Mom's hats

I have been working on hats for my mom for some time. She has ovarian cancer and is now losing her hair due to the chemo. (Don't worry she is doing great. They were able to remove all of the cancer.) I made five hats in all, but I only have pictures of two. Here are Chase and I doing a bit of modeling. I don't have the other pictures anymore as she already has them. I can't wait to send these to her.



Chase wanted me to say that this is not the hat he would chose to wear. It is not his color or style. Hm. I think he looks cute.

I have also been working on this for myself.





It is a Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I am completing it with unspun Icelandic Wool from School House Press. I love this yarn. It is a bit tricky to work with at first, because it pulls apart. However, I am finding it very therapeutic because I have to have very steady hands or risk the yarn breaking.

Sleep and FOs

Well, I am tired. I am still in my first year as a professor. It is ever so much more work and stress than I ever thought. I look back and can't figure out how I got my Ph.D. and I am looking forward trying to figure out how I am going to maneuver all of the roles I've got going right now. You know the line up: mom, wife, writer, professor, committee member, caretaker, and soon therapist (again). My dh, my kids, and knitting are what have been getting me through. Knitting = Sanity. I keep telling myself within the next couple of years, I will be able to rid myself of my imposter's syndrome and it will be better. The new mantra, "I did the work to be here, I am good enough, I can do this".

Amongst the recent chaos I have been able to finish several projects. Here are my girls. They decided that they wanted pretty, princess nightgowns. In comes Simplicity pattern 9968. Nora chose a pretty floral pattern on eyelet fabric. Very cool for summer.


Lucia on the other hand decided she needed to have heavy fabric. So she will be very warm this summer. She went for a Hello Kitty motif, of course. Oh and by the way, her instructions for this photo was to do a glamorous pose. Simply stunning.


The girls also believed that it was necessary to have robes. We watched Meet Me in St Louis and well if Margaret O'Brien gets a robe she must surely as well. I used the same pattern and went with their signature colors Pink (Nora) and Purple (Lucia) in warm flannel fabric. Just for background, they have chosen these colors for themselves. I am a self confessed tom boy. Here is Miss Nora looking quite fetching.


Here is Miss Lucia.


I have also been able to finish the Nora's Bella Bunny. She is already well loved. She turned out really cute. But, I am realizing that I am not very good with seaming. I sew with fabric and thread, but seaming with knitting fabric causes my fingers to turn to wood. Here she is though. I love the skirt. The twirliness really makes me happy. I wish I had such a skirt for myself.


Here is Nora loving her up.


I also actually got to start on a project for myself. Yeah! Finally. I am making myself the Flutter Sleeve Sweater from Interweave Knits. I am usually Brown Sheep Company Cotton Fleece in a Prairie Lupine. Its purdy. This project has already seen four airplanes and dozens of meetings. Its well traveled. I am much farther along now than I was in this picture, but at least you can see the pretty color.



As I look at these photos, I know I need a new camera. All in time.

Just Starting.

Hello. I have always wanted to start a blog. It seems to be both fun and also a good cathartic tool. I am also an avid knitter, so I though this would be a great way to meet other knitters. I have read everyone else's blogs for so long. I have now moved from being a voyeur to being able to share. Yeah.