Yarn Along

I made really good progress on Xander's Hobby Horse this week. I have to finish the face and nose and then felt it and put it all together. I have a feeling that the putting it all together part is going to take longer than the knitting part! It's been a pretty quick knit so far. I goofed along the join for the heel flap so there are a couple little holes but they will be easily seamed up before I felt it and then you'll never even know! (except that now I've told you all, mmm.....). I need to figure out a better way to do stripes where I carry the yarn- lessons on color work desperately needed here! But since I realize that I will need to make a 2nd one of these for James too (otherwise there will be too much fighting to bear) I'll have a chance to fix all the mistakes that I made this time! I was at Webs last week and they had cascade yarn on sale so I got the yarn to make a horse for James too - plus a bunch of washable stuff to start working on Spud and Chloe at the farm. I believe that knitting the whole book may be in order! Besides I am working on losing weight so I a. want to be a better, faster knitter before I tackle really big projects and b. don't want to make a sweater for myself and then lose a bunch of weight!

Losing weight though has been a challenge for me. Since starting WW a month ago I have only lost 1.8lbs. It's a bit discouraging. I do really well for a few days and then I cave into food cravings and fall back into bad eating habits so it's a constant roller coaster of good and bad days. I'm hoping with the summer coming that we'll be spending lots of time outside enjoying the weather and being in the garden- if only it would stop raining! This Saturday we are going to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival. It's one of my favorite springtime activities and it's usually mother's day weekend, which I was working, so I was very glad to find out that it was later this year so that I can go too! We usually do a ton of walking while we are there so I can burn off some calories that way. We'll be taking our fleeces to be sent off for processing too so I guess I had better figure out what we are going to do with them! We plan on having them made into yarn but the question is should we add anything and/or what weight yarn to we want? mmm, decisions, decisions...

I did finish the blue hat to go with Xander's sweater and got some successful modeling pics- a miracle I know! The brim does not roll the way it is supposed to- I think my yarn was too soft for that- you need a stiffer yarn for it to roll really like it is supposed too BUT by not rolling I think it makes it slightly more boyish -especially in combination with the color. So If I can keep it on his head it should work well as a summer sun hat!

Reading-wise studying for the IBCLC continues. I felt pretty jazzed up after the conference I attended last week but I'm continue to have a hard time carving time out to study. Next week I am attending the NH Breastfeeding Task Force meeting and Linda Smith will be there presenting on her book so I want to get some more of that read before then. Mothering your Nursing Toddler is part studying part applicable to my own life. James is still nursing and it is uncharted water for me, him and Frank. James has been having quite a bit of trouble sleeping so I am hoping that maybe this book can help us work out how to keep him nursing but keep us all sleeping better. Too bad they don't have a fathering your nursing toddler b/c I think Frank could use some insights too. Xander weaned himself at 10 months so now we are facing with the dilemmas of do we want to wean, if so why, is he ready, am I ready, is it more harmful or more beneficial fro him to continue nursing, would weaning help with his sleep issues... etc, etc, etc... Basically I am enormously conflicted. I said my goal was to make it a year and now we are at 20 months and he is still going strong and nurses a lot! So should my goal be 2 years or do we impose artificial goals at all or just see where this leads... I don't know that I am up for weaning him. He already sleeps so poorly as it is and to have to deal with more sleepless nights during the weaning process might be more than I can bear right now, especially seeing as I am not sure weaning him will help him actually sleep better as some have suggested. I think we should just get a king size bed so we can all sleep comfortably together and sleeping problems solved! A girl can dream.....