Week One

Thank you for all of your touching and supportive comments on my last post. Being able to interact with all of you in our wonderful fiber community has helped me to feel much less alone, and greatly comforted. (I also did a wee bit of shopping therapy, which I'll show you in a later post...)

It's been a week full of challenges, and I feel like I'm getting almost nothing done. However, when I actually look at my days, I AM doing a lot, as it turns out. Just not accomplishing the usual things. I've decided that as long as everyone is fed, safe and happy, and I manage to get the dishes done, I've had a successful day. Emotionally, everyone here seems to have defaulted pretty quickly back into the "Daddy's Gone" state of mind again, and we're back to business as usual.

Greg's been able to Skype us twice for video chat -- once while the children were awake, which was great. We read a Dr. Seuss book together, and had a nice little virtual "visit". It's painful to have our family separated again, but I thank God for technology that can help us feel connected, even just a little bit.

When changes are coming up in my life, I find it theraputic to "knit against the clock", so to speak. (Remember the sweaters I was knitting for myself before Billy was born?) To help me deal with Greg's return trip to Iraq, I whipped off these two small projects, finishing them just before he left:

Remember this handspun?


Northern Lights Targhee, Mountain Colors from The Loopy Ewe (Some of this color is in stock there right now...)

That turned into these.


Mitered Mittens by Elizabeth Zimmermann

I modified them with a gusset thumb.



Would you believe that I didn't have a proper set of mittens until now?



As you can see, the cuffs are extra long to ensure that no cold air sneaks up between the mitten and my coat sleeve. I hate cold wrists, so this is very important to me.

Greg said they make my hands look long and funny, but I love them muchly. (More project details -- like how I cast on less stitches to accommodate the bulkier yarn, etc., on Ravelry.)

I also realized that I didn't have a hat (both hats I've previously knit for myself have gone to sisters), so I knit this one:


Billie Hat by Patti Gonsalves

I modified it by knitting for 7 inches before the decreases, because I really, really like to have warm ears.



(Once again, project details available on Ravelry.)

After about a month's break from spinning, I've been working on getting the rest of this Eclipse (Spunky Eclectic Romney) fiber spun up as a warp for a scarf I have planned:



It feels really, really good to be back at the wheel again. Of course, I can only spin for moments at a time, generally, because one of my little guys always needs something at the moment (Billy thinks he needs to be held pretty much all the time, and of course he has to be nursed often...), but I'm slowly chipping away at the 4 oz.



Billy's sweater is also coming along...slowly:



Yup, looks almost like the last picture I showed you, except that now I've bound off the body and I'm on the first sleeve. Yay! :)

I'm not too frustrated about lack of project progress though, because Billy will only be a tiny little nursing guy for the blink of an eye. This is a stage that needs to be fully cherished; there's nothing like a cuddly brand new person.