Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Holiday & Knitting Update
Intrepid readers who have waited for my long coming new post, I am here at last. Sorry for being so haphazard about posting.
Christmas was very low key and nice. It was just our family at home, we normally host everyone, but pulled way back this year after being so sick. I was a reader at church for the Christmas Mass, and most of our day was spent with our church family.
After church we went to the NICU where Elijah was treated to deliver a couple loaves of bread and some boursin to the staff as a Christmas present. We figured they were sugared out, and would appreciate something savory. I made them pain au citron and pane all'olio. They seemed pleased.
It was funny, when they asked who we were there to see, we told them we came bearing gifts and the lady asked immediately if we were "graduates." I thought that was a little odd, but we figured that only those who have had to be in the NICU probably come with presents for the staff. I didn't have any handknits for the babies this year, because I just haven't gotten much done with my knitting since Amira was born, but I was glad to have something for the staff and visit with them. All the kids came in with us, and some of the nurses and one of the doctors who worked with Elijah were there. That was great for us, but also nice for them. They got to see Elijah run up and down the outer hall and dance around for them and wish them all a Merry Christmas. We imagine that it must be nice for them to see such a wonderful outcome from a difficult case, since so often they have tougher cases and lose babies or don't have them recover quite as easily or fully.
I became rather emotional seeing the staff who helped him, I just wanted to wrap my arms around them and thank them and sob, but I restrained myself. For one, I didn't want to freak them out, and for another, they'd have to scrub up again before going back in to the babies. I didn't think I would still get emotional visiting the NICU, but even the walk down the corridor to the entrance was quite a walk for me. We spent a lot of time talking about "do you remembers" as we made the walk. It has been a year since we were there to visit, two and a half years since we were there as patients.
Anyway, after we made our visit and drop off, we headed to our priest's home where we had a potluck Christmas feast and played games. Fun was had by all, and we stayed up too late, but made it home just fine and tumbled into bed. I normally decorate our tree Christmas Eve, but nothing was on it but the lights and I thought I might decorate after we returned home. Not this year. I was just too worn out and the next evening we were preparing for the kids' godparents to arrive and it didn't happen then, and then I was violently ill with some sort of stomach bug.
The godparents had great timing, though, they arrived just in time for me to be sick, and they took over the housework, cooking and care of the kids so I could ride it out. It turns out that one member of each family from our church gathering got sick at around the same time that early morning, and we all got over it quickly. It was good we had a week break from Home Group and Youth Group, as it gave us all a chance to recover and not pass it back to each other.
The godparents arrived with their son and one of his friends. We really enjoyed our time with them. They were a blessing to us, as well as just fun to be around. As an early anniversary gift our neighbors gave us the stay at their garden house. The godparents did an admirable job with the kids so we could have a nice, romantic night alone. We needed it and really appreciated it.
On New Year's, our actual anniversary, we had our priest's family, a friend of theirs, another couple who had gone to our church before and a friend and her son come over for food and more game playing. We played Taboo through the New Year, and when our priest said that it was about that time, we all did a super fast countdown from ten to one and went back to our game.
As for my knitting, I am not going to have an Epiphany present for Elijah. I am almost finished with the first sleeve and have the second, the sewing and the neckband to do still. As there are no major feasts really close and his birthday isn't until March 25, this will just be a late Christmas present.
I did finish the purse for our neighbor, but it has a great deal of bias in the fabric, and I cannot fathom how to correct it. I've worked with this yarn many times before without this being an issue, so this is a disappointment. I'm trying to think of it as a design feature, but it's not working. I may get a picture up so you can all mock the purse. It's really awful.
I also restarted the baby bonnet for our friends who are due in March. It is a lovely vintage lace Christening Cap, I'm using a yarn called Glimmer which is a fingering weight alpaca with a tiny bit of shimmer in it, polyester plastic looking strands. It is so soft and very pretty. It is also cream colored so can be passed down if they have a boy later. Even though it is a lace pattern in fingering yarn, it moves pretty quickly, as it is so small. I've done three out of ten pattern repeats for the edging around the face, and that took me about an hour and a half.
As for my Cross Your Heart, I am making steady progress on it, I'm almost finished with the front. I can't wait to get the sleeves started and finished, because I really want to have it ready for Valentine's Day. Actually, the way the weather has been around here, it would have been useful over the last couple days.
