Day 3: The leisure time of a SAHM

I'm still knitting my sweater compulsively during all my 'leisure time' walking Marlowe to sleep. Typically I can get her to sleep in about a half an hour in a sling at which point I can put her down in the bouncy chair to continue sleeping and then I put my power pants on and go to town on the yarn.


On Wednesdays we go to the local Early Years Centre for a play date with a couple of Fenner's neighborhood friends. It's a great place to go for coffee someone else makes, snacks and
playtime. Especially on rainy days.

I don't know if other provinces have this program but basically the program is run out of public schools or libraries and offer resources for young mothers and children. It is a lifesaver in the middle of winter - toys, snacks, friends, adults, networking resources to help working mothers find childcare. Priceless.
Knitting can only be accomplished when Fenner is fed, watered, and entertaining herself. This cannot always be guarenteed so I have to make hay when I can. On Thursday and Friday she goes to daycare before and after school so if Marlowe is cooperating I have a chance.

Yesterday I proceeded to have my way with Shalom. It's going great - I expect to have a gauge, yarn or a tangle issue of some sort to occur at any moment.
Editor's Note: The term 'leisure time' used at the beginning of this post is used to describe the sense of luxury a working mother might feel at being accountable for an incredibly important and brief part of her families life together. Believe it or not. It is far more difficult and far more gratifying to take care of one's family than it is a client's report.

Day 2 Death toll: Zero.

Risking mockery on the schoolyard (literally) I knit all day. With Marlowe on my front and my knitting bag on my wrists, while dropping Fenner off and picking Fenner up. On my way to Stitch and Bitch, through a bottle of wine, a large poutine and on my way back home. I knit.

I am halfway through the yoke of my sweater. Did not get beat up in the school yard nor was I forced to bludgeon anyone. Both children and my partner in crime are alive and, to the best of my knowledge, most of my satellite relationships are intact.
This is satisfactory progress. I'd like to think I could be at the end of the yoke and be starting the short sleeves tomorrow but that is pretty aggressive.

Perhaps tomorrow we will return to our regularly scheduled programming of adorable babies and children, perhaps a cat shot.

National Sweater Knitting Month!

For the past year my knitting mojo has been on the slow and steady side. It's been tedious and uninspired. Non knitters might view the act of knitting as a whole in this way but that perception can only be from a place of little experience. I have found knitting to be a barometer for my focus and energy. It has been a pregnant and slow moving year for me.

Since having Marlowe I feel re-energized again. I need to do something extreme to reboot my knitting passion again. As such, I am attempting NaNoSweMo. In a moment of sheer insanity I was going to try NaNoWriMo but then I had to hold a baby for 5 hours. I can knit and carry a baby but I cannot string a coherant story together at the same time.

I needed something simple, warm and bulky to help me through this winter and thus I chose the Shalom Cardigan in Cascade Eco Wool. Lettuce Knit has a bunch of cardis in this style and I love the cosiness of them.

On Day 1 I picked up the yarn after dropping F off at school and cast on after dinner. By the end of Day 1 I had the first repeat of the pattern completed.
The morning of Day 1 was spent exploring a ravine park just 2 blocks east of our house. While going for a walk with Jason we went down some stairs by the side of the road and ended up in a huge ravine!
There was a small creek that Fenner thinks is perfect for fishing and I think is perfect for not drowning in. There is a forest! It's a low woodsy 'hike' to take energetic 4 year olds.

Easy access, low effort and high return on investment. Fenner was exhausted last night from climbing on logs and bridges.
No one has ever mentioned this place to me. Is it a secret? Is this how the sane seeming mothers on the street keep it together?

It is an amazing find - it will be great in the winter for Fenner to practice snowshoeing and exhausting play. Maybe it was the sun shining through the last of the fall leaves but it was a breathtaking find.