Author: Marie Haigh

I started knitting 15 years ago right around the time of my marriage and the birth of my niece.

Card Frenzy to Hide the Shawl

Marie Haigh5 Comments

I finished all 50 of the birth announcement cards (to be sent out in January after Elly is born).

They are addressed and signed. All that needs to be added are stamps, the baby’s stats and a picture. A dear friend of mine had a great idea on how to include the stats: print them out 4 to a page and slide one into each card. It sounds so much easier than my original plan of hand-writing the info into each card.

Because I couldn’t stop there, I made more cards.

And then more cards

Until finally last night, I packed up all my card supplies and stashed them away. I think my favorite layout of the entire weekend can be seen in these 2 cards.

Now that I overwhelmed you with pictures of cards, perhaps you won’t bother to notice that the shawl doesn’t look any larger than the picture I took of it over a week ago.

That’s what happens when you rip out the entire last section. It was worth it though. The lace pattern had only shifted over two stitches, but it bothered me. This shawl is supposed to be an heirloom for Elizabeth – something she can wear on her wedding day. (Maybe I should have knit it in white.) I knew I wouldn’t be happy with her wearing a shawl that had an obvious-error-to-me in it. So, out it came.

This time not only did it knit up much faster, the lace pattern has no errors. What a relief.

This is a post from Knitted Gem’s blog, authored by Marie Haigh.

E is for Elizabeth

Marie Haigh6 Comments

I stumbled across this book, The Real Mother Goose ABCs, in the new bookstore that just opened up down the street from us.
Isn’t it perfect? I just had to buy it for our Elizabeth.

Lately, I have felt like I am dragging around a huge clock, listening to the seconds and minutes click by. Only 4 more months until Elly (our nickname for Elizabeth) is here and all my little projects have to be completed. Ack!
Sooo, I have been busy priming in the nursery and working diligently on the shawl.

Some progress has been made on the shawl.

It still looks like an oversized hat though. There are moments when I could kick myself for including such a detailed lace pattern. 

Progress has also been made in the nursery, but almost everything is white now and thus doesn’t make for good pictures.

In other news, one of my designs has been picked up by a magazine. It will be published in Spring of next year. Woo! Unfortunately I can’t give any more details, but I wanted to share my joy with you.

This is a post from Knitted Gem’s blog, authored by Marie Haigh.

Reality Hits Home

Marie Haigh7 Comments

I had assumed early on in pregnancy that my baggy t-shirts and elastic waistbands would last me through the first several months of pregnancy.  A month ago, Dan finally talked me into buying myself maternity pants. I bought 1 pair, since I was still convinced that I wouldn’t really need them until the last 2 – maybe 3 – months of the pregnancy.

OK. I admit it; I was wrong. Thankfully, my SIL had no such delusions. This weekend, she sent Dan home with 3 new maternity shirts, including the one I’m wearing above. Finally, I can stop trying to stuff myself into my old clothes and start embracing this new look of mine.

Though I did start on the pink dress for Elizabeth this weekend, I am nowhere near to finishing it. Instead, I opted to use my middle-of-the-night-snacking to knit her a bib.

Details
Pattern: Grandmother’s Favorite Baby Bib
Designer: Merin McManus Collins
Yarn: Lily’s Sugar n’ Cream in Peppermint, 100% cotton
Needles: Size 6 (I knit loose; you may want to go up to a size 8)

In my stash, I found the perfect button to use.

This is a post from Knitted Gem’s blog, authored by Marie Haigh. (Ensures that any scraper stealing content gives credit where credit is due. Trick learned from Joost de Valk).

Ultrasound Results

Marie Haigh16 Comments

We are the proud parents of a healthy, little baby made of sugar and spice and all things nice.


Can you see her little hand scratching the right side of her head? We thought it was so cute.

Yes, we’re having a GIRL! I can’t wait to sew her a little dress made from this gorgeous fabric.

 

Her name will be Elizabeth Conant Haigh.

Elizabeth was the middle name of my maternal grandmother. Truth be told, it is also the name of my favorite queen of England: Elizabeth I. Plus there are so many fun nicknames that one can come up with, such as Liz, Beth, Elly or Ella.

