Baby | Page 2

“Friday” Roundup: Big News!

So as you may have noticed, it’s not actually Friday anymore (oops).

I figured it was time to let you in on the reason I’ve been so flaky about blog posts, cooking, knitting, and other things over the past few months: we’re expecting another baby this August! Morning sickness (which is really inappropriately named, if you ask me, since I’ve had it all day, every day) has been kicking my butt for the past few months. Cooking was completely out of the question for a solid month. I’m just starting to feel a little more like myself, so hopefully I can get back on track!

Now, on to the regularly scheduled roundup post!

What I’m Knitting

While I wait for yarn for a commissioned design, I’ve been doing some swatching. I picked up a blanket’s worth of gorgeous Malabrigo Rios for the new babe, and I’ve been playing with some ideas for modular cable/lace panels. Here’s my current swatch—doesn’t look like much right now, but I’m going to wait until I get a few more inches to make a decision on whether I like it or not.

What I’m Cooking

Hey, I made something this week! Here’s some tasty tortilla soup. We’re still enjoying the leftovers a few days later:

What I’m Reading

After finishing the most recent book in The Naturals series, I haven’t picked up anything new yet. A trip to the library is in my immediate future!

Friday Roundup: The Waiting is the Hardest Part

What I’m Knitting

As promised, I’ve been working away on the hat to match my Mystic Falls Mitts! I finally came up with a swatch that made me happy, so I cast on and got to work. This is just a quick phone snap, and obviously blocking is desperately needed here, but I think you can get the idea:

I haven’t exactly figured out how I want to do the decreases in the colorwork pattern yet (I know, I know, bad designer!), but I’ll have to work it out soon. That’s 1.5 repeats of the pattern in the picture there, and I don’t think I want to go much past 2 repeats before starting the crown shaping.

What I’m Cooking

I hadn’t made curry in a while, so I whipped up a veggie-filled red curry over rice for my weekly meal-for-a-crowd this week:

It was delicious, but then you can’t really go wrong with full-fat coconut milk curries. Mmmmm….

I also baked some banana-oat muffins this week, which fascinated my son. I put him in his high chair right next to me so he could see the whole procedure. And then he was introduced to the joy that is licking the spoon after the batter has been mixed (vegan baking means no raw eggs to worry about, bonus!):

He was not, however, a fan of waiting until the muffins were cool enough to eat before he got a taste.

What I’m Reading

After devouring the first book in the Naturals series, I moved on to two and three! I’m halfway through book three right now (the most recent one published) and it’s just as good as the first two—love it when that happens. I’m going to have some withdrawal when I finish this one…

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick little post here as I get a breather between opening gifts and cooking food for Christmas dinner!

Yarny gifts were acquired.

Vegan cinnamon rolls and vegan mini-quiches were made and devoured.

And best of all, this little boy’s day was MADE.

Merry Christmas to everyone out there who celebrates, and a happy Friday to those who don’t!

Friday Roundup: A Finished Vest and a Ridiculously Cute Model

What I’m Knitting

I finished the vest, woohoo! I conscripted my son for a photoshoot and actually had a really hard time choosing which of these photos to use to show it off. Sometimes I can’t believe this adorable guy is actually my son and not a retouched Gerber baby, seriously.

I’m really pleased with the way the vest came out! Sizing it will be a little bit of a challenge, since the cable pattern I used on the chest has about a 3.5″ vertical repeat, but I should still be able to offer it in at least 4-5 different baby/child sizes.

Here are the specs on the FO:

Pattern: My own, to be released in the (hopefully) near future!

Yarn: Good for Ewe Claddagh in Leprechaun Green, about 1.5 skeins. I was worried about running out of yarn, because most of the sport-weight vests I found on Ravelry called for 350 yds and up and I only had 328 yds. But somehow I still have a half-skein left. No idea how that happened.

