon.) feel free to download this PDF and make your own as well. notice that i didn't exactly make right and left foot shoes. seriously, you don't need them.
shoes shoes shoes!
anyway, all in all, peanut has 4 pairs now. i made three of them and the fourth (top left) comes from kaya's kloset etsy store. if you don't want to make your own baby shoes then i highly recommend you get her to make them for you. she does great work.
i leave you with a picture of some highly yummy "mac daddy" from the veganomicon (which i got KP for christmas.)
we've hit the 9 month mark here and i can hardly believe how fast time is flying. i was just looking at old pics of the peanut the other day. let's reminisce.
