March 18, 2012

A 'Managing' and 'Making' Post

What a week.  I've been home for five days with two boys and an icky, sticky feverish illness that won't go away.  Now I have it too.  I'll spare the details but, boy, do I miss getting out and doing things.  It's been beautiful weather but even the shortest walk in the sunshine exhausts all of us.  The good news is that the boys have been sleeping through the nights.    The bad news is that other than that we are completely out of our routine.  It will be hard to re-enter the real world tomorrow.  (We didn't even go to church today.  I didn't think it was fair, people go there for inspiration, not Streptococcus.)

I used to love to stay home for days.  That was back when I was a knitter and not a nurse/waitress.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade places with anyone.  It's just that sometimes I look back wistfully at all that time on the couch watching two or three BBC mysteries in a row, knitting row after row of some gorgeous scarf or sweater.  I even made socks on size 2 needles!

I thought for sure I'd knit for my child.  It would be so much fun!  So rewarding!  He would look so cute!  Yeah, maybe but who has the time?  Between working full time, cooking, baths, laundry, bedtime stories, dishes.... 

I did knit both boys hats for their newborn heads.  I finished Liam's just before he grew too big to wear it.  Seriously.  I think I snapped one photo and then it was too small.  And that's it.  I haven't knit a single item for either of them since 2009.  (I did knit Henry a sweater when he was a baby--it was much too big.  He wore it when he was three.)  Since then, I've made a two or three baby afghans as gifts and enjoyed the process.  But sweaters for the boys?  Even the cute fire engine scarf that I designed on paper never came to be. 


Hope springs eternal and this season I've chosen to start a new project.  Two actually.  I'm knitting each of my sons a cabled vest to wear on Easter Sunday.  It seemed like a manageable deadline four weeks ago.   However, nightly exhaustion and now this illness caused a work stoppage.  I'm going to press on though.  I can do it if I put my mind (and fingers) to it.

This was made as a gift before I children--I can't believe I had this much free time!

One Christmas I made mittens for everyone on my list
Where's my sweater, Mom?


My latest completed craft project?  Dinosaur patches for the worn knees of Henry's pants.  It's a long way from designer scarves made with $50 skeins of yarn.
Most recently finished gift--much easier than cables!


9 comments:

  1. Ugh... so sorry you've all been sick. Same thing happened in our house about a month ago, first them then me. And it was not fun. I hope you're surviving and getting some help from other adults. I couldn't have survived our 10-day ordeal without grocery delivering friends and my home daycare. I love the knitting pictures. I have a lot of friends who knit and they keep trying to talk me in to it, but really, the thought of being able to sit and do something with my hands (other than clean up every toy around me or tickle and wrestle and dress and undress my kids) sounds impossible right now. LOVE the sweaters. And the mittens.

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  2. You are so talented! Hope you're feeling better & this week goes by well.

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  3. Love them. I can't knit at all. I can sew but I haven't sewed a stitch since the weekend before Cory was born. About a year ago I pulled out the sewing table from storage and put it in my room with the intent to start sewin again..ahhh that didn't happen and the sewing machine is still in the storage room.

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  4. Wishing you a speedy recovery. I did have a good chuckle reading this post...I think it was when the sweater was meant for him to wear as a baby but didn't wear it until age three. You really made some beautiful things. Better to be with your beautiful boys :)

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  5. You are such a talented woman! I wish I could knit (because I actually have the time...)

    I hope you and your boys are feeling much better. xoxo

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  6. Wow! Lara...you are amazingly talented. All those mittens...how gorgeous are they. I sure hope everyone is feeling much much better really soon!

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  7. I never caught the knitting bug, but, used to crochet and latch hook for hours! Nothing I ever made resembled much except a waste of materials, but your creations are inspirational!

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  8. Hope you feel better soon!
    Looking at those pictures and oh wow!! Beautiful!
    Knitting is something I really want to learn (or re-learn as many many years ago, in school, we had some knitting lessons), hoping this summer to start.

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  9. I'm LOVING all the things you knitted! They are beautiful! I know what you mean about hobbies, though. I love to sculpt but haven't had a chance to do it in years. The kids even say to me that I should start again, but when? Anyway, the time will come. Hope you are all feeling better!

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