Notes: I’m really in love with this construction. Knitting the cable strip is fun and easy, and it was so portable at this stage that I could just throw it in my purse and go. And since a third of the knitting had been finished, knitting down from the strip and then up for the top felt like they went ridiculously quickly.

What I’m Cooking

I started with some yummy oatmeal raisin muffins for Saturday morning breakfast:

And then some banana french toast, made vegan by using a flaxseed mixture instead of eggs since we don’t usually have eggs in the house. It was delicious! I used this recipe. Totally making this again—I really like that it didn’t have any added sugar but was still nice and sweet from the bananas. We didn’t even need syrup.

On the cookbook challenge, I knocked out another two recipes this week. First up, lentil chipotle burgers! I had never made my own veggie burgers before, so this was kind of a challenge for me. But beyond them being a little crumbly, I did a pretty good job. And even the crumbly ones tasted delicious.

And finally, pasta with mushrooms, red onions, and edamame pesto. Very tasty. The addition of the edamame to the pesto means you don’t have to use much oil at all. Brilliant!

What I’m Reading

I’m on to the last book in the Tiffany Aching series, The Shepherd’s Crown. I have to hurry, because my husband is reading the series too and he’s only one book behind me!

Friday Roundup: A Finished Object and a Helper

What I’m Knitting:

I finished the knitting on the nautical pullover. I’m mostly happy with it. It fits my son with a little room to spare, so that should be perfect for a fall photoshoot. I’m not altogether pleased with the way the topmost white stripe is pulled up by the collar, but I’m hoping a good blocking should even that out. Blocking will commence tonight or tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Here it is in all its unblocked, lumpy glory (see my helper underneath the table?):

I also knit up a very large, intricately cabled swatch this week. It’s for a design submission to a yarn company, so I can’t show a full pic, but here’s a teaser. I love the way cables look in heathered wool:

What I’m Cooking:

Some old standbys this week. We were still playing catchup from our trip, so I didn’t have a whole lot of time to cook. My favorite lentil, kale, quinoa stew made an appearance. The MVPs of this stew are my time-saving helpers, pre-chopped garlic:

And veggie broth bouillon cubes, so I always have broth on hand:

And again, I had a little helper keeping me company:

What I’m Reading:

Back to the second Raven Boys book, The Dream Thieves! (I just got a notification that it’s overdue from the library. Oops. To renewals I go!)

Friday Roundup: Baby Hat Edition

What I’m Knitting

I know I said I’d be working on the green textured sweater design this week, but I had to put that on hold for some emergency baby knitting (we’ve all been there, right?). A good friend of mine just had a baby boy a few days ago, so I cast on this mini-sized Koolhaas Hat for her little guy:

The yarn is buttery-soft Knit Picks Comfy in a lovely heathered gray colorway. This is my first time using Comfy, and I really like it! It’s 75% cotton, 25% acrylic, which is just about the perfect blend for my taste. It isn’t as heavy or unyielding as 100% cotton, and the touch of acrylic makes it really easy to wash.

Just when I was at the decreases of that hat, I decided I wanted to work up a little hat for a baby shower I’m attending tomorrow. This decision may or may not have been influenced by the fact that the guest of honor had another baby shower in a different town last week, and every. single. thing was purchased off their registry when I looked a few days ago. Oh well–one of a kind presents are good too, right?

So I cast on a super-quick baby bonnet this morning and have been knitting furiously in the car on the way to run errands (when I wasn’t the one driving, of course!). This one is also in Knit Picks cotton, some Simply Cotton Worsted left over from my Kari Baby Blanket. I’m ready for the decreases and on track to get it finished tonight:

What I’m Cooking

Another round of the delicious, wine-infused mushroom stroganoff (this time with added broccoli to up the veggies) over quinoa pasta:

I had a head of cauliflower to use up a few days later and was planning to roast it… but that took about 45 minutes and the husband and son were hungry now. So I steamed it and mashed it with garlic, Earth Balance spread, and chives from the garden, then served it with veggie burgers. Delicious! The baby LOVED it. He ate a whole plate by himself.

