Knitting Under Water

Making a Good Birthday Party

knittingunderwater — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:40:25 +0000

Whip up some cake early in the morning:

(This photo makes me feel like SuperMum, but since Daddy was upstairs sleeping in, and Althea loves to be a part of everything, this worked well)

Make some icing, and test it to make sure it tastes good. Watch the baby have her first sugar rush, then decorate the cake with skates, mittens, snowflakes, one candle and some snow.

Head out to Bowness Lagoon for some skating with friends:

Watch your little baby who turned one love, love, love the skating and ice!

A Year in Photos

knittingunderwater — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:11:00 +0000

January 2011

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Birthday Cake!!

Odd Ball Sweater – plus 3 New

knittingunderwater — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:24:32 +0000

I had what seemed like a bunch of yarn left over from Althea’s baby blanket that I vaguely remember making in the first month of her birth, and I decided it would be a lovely little colourful sweater. That part is true. I had enough yarn it turns out for the yoke of the sweater, and had to purchase 3 more skeins to finish it off. I keep using this pattern for baby sweaters as it is simple, and resizable based on yarn choice. When you use worsted and add some length to the arms and torso you get a sweater that still fits my (almost) 1 year old.

The many different colours in the body of the sweater are due to the fact that every time I went back to get say, another light pink, there were no more left. Therefore the arms became dark pink. Very colourful my daughter. The trade off is that it goes with many of her outfits now, just not the red ones.

There is however a serious design flaw, one that means we have to be very careful with this sweater, and that it needs to be guarded and watched almost at all times. Can you spot it? Look closely. Here is a front view, maybe that will help:

It’s those cute wooden buttons. I had assumd they would be poplar, or aspen, or some other harmless wood, but they seem to be made of catnip trees. Both my cats are ga ga over these buttons, and will seek out this sweater, and try and gnaw the buttons off. Jack has already pulled out numerous threads from the front (without the baby in it) as he uses all four paws in an attempt to rip the buttons off and eat/roll/collect them. I have a spare button in my notions case that they will now seek out as well and attack. Cats are crazy yo.

1st Christmas Stocking

knittingunderwater — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:57:45 +0000

This year, the year of first Christmas’s, there were a lot of things I wanted to do, and a lot of things that I didn’t get done. I didn’t get Mr. J’s present finished (only really 1/4 of the way), I didn’t even finish Althea’s present, even though now it is being blocked and waiting for buttons. (Birthday present?). I didn’t do the baking I had promised Mr. J, I didn’t make the big dinner for Christmas Eve that is traditional in his family (we made it Boxing Day). We had pie instead, just pie, no dinner. (But if GGM asks, we had a full turkey dinner with all the fixings, and sourkraut soup as is their tradition). Here on my last day of vacation I still have a daunting list of things I had wanted to do. One thing I did do: spend time with my family, let things go to stop stressing out, and get Althea’s stocking done on time.

I still cannot believe how well this turned out, as I’m not a very good sewer. I cut out all the pieces according to the pattern that I managed to snag, as the Christmas patterns were in short supply, found some letter patterns online for the name, had to go back for batting. In nothing short of a miracle my sewing machine sewed through a number of layers of material and batting. I had a really hard time figuring out the pattern, but somehow it worked, and the last step where I turned the lining inside out to reveal a finished stocking was nothing short of a Christmas miracle. I really liked the lining, which is material that is slated for my and Mr. J’s stocking (that will hopefully be finished for next year).

My stocking will have little mittens, and Mr. J wasn’t too keen on his until I pointed out it had balls (Christmas) on it. He then deemed it manly enough. We filled the baby’s stocking with an apple, orange, some cookies, socks, and Mum-mum’s. She was particularly enamored of the apple, and not so happy with the bite of the orange she took. We then peeled it and she was more impressed. I taught Mr. J how to put out cookies, milk, and carrots for the reindeer (which he promptly turned into light sabers and had a little fight with his daughter, sigh, boys). Althea hung her stocking with care.

And a perfect first Christmas, without all the other stuff, was born.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, filled with teeny tiny miracles, like your sewing machine working when you really need it.

Hello Santa-Can I pull your Beard? And Eat Your Glasses?

knittingunderwater — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:25:53 +0000

The title is exactly what Althea was thinking the whole time I put her on this strange man’s lap and took photos of her. She was also happy to suck on the candy cane through the wrapper. I took it away soon after, because I’m the mean type of Mum that doesn’t let her baby eat plastic wrap.