As always, I am behind in posting photos. I will get those up as soon as possible. My New Year's resolution is to post more frequently and get more knitting done.
Christmas was very low key and nice. It was just our family at home, we normally host everyone, but pulled way back this year after being so sick. I was a reader at church for the Christmas Mass, and most of our day was spent with our church family.
After church we went to the NICU where Elijah was treated to deliver a couple loaves of bread and some boursin to the staff as a Christmas present. We figured they were sugared out, and would appreciate something savory. I made them pain au citron and pane all'olio. They seemed pleased.
It was funny, when they asked who we were there to see, we told them we came bearing gifts and the lady asked immediately if we were "graduates." I thought that was a little odd, but we figured that only those who have had to be in the NICU probably come with presents for the staff. I didn't have any handknits for the babies this year, because I just haven't gotten much done with my knitting since Amira was born, but I was glad to have something for the staff and visit with them. All the kids came in with us, and some of the nurses and one of the doctors who worked with Elijah were there. That was great for us, but also nice for them. They got to see Elijah run up and down the outer hall and dance around for them and wish them all a Merry Christmas. We imagine that it must be nice for them to see such a wonderful outcome from a difficult case, since so often they have tougher cases and lose babies or don't have them recover quite as easily or fully.
I became rather emotional seeing the staff who helped him, I just wanted to wrap my arms around them and thank them and sob, but I restrained myself. For one, I didn't want to freak them out, and for another, they'd have to scrub up again before going back in to the babies. I didn't think I would still get emotional visiting the NICU, but even the walk down the corridor to the entrance was quite a walk for me. We spent a lot of time talking about "do you remembers" as we made the walk. It has been a year since we were there to visit, two and a half years since we were there as patients.
Anyway, after we made our visit and drop off, we headed to our priest's home where we had a potluck Christmas feast and played games. Fun was had by all, and we stayed up too late, but made it home just fine and tumbled into bed. I normally decorate our tree Christmas Eve, but nothing was on it but the lights and I thought I might decorate after we returned home. Not this year. I was just too worn out and the next evening we were preparing for the kids' godparents to arrive and it didn't happen then, and then I was violently ill with some sort of stomach bug.
The godparents had great timing, though, they arrived just in time for me to be sick, and they took over the housework, cooking and care of the kids so I could ride it out. It turns out that one member of each family from our church gathering got sick at around the same time that early morning, and we all got over it quickly. It was good we had a week break from Home Group and Youth Group, as it gave us all a chance to recover and not pass it back to each other.
The godparents arrived with their son and one of his friends. We really enjoyed our time with them. They were a blessing to us, as well as just fun to be around. As an early anniversary gift our neighbors gave us the stay at their garden house. The godparents did an admirable job with the kids so we could have a nice, romantic night alone. We needed it and really appreciated it.
On New Year's, our actual anniversary, we had our priest's family, a friend of theirs, another couple who had gone to our church before and a friend and her son come over for food and more game playing. We played Taboo through the New Year, and when our priest said that it was about that time, we all did a super fast countdown from ten to one and went back to our game.
As for my knitting, I am not going to have an Epiphany present for Elijah. I am almost finished with the first sleeve and have the second, the sewing and the neckband to do still. As there are no major feasts really close and his birthday isn't until March 25, this will just be a late Christmas present.
I did finish the purse for our neighbor, but it has a great deal of bias in the fabric, and I cannot fathom how to correct it. I've worked with this yarn many times before without this being an issue, so this is a disappointment. I'm trying to think of it as a design feature, but it's not working. I may get a picture up so you can all mock the purse. It's really awful.
I also restarted the baby bonnet for our friends who are due in March. It is a lovely vintage lace Christening Cap, I'm using a yarn called Glimmer which is a fingering weight alpaca with a tiny bit of shimmer in it, polyester plastic looking strands. It is so soft and very pretty. It is also cream colored so can be passed down if they have a boy later. Even though it is a lace pattern in fingering yarn, it moves pretty quickly, as it is so small. I've done three out of ten pattern repeats for the edging around the face, and that took me about an hour and a half.
As for my Cross Your Heart, I am making steady progress on it, I'm almost finished with the front. I can't wait to get the sleeves started and finished, because I really want to have it ready for Valentine's Day. Actually, the way the weather has been around here, it would have been useful over the last couple days.
As always, I am behind in posting photos. I will get those up as soon as possible. My New Year's resolution is to post more frequently and get more knitting done.
