Lesson the first

Note: the Becky Fix is at the bottom of today's post

Yes, we had our first knitting lesson on Friday! Erica and Avy, both star pupils, learned to cast on (Erica's making the lengthwise garterstitch scarf from Oddball Knitting -- she's never gonna forget how to cast on after that) and knit. This week, we purl. I probably won't teach them to cast off yet, because I'm a firm believer in practice being what cements knitting skills, and they won't really have anything to bind off yet (note to Erica and Avy: "cast off" and "bind off" are the same thing. The abbreviation in patterns is "BO." There's your lesson for today.) Avy hasn't picked a project yet, and I'm interested to see what she chooses -- I think all of the projects in Oddball Knitting are great beginner projects, with the exception of maybe the dog sweater. Then again, my first project was an oversized black lace mohair sweater, so I may not be the best judge of suitable first projects. I like to think I've learned a little since then, though. There are no pictures of their first attempts -- would you like to see your first knitting posted on someone's blog for all the world to see? I didn't think so.

In other knitting news, I've got a gauntlet and 1/4 done, and I'm going to rip them out and start over. See, I was pretty (well, sort of) happy with my design, though I'd've liked them to be a bit more snug. And I really didn't enjioy the purling on DPNs with the first one. But I found on the second one that I don't mind it so much. And then I went here and saw the pic of her finished gloves. Dude, I have to rib them. The fit is so much nicer (and this is the prototype for at least two Christmas presents). So for now I'm going to leave the finished one intact (just in case) and rip out the one I just started and start over with fewer stitches and all around ribbing. Let's not discuss how my original design called for ribbing throughout and I decided to change it because I wasn't so much enjoying the purling on DPNs.

Despite it being the third day of Socktoberfest, I have not been working on my socks. Given my plan for the gauntlets (see above) that need to be done by Friday, it is unlikely that I will have a chance to work on them until this weekend. They'll be traveling with us. I fully expect to have at least the foot done by the time we get back (knitting time will be all in the car -- we learned as participants that Otherworld = always something to do and I expect it to be even more so as staff). I'm thinking I could sort of count the gauntlets as socks for the hands.

Also traveling with us will be the Rhinebeck sweater.A word about the Rhinebeck sweater: I know it's traditional to knit the whole thing for Rhinebeck and not just pick some random UFO (UnFinished Object, my non-knitterly readers), but I love this sweater and I really want to finish (and wear) it, and with a 5 month old, do you really think I'm going to knit a whole new sweater especially since I'm also working on socks and Christmas presents and, well. Look, I'm breaking tradition. This is going to be my Rhinebeck sweater. Maybe next year I'll knit something from scratch.

Finally, I got my Lisa Souza (!!!! -- you cannot believe how luscious this yarn is -- I want to have its children) to use in the Knitty sweater design and the other yarn came in to The Point last week so I'm going to pick it up today on the way in to work. I'm so excited! I got the LS is a couple of different colorways and I'm still not 100% sure which will go best with the black, but I can't wait to star knitting it up. Plus I have another design all sketched out that will use one of the other colorways, and then there'll be two left for me to play with. I have a shawl idea in my head, but I sort of feel like I'm done with shawls for awhile. So anyhow, the Knitty design is going to be my walking around knitting for awhile.

Becky Fix:
Okay, I forgot to bring the card with me to upload more Becky pics, but you can go see a bunch at Flickr (bookmark the link -- I'm going to do monthly Becky galleries). We went for our 5 month well visit today, and she's almost doubled her birthweight! 16lbs, 8oz -- no wonder my arms get tired after carting her around for awhile! She didn't get much taller -- only an inch (for a grand total of 27 1/2 inches) -- but the doctor didn't seem concerned.

She also gave me her first real belly laughs (unless Daddy hasn't been telling me something) while we were waiting for the doc to come back with the shots. There was no more laughing after the shots, but she recovered pretty quickly from her crying jag. I was watching him give her the shots today -- usually I watch her -- and I'd cry, too! He sticks that thing in like an inch! Poor poppet.

She's been rolling over back to front regularly, and can do front to back, though I think she's still not quite sure how she does it, because sometimes she gets stuck on her belly and we have to give her a little hand over. She's also been giving us raspberries, which is just hysterical because she can't quite get her lips to work right, and the other day I tried to give them back to her and it turns out I have the same problem. Maybe it's hereditary and not developmental.

Oh! She started solid food (rice cereal) last weekend and loves eating with a spoon, though she's not too keen on the taste of the cereal. I'm thinking we'll stick with the rice over the weekend since she's with Grandma Gracie all weekend and then next week we'll try some oatmeal.

posted by Laura Y. @ 4:30 AM