Baby Blanket Finished!

Realizing that once my baby gets here, I'd have little time to sleep, much less knit, I have been powering though knitting the baby blanket I had in the works for the last month. The design name is Sunny Cables and Crowns. If you're on Ravelry, which every knitter is nowadays, you can find out more about it.



It's a beautiful finished work, sunny and bright and cotton-y for a nice summer baby. I think it might be a little bit heavy, but I asked for it when I decided to knit with cotton, even soft organic cotton such as Blue Sky Dyed Cotton. For those of you who are curious, I used the Lemonade colourway which is bright yellow, a shade more saturated in color than my living room walls. If I ever chose to knit this blanket again, which I might or might not do, I'd probably pick a smoother washable wool (or wool mixture) yarn. While I love the finished work, and the pattern is very visible, obviously, I think a smoother yarn would have benefited the pattern. The close-up is almost unrecognizable as a cable and fan pattern. I used seven or eight skeins, I can't remember which, and I have a single skein leftover now, which my husband desperately wants to wind into a center pull ball. I have no idea what I plan to do with one skein of bright yellow organic cotton yarn. Sophy has a cute tassled hat pattern which uses one skein of this very yarn, but I don't think I know ANYONE who would wear a bright yellow hat. Perhaps I could make her hat pattern slightly smaller and give it to one of my beloved nieces. Anyone else have any recommendations on what to do with one skein of Blue Sky Dyed Organic Cotton yarn?

Speaking of Sophy, she has been knitting a ton of baby socks recently which have been adorable. The pattern is from Interweave Knits and is totally free (so long as you register at their site). Knowing that I'd be finishing my blanket in a day or two, yesterday, I cast on for the baby socks so that I'd be prepped with a new knitting project when I was finished the blanket. I know I shouldn't overlap projects like that, and clearly the knitting gods knew it too, because my cast-on and join went perfectly so long as you ignore the fact that I wrapped my working yarn around the needles twice and now the whole thing is a mess when I attempt to knit. I am clearly going to have to pull my one and a half rows off the needles so that I can re-cast on. This is depressing to me, but I have nothing but time as I wait for this baby to decide labor is a GO. Also, I've discovered the world of knitting podcasts, and now, while my husband sleeps, I can sit in bed next to him knitting. This was sort of obnoxious as I was finishing the baby blanket, as I had to keep moving the heavy nearly finished blanket around, but it should be fun now that I'm working on the socks.

The Podcasts I like best so far, for all you people who are curious about this type of thing, are Knit Picks and PixiePurls. Pixie Purls is a lot like me in many ways, so listening to her cheery voice talk about things I'm interested in and agree with is wonderful, but she does appear to have stopped the podcasts since the birth of her daughter. I've also been listening to LimenViolet which I find interesting but not exceptional. Christy has also recommended Lion Brand's podcast, but I have yet to give that a try, so I can't tell you whether it's good or not. I'm sure I'll be listening to it soon, however.

Lastly, I thought you might be curious, but I have OTHER craft hobbies. Or one, at least. I have cross-stitching.



The picture above is of HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS of work on a pattern by Mirabilia. I started cross-stitching way before I knit, even, but cross-stitch is a slow and tedious craft. The results are often kitschy and countrified too, which I don't care for anymore. Mirabilia is one of the few exceptions to that, and they have incredibly elaborate patterns, but the more elaborate, the more time it takes to make. I've worked on the piece above, off and on, since I've been married (three and a half years now) and I still haven't even gotten to the main part of the work!

That's it for now. I'll have more information on how the socks are going in my next post, as well as give you some details on my one project at a time theory. That is -- if I haven't gone into labor!

Simply Sock Yarn package

Today, my mother came over and was gardening at my house, which she loves loves loves to do. She considers my lawn simply another place where she can plant more flowers than she knows what to do with. At one point, I was inside laying about, trying not to feel tired and sore (pregnancy, how glamorous you are) when I heard a knock at my front door. Assuming I had mistakenly locked my mom out of my house, I rushed up and opened the door only to see a different postman than normal with a package in his hand as well as all of my mail.

I immediately guessed what the package was, and after thanking my nice postman, I ripped into the box from Simply Sock Yarn. Inside were several goodies, but let's start with the Lantern Moon rosewood needles.

I have an obsession with pretty knitting needles. When I first started out knitting, I had a ton of cheap-o metal needles, which are great for learning how to knit, but then I slowly started buying more and more fancy needles, including a ton of bamboo needles as well as several sets of Addi Turbos. (In fact, I refuse to buy any circulars besides Addi Turbos currently due to my horrible luck with circulars that have split at the join.) My ultimate luxury in knitting needle, however, is Lantern Moon's ebony or rosewood needles. If I could knit ONLY with them, I would. I hadn't known until I first hit Simply Sock Yarn's website that they even had tiny DPNs, but when I learnt that, an incredible desire for them formed. I decided to buy them as soon as humanly possible. Of course, after I ordered them, I found that Lantern Moon makes specific sock DPNs which I now desire.

