Enough Mens, time for some Manus

After spending 8 years doing theoretical astrodynamics (and the last four of those were applying theoretical math that nobody in the Eastern half of the US understands), I needed to spend some time doing something more practical and hands-on. I needed to construct things that could be touched and looked at. There was a brief period where Mira and I considered buying a broken house so that I could rebuild it, but that didn't end up working out. So instead, I had to make do with smaller projects.

Project 1: A hat for Jesse
Mira knits all the time, but I only knit occasionally. In early November, I decided that I wanted to knit a hat for Jesse. Mira had some yarn leftover from a sweater she had made for him, so I started a hat that would match the sweater. Then Mira went into labor. I spent a fair bit of time in the hospital working on the hat, and managed to finish it before we went home, so Jesse was able to wear a matching hat and sweater made by his parents when he left the hospital.

Working on Jesse's hat while holding Jesse in the hospital

The matching hat and sweater on Jesse at about 10 days old

New skills learned: knitting in the round, binding off for a hat

Project 2: Socks for Mira
I told Mira that for her birthday and Chanukah, I would knit her whatever she asked for. She asked for socks, picked out some yarn, and picked out a pattern. I have finished the first sock and I am about halfway down the ankle on the second sock. It turns out that socks have a lot of stitches and therefore take a long time to finish. And this yarn is fairly dark, so I can only work on these when the lighting is good. I don't have any pictures of these yet.

New skills learned: turning a heel with a heel flap, binding off a sock toe

Project 3: A hat for friends' child
Some friends were moving away this fall, and as a going away present, I made a hat for their daughter. This hat was double knit, which is a process of knitting that creates two layers of fabric simultaneously. For some reason people seem to think this is difficult (even Mira has never tried it), but really it just involves having more yarn tangled around your hands. I also designed the pattern. Did you know that every web site that lists hat sizes for toddlers has different numbers for how big their heads are? I kind of guessed what a good size would be based on the range of numbers I could find, put ribbing on the bottom in case it was too big and then made the hat taller in case it was too small (a double knit object is very stretchy, but stretching it in one direction makes it smaller in the other direction). She seems to like her hat, which is nice because two year olds are totally unpredictable and she could have just as easily decided she was unwilling to ever wear it.

One of the nice things about double knitting is that the hat is reversible. It really is like making two hats, but they are attached to each other.

New skills learned: double knitting, knitting pattern design

Project 4: Dresses for Mira

Nursing with the dress on.

Mira and I went to a Bar Mitzvah two weeks ago. Mira was having trouble deciding what she could wear that would be fancy enough while still allowing her to nurse Jesse. So we decided that we would make dresses that would be modified to allow nursing while wearing the dress. Mira helped with the first dress (the black and white one), but then realized that since she is a responsible adult and actually has a job (unlike me), she did not have time to work on sewing. So I finished the first dress and made the second one on my own. The dresses both came out very well and we expect Mira to wear them many more times. We will probably be making more clothing in the future. Sewing in zippers is not nearly as complicated as it seems to be when you read a written description of how to do it. Videos are much better. Also, French seams are awesome.

New skills learned: French seams, zipper installation, sewing in elastic bands, using fusible interfacing, modifying clothes for nursing, adjusting a dress pattern to fit a particular person

Project 5: New shirts for Mira
My sister made nursing turtlenecks for Mira. Winter is coming to an end. Mira needs summer nursing shirts. I will probably make them in May.

Project 6: New Bookcases
This one is still in the planning phase. We have about 800 books. Most of them are in four bookcases in our living room. Mira does not like these bookcases. I like carpentry. I have half-drafted plans for what I want in my head, and hope that I will actually build these bookcases some time this year. I am intending to put doors on the bookcases, so that the small toddler we will have next year can't pull all the books off the shelves. I am also thinking of mounting our television on a bookcase door and putting the TV related electronics (VCR and such) behind the television, with the cords nicely contained. And maybe I'll throw in a coat closet while I'm at it. This is still an imaginary bookcase, so it has all kinds of great features. We'll see what actually happens.