And 2 years later here I am... still knitting...

First I have to apologize for the long absence. A ton of stuff has happened in the last two years. First of all I have a new name. Mr. Nathan and I got married February 16, 2013 in Eureka Springs AK. So my new Raverly name is TwistedFish. In honor of my new last name. Also something totally amazing, thought to be impossible, utterly unbelievable has happened! At 39 years old I had a baby boy! I have always been told I wouldn't have children. My 18 year old son was adopted and life just happened. After Nathan and I got married, we purchased a cabin at the Lake of the Ozarks in Warsaw Missouri. And after a romantic weekend trip we turned up pregnant. Garrett Adam Fish was born September 21st 2014 a few weeks early weighing 3 pounds 14 ounces and 17 1/4 inches long. Tiny but healthy. (Thank you Heavenly Father)
I have knitted so many things in the last 2 years. I have to admit I haven't been good at documentation. I have knitted beanies for the boys. Rugs for that bathroom, socks, dish cloths, wash cloths, scarves, baby blankets, hats, booties, sweaters. At one point I started a knitting group. I had two people show up and after the first meeting the group dissipated. I was offered a teaching position at the local carer center. We set up a class schedule and promoted the class and only three people signed up... so they canceled the class.
But have faith my people.. you can't keep this knitter down. I've been talking with some very important powers that be and trying to have them open a LYS. If all goes well I will be able to feed my yarn addiction in person instead of via the snail mail or box store. I don't live close to a HL store. But I did manage to make a trip to one and check out the yarn section. I have to say that I am impressed with the Yarn Bee and I Love this Yarn brand. They have expanded and I have to give it up to them on the selection. But the one thing a box store like HL doesn't have that a LYS does... Personality and knowledge.
Enough about that.. Lets talk about my little baby boy Garrett! OMG! I have had some fun knitting for him. When I was first pregnant I for certain knew I was going to have a girl. I knitted socks, hats, booties, baby blankets all in pink. At week 20 I got the news that I need to change yarn from pink to blue. I couldn't do it. For some reason I was so disappointed I couldn't stand it. I looked at pattern after pattern and nothing stood out to me. Nothing called for my needles to get to work. I finally found a baby blanket pattern that I have made several times and enjoy making. I decided to make it in cream and camo. It turned out pretty darn good. Then (something I never knew) happened. For the first time in my life I had pain in my wrists and hands. I was super distraught. I could figure out why I was waking at night with the most horrible pain! Oh Lord please let me knit again! was the mantra in my head. I found out for the doctors I had pregnancy induced carpal tunnel! I still had three months of pregnancy and they told me it would take another three months after baby to get back to normal. I was so heartbroken. I couldn't imagine not knitting for 6 months! I hit the YouTube and searched for different things to try and do. I ended up making jewerly out of paper beads made out of magazines. I learned how to weave baskets out of rolled up tubes of newspaper. I even... dare I say... picked up a crochet hook and made Garrett and baby blanket with it... (those of you know I have horrible tension with crochet, I tend to shy away from a hook like it is the plague.) But I did it! Thankfully a few days after being home the swelling was down and I was able to knit again. (okay everyone take a deep breath, and know this, I didn't kill anyone! Although I did come close to it a few times.)

Here are a few projects I did manage to photograph:
Garrett's XO Hat:

This is the first hat I made when I found out he was going to be a Boy and not a girl. I had already made a pink hat and booties out of this pattern. I was told by everyone that this hat would be way to small. I was teased about not knowing the size of a babies head... yada yada yada. Well Baby G was 6 weeks early and a very tiny preemie. So the fat was actually to big for him.

Garrett's two day Hat:

This is the first thing I knitted after my wrist got back to normal. I made this hat in two days. The nurses at the hospital seemed very impressed. This was made for left over sock yarn!

Camo Hat and Booties for a Preemie:

The best thing about a Preemie... you can knit up something very quickly. But the down side... they grow out of it very quickly.
I personally thing that if you ever feel the need to use up left over project yarn. Make something for a preemie and donate to your local NICU. Those nurse are always on the look out for warm items for the babies. Preemies need help keeping their body temperature up. If you buy commercial preemie items you are paying an arm and a leg for something they need for just a week or two.


Garrett's I got Wings Hat:

This was such a fun project. Garrett's father is 3/4 Swedish and has that Viking look. So we had to make Garrett a Viking Hat.

BTW: The blanket he is cuddled up with is also made by yours truly. It's the Camo and Cream patchwork blanket I made after the shock of having a boy wore off...