Mama Loves Knitting

A Snake for Roman Bryce

This little nugget entered our world on January 20, 2013. I love him.

P.S. He isn’t my baby, he is my nephew, Roman Bryce Hickey.

He waited to arrive until the very day I finished putting the button eyes on his gift (surely that is what he was waiting for).

I got this pattern from a book I needed to have, when I saw this very snake, on the cover. It didn’t call for the same yarn I used, but I had some 220 Superwash made by Cascade Yarns on hand (in a rainbow of colors) and figured it would be just as fabulous. It was.

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I followed the pattern exactly to shape the head and the end of the snake but lost track a lot in the middle stripe section. I knit on size 5 or 6 dpns although I could’ve just used regular knitting needles, since I wasn’t knitting in circles. I was thinking I’d like to knit in the round but I ended up just stitching it closed, as the pattern stated.

Here is the finished ‘bod’ and I was already pretty in love with it. He was all one piece so I just had to stitch his belly closed. He was a pretty simple project. I love knitting toys, especially striped toys.

long as my leg

Lexie had called me to let me know she was in labor, so I made sure I had my necessities packed (in my doula bag) before I headed off to bed. I was in bed for about 5 minutes before I got the call to head to their house. It made me happy I was going to be able to bring this fella along with me.

Notice the snake protecting the corgi, Papa and that badass laboring Mama.

I think Boo Boo was happy too. The snake for baby Roman was a good morning distraction (for a big sis) at 7am when she woke up to a laboring Mama.

Winter Hat Love

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More deets on other winter projects coming soon. My needles have been busy all winter. If you’d like to follow on Instagram I am walkingstickmama.

Kindergarten Powerband

I cried myself to sleep last night, you know that silent cry, so not even your husband knows you are crying? I didn’t think that would happen this time around, but who was I kidding, really? I never have dry eyes through a parent teacher conference, I never have dry eyes through a choir concert, hell I barely have dry eyes through dinner most nights, so when I thought I was unaffected by my baby starting Kindergarten today I was really just kidding myself. He didn’t know I was sad, nor will he know tomorrow when I don’t even get to go inside the school with him. I got teary leaving Simon in his 3rd grade classroom and he barely even wanted me to set foot in the door with him.

We sprinkled magic dust under his pillow last night to help him peacefully sleep. I always check on my kids before bed, but there was something “right of passage y” about last night. Tomorrow will be the first full day elementary school for both of my kids – under the same roof – without me. They’ve grown into kids, officially. I know I’ll enjoy the change, just as soon as the newness wears off. I feel comforted knowing they are together at school, even if they don’t see one another throughout the entire day. I’m comforted knowing they’ll watch out for each other on the bus ride home tomorrow afternoon.

When Simon started Kindergarten he needed a little bit of extra love through the day, or a reminder that I was with him, even when I wasn’t right there. My heart was still with him. I stitched up a little cloth heart and we pinned it inside his pants each morning before school, until he didn’t need it anymore. My heart wasn’t really mine anymore after he was born.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

To make the power band I used Shepard’s Wool Yarn, which is probably my favorite yarn ever. I used size 8 dpns. I cast on 32 stitches and passed 8 onto each needle. I k2, p2 the entire way around – changing colors for the different powers that needed to be incorporated into the band and did 3 rows of each color combo. Ta Da – it was done and I am going to be happy to wear it just as soon as Gus doesn’t need it anymore.

Sayonara Summer

Time to start knitting again. If you have some acrylic yarn that isn’t worthy of much else…here are some ideas.

We’ve spent the entire summer wrapping yarn around sticks making swords, staffs, decorative pieces, and each color has a “power.” My favorite is pink – that is “sexy power,” according to my 5 year old. Just to clarify “sexy power” gives you a skirt (whether you want one or not). Yellow is blinding, red is fire (of course), green is life, black, I think we all know, is death, and I might have to check in with Gus in the morning to be reminded of the rest of the powers.

If you tie yarn around your head (or ankles or stomach) – color dependent – you get special powers. Be mindful of your color choices!

I made only one hat this summer…and I’ve started on my second. Time to start hanging out in the basement after dark and knitting my life away. Of course this is just another of my infamous ribbed hats. I cast on 84 stitches and knit 2 purl 2 until the end. It’ll fit forever. This is supposed to be for a baby – and it fits Gus (my sizing model). It will fit the masses.

If you follow peeps on Instagram you can find some occasional knitting pics @evosshickey.

Life is grand – summer was fabulous. I’ll be knitting hats in San Diego – on our vacation in September. I was thinking I would attempt a hat a day on vacation – that is a stretch. I will be on the beach, in the sand, maybe I’ll finish one hat while I’m basking in the California sun and hitting Legoland with my all time favorite boys!

Hope your summer was as magical as ours.

My year has been full. It has been full of love, friends, family, knits, change and all kinds of good stuff. I embarked on new projects this year, tried new things, grew a bit as I feel like I do with each new year. My kids are obviously growing too, I’ll be doing some shopping for Simon in the new year he barely fits in any of his clothes these days. It warms my heart to see both of my boys still loving their knit hats I made them back when this whole new passion became a part of my life. The hats were one of my very first projects.

This year I’ve been crankin’ hats out. I can make one in no time flat anymore, all I need is one evening and a good movie and of course some chunky wool and my 10.5 circular needles. It doesn’t hurt to have my husband snuggled beside me on the couch either, never does really (knitting or not). I still have a couple of projects in the works. My sweater for example. Sheesh when will I ever finish that bad boy. But I’ve made two baby blankets over the course of the past few months and several hats.

Here is a quick snip of one of those blankets.

This one was for Baby Evelyn whom you met a few months ago.

Then I got to spend nearly a week with one of my favorites – knitting a few nights when we weren’t cleaning, rearranging, and organizing at my store.

Here she is…knitting by our sweet little Christmas tree.

She brought me a surprise…a huge one…my sister and her baby whom I hadn’t gotten the chance to meet yet. Baby William Jeffery.

The nights when we got to sit down and knit were, and always are, my favorite. The aforementioned hats I worked on for Christmas gifts were for my husband (whom I’ve never made a thing for – on purpose anyway) and his brother who happens to heart the Chicago Bears.

In order to complete these projects before Christmas morning I used some fairly chunky yarn and some size 10.5 circular needles. The yarn is malabrigo chunky in the hat pictured above. This hat I knit right in front of Shane (because I didn’t really have a choice) but since he didn’t inquire the gift ended up a surprise. This yarn is Kettle Dyed pure merino wool the variation in the skeins was so pretty. I decided to stripe it a bit – I’m a total sucker for vertical stripes.

The hat below was the Chicago Bears inspired hat that I decided to attempt a tiny bit of fair isle on. I don’t really know what I’m doing but it sort of worked. I didn’t know if my brother in law would like it though so I quickly knit up another ribbed hat for him too. Two hats on Christmas morning – that’s a fine gift…right?

I finally found some Brown Sheep Yarn Co. yarn to use for the Bear’s hat, but it was no easy task finding yarn, in one day, that came close to being the proper colors. Plus I needed wool…and it wasn’t the softest wool – hopefully Bryan doesn’t have an itchy head. I ribbed the bottom of the hat in the pictures above and then just knit knit knit (on circulars) and knit in those little fair isle stitches for a couple of rounds. I didn’t use a pattern just decided to wing it.

And now I’m feeling a bit more caught up. I realize it is actually February and I’m still reminiscing the end of the year. I guess I’m just in a much better space today than I was a month or so ago. Things are calming down and I’m filing through photographs. And, I’m getting excited to have the time to start some more new knitting projects. Happy 2012!