A New Sweater (for Milo)

Since we got home from the hospital, knitting has been about the last thing on my mind. I haven't picked up needles, looked at patterns or blogs, or thought that I could actually get my act together to make it to knit night. Milo is doing well, but we're on a rigorous feeding program to help him get back to his birth weight, which means that neither John nor I can be away for more than about 45 minutes. Today I walked to the corner -- about 20 yards -- and was too tired to make it any further. I'm recovering slowly from the C-section, and right now the hardest things are getting up the stairs, getting off the couch without using one of the arms, and not picking up the cats (or anything else except little Milo). My mom has been cooking, and my dad has been doing the dishes, which are two (of many) things that the doctors say I cannot do for another 5 weeks.

I should be back and knitting (and posting more regularly) soon, but until then, I may have to tide you over with photos...

Here's a sweater I finished on the 14th, just after we tried accupuncture and burning mugwort over my pinky toe to induce labor. The pattern is the Knitting Pure and Simple top-down raglan, and the only changes I made were the following: 2x2 ribbing on the sleeves, bottom, and collar (instead of 1x1), a crochet chain and zipper on the edge of the fronts (instead of a button band and buttons), and I made the collar twice as high and folded it over to make it stand up a little more. I'd never tried this pattern before, but feel like everyone else has, and I have to agree, it is just about the easiest sweater I've ever made, and there are endless variations I can see that would make it really fun to make over and over.



The burnt orange and green yarns are both Berocco Pure Merino, bought when Lint closed last summer, and it's become one of my favorites. The tan yarn is some leftover Ksar by Bouton D'Or, which is a little fuzzier than the others but mixes in just fine. I used a US 8 needle for everything but the ribbing, which was probably done on a US 6, but at this point, who remembers details like that? It's the 6 month size, so it should fit in a month or so.

And now, because I'm so totally smitten, here's some Milo for you.

Saturday, April 20. Day 4, at the Hospital.


Tuesday, April 22. Day 7, at home, in his moose onesie from Aunt Laura.