14 Months

Babies sure do seem to get big fast!  We've made it past the 14 month mark and we're having a blast.  The honest truth for me is that I think this is my favorite age so far.  Yes, she's completely mobile, but she's also just bursting with words and beginning to really tell us who she is.  While she makes me crazy (and how could she not, reflecting back some of my own personality issues...) I just love the fact that she is beginning to tell us what she wants, what she likes, what she doesn't like.  And mobility brings more options for fun outings. 

We've done so many things this month!  If there is one thing Ms. Baby likes to do, it's explore new places.  So these pictures are a testimony to her explorations and her new-found toddler-ness.

What could be better than a day by the beach?  This is probably the last time we'll get use of of this swimsuit and it's the first time we have gotten her to play in water that is not a pool.  Lake Michigan wasn't really warm enough for her to splash around in, but she had a great time moving water around with the sand toys my mom bought for her.  And these pictures made me realize what a leggy baby she is.  She's a decent height for her age, but I think it is all in her legs!
There's not much better than going to the zoo and getting a birds' eye view of the surroundings from your daddy's shoulders.    Z was particularly interested in the monkeys and the birds (she loves birds) but running around in a big open space and getting treated to ice cream ranked pretty high with her too. 

One of our local parks is Smith Park.  It's just south of a very nice coffee house (Star Cafe) and so Z and I start our Thursday mornings with a latte and a trip to the park.  In spite of my best efforts to keep her clean, her favorite place in the park, bar none, is the baseball diamond.  What is it about babies and dirt?  But she has such a good time, it's hard to take her away from it, even if she does end up practically needing a bath before naptime.

Another view from Smith Park, this time with one of her favorite toys: a shopping bag.  There is almost nothing she likes to do more right now than take things out of other things and then put them back in.  She also just loves bags (and handbags) of almost any kind and will walk all over the place carrying them (if anything will make you cringe and smile at the same time it's your baby walking around with the Coach purse that your husband bought you for Christmas).  This bag got a grand tour of the park before she decided to take a rest.

I think it's an understatement to say that she goes at things with gusto and is not the sort of kid who wants to sit quietly and watch the world go by.  She doesn't mind reading the occasional book, and her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, but it's clear that what really motivates her is finding new things (and people and dogs -- especially dogs) to interact with.  She's also proving to be quite the strong willed little creature who does *not* like to hear the word "no".  Grandma says that she's not so unlike her mother.  Apparently those genes will get you every time.

 More knitting in a bit... all my projects are in progress, but few have made enough progress to be interesting (and I still haven't found a shirt for Z to wear under the jumper so that we      can have a little photo shoot for that... soon!)  I'm plotting some new projects as well, since it has become painfully apparent that Ms. Z is now almost completely without warm snuggly handknits for the fall!

Simple Cotton Socks Finally Finished

Nothing like a 4 hour car ride to lull a toddler to sleep and to help Mama get some knitting finished up.  These socks are nothing complicated, but it's always nice to add a new pair of hand knit socks to the sock drawer.  I like to think that every pair I knit helps to increase the lifespan of every other pair in the drawer since I have more pairs to choose from. 

It's interesting to note that I am getting to the point where the handknit socks are beginning to outnumber the commercial socks in my drawer.  Except when it comes to cotton socks.  I really just haven't found enough cotton-based yarns that I like to knit with.  The cotton wool blends (I've tried some Meilenweit and Sockotta and Blue Moon yarn of this nature) end up being a little too stiff for pleasurable knitting and the cotton elastic ones tend to make me a little crazy when it comes to keeping them tensioned and preventing laddering.  The cotton elastic blends also seem like many of them are a bit thicker than standard sock yarn, making wearing them with lighter weight shoes a bit harder.   



This yarn from Greenwood Fiberworks comes just about as close as I've found to a yarn that I would knit with again.  If I had a wool sensitivity, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'd have a huge stash of the stuff.  It's thinner that the standard cotton-elastic blends (Cascade Fixation, Elann Esprit) and I always think it's a plus to be able to buy from a small dyer instead of a large corporation.  But, truth be told, while it's a lovely yarn that is well dyed and I very much like how it has a little bit of the self-striping action going on, I just don't think cotton yarns are going to end up being "my thing" when it comes to knitting socks. 

Now that these are complete (after more than a year) it's time for me to figure out what will be my next pair of simple stockinette socks.  With winter fast approaching, it may be time to make another pair for my public transportation-taking husband -- a man for whom the temperature of his feet really does determine his overall comfort level.  I've been accumulating a little stash of man-friendly STR for the occasion.  And even when it's almost solid or a very dark colorway, it's hard to complain about knitting with STR.  Especially when it's already met with man-foot approval for cold Chicago winters. 

Flattened Rogue

A Sweater Revisited

This little jacket never got a proper photo shoot when I completed it.  Ms. Z has gotten rather larger than when she first tried it on and when we were out to take in the Renegade it was pretty clear there would only be a few more wearings left since she's gotten so big.  So I made sure I got a few last pictures to celebrate the jacket and the baby who is well on her way to becoming a vibrant and vocal toddler.



Getting dressed before we headed out -- the sleeves aren't too long anymore!

Zebra Striper on the Board