Hey look at what she is wearing! It is a Little Sister Dress!. I made it from a wonderful skein of Blue Moon Rocking Sock. I just knit the 1 year size, and kept going until I ran out of yarn. It is nice and wide, and should fit for awhile to come. It does roll on the bottom, so I’ve been thinking about taking out the bottom two inches and putting some ribbing in instead. We’ll see if and when I get around to that. I have many plans and things I need to do for Christmas, and again we’ll see what I get around to. I have the week off between the holidays, but since I really, really, need to recharge I’m trying not to plan too much. I’ve been sprinting full tilt since I went back to work 5 months ago, and I need some quiet down time to just concentrate on Althea, and not worry too much about anything else.

At least Althea has her Christmas day outfit ready to go. We won’t mention the pink sparkly dress with matching bolero and fake fur collar her GGM got her, she can wear that on Christmas Eve. Mr. J is particularly horrified by the fake gem belt. Toddlers and Tiara’s here we come!

How Did I do in SSS?

knittingunderwater — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:34:38 +0000

Finally, an update on Single Skein September – in December!! The good news is that I did pretty well, plus I won a prize in the contest! I finished two little baby sweaters:

The first is a baby surprise jacket a la Elizabeth Zimmerman, and the second is a vintage pattern. I used Noro Silk Garden sock yarn (which makes horrible socks, and incredible baby jackets) and Berrocco Comfort for the second. The latter makes wonderful baby garments. Althea was around 7 months old in this photo, and the little cardigan fit perfectly- for about 2 weeks. But it was a glorious 2 weeks filled with a cute little yellow cardigan. The arms were a bit tight, so they could have used around 2-4 more stitches per.

I even won a prize! Every person who had completed at least one project with a single skein entered that project into the Stash and Burn forum, and a random number generator picked me! I won a lovely prize, a skein of aspen sock from Western Sky Knits in Montana in colourway Barnwood. I am really, really digging their colourful yarns, and would love to get some to make a cute dress or (bigger) cardigan for Althea once the finances are in shape again.

Women Engineers- Are Things Changing?

knittingunderwater — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:31:21 +0000

December 6th- An anniversary of a tragedy, which I like to mark each year with some thoughts on women engineers. Last year I talked about the benefits having women engineers could bring. This year I had a multitude of ideas, but focused in on one: are things changing? Is this old boys club really becoming a gender neutral, equal for all club? The short answer is things are changing, but I wouldn’t call it gender neutral, equal for all just yet.

When I first left the doors of my university in 1997 and into my career in water treatment I quickly came face to face with decidedly non gender neutral language. In all my jobs I write technical operating manuals, and normally one is given previous manuals to modify for a new job. “He”, “Man Machine Interface”, “Man”, “workman”. etc. etc. etc. Back then I changed the manuals for my company, without asking permission, without them really knowing, and used gender neutral language. Why? So that I would feel included that is why. If I’m operating a water plant and must use the “Man Machine Interface” or “MMI”, do I need to ask a man to push the buttons for me, or can I push them my own damn self? The industry now uses “HMI” or “Human Machine Interface”. See, we can all operate water plants now! Instead of man or workman, Operator works very well. After all I’ve met a few excellent female water treatment plant operators in my time. I did this in my next company, and the next. After that I was writing my own manuals from scratch, which I’ve done at the last 3 companies I’ve worked at, and they now have very gender neutral, inclusive documentation.

Things have gotten better in the years since I graduated, but not perfect. Not by a long stretch. Around 4 years ago I found myself phoning a person asking if the e-mail SHE had written entitled “Gentleman” meant that I was not invited to their networking event, even though I was clearly on the list. SHE was genuinely befuddled as to why I would have a problem with her language. Just two weeks ago I got a quotation for a very large pre-fab building, one that is expensive and will make the company a healthy profit margin I’m sure. It comes equipped with two Man-doors. Does that mean I have to go in and out of the water treatment facility via the windows. Only if they are people windows however. I also recently answered a request for proposal (a company asks my company to quote on a water treatment plant, my job is to design it, cost it out, write out a process description and scope of supply, and fill out their documentation) in which I had to fill out their documentation. Their documentation that stated very specifically that my company representative was male over, and over, and over. I may have ranted a bit (a lot). This implies to me that a company representative could not possibly be female (except I am) nor could fill out the documentation (except I was). So what can I do? I think the building manufacturer (who is our customer) will receive a bit of a chat. I can’t do much about the other situations, as they are my customer, and gosh darn it they are right, now may I please have your money? Can I get the man-doors changed to, let’s see “doors”?. “Human doors?”. “People doors?”. The term must be gender neutral, but distinguish from the equipment doors. Suggestions?