The name Conant was once a last name that can be traced back to the 1600s. Roger Conant arrived in Massachusetts on presumably the Ann ship and later founded the town Salem. When the last name was about to die out, a tradition was born that the father would pass the name down to his firstborn son in the form of a middle name who would then pass it down to his firstborn son. The tradition almost died during my generation since it was just my sister and I. I am resurrecting the tradition, but eliminating the male dominance. Henceforth, the middle name shall be passed down to the firstborn child.

Weekend of Cards, Knits and a Wedding

Marie Haigh7 Comments

My weekend started off with a crazy plan to make all 50+ of the birth announcements we will send out after the happy occasion. (Yes, I know that the event is still 5 months away, but I’m ever so slightly concerned about my energy level plummeting in another month or so. Best to take the bull by the horns whilst I still have the gumption).

I had picked up a packet of stencils from my favorite consignment store in town, Memories & More. From it I was able to make several different cards.

I made another batch of cards by cutting up some wrapping paper and pairing it with other simple supplies I had in my card drawer.

My favorite card from the entire day of card making was a baseball-themed card I made. The glove is from a button that I cut the back off of.

21 cards later, I finally packed up my supplies and took a well-earned break.

A well-earned break in my mind typically involves knitting of some sort. In this case, I completed 1 section of the Reverse Baseball Blanket. The right “eye” is done.

As a reward, I allowed myself to cast on for a new project. Due to my insomnia (this baby wakes me up nightly to eat and he’s not even born yet!), I finished the project in 1 day.
[Let me reiterate that we do not know the sex of the baby yet. It just seems more personal to refer to the baby as ‘he’ rather than ‘it’. Besides, Tamsie did mention to me that she had a feeling the baby was a boy. On Friday, we’ll find out for sure whether we’re having a boy or a girl, assuming the baby cooperates.]

Details
Pattern: Baseball Bat Dishcloth (Ravelry link)
Designer: Emily Jagos
Yarn: Lily’s Cream and Sugar in Red
Needle: Size 6
Alterations: Changed the border to Garter Stitch from the seed stitch. To ensure that the width of the border matched the height, I added 2 rows to the top and bottom borders.
On the bind-off row, I used EZ’s trick for a cleaner edge and purled all stitches.

In general, this was a fun and easy knit. The design is perfect for the nursery theme.

To top the weekend off right, Dan and I attended a wedding reception. The couple’s theme was Las Vegas, since that was where they tied the knot (and the reason for Dan’s absence during the brutal storm last week … see previous post).

The main course of the reception was a huge pig roast. Delicious!

Since the reception was held at Snipes in Morrisville, we decided to swing by the house where Dan’s mother and step-father used to live before they moved to Maine. During the drive through town, I complemented Dan on his good sense of direction for even after 8 years of absense, he knew exactly where to go. If it had been up to me, we would still be driving through the streets of Morrisville.

We were both shocked by the house’s appearance. It was red!

It used to be white.

Tomatoes and Lightning

Marie Haigh7 Comments

On Tuesday of last week, a major thunderstorm rolled through our area. The thunder claps that followed the huge bolts of lightning shook the whole house. Poor Jake spent the entire time laying underneath my feet.

We lost electricity several times, but each time it snapped back on. It seemed we had escaped the worst. When I started to turn lights and appliances back on, it became clear that not everything was still working.

As luck would have it, Dan was in Las Vegas attending a bachelor party and wedding. That left Jake and I to tackle the long list of broken items. You can just imagine how much help Jake was.

Both of the GSI outlets in the kitchen had been tripped. The less important one could be reset, but the one that the fridge was plugged into could not be. An industrial extension cord solved that little problem until the handyman could arrive the next morning to replace the outlet.

The home phones didn’t have a dial tone. Verizon had to come out and replace the wire that ran to the telephone pole. It had been fried. The tech was the first one to suggest that we might have been struck by lightning.

The exhaust fan in the kitchen died. We still haven’t come up with a plan to address that problem.

The cable modem, router and everything plugged into the router died. Since Dan is the official techie  in our house, the internet stayed down until his return.

Which left me with ample time to reap the benefits of my vegetable garden:

Tomatoes Galore!

The large tomatoes were cooked up into tomato juice (the ones that didn’t end up in my salad, that is).

The smaller Roma tomatoes were made up into a soup. Plus I still had extra to throw into a chili.

