How about a crane for his Cheerios?

Well, another week, another cold. And this time, no one was spared! All 4 of us were sniffling, sneezing, coughing, whining and complaining all weekend long! Not. Fun. Luckily, we should all be breathing easier in a day or two and I an get back to the important task of figuring out the wings for my knitting tattoo (BTW, I will put up the pattern for you when it's all done, hopefully by next week)!


In the meantime, I thought I'd show you some pics of Julian modeling the Rowan Yorskshire Tweed Chunky yoked sweater (it's the copycat sweater from Ann Budd's 'Handy book of sweater patterns') I knit for him in the fall. I had put up the photos on Flickr but don't think I got to blogging them. So here goes...

I think it's my favourite sweater of all the special knits I made for my boys. I just love everything about it, including how it makes my Jujube look even more irresitable. Even when his goofy gene (inherited from his father, see proof here) is in full effect as it was during that photoshoot. Oh, how I love my boys. They always find a way to crack me up ;0)



Like the other day...Julian and I were talking about how Lolo's first birthday is coming up and how fun it would be for us to make something special for his birthday. I was thinking of something along the lines of maracas or a noisemaker that I could make and Julian could decorate. We've been going to The Music Class on Saturday mornings and Lolo sure loves those egg shakers so it seemed like a great idea to me. Though Julian had some other ideas...

After thinking it over for a minute at lunch on Saturday, it suddenly hit him! The perfect gift to make for his little brother: what about a crane for his Cheerios?

Well, Steve and I just about fell off our chairs laughing at that one. He also did the crane motion picking some Cheerios from Lolo's high chair as he said it. Of course, what better gift for a 1 year old! How can we have missed it ;0)

Any ideas on how we can make either?

PS - did you see how I snuck in those mittens? I made them for my sister this Christmas using the leftover yarn. Actually, I ran out of yarn for the second mitten so had to frog back the first and get creative with the stripes. Sooo something my grandma would have done and my sis loved them! It's really too bad that Rowan disocntinued that yarn...

Rocking mittens and a fishy miracle

First, the knitting: I am over the moon giddy in love with my new Herringbone Mittens. The pattern is from the delightful Elliphantom and these puppies are pure genius! I've never encountered this thumb construction before, but I have to tell you that these are the comfiest and most natural fitting mittens I've ever made. And I la-la-la-la-love them ;0)


I wasn't sure about the poms at first and wasn't going to make them until I came across the instruction to "respect the Pom" on the second page of the pattern. So I did! I used Kate Gilbert's pompom instructions (the pattern links to them) which were really straight forward and resulted in nice'n'easy fluffy pompoms.


Aren't they glorious? They're just so fun and retro and I know anyone who sees these will want me to knit them a pair so I'll have to be very careful about showing them to non-knitters. Who could resist? I sure couldn't ;0)

And now for the sad part of this post, Julian's beloved pet goldfish, Nanapopo died yesterday. She really fought it to the end though. After being dead dead on Sunday morning, she came back to life Saturday night and lived through until yesterday! No kidding!

Stephen was the first to notice that she was belly up and totally still in her aquarium on Saturday morning. It was really sad actually because we had just proclaimed that it was upside down day since we were going to give the kids a bath first thing in the morning and then would go for a drive to the city to have breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa and cousin Kristen who was in town visiting colleges.

Nana and Popo in their new digs on Julian's first birthday.

Popo died a few days later and Nana became Nanapopo ;0)

So when Julian saw Nanapopo in this state, he thought she was playing upside down day too. Heart-breaking, isn't it? Well Stephen and I didn't have they heart to explain what this meant to Julian so we went along with the upside-down day thing too, got ready and left for the day.

When we returned to Julian's room, at bedtime, Nanapopo was still floating belly up, but then I noticed that she was moving. We thought it must be the filter pushing her around, but it really looked like she was swimming upside down. We went to get a closer look and not only was she swimming, but her gills were moving as were her eyes and mouth! Freaky, eh?

We gave her some fresh water and food and she was feeding! Though still upside down. She lived through the night and all day Sunday though she couldn't seem to get herself right side up again. And then yesterday, she couldn't hold on anymore. And died. Again. We think.

Isn't that the most amazing thing you've ever heard? Now we need to figure out whether we should just replace her or tell Julian that she died? He's not quite 2 and a half. What do you think?

I'd love to get your advice ...

It's mitten time!

It's cold! Really cold! I'm talking raid- the- stash -for -mitten- yarn- and- cast- on- quick- cold! Presenting hot off the needles Squirrel & Oak mittens by the brilliant Adrian of Hello Yarn. I knit them using 2 balls of leftover Lett-Lopi in ash gray and brown heather and a US6/4.00mm circ for loopy magic.



They were a pure pleasure to knit. And quick too! I knit these in a day and a half - and I'm not talking exclusive knitting either. I'm talking nap time and every chance I get between nursing, feeding and changing Lolo and playing monkey gears with Jujube.


I think they are my favourite mittens ever and I'm almost sorry I already promised them to my husband. Almost! But the grin I got when he saw them for the first time made me feel really good about giving them away -- there were dimples and everything! I'm just happy they're going to warm up the hands of someone who can appreciate their wooly wonderfulness ;0)


I'd love to make a matching pair for Julian (how cute would that be?) though I'm not sure what kind of yarn would have the right gauge to resize these for a toddler. Would fingering yarn be thin enough? I have loads of Knit Picks Palette in the stash. Hmmmmm?! I'll have to investigate that later.



And now for something completely different: Peace, Baby!

Thank you so much to everyone who downloaded the pattern and contributed to Doctors Without Borders. We've raised $375 so far and I am feeling really good about that!


If you haven't done so yet, you can get the pattern from my new website at: http://www.jujubeandlolo.com/Patterns/PeaceBaby.php

Thanks for all the nice comments about the new site too. Dada and I worked on it after the kids were asleep almost every night for weeks since we've never done anything like it and there sure was a lot to learn. It was really fun to see Stephen put his technological prowess to quasi-fibery use turning my ideas into an actual site with pages and counters and everything (see what I mean about how he deserves the mittens)!

I'll keep you posted on future developments leading up to the launch of my first line of knitting patterns for wee ones this Spring, but if you want to be sure not to miss a thing, you can sign up for the Jujube & Lolo mailing list by entering your email address at the bottom of the home page at: www.JujubeandLolo.com.

Happy knitting!

A.