Finally some FOs...

With Dave home post birth, I have been able to get a few projects completed. Most have been accomplished while holding the baby, nursing or having the baby in the Moby wrap. The main projects were birthday gifts. The other two were based on found patterns and new ideas.

The first is a little shirt for my niece Kailana's 1st birthday. It is the Katja pattern from Knitty.com. It is the 12 month size knit with 2nd Time Around Cotton. I think it turned out cute. I wanted to sew some linen pants as a coordinate, but life got in the way.I found a cute hat pattern to use up some of my yarn stash. It is called the Amanda Hat. It was on Ravelry. I am loving that site right now. It is a great resource for knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, etc. I can search by pattern or yarn and see finished objects left and right. There are also forums to ask questions about anything fiber related. The hat is knit in Malabrigo worsted weight in the Brownberries colorway.When I bought the linen for Kai's pants that were never made, I saw some green and a cute print. I snatched them and turned them into an outfit for Aine. I used Simplicity 4206 for the shirt and pants. I kept fudging with the pattern, but it worked.


Realizing how cute Aine's outfit was, I decided to make one for the second birthday. It is for a friend who is turning four. I appliqued a 4 on the front (my sister's idea). I used some quilting cotton I had on hand. It is fraught with errors, but I did my best with a fussy babe in the wrap. He was tired of the sewing!
I hope everyone likes their gifts.

Ani Difranco & Birth

I came across a reference to this interview on a blog I read. The following excerpt sums up a lot of what I think about birth.

Ani Difranco -

I would definitely choose a homebirth again despite the fear mongering of this patriarchal society, which convinces women that they are incapable of having babies without the intervention of men and their machines. I look at societies where women are marginalized and oppressed their whole lives (even covered head to toe in tarps!) but are still in control of birthing practice, in a whole new way now. I mean, who is really more advanced? To take birthing out of women’s hands and deny us the continuum of eons of wisdom and experience is to eject us from the very seat of our power. I believe that women in hospitals are prevented from being able to have normal, healthy birthing experiences because of the intimidation of being on the clock, being pressured to take drugs to make it quicker, being inhibited in their movement and activities, and alienated by a sterile, fluorescent lit, feet-in-the-air type environment. You know the classic “performance anxiety” of not being able to pee or poo because somebody’s watching you? Multiply that by a million! A cervix is a sphincter after all! Then to add tragic insult to injury women are numbed through their great moment of revelation. I believe the act of giving birth to be the single most miraculous thing a human being can do and it is surely the moment when a lot of women finally understand the depth of their power and connection to all of nature. You think it can’t possibly be done, you think you can’t possibly take the pain, and then you do — and afterward you look at yourself in a whole new way. If you can do that, you can do anything. Check out the books on this subject by Ina May Gaskin. She’s one of my great heroes. [...] The memory of pain always recedes. The memory of triumph does not.