And more tomatoes are still coming off the vine every day. Oh, how I love this time of year.

Baby Notes:
I had my 19-week appointment yesterday. I have gained the appropriate weight and am right on target for belly growth.
The baby’s heartbeat was holding steady at 140.
But the big news is that I am scheduled to have an ultrasound done on Friday, Sept 4th. Hopefully, we’ll find out whether the baby is a he or a she.

Bibs for Baby

Marie Haigh7 Comments

I finished another project for the wee one.

5 reversible bibs to catch the spit-ups (or at least make a valiant effort to)

Details
Pattern: Baby Ella Bib
Designer: Romeo & Mae on Etsy formerly known as Lil Peas & Carrots
Alterations: I opted to use snaps instead of the Velcro. Plus, I took the extra time to slip-stitch the opening closed (the opening that was used to turn the bib right side out).
Fabrics: Mix of 100% cotton fabrics that were leftover from previous projects and denim from a pair of jeans that no longer fit

The reverse side of the bibs:

OK. Now that I’ve gotten my sewing fix, I’m going to stop procrastinating and go tackle the nursery. Honest!

Older and a little Bigger

Marie Haigh15 Comments

For my birthday yesterday, I made myself a cherry pie.

It was delicious with perhaps the best pie crust I have ever made. Credit goes to my How to Cook Everything book.

But the real “To Me; From Me” present was a shirt I made.

Details
Pattern = Simplicity 5756
Alterations = Lined the bodice and skirt portions of the shirt since the main fabric is see-through (and nobody needs to see what color brazier I’m wearing or how cute my tummy looks), drew up the elastic tighter than instructed to hide the bra straps and opted to tie the bow in the front
Fabric = unknown material; it was brought back from India by my best friend
Lining = satin fabric
Time frame = 1 long weekend

Thankfully, there is room for growth in this shirt. I think I’m going to need it.

In Knitting, There are no Mistakes

Marie Haigh13 Comments

Long time readers may remember a pillow I knit last year while stuck in a car for 15 hours on a drive back from Talbott, TN.

There were so many things wrong with it. The most grievous error was my forgetting to insert a pillow form before seaming up all the sides. Even if that was overlooked, the knitted strips curled inward since I had knit them in stockinette stitch rather than a stitch that would lay flat. The strips did not alternate in color when woven together. The pillow required massive amounts of mattress-stitch seaming. It was so small that only a doll could realistically use it.

So, I scrapped the design, but I couldn’t let the idea go. I loved the way the knitted strips looked when woven together.

Four attempts later, I had finally resolved all those silly, little problems.

I am proud to present my latest two knitting patterns:

Woven Checkerboard Purse

Photography by The Unique Sheep

Woven Checkerboard Laptop Bag

Photography by The Unique Sheep

The patterns may be purchased through my Ravelry store or my website store.

They may also be purchased from The Unique Sheep along with the recommended yarn. Click on the following links to be taken directly to the pattern page(s): Woven Checkerboard Purse and the Woven Checkerboard Laptop Bag .

My advice to new knitting designers: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

From Generation to Generation

Marie Haigh10 Comments

My MIL sent me a wonderful package in the mail filled with hand-crocheted and hand-knit baby clothes.

What makes these clothes so special, outside of the obvious fact that they were made by hand, is that they were worn by Dan when he was a baby. Plus several of the items were made by Dan’s Great Aunt Kathleen, who is no longer with us.

Aunt Kathleen crocheted the cardigan with its matching bonnet, booties and mittens as well as the afghan.

My MIL had saved these clothes for years – waiting.

Receiving these clothes only punctuates the fact that I need to stop knitting for a while and get cracking on the nursery. For the meantime, I have added the clothes to the growing pile of baby goodies in the basement.

One of the items that has distracted me from the nursery is the shawl that I am knitting. I just graduated from 4 metal double pointed needles to an Addi Turbo needle. What an improvement! I should fly now.

Baby Notes:
I met with a midwife at The Birth Center yesterday for my 15-week appointment. I’m healthy. The baby is healthy.
The joy of the appointment was hearing the baby kick inside of me. It sounded like a whoosh on the fetal doppler. Hopefully, in a few weeks I’ll be able to feel the wee kicks.