My not-so baby

Sometimes, I forget that my little girl has only been on this earth for 3 years. She has changed my life so much, redefined our family so much, that I can't even remember my life without her. Sometimes, in my eagerness to see her grow, I push her too hard. I see other parents sending their kids for enrichment classes and worry that I didn't give her a chance to reach her potential. I see her hiding under her bed & giggling to herself and wonder if she's wasting her time while others are learning how to paint / dance / learn Mandarin.

But when she's asleep like this, I remember how young she really is. I marvel at the innocence of those round (ok not as round as I'd like) cheeks, those tiny rosebud lips, and I remind myself not to be too hard on her. She's only 3 - let her sleep, let her wander around the house in her pajamas, let her play....

I love you, little baby of mine.

A Christmas Dress

The holidays sneaked by me with minimal knitting this year.. but I did manage to finish the Rainbow Dress just in time by Christmas eve. Didn't have time nor energy to sew in the ends though, so the little girl wore it around the house with a bunch of ends trailing around her. It's a tad too big (hence the sexy off-the-shoulder look) but I absolutely love it.

Pattern : Rainbow Dress by Tikki

Yarn : Sublime Soy Cotton in Pomegranate, and RYC CashCotton in Apple

Needles : 3.5mm

Here's a picture of her guzzling down Bucks Fizz to end off the year. Happy Holidays!

A Day at the Beach

Pattern : Children's Cotton Hats by Kim Hamlin (Last Minute Knitted Gifts)
Yarn : Rowan RYC Silk Cotton (Cucumber)
Needle : 4.5mm
Size : Toddler


A cool refreshing drink.

A straw.

A little summer hat knit out of luxurious Rowan Silk Cotton, with a yellow ribbon fluttering in the breeze.

A great way to spend the afternoon.

The Joy of Giving?

My 10 month old (who suddenly has more friends than I do) has a little friend who is turning one.  So I cast on for this halter top, as that little girl will be spending her holiday in a beachside resort and I could just imagine her playing in the sand, looking cute wearing this.  I even chose a machine washable yarn so that her mommy wouldn't have to handwash it. Checked and rechecked the size, debated on whether she would look good in the colour - my usual paranoia when knitting gifts.   Hated the yarn, it hurt my fingers and was uninspiring to work with.  But I had a ton of it in my stash, so I persisted.

Pattern : Katja Halter from Knitty

Yarn : Butterfly Super 10 Cotton

Needles : 3.75mm

Mods : Used a DK weight yarn instead, so cast on for the largest size.  

It was worth it. The final effect of the mercerised cotton was awe-inspiring.  After a good soak, the cotton evened out and the subtle sheen of the cotton and the slightly heavier drape made this a truly special project.  I couldn't resist getting my little one to model it.  And then someone asked me 'why don't you keep it for her instead?'

Why not indeed.. I have had so many mediocre reactions from gifting my knitted items away. Items that I've spent weeks labouring over, endlessly thinking through every little detail, only to receive the same reaction as the next pile of store-bought toys.  I guess that's why it's called 'the joy of giving'.  But (I whine).. I would like a little phone call thanking me for that special special present!!! 

Which brings me to the moral of this little story - I am simply not a 'giving' type of person.  I am pretty sure that this time, the recipient's mommy will appreciate it, but will she ever know how much thought went into this?  Hence my dilemma, do I give this away?  or do I keep it for my own special little girl?

The lone bootee

As many of my friends know, I've not knitted (much) for the past 7 months. Recently, I found myself pondering baby socks - why is it that they can never stay on my baby's foot for more than 5 minutes before she yanks / chews them off?  Then it occurred to me that I can knit bootees that will stay on her feet and still keep her toes warm in air conditioned malls.  So I started looking for patterns - and that's when it hit me.  The pattern sizes indicate '0-3months', '3-6months', 6-9months' and '9-12months'.  Without realising it, my baby had already graduated to the 2nd largest category!  And I have not knitted her ANYTHING at all since she was born. Horrors. And I call myself a knitter! 

So here's a bootee that I knitted for her - it took 2 weeks - 1 week to look for a pattern, 2 days to locate the yarn for it, 1 day to locate the needle, 2 days to locate my knitting bag, and 2 days to cast on (cos she thought it was a new game and kept pulling the yarn).  

And while I'm at it, here are some pics of my baby wearing stuff that I knitted for her, for public record, so that she can't call me a lousy mom in future.

P.S. Thanks my dear knitting buddies for sending me knitting news and yarn, and generally keeping me sane during these months :)

The toughest WIP of all

Dear folks,

A new post (finally!) after a 1.5 month absence, and this is not even about knitting! I'm working on the toughest WIP of my life - our little baby gal was born on Feb 10th, and she has managed to turn our lives upside down in just 5 weeks.

