Homemade Friday: A baby sweater, but first let me complain

I am grumpy today.  Like super grumpy.  Like I’ll bite your face off if you ask me what’s wrong because clearly you should already know that I am tired and sleep deprived and just all around IN A BAD MOOD.

I have no real reason for how I feel.  I mean, sure, I haven’t been sleeping well.  But that’s not anything all that new.  I’ve been working out like crazy, which is nice but also exhausting. 

Today has been a lesson in patience, however.  As in, I need to learn to have patience for other people even when I want to yell at them for not giving me back my debit card after they used it last and so I wasn’t able to buy all of the groceries we needed for the week because I only had a small amount of cash and the store I go to only takes cash or debit cards.  Because it really wasn’t his fault, Christopher.

Also, patience for the child who wakes up so early and comes downstairs to tell me that he has dry skin on his foot and needs lotion, which is really just an excuse to get out of bed because he knows he’s supposed to wait until his clock tells him it’s okay to get up because if he doesn’t use the clock he’s downstairs at 5:30 a.m. and that is TOO DAMN EARLY FOR ME TO HAVE TO BE A PARENT.

And patience for the other child who loudly tells me to do things for her instead of asking in a nice way like I’ve taught her.  Nope.  It’s “Mama!  Hold baby!  Mama!  Zip up my sleeping bag!  Mama! WAIT!”

And patience for myself when I forget to bring the proof of insurance into the clerk’s office to pay the car registration.  Or when I try unsuccessfully to shove a too-large package into the UPS drop-off box, almost locking up the whole thing.  And when I realize I have to go to the UPS store instead, saying screw it and eating lunch out with Adele even though it really isn’t in the budget and isn’t that healthy but it was right next to where we were and I was already exhausted and didn’t feel like making one more peanut butter and jelly sandwich on top of the homemade pizza I’m supposed to make for dinner because I make it every Friday because THAT’S WHAT I DO.

(Also patience for myself on account of how many ‘becauses’ I’ve used in this post already.)

But this is a Homemade Friday post and so far I’ve said nothing about the sweet little sweater I made for my friend, Jo Ellen.

Jo Ellen and I have been friends for many, many years.  I think I’ve told you about her somewhere but my computer is pretending that it’s on dial-up and moving at the speed of nothing so I’m going to forgo searching through the archives because I just spend 10 minutes attempting to find a post I thought I wrote about her first baby, only to discover that I started this blog after that baby was born.  Because I am good with dates.

So anyway, Jo Ellen and I became friends over a love of playing guitar and being hippies.  And it’s continued to this day.  I don’t play guitar so much anymore and she lives an hour away from me but I still feel like we’re a lot alike.  And whenever we do get together it feels like it used to, only better because we’re grown-ups and moms and married and totally not complaining about how awful our boyfriends are.  (Boys suck and I hate being a girl!) (That was our mantra for awhile.)

Jo Ellen has a sweet, adorable little girl named Elyse, who just turned 3.  Here’s a picture of her wearing the sweater I thought I’d already shown you:

It’s a February Baby Sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Without Tears. 

And here’s a picture of the two of us with our little babies:

I’m pretty sure Adele was trying to nurse here and was also pissed at me because I wasn’t letting her.  Also look at my sweet little baby!

Jo Ellen was due with her second little girl this month, and a bunch of friends planned a surprise baby shower where we all drove to her house, unbeknownst to her, to whisk her off to lunch.  We luckily made it in time.  Sweet little Sarah Jane (or Janey Bear, as I insist on calling her) was born only a week after our visit. 

Surprise baby brunch! 

The sweater I made for Sarah Jane was a lot like the one I made for Elyse.  It followed the same style as the February Baby Sweater, but  had a heart lace design on the body of the sweater.

I was rushed with this one because I was trying to finish some other things as well, so I didn’t have time to take it to my mom to sew the buttons on.  I had to do it myself, which means that they will probably have to be re-sewn.  But Jo Ellen’s mom is a seamstress so I have no doubt that she can find someone to fix it if needed! 

The sweater was bigger than I originally intended, but that just means that she can wear it longer, I guess.  I’m attempting to put a positive spin on it because it really irritated me when I realized what I had done.  I didn’t have any time to fix it.  As it was the sweater was damp from blocking when I gave it to Jo Ellen.  And I had to sew the buttons on during the hour long drive to the surprise shower.   That’s also where I t
ook these photos, which is why they’re a bit blurry.

Hello thighs.  Pull your skirt down, heathen.
(I probably should have cropped this.)

However, I think Jo Ellen was happy with it anyway, in spite of the dampness and possible button catastrophe. 

I haven’t been able to meet Little Janey Bear yet, but I greatly look forward to cuddling that sweet girl.  And giving her Mama a big hug.

(All this talk of babies and sweaters has put me in a decidedly better mood so thanks!)