This Post is Brought to You By the Letter "D"

I am at a disadvantage.  Stormy says "da."  Yes, "da" not "ma."  It is how it goes with babies; they make "da" sounds first.  But then I got to thinking, Stormy's daddy is "Dada,"  his sister is "DeeDee" and his sitter is "Di."  I am the odd one out with "Ma."  I nurse him, wash his diapers and make his baby food.  I wake up with him at 2 am.  I knit him adorable hats (though he seems to hate hats) and sweaters.  I love him with my whole heart, but the "Ds" have it.  But I know, one day soon he will say "mamamama" and then he won't stop saying it.  

We in Central Illinois are on another snow day. We got about 5 inches of snow over night.  That is in addition to the 6-7" we got over the weekend.  This winter is the snowiest and coldest in recent memory, but I love snow.  Something about the pure whiteness is so beautiful.  And like knitting and so many other things in life, snow is a reminder that tiny little things do add up over time and can make a big difference. I also like that I work at a community college that has snow days. 

This makes 4 snow days in 2014.  This however might be the first snow day I enjoy this year.  I am using the term "enjoy" loosely here because my plans are to clean the house and get organized.  I have tons of laundry to do as well.  Then, I want to organize my knitting stash and take pictures of all the amazing things I made in January.  I was a knitting machine in January and blogged nothing.  I either have time to do stuff or write about doing stuff most days so I choose doing stuff.

How do you spend your snow days?

Once I get things organized I am going to work on getting a little someone to go "ma."

The Cute Things in Life

I make cute things. It is the truth.  Cute things are made by me; it is an undeniable fact.

And when those cute things combine you get this:

And you thought I was lying. Cute kid, cute hat.  It makes life good.

I bought this yarn to make Stormy a hat when I was pregnant.  I am so glad I finally got around to making it.  I used KnitCol yarn and the pattern Basic Baby Hat. I really love a basic beanie and I hope to be able to make the next sizes up for little Stormy as he needs them. 

I have never used self-patterning yarn like this before.  I am not sure why I haven't, but this will certainty not be the last time.  The results make it look like I put in much more effort than I really did. I am all for making things look complicated when they are not.  It makes me look like a better knitter. Beginner knitters, this is my tip for you, let the yarn do the work.  Buy pretty yarn and everything you make will look amazing.  Tip for parents, your kid will look cute in just about anything (Stormy would be cute wearing a sack), but they will look especially cute in things handmade with love. There are a lot of babies being born into my life right now and they should all be expecting cute little hats for Christmas next year.

It is the first day of winter and we have a winter storm advisory in Central Illinois.  We should be getting an ice storm right now, but currently it is just overcast (thankfully!).  Tomorrow we should get snow, and even more snow in Iowa at my parent's house (Yay for sledding!).  On Monday, we will see negative temperatures (Boo for sledding). On days like this and coming this week, it is nice to have a warm, wool hat and now every person in my family has one handmade by me.

How are you braving the winter?