This has been the most dramatic roller-coaster ride 5 weeks of my life. People tell me they fall in love with their babies on sight. Welllll... Our little one turned out to be a bundle of contradictions

She looks like an angel when asleep but turns into a little banshee when she's hungry
She head butts my breast for food but squirms, kicks and cries when she gets it
She falls deeply asleep in my arms but wakes up wide-eyed the second her butt touches the bed/rocker
She cries when hungry, cries when full, cries when her diaper is wet, cries when we try to change it

I was emotionally drained. There was just no pleasing this little one. All my carefully laid out plans and coping strategies were steam-rollered under the force of her cries and whimpers.

And then, she got sick with the usual infant problems, one following the other : reflux, thrush, sore throat, diaper rash, cold... I became paranoid mommy, surfing the web and forums while nursing her to find out what I did wrong to cause her little body so much damage.

As I diligently syringed medication into her little trusting mouth, I kept reminding myself that this will be over soon. "She'll stabilise in two weeks and then we can have a normal life".. I told myself. Two weeks passed, two more... and still I kept waiting for the day when she won't be so 'sick', when I'll have an ideal little baby to bring out, when I can spend hours knitting with her coo-ing happily next to me.

Then one day, as I stared at her willing her to stay asleep, I realised that her lashes were growing longer and curlier daily (they are longer than mine now.. so jealous). And that her nails which we trimmed just a few days ago, are long again. That's when I realised that as I was waiting and plotting, she has been growing up. There is no 'waiting for normal', cos she is normal now (albeit a tad cranky). And if I didnt start living my life with her as a part of it, I was gonna always be saying '..someday..'

So, instead of seeing this as a perpetual WIP and waiting for it to be finished, I have decided to enjoy her as an FO - finished, perfect, normal - just as she is.

Caitlin's Summer Hat

I decided to rip out the first bobble hat and re-do it from scratch using the 2nd ball of yarn - thankfully there was just enough to finish it off. And since precious little heads need protection from our very hot tropical sun, I modified it into a summer hat with a little brim.

Today I gave it to the (less than) 1 month old recipient, and to my amazement.. it FIT! Errr, I mean to say, (cough, cough).... based on my thorough research on baby head sizes and careful accurate measuring, of course it fit, (cough, cough), I didn't mean to imply that I simply winged it and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.... not that at all....

So to celebrate a successful little project, I'm officially naming this Caitlin's Summer Hat, and sharing the pattern here. Word of warning though, I fudge (A LOT) when crocheting, and if the maths doesn't always work out, please be patient and throw in / take out a few stitches to suit your fancy. Or you can always email me :)

Caitlin's Summer Hat (Free Crochet Pattern by Iro Iro Knits)

Yarn : Sport / Light DK weight cotton (less than 1 ball of yarn)
Hook : Clover Size 6/0 (4mm)
Gauge : 22 sc to 4 inches

Measurements for 0-3 month old baby
Circumference @ crown = 14in
Diameter @ crown = 4.5in
Depth from top of crown to brim = 5in

Stitch description : “Bobble St” – 5 hdc in the same st, pull loop of last hdc through top of first hdc

CROWN
R1 : Starting with an adjustable crochet ring, ch1, 6 sc in ring. Pull ring to close. Join. = 6sc
R2 : ch1, 2 sc in each st, join = 12 sc
R3 : ch1, (sc in next 1 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep* until end of round, join = 18 sc
R4 : ch1, (sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep* until end of round, join = 24 sc
R5 : ch1, (sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 30 sc
R6 : ch1, (sc in next 4 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 36 sc
R7 : ch1, (sc in next 5 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 42 sc
R8 : ch1, (sc in next 6 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 48 sc
R9 : ch1, (sc in next 7 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 54 sc
R10: ch1, (sc in next 8 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 60 sc
R11: ch1, (sc in next 9 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 66 sc (diameter at crown should be around 4.5in)
(For a bigger crown size, continue increasing each row as above until desired circumference.)

SIDES
R12 – R18 : ch1, sc in each st across, join = 66 sc (for a deeper hat, increase the number of rows here accordingly)
R19 : ch2, hdc in next 4 st, bobble st, (hdc in next 5 st, bobble st)*, rep * until end of round, join.
R20 : ch2, hdc in each st across, join.
R21 : ch2, hdc in next st, bobble st, (hdc in next 5 st, bobble st)*, rep until 3 st left, hdc in remaining 3 st, join.
R22 : ch2, hdc in each st across, join
R23 : ch2, hdc in next 4 st, bobble st, (hdc in next 5 st, bobble st)*, rep * until end of round, join.

BRIM
R24 : ch1, (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round,
R25 : ch1, (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join
(above 2 rows create a slight ruffle at brim)
R26 : ch1, sc in each st across until end of round, join.

Pull loop through and cut. Weave in ends.

Cables & Lace Kimono Cardigan

There's no other way to say it - I'm a masochist.

