Knitting and Sleeping Babies

My little Hayden, little Baby B, has had a little trouble taking naps lately. I will put him down in his crib, he will sleep for about 20 minutes and then he is up crying. I quickly run into his room and scoop him up because Nolan is asleep in the crib next to him and I don't want him to wake up because he can sleep for a marathon 2 1/2 - 3 hours. My little guys have started crawling. Nolan, the sleeper, scoots around all over the place, but Hayden will always crawl over to me and want to be picked up. I think my little Hayden wants a little more mommy time. It is hard being a twin - they don't get all the attention a single baby gets. Today, as Hayden fell asleep for a nap, instead of putting him in his crib, I let him sleep on the couch next to me while I knit. I usually don't knit when the boys are taking a nap. There are usually about 10 loads of laundry that need to be folded or sheets that need to be washed or dirty dishes in the sink or about 50 stray Cheerios under 2 high chairs that need to swept up. But today I have let all that go and have been knitting quietly right by my sleeping baby and I'm pretty sure that he knows that I'm here - he's been sleeping peacefully under the blanket I knit for him for a long time now. And I am sure Nolan appreciates it too - he's been asleep in his crib without getting a wake up call from his twin brother.

W.I.P Wednesday: Birthday Owls

Now that I have three boys with birthdays within five days of each other in October, I started knitting for them now. Given the fact that my knitting has slowed down a little bit, I still wanted to make sure that all of my boys get a special wooly knitted gift from me for their birthdays. I have knit my son, Oliver, something every year since he was born and I didn't want to break the tradition. I started with this little sweater for one of the twins.

I couldn't resist knitting the popular owl sweater. It is just too cute. It is going surprisingly fast too. I love watching the little owls form as I knit around!

F.O.: Baby Booties

Well, we made it through the first six months with the twins. Phew! There are things that are getting easier and then new challenges pop up. They are going to bed at 8 on the dot every night (Yay!) and sleeping through the night (Yay! Yay!) but now that they are getting all that sleep at night they are taking shorter naps during the day and they are a lot more active! They are this close to crawling and I am not sure if that is going to make my life easier because they can get around or harder because I will have to chase two of them around and make sure that they don't get into anything that they shouldn't. We shall see. I am still waiting for the day that they will play with each other - that will be so cute! Right now they smile at each other and tug at each other's clothes and arms and legs but that is about it. They also tend to tug these cute little baby booties that I knit for them right off of their feet!

Pattern: Booties by Debbie Bliss Yarn: Quince & Co. Chickadee in the color Egret Needles: size US 2

I am a sucker for baby shoes. When my first son was born, I went a little overboard - I bought him tiny little New Balances, Pumas, Robies - to name just a few. On the upside, these little guys got to wear them too. I love these little booties. They are like little shoes but soft like socks too. Now if they would just keep them on their feet.....

Look - they are holding hands! Too cute!

W.I.P. Wednesday: Silk Shrug

A textured shrug in blue silk for springtime.

F.O.: Starr

I finished this lovely cotton slouchy hat about a year ago, so this post is long overdue. I couldn't resist knitting it after I found the pattern in the Kim Hargreaves' book Misty.

Pattern: Starr by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Rowan Handknit Cotton in the color Mist
Needles: Size US 2 and US 6

I love the mixture of cables and lace in this pattern. Between the lace and the cotton yarn, this is a great, stylish hat to wear on chilly spring days. I also love the light color of the yarn. This has been getting a lot of wear this spring - even though the weather has been warm, there have been some colder days that this hat has been perfect for!

Sample Knitting

The latest collection from Brooklyn Tweed is here - Spring Thaw - and I am excited to share the sample that I knit for this wonderful collection. I was lucky enough to work up the Barrington Vest this past winter.

This vest is knit up in BT's newest yarn, the lovely Loft, in Artifact and Woodsmoke. This was quite the challenge for me. I learned a lot of new techniques, the biggest of which is steeking. It was my first time to ever do steeks and I was scared to death I was going to mess up. I have never intentionally cut my knitting before and I was quite nervous but it worked out really well. Another great technique used for this vest is the very cool provisional cast on which makes the ribbing look completely professional. And, of course, the entire body is stranded color work.

I have no idea how I managed to get this done in the midst of the Christmas season with newborn twins but somehow I sent it out in the nick of time. I quickly snapped these photos right before I ran out the door to send it off so they are not my best but Brooklyn Tweed has much better shots, of course.

My Life These Days

Remember when I wrote this post and I said that taking care of twins was not hard? Ya, I lied. I lied big time. Taking care of twin babies is HAAAARD. I must have written that in the haze of my ibuprofen and oxycodone cocktail I was taking for the pain from my c-section. I know that I resolved to blog more this year but I can't even find time to go to the bathroom during the day, never mind blog. Oh, and I also have that other 5 year old kid who needs attention too. Needless to say, I haven't gotten much knitting done either, which makes me really sad because I really miss it. I have been sneaking in a few rows here and there on Aidez but nothing solid. I am happy that I have two very happy babies even though they are a butt load of work and I collapse exhausted every single night, but as everyone tells me: "This too shall pass." They also say: "Just wait until they are teenagers" hahaha - I can't wait!

In other twins news: We had to have tests done to determine if they are identical or fraternal and we just found out that they are identical!

I dunno. I just don't see it.

P.S. I apologize to the bloggers I usually leave comments for on your blogs (you know who you are) for not commenting lately. I have been otherwise engaged.