I have to admit that my knitting mojo has been hiding recently. I’m going to blame this on lack of sleep and my brain being busy with other things right now. But there has been lots of starting, and not a lot of finishing.

What finishing there has been has left me dissatisfied – the chunky weight longies that were too chunky and big, the christmas stocking that really should have worked but didn’t…

Of course this hasn’t stopped me knitting. 😉

But it was nice last week, to manage to get something on and off the needles, and into general use in a couple of hours.

Even if the blocking has managed to not block it. 😉

Noro sock yarn is pretty lovely isn’t it?

(Ravelry Link.)

On the 31st January 2008 W turned thirty six, and – because wouldn’t it be lovely? – I took a pregnancy test. We’d been trying for four months at that point, and there was nothing to suggest that that month would be any different from the other three.

Except for the two blue lines.

As birthday presents go, that was a big one.

This year will be a more understated affair, especially given that baby!W* has the same stuffy nose that he’s had off and on for the past seven weeks, hasn’t managed to sleep for longer than four hours in one go for the past week, and has frequently woken after an hour, for hour after hour. (Sadly it seem that breastfeeding hasn’t protected him from everything.)

However there will be kedgeree, and florentines, as requested, and presents and cards. And though the handspun jumper – shockingly – never managed to spin and knit itself while I was busy getting a hang of this parenting lark, there is at least, the promise of said jumper at some point in the future.

He’s an amazing man, and a brilliant dad. And I love him very much.

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(* Small amount of random housekeeping: I’ve decided to refer to baby!W as FB from now on, since two W’s in one blog is going to get very confusing, very quickly. 😉

Today I solved a problem that had been really bothering me – how to keep baby!W warm when he’s in the babybjorn. And while I wouldn’t claim to be the first person to think of it, I’ve never come across it before (I don’t think), so I thought I’d share it here.

See there isn’t really any room for baby!W to wear a jacket when he’s in the babybjorn, and while his front is next to mine and is nice and warm, there are gaps at the side and around his shoulders that are all exposed.

And since I didn’t buy a maternity coat, I don’t have any clothes big enough to cover me and him together.

However.

It turns out that a triangular shawl, knotted and worn around the neck like a giant neckerchief, covers him up really well and can be tucked into the sides of my open coat.

(Of course it’s also a giant ‘Look at my knitting’ beacon*, but it’s also a good opportunity to wear some shawls that tend to get passed over, in favour of more shaped, faeroe style versions that are less likely to slide off my shoulders.)

I’m quite pleased with that bit of problem solving, especially given the amount of sleep I’m getting right now. 🙂
(*A baby + knitted goods almost guarantees at least one conversation in the street or in a shop. Which is always good fun. Even for a quite shy person like me.)