Easing myself in: comfort knitting

I didn’t really understand how much work looking after a baby would be. I secretly laughed at comments from friends about having no time to myself when the baby came. ‘No time to myself? I’ll be off work for an entire year!’ I thought. How wrong I was. To give those of you who don’t have children a measure of how much work it is, I will now tell you that my baby was 8 weeks old before I managed to knit a single stitch. 8 weeks without knitting, how did I cope? Well to be honest I didn’t even notice and that’s not just because the lack of sleep meant I barely noticed that I hadn’t brushed my hair, ironed my clothes or eaten my lunch. It is because I was mesmerised, obsessed and totally in love with my beautiful son. A day could easily go by in which all I had done is fed, cleaned, cuddled and looked in adoration at my baby. Eventually, however, I have slowly begun to be able to change a nappy in less than 30 minutes (without him taking out 3 outfits – mine included) and I gained back a few hours every day while he slept and during which I didn’t need to do housework and I knew I could knit again.

I’ve got a few projects on the go at the moment – something I hate. I’d much rather concentrate on one project at a time but the yarn keeps getting the better of me. But I needed something to ease myself back into knitting, a project which could be put down and picked up at the drop of a hat (or the wail of a baby) and luckily one just dropped into my lap (literally - I’ll fill you in on this in a later post). This project is very different to anything I’d normally knit but I love it. Big needles and bulky wool equal instant gratification.

I’ll post pictures of the finished item tomorrow. Yes tomorrow! To wean myself off spending any spare time staring at the baby monitor and waiting for a cry, I’m challenging myself to post every day until Easter… We’ll see if it works!

Anyway, I’ll finish with a picture of my baby. Isn’t he perfect?

Thanks for all the good wishes you sent to my little family.

10 comments:

Sarah said...

Wave for handsome Alexander

So lovely to see a post from you, have been hoping things have been wonderful for your little clan

That knitting looks luscious and perfect for a new Mama

TutleyMutley said...

I'm sooo glad you're enjoying your babymoon. It all flies past in no time at all, so cherish his babyhood while you can.

Seahorse said...

The love just shines through this post! :D

Whilst it's true that there's life after babies, you enjoy it for as long as you want to!

Brahdelt said...

The baby is cute! *^v^*
And your yarn looks very interesting, I cannot wait to see what's there on your big needles! ^^

Artis-Anne said...

Oh he is SO beautiful ; no wonder you adore him so :) Isn't he a wonderfull gift ?
Lovely to catch up with you again and glad that you are enjoying some knitting and getting some 'me' time :)
I'm with you re knitting more than one thing at a time ; I too hate it and have three on the go at the moment, not like me at all !!

Unknown said...

Great to hear from you! Sounds like you are being very focused on getting back "your" time...so important for new parents I think! He is adorable and I'm sure that your knitting is going to look great...maybe no lace knitting for a bit! Yes, you are right...I'm doing lots of crochet and knitting at the moment...trying to keep my hand from totally giving up on me!

Linda said...

He is very gorgeous! The chunky yarn looks lovely.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kendra, it's so good to see you back!

I have been checking your blog every few days since Alexander was born but I know that weeks can go by very quickly when you have a newborn baby and what a beatiful boy he is! Very cute indeed, I am not surprised you are so mad about him.

It's good to see you knitting too but I think you are right, you do need something easy to do, let's face it lace patterns will probably drive you mad very quickly!

KeanaLee said...

He's such a doll. Check jack out at
www.keanalee.typepad.com/jackmatthew
Too bad we werent' closer we could walk the babies to the park, knit & lunch. We'er only an ocean away.

Anonymous said...

He is just beautiful Kendra - and it sounds like you have the handle on motherhood - the utter exhaustion rewarded in full and beyond. I eventually got used to doing things in short bursts, but it took a while!! Babyhood flies by though - no two days are the same!