What I’m Reading

I’m still working on The Dream Thieves–but I do have some other writing/reading related news! One of my manuscripts is in a really cool online contest called The Writer’s Voice (modeled after the show The Voice, apparently, but I’ve never seen it so that doesn’t mean much to me!). The contest entries went live today, and in a few days, literary agents are going to request to see manuscripts they find interesting. Wish me luck! If you’d like to check out my entry, it’s here.

Friday Roundup: Busy Mom Edition

The baby started crawling this week! He’s been scooting backward for a month, but a few days ago moving forward just clicked… and now he’s shooting across rooms at top speed, exploring everything he couldn’t reach before. On the one hand, this is great, since he was getting very frustrated at not being able to move. On the other hand… well, let’s just say I didn’t get a lot done this week.

But it’s hard to be mad at this little face.

What I’m Knitting

I ripped out the failed half-mitt from last week and started again. Stupidly, I ripped out the whole thing, including the cuff ribbing that was totally fine… so with the limited time I had to knit this week, I only managed to get the cuff re-knit and a few rows of the colorwork done. Sigh.

If you look closely, you can see the tops of both the cat and the baby’s heads.

What I’m Cooking

Home-cooked meals also took a hit this week, but I managed a few. I forgot to take pics of the Wednesday potato-chickpea-veggie curry (yum!), but I did get one of our tasty weekend breakfast. Although we eat mostly vegan at home, we make an exception for eggs every once in a while, and I love a good veggie scramble on an english muffin. This includes chives from our garden–fun for us because we’re horrible gardeners and they are the only plant that keeps coming back year after year:

You know how sometimes you end up with things in your fridge or pantry that have to be used up right away or they’ll go bad? That happened to us yesterday… so our dinner consisted mostly of guacamole and brussels sprouts. Some days I wonder if I’m really qualified to be an adult.

What I’m Reading

I finished my friend’s manuscript and started DEVINE INTERVENTION. It’s great so far–light and funny, despite the subject matter of dead kids and angelic oversight. The author, Martha Brockenbrough, is teaching a class at the writer’s workshop I’m attending in July, so I thought it would be nice to read a few of her books.

Friday Roundup: Winner, Take 2

Since I didn’t hear back from the winner I picked last week for the Golden Morning book, I went back to the random number generator to choose a new winner:

Comment #4 was Sarah, who said “My knitting changes a bit seasonally. I cannot bear to have a pile of alpaca on my lap during the summer. Lace is always a favorite, and laceweight yarn is a staple in my stash. I think I keep my knitting focus on smaller things that will not cover all of me as I knit them, but if they are large, they need to be light.”

Congratulations, Sarah! I’m sending you an email to get your address details and the pattern book will be on its way to you shortly.

Now to your regularly scheduled Friday Roundup post:

What I’m Knitting

A secret accessory design I can’t show you. I know, I know, I said I was done with these for a while, but a call for submissions that I couldn’t refuse came to my attention a few months ago and I got a design proposal accepted. This accessory is small and fun, though, so I should hopefully be back to something blog-able next week.

What I’m Cooking

I forgot to take pictures of the amazing (if I do say so myself) enchilada casserole I made for my usual crowd dinner on Wednesday, but I managed to snap a few pics of other meals.

Basil was on sale at my local grocery, so I snagged a bunch of it to try a vegan pesto dish from my favorite cookbook, Isa Does It. The pesto was tasty, but the real star of this dish is the breaded tofu on top. I’ve never tried to make breaded tofu before–it was much easier than I thought, and soo00 tasty. My 9-month old son loved it too!

I’ve never been the type of person who can whip up sauces without a recipe (kind of funny, since one of the first things I did when I started knitting was to go “off-recipe” and start making up my own things!). But I tried a almond-milk based cream sauce last week that was completely tasteless, so I started adding things to it (like miso and nutritional yeast, my favorite vegan flavor enhancers). The resulting sauce was so good that I tried it again this week, with different proportions of ingredients and a whole bunch of veggies.