My little one is due in about 5 weeks, and when that happens, I don't know if I will even have time to breathe, let alone knit. So the most practical thing to do (knitting-wise that is), would be to knit baby items, or small quick projects like hats, scarves, dishcloths.. you get the idea.

Instead, I cast on for this.

It's my biggest and most ambitious project to date - I've only ever done 1 cable project, and about 3 lace projects in my entire knitting life. Not to mention that this pattern is 10 pages (!) long, is for the 'Intermediate' knitter (I consider myself newbie-ish with a phobia for anything tough) and requires more than 1000m of yarn. All I know is, I saw the pattern, I have the yarn for it, and I cast-on. And after the first 10 rows (at which point the pattern says 'following pattern as established above), I spent another 2 hours trying to figure out which charts to follow and when.

Thankfully, the knitting itself is not tough, it was the actual interpretation of the pattern that got me freaked. So I went to the stationary shop and bought post-it flags and pasted them all over my pattern, and would painstakingly move the flags down each row whenever I worked it. If the flags should drop or anyone should move them by mistake, I will kill them.

In other less stressful knitting news, I found stray balls of yarn in my stash.. they were about 10 years old. Took 2 hours to crochet this little summer hat in a nubbly cotton yarn. It finished up so quickly and turned out so cute that I wanted to go out and buy more of that yarn (go figure).

Feeling high from my superfast hat, I started another bobble hat of my own design. As I was crocheting the third row of bobbles, I noticed that it was an entirely different shade of green from the top of the hat. Knitting 101 - pls make sure that dyelots are the same? Yeah - try telling that to stray little balls of yarn whose labels have disintegrated.

So the bobble hat sits unfinished as I try to convince myself that the yellow-ish tinge in the third row of the bobbles is actually a "design element".

Petal Bibs from One Skein book

Petal Bibs done up in pink and green - one of my favourite color combinations. Butterfly Super 10 cotton is fantastic for bibs - it's not rough on skin, yet in a DK to light worsted weight, it works up fast and is hardy enough. Used a slightly smaller needle (3.75mm) so that the bibs wouldn't be too floppy.

Petal Bibs taking a bath to even them out. They were all wrinkly and the edges were all curled up. No idea if it was the yarn, all those short-row shaping, or just me - but they behaved after that.

Posing with a matching 2 color silk changing mat from Blu Lily.

Baby Blossom Dress

Pattern : Blossom, by Melissa Wastney (published by Magknits)
Yarn : Sirdar Pure Cotton 4 Ply in Cream
Needle : 3.5mm

This turned out really cute and it was such a fast & simple knit too. I started it on a Tues evening and probably had it done by Friday. I find that if I just cast on without worrying too much about fit and gauge and wearability, I can actually start and finish a knit pretty quickly. Shows the paralysing effect of overthinking...plus the fact that the recipient's mommy was gonna be induced that very evening of course!

The original pattern had embroidered flowers, but being totally useless with that, I opted to personalise the dress with my latest passion. I had several tatted motifs that were made when emptying the shuttles, and was pretty excited about just sewing those motifs on with 'invisible thread' aka monofilament or beading thread, so that nobody could spot my lousy sewing skills.

Lesson No. 1 - Invisible thread is invisible not only to others, but also to the sewer.
Lesson No. 2 - It's in-VI-sible; not in-VIN-sible - tugging too hard breaks the thread and it takes the patience of a saint to locate the break point and redo.

It took me nearly 2 hours to sew on those motifs. Will take clearer pictures when my eyes stop crossing and my hands stop shaking....

War of the Voices of Baby Items

Pattern : Easy Baby Knits by Claire Richardson

Yarn : Sublime Merino Silk DK (slightly less than 1 skein)

Voice 1 (aka Angel Voice) - "ohhh this is going to be so squishy and cute"

Voice 2 (aka Demon Voice) - "isn't this yarn kinda hot for our weather?"

Voice 1 - "a little, but it's quite light weight so it shouldn't stifle the baby"

Voice 2 - "it's too small, how are the baby's hands gonna stretch in that"

Voice 1 - "most babies curl up their fingers, and anyway the yarn stretches"

Voice 2 - "baby will snag a nail in the loose weave and will probably end up yanking out her entire nail"

Voice 1 - "but look at those cutie matching ribbons I found in my stash that matches the yarn perfectly..."

Voice 2 - "what if baby chokes on the ribbon when it comes undone"

Voice 1 - ".....but, but.."

Voice 2 - "besides which, Mothercare sells those for like $10 for 3 pairs, you're gonna take forever to make them"

Voice 2 - "and your mom will put those in the dryer and shrink them, then they definitely won't fit anymore... /evil snickering

Voice 1 - /concedes defeat and is silenced forever

Game, Set, Match - Demon Voice
And I thought that knitting baby items would be easy...