So why does the non-gender neutral language annoy me? It is because it excludes me on a basis of my gender. Even as I perform the same tasks, even when I’m the company representative, even when I can walk through a door. It is a barrier that tells young women you do not belong, you are not welcome, you can’t play here. When I left university in 1997 I didn’t believe this, and I still don’t, and that’s why I’m still changing things from the inside, even when companies don’t realize it is happening. I’m opening doors, and I’m leaving them open behind me, just as women who have gone before me have done. The old boys are retiring, and we play a different game.

Two Hats, Both Warm, One Cuter

knittingunderwater — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:22:27 +0000

Let’s start with the less cute hat, my handspun hat. I bought this handspun yarn at the Market Collective last year from a vendor named See Also. The Market Collective is a gathering place for local artisans to sell their items in Kensington, Calgary. I haven’t gone out to it since, but for handspun I would go back. I made it a simple pattern, garter stitch for 3 inches, stocking stitch for 2.5 inches more, decrease. I asked Mr. J if I should put a pom-pom on it and he said “of course” in a very patronizing way, what a silly question. I have been loving this hat, it covers my ears, my forehead (yeah it gets that cold here that I need forehead coverage) it is holding its shape and hugging my head in a nice warm manner.

Now for the cute hat! Oh, so cute! I think all hats should have ears don’t you? The pattern is Paddington Bear, and I think anyone with a young child, or who knows a young child should pick up this pattern! It is easy, and yields an adorable result. I had to resize it a bit as I had bulky instead of chunky yarn, but this pink/brown colourway was perfect. Once again I’m so glad I bought Big Merino Fleece Artist like a squirrel whenever I could and hid it away. I still have 3 more colourways! I just love this stuff and at $7 a ball it is a guilt-free pleasure.

Another photo added for extra cuteness. We had a foot of snow here on the weekend, and on Sunday we discovered that our stroller goes through that snow fairly easily. They plow the path along the coulee immediately, so we just had to get out to that. Althea has made her first snow angel, tasted snow, is getting used to her snow suit (a great find at Goodwill). We should try tobogganing next!

A Growing 10 Month Old Girl!

knittingunderwater — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:50:22 +0000

Our little girl is over 10 months old now! Time is a flying, and she is growing up before our astonished eyes. Despite our best efforts to mess up, she is doing well. Her recent feats are standing on her own for over 5 seconds, and walking around with us holding her hands. She is also walking with a walker. Her other interests involve banging things together, banging her head on walls etc. (anything that makes a satisfying “thunk”) giving Mummy’s belly raspberries, nursing, and being talkative. She says Mama, Dada, Kitty, and many other sounds, plus a sign! We found out she wants “more” of many things. She even sings, after I sing a high note, she mimics me, which is adorable. Each night she says “baa baaa baa” then looks at me and waits, and I dutifully sing her Baa Baa Black Sheep about 20 times. She has 8 teeth, and seems to be working on 4 more but no more have come through the gums yet. Life is crazy hectic, I’m failing in so many areas, but she remains something we are doing well; growing a happy healthy little girl.

Workin’ Mum

knittingunderwater — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 03:30:42 +0000

Four months. I’ve been back at work four months now, and life has been a hectic strain like never before. I’m sure other workin’ Mums know exactly what I mean. Up at 5:30 am, to work as soon as possible, clock in at 7 am hopefully. I work straight through for 8 hours, with two pumping breaks, eating lunch at my computer. Leave for home at 3 pm, driving furiously (and yet within the speed limit, if the speed limit is considered to be +/- 10 km/hr). As soon as I’m in the door I have a baby wrapped around my neck, clinging furiously, refusing to let me walk away. Somehow make dinner, clean, eat, bath, then bedtime routine. Go, go, go!! Althea was going to sleep around 9 or 10 pm back at the end of the summer, but now she has thankfully adjusted to an earlier bedtime, 8 pm tonight. I find myself getting extremely sleepy an hour after she is asleep, but I somehow still need to get ready for work, clean, do this or that, and generally collapse on the couch for a little bit to knit and watch some tv. I’m back to having an extreme romantic attachment to my very comfy bed, falling asleep within minutes of hitting the pillow. I sleep like the dead, get up 1-5 times during the night to feed the baby, and do it again the next day!

Aside from how crazy busy life is, it is filled with so many good happy things, first and foremost being Althea who is growing well, developing each day, and is a joy. My job has let me stay on hourly, which allows me to be flexible and leave when I need to, and stay home when I need to, I just don’t get paid. Work is very busy, which is good when the economy is shaky as it is now. I don’t know why my boss always wants me to do this or that when it is 3 pm, but I’ve started asking him at 2:30 pm if he needs anything, and that is helping. Mr. J and Althea are doing well together at home, the bond between them gets stronger every day. We’re pretty sure she will be walking by Christmas! So much to tell you, so much to share. I hope you all are well.