It was amazing. I can’t believe how cheesy a sauce can taste with no cheese whatsoever. I think it’s the umami flavor (pleasant savory taste) that the miso brings to the table. I have a new favorite sauce recipe that I can tweak to my heart’s content! My son also loved this one, even though it was loaded with garlic and onions. He’s definitely my son. :-)

What I’m Reading

Not too much to say on this front either–I’m still working on my writer friend’s manuscript. Baby’s sudden sleep regression = major dent in my reading/knitting time, unfortunately.

Friday Roundup and Bonus New Pattern Release

What I’m Knitting:

I’m still knitting the adult Transposed Hat from last week, unfortunately. I finished the whole thing… and realized it was too long, and I didn’t like the top decreases. So I ripped it out and started again from the beginning of the crown shaping… and then the day job got crazy, so I haven’t had time to finish, sigh.

So to distract you, here’s the last pattern included in my Babe in the Woods collection, the Riparian Vest!

(You can purchase the pattern here on Ravelry.)

I was going for the knitted equivalent of a puffer vest, and it turned out rather well! It’s knitted in Malabrigo Mecha, same as the cabled hat and scarf set in the collection. The interesting thing was that the skeins of yarn in this colorway were noticeably thicker than the Mostaza (the gold-colored colorway). I ended up using a completely different needle size on each one. Moral of the story? Always check your gauge, even if you’ve used the yarn before.

The vest is sized from 0-6 months to 4-6 years. It’s shown in the 12-18 month size. As you can probably see from these pictures, the vest is a little big for my son, who was wearing 6-9 month clothing when we took the pictures. It’s tough to estimate how big your baby will be when you knit the sample months in advance!

What I’m Cooking:

Lentil, quinoa, and kale stew:

A new recipe that I’ve been wanting to try, tofu stroganoff (it was yummy!). I put it over rice noodles instead of wheat pasta, which was a little weird–next time, I’ll use regular pasta like in the recipe:

Eggplant parmesan with rice mozzarella and cashew/nutritional yeast “parmesan” (much better than it sounds, I swear!):

And this one is sort of cheating because most of the ingredients were pre-made… but I did cook the meatless meat crumbles with onions and spices, so I’m counting it, haha:

What I’m Reading:

Fairly boring here too, I’m afraid. I only managed to get about halfway through Greenglass House (see previously mentioned day job craziness). It’s really good so far, though! I’m looking forward to reading the rest.

New Pattern Releases: Transposed Hat and Mittens

Here’s the next installment of patterns in my Babe in the Woods collection, the Transposed Hat and Mittens:

The inspiration for this design came from the highly variegated skein of Malabrigo Rios in Fresco y Seco. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so variegated, so I knew I had to come up with something that really showed off the color changes. I’ve always liked the look of “faux Isle” knits, where it appears that there are many different colors used when there are really just two. I sketched out this chevron design and got to work.

I’m especially happy with the way the crown decreases worked out in the hat:Like the Aureate set I showed off last week, I wrote the matching mittens pattern for baby, toddler, and child sizes–thumbless in baby size, thumbs for the rest. I knit up a child-sized sample to show the thumb:

The hat, baby mittens, and single child mitten were all made with a skein each of Malabrigo Rios in Natural and Fresco y Seco. There’s a ton of yarn left, too–definitely enough for another baby hat or a second set of mittens. So it ends up being pretty economical!

You can find the pattern (and the rest of the Babe in the Woods collection) here on Ravelry.

My next design project is going to be an adult version of the hat in a different colorway, since I’ve gotten such good feedback on the baby version. I think lots of people (myself included!) are looking for ways to make beautiful variegated colorways really shine.

Ronan was very cooperative through the whole photoshoot, but he did seem to think the mittens were rather tasty: