Tag: baby knits

yarn along

MarthaKimball2 Comments

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I finished up the bonnet I was knitting last week but haven’t had time to block it or snap photos.  I cast on a Sunday Sweater for Wren for the fall.  It’s a bit early, I know, but I think it’ll be nice to have some things ready for the cooler weather in advance, especially since so many knitting requests come in during the fall/winter.  Not to mention all the winter birthdays we have plus Christmas.  The pattern is very clear and well-written and I’m loving it so far.  I’m knitting for the first time with the Lykke needles Brandon bought me for Mother’s Day and really enjoying them, although I feel like wooden needles pair so well with rustic yarns.  Also, the yarn is dying my needles blue which I’m hoping will come off?  If not, it’s not a big deal.  I love blue. 🙂

I’m still working through Wearing God (affiliate link) by Lauren Winner.  I feel like I get so little reading done lately.  So many things I want to read, so little time!  I think I may need to make mandatory reading hour for everyone in the house, myself included, so that I don’t feel guilty sitting down to read for a bit.  It’s hard to read in our bed at night like I normally do.  With Wren in our room I feel like turning on the light wakes her.  Anyway, I hope you make a little time this week for creative and life-giving things for yourself!

Linking up with Nicole of Frontier Dreams and Ginny of Small Things today. 

books, yarn, and babies

MarthaKimball7 Comments

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Lots of reading, snuggling, dandelion picking, school, imaginative play, and yarn taking up most of our days lately.  Nursing + rock-a-bye babying too.  Quiet days at home mostly, without any sort of hustle out of the house.  Driving each other up the walls sometimes because of all that proximity, finding each other to be our best friends the rest of the time.  With the weather warming up, we are finding ourselves outside more of the day, making garden plans, smelling the earthy scent of soil and honeysuckle on the breeze.  Spring is a shoulder season, a tug-of-war between winter and summer, and lately we see both winter days and summer days, and we don’t mind either one bit.

My mind feels all over the place, too–feeling behind on garden plans and preparations while trying to stay focused on finishing our school year well.  As I’m coming out of the initial recovery period after having Wren (she’s 6 weeks old tomorrow!) I feel my strength and energy returning, and we’ve been out almost daily for walks and fresh air.  I find myself reminded to keep my camera in hand, snapping pictures of our ordinary moments.  I find myself remembering and reorienting to who I am and what I love.  Sometimes I feel like I should rename this blog “books, yarn, and babies,” because it seems I have little head space for much else.  I promise more “soul” content will come soon, at least I believe it will.  But even as I say that, I hear the dichotomy.  I’m learning to remember that, as Gerald Manley Hopkins said,

“Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.”
(As Kingfishers Catch Fire)
He shines in all that’s fair.  I find Him in the simple beauty of my current work, which is laboring over these children and this home, aiming to see Kingdom come, here and now, even if I lose sight of the connection sometimes.

I started this baby blanket for Wren at the end of January, and it feels just right for spring with all the lace and dusty pink.  I gave it a bath last night and blocked it and can’t wait for it to dry so I can snuggle her in it!  I used Quince + Co Osprey yarn which is incredibly squishy, springy, warm and soft.  With it being finished, I’m eager to begin a new project. Finishing things breathes fresh air into me, feels like a clean slate.

I hope wherever you are, you are finding bits and pieces of new life, freshness, spring, and the hope it seems to bring.

yarn along

MarthaKimball3 Comments

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Well, it definitely was too ambitious to think I could knit this little cardigan before Easter and also with only one skein of yarn.  It has been really enjoyable to knit, and I’m waiting for another skein to arrive in the mail so i can finish it.  Sweet Wren wore her camilla babe sweater for Easter instead, which was really beautiful on her.  I can’t express how much fun it is and how satisfying to be able to make clothes for my children.  I am really wanting to learn how to sew, so I can sew them some dresses, too.

I picked up book two in the Canada West series by Janette Oke, When Comes the Spring (affiliate link).  It seems appropriate for this time of year, hey?  I remember my older sister reading the series when we were growing up but I don’t think I ever read it.  I read the first book sometime last year and have been watching the latest episodes of “When Calls the Heart,” which really seems to be nothing like the books.  Both are enjoyable, but I’m hoping the books are better, seeing how the characters and plot is really entirely different thus far from the tv show.  I’m finding little time to read, but am squeezing in a few pages when I nurse in the evenings.  It’s good to have a happy simple novel to read.

Joining with Ginny’s monthly Yarn Along, and Nicole’s weekly Crafting On today.

yarn along

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Spring must be here.  There are buds and blooms forming on the trees!

I’ve cast on a flax sweater for our baby girl (my due date is today!!) in the newborn size, though it doesn’t look very newborn-ish to me, and I can’t say for sure if she will need a wooly sweater with all this warm weather here lately.  I’m about to bind of the bottom ribbing and start on sleeves.  We’re all hoping she comes soon!  For now, I’m trying to carry on with life as usual.  Thankfully, three children keep my mind very preoccupied.

Phoebe and I started reading The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street last night for our next read-aloud.  Too soon to say if we like it or not, but she seems intrigued.

yarn along

MarthaKimball2 Comments

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Its a cozy rainy day here in NC.  Rose is sitting on the windowsill watching the rain drip from the eaves, Phoebe and I are having tea while she practices her cursive.  Noah and Philippa are off playing cars in his room and we’ll probably be spending all day cozied up in here with books, warm mugs, maybe even a movie later on.  I think nesting is in full swing for me, so I’m busy cleaning nooks and crannies that have been neglected for some time, and making unreasonable goals for what I want done before baby arrives.

I cast on a pair of newborn baby socks this past week, hoping that some hand knit socks will stay on better than the store bought newborn ones that always seem to slide right off.  I’m knitting them with the same yarn I used recently to knit my own pair of socks.  They are tiny and cute and the kiddos can’t believe we will have a baby with feet so small.  I still have a few other projects on the go, and I’m starting to feel really ancy about finishing that baby blanket but have so little time to work on it!  If it’s late, I know the baby won’t mind but I imagine snuggling her right up in wooly goodness when she’s at the hospital.

I’ve been reading Francine River’s latest book, The Masterpiece, (which just released yesterday!) and have been staying up way too late in the evenings reading it.  It is everything I love and enjoy about River’s writing, and so fun to have a new book of hers in my hands again.  I’m already almost finished with it.  As with most of her books, this one tells the story of brokenness and redemption, romance and the turning of hard hearts to God.  It’s definitely worth reading!

Joining up with Ginny’s yarn along and Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.

Affiliate links included in this post.
Thanks to Tyndale Publishers for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review.

yarn along

MarthaKimball1 Comment

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Yes, another yarn along post.  I’m sorry to you readers who are non-knitters!  I do hope to have a more “regular life” post up sometime this week.  Lately I’ve been busy working on a baby knit for a loved one, so I can’t show much of it here.  It’s been sweet to knit and mostly mindless, at least on the body section.

I’ve been flipping through and enjoying these two homestead-y type books from the library.  Welcome to the Farm and Homestead Kitchen have been informative and fun and somehow relaxing for me to flip through, being that I’m basically a wishful-homesteader, and don’t you just love the library for having fun, current resources like these?  I’m thinking just the teensiest, weensiest bit about spring (I’m really a winter/fall girl through and through) and about our little garden space, what we will grow, and if I’ll have much energy for it with a newborn.  I hope so–I was so sick all last summer with this pregnancy that the smell of the garden itself was a total turn off, as well as all vegetables.  I’m hoping for a better experience this year.

What are you reading and making/knitting lately?

Joining Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.
Affiliate links included in this post.

 

yarn along

MarthaKimball2 Comments

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I’ve been knitting this baby blanket for our little girl, coming the last week of February.  I’m not a great lace knitter, I don’t think, in that I don’t really have much practice knitting from charts and in order to follow of line of instructions I really need total focus.  I’m not to the point where I can memorize lace.  Thus, I must have quiet to work on this blanket!  Sometimes I can do more mindless knitting while I do school with Phoebe.  This project is something I can only work on when the kids are in bed at night and I’m not watching something I’m terribly interested in.  That being said, I absolutely love working on it and wish I had bigger chunks of time to do so!  I am adding one extra lace repeat on the side and bottom to make the blanket a bit bigger.  I already love how it’s looking and can’t wait to see it block out when it’s done.  Knitting with Quince & Co. is always a treat!  (Brandon graciously let me indulge on yarn for this project.)

I’m reading A Circle of Quiet for the first time.  Just a few pages in, really, but enjoying and commiserating with her reflections on motherhood and creativity.  Often find myself craving my own little circle of quiet.  These days, even though I attempt to rise earlier than the kids, Philippa’s little ears seem to hear my coffee brewing on the stove and she always creeps out with tousled hair to snuggle with me in the dark while I read.  So few moments truly quiet + alone.  I ache to spend more time writing, as I used to, but feel like there is so little time in these busy days, and my brain is going in so many directions that the work of focus has become quite a labor.  I know that there are seasons of producing in our lives and also seasons where seeds are lying dormant in the soil doing the necessary work of waiting in the dark.  Good things will grow eventually, and we must be patient with the process and not always ancy for the fruit.  Each day and season has its own gifts to be enjoyed and thorns to handle.

Linking up with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.
Affiliate links included.

yarn along

MarthaKimball3 Comments

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I knit the sweetest baby bonnet (free pattern!) the other night and just need to attach i-cord ties to it.  For some reason I’m having a mental block about best way to attach?  Any recommendations, knitters?  I have a 3 stitch i-cord.  I feel silly that I can’t figure it out.  I knit this bonnet with madelinetosh dk twist in color way snake.  Love the color so much.

Also, I received this beautiful book, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, to review.  I first read this book back in college and it was very special to me.  Recently my sister-in-law sent Phoebe a child’s version of it, which she has treasured.  I am really grateful to have a new pretty copy of this book myself to reread.  This story is a classic, an allegory about journeying from the lowlands of fear to the heights of trust, similar in some ways to Pilgrims Progress.  The cover of this book is stunning and the watercolor paintings sprinkled throughout are truly breathtaking.  A few special features are some coloring pages of key scriptures in the back of the book, as well as some words from the author, Hannah Hurnard, about how the book came to be, and a brief autobiography.  I would highly recommend it to anyone as a great gift book, especially for someone going through a trying or scary season.

Linking up with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.

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Affiliate links included in this post.
Thanks to Tyndale Publishing for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review.

 

yarn along

MarthaKimball6 Comments

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I have been saving and treasuring this naturally-dyed yarn I bought from Ginny Sheller a couple of years ago (after knitting the antiquity mittens with it).  As soon as I knew we were having a girl, I wanted to knit her a newborn camilla sweater in this yarn, hoping I have enough leftover.  I did make some mods to the pattern, as it calls for worsted weight yarn and this yarn is sport.  But I wanted to sweater to be smaller and fit more true to newborn size, so this worked out well.  I didn’t think I would have enough for long sleeves, so I followed another knitters mods for short sleeves with the fan pattern repeated on the sleeves.  Anyway, I bound it off last night and am so happy with it!  I still have a small ball of yarn leftover.  I haven’t blocked it yet, but I couldn’t wait to snap a couple photos of it.  I love the subtle tonal nature of the yarn and it is so soft.  Can’t wait to see a baby snuggled up in hand knits!

Also, I’m pretending I’m reading The Wild Truth.  🙂  I read Into the Wild years ago when it first came out, and just recently heard that McCandless’ sister had written this book telling more of the story of their family life which drove her brother to such extremes.  I was curious to read it, of course, but the only chance I really have to read is in bed at night.  I’ve had a hard time picking it up because I guess I’m worried it will be distressing with tales of fatherly abuse, and I’m not sure I can emotionally handle those sorts of things before falling asleep at night.  I used to be able to read things without it really phasing me–somethings changed!  Is it motherhood?  Or adulthood?  Is it just knowing more about the darkness of the world and the frailty of life?  I don’t know but I’m definitely more sensitive to things that could be potentially depressing or fear-inducing.  Anyway, I do hope to read it but technically haven’t started yet. 🙂

Joining Nicole’s weekly Crafting On link-up.
Affiliate links included in this post. 

the last baby

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One of my dearest friends from college is due to have her fourth baby in a few weeks.  We were hoping to have a chance to throw a little baby shower for her, but, well, with nine kids between the three of us, it was hard to work it out logistically.  The best thing of all is just gathering for a mini getaway/catch-up since it is so much harder to keep in touch over the distance these days.  So, the three of us (my two best girlfriends and I) met up this past weekend late Sunday evening.  We drove to Max Patch, which is a good midway meeting point for us, hiked up to the grassy bald in the dark, carrying a cold dinner to share and a camp stove so we could brew some coffee.  We bundled in our sleeping bags and talked under the stars cupping steaming mugs.  By nearly midnight, we packed up and headed back to our homes, crawling back into bed at nearly 2 am.  But these gatherings are the best.  They are life-giving, better than a full night’s sleep.  Worth 3 hrs of driving (roundtrip).  This is the last baby my friend will have, these are the last days her tummy will be swollen like a full moon, and it felt right to commemorate this somehow.  In the past months I’ve slowly knitted her baby a little wooly sleep sack, in neutral colors with wooden buttons, as well as a little newborn “pilot cap.”  Both patterns were an absolute delight to knit and I’m so excited to snuggle this last little man-cub in his woolens.  I remember when this friend of mine had her first baby, and how strange to think we are all nearing the end of our child-birthing years.  Truly, they are hard years, but somehow the most glorious, too.