My second purchase was two skeins of Lorna's Laces Semi-solid (or whatever it is) Shepherd Sock yarn. I plan to make my friend (and boss) Helen a pair of knee high socks. If I can find the issue of Interweave which contains these socks, I'll purchase the magazine (since it also contains the Montego Bay Scarf pattern which I've fallen for), otherwise, I'll simply buy the pattern when the time comes to knit this yarn.

I highly recommend Lorna's Laces yarn, by the way, if you're like me and you've accidentally felted more than one pair of hand knitted socks in the washer/dryer in the past. I've yet to felt any of the socks I've made with their yarn, and I've made plenty by this point!

My last purchase of the day was so gorgeous that I must put the picture in the dead center of this page.




It is Sleeping Dragon's sock yarn in Mossy Frog. This yarn is 100% wool, which I blanked on when I purchased it, but luckily it is superwash. I don't really like many of the Sleeping Dragon colorways I've found online, but I've been in a 'green' knitting mood lately, probably due to painting and decorating a full nursery in green, so I was enticed into this purchase!

If you love to knit socks, I highly recommend that you go visit the Simply Sock Yarn's blog to view their latest contest where you can possibly win some sock yarn! I had to enter, and you know what my favorite sock yarn is. I also recommend simply purchasing from Simply Sock Yarn! Unlike Knitting Garden (grumble, grumble) who held onto my money for MONTHS while I waited for some out-of-stock yarn, Simply Sock Yarn got me my yarn within two or three days. Mmm. Nothing like a quick fix of sock yarn. I wish they sold regular yarn too!

Visit to Yarnings

Decided to try and visit Yarnings today, since I'm feeling more into knitting and I love touching yarn. I went with a specific purpose in mind (sock yarn and, perhaps, Berroco Suede for Coachella.), and left with two skeins of sock yarn, several magazines, and some size 0 DPNs.

I was a bit disappointed because they did not have several skeins of Suede in the color I wanted, nor did they have Lorna's Laces yarn. I also totally forgot that I wanted to buy some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, which they did have!

So, here's some of the purchases I did make. I bought some knitting magazines. They had older Vogues for two bucks a piece. Since I want to expand my pattern library and at least one of the ones I picked up had a pattern in my Ravelry queue, I was happy to pick them up. I also picked up a Rowan magazine on the mistaken belief that I'll ever knit anything from one of them. I swear that I become beguiled by Rowan yarn and their pictures and then the next thing I know, I'm purchasing magazines I don't need and will NEVER knit anything from. I did ALMOST buy some Rowan tweed since I love all tweedy yarns, but I hate to buy yarn without a specific project at least in mind.



I fondled some Kollage yarn made of milk fibers that was called Creamy. I wasn't going to buy any (again, no project), then I remembered those adorable little baby booties that Sophy has been whipping up. Next thing you know, a small skein of the yarn is going to the front of the store, along with some bamboo size 0 DPNs. Why I'm buying the DPNs is beyond me since I've repeatedly said to myself that I'd prefer to either metal or Lantern Moon needles, but I buy them just in case I want to start knitting tonight!



Lastly, because I can't resist sock yarn, I picked up a beautiful greenish-blue skein of Koigu's KPPPM which I know knits up beautifully. I didn't need it, but it will look cute with some of my wintry shoes. I was so happy that I came home and put everything into Ravelry almost immediately, and then I went and bought more sock yarn at Simply Socks Yarn online store for Helen's socks.

things to do on a day 'off'

Started my official leave today, and it was odd. I woke up 'normal' time and puttered around the house for half an hour, staring at the cats, and psyching myself up to stop hurting and start going places. After a short delusional period, in which I considered just staying home and reading all day, I got up and went to the banks. Yes, plural. I had to deposit rent into the rental properties account, and baby shower money (thank you, family Oh) into the joint checking.

After doing this, I meandered over to Starbucks for an early early lunch. Well, it was early to me. To the rest of humanity it was nearing lunch time. After a few moments, I called my mother who had a short, terse conversation with me. It appears she's in a better mood about our last fight, but we're both still slightly upset, I would take it. I tried faking happiness during the call, but it didn't work well.

After that, it was time to get my eyebrows waxed! (I hope to look somewhat okay in photos with the baby.) I also made an appointment for a cut since the ends of my hair now look hideous. A short bit later, I was at the grocery store, buying Pledge and some ingredients for lasagna.

I came home, tired and achy. I spent about five minutes at home before I realized the gigantic package outside our house was Paul's birthday present and I had better get it inside and wrapped, which I did. I had BARELY enough paper, and it was pink paper, so now I have a gigantic present that's wrapped for the birthday of a ten year old girl. It does have cupcakes on it, though, which is a positive.

After doing this, I started to polish all the furniture in the house, as well as Windex several windows and glass panels in our house. I also swept up the nursery and despaired of it ever being fully completed. There is still a swing and bouncer to set up as well as several things to move to the attic. I can't do it alone, though, tomorrow I might try to tackle the bouncer. If I continue to wait for Paul, nothing will ever be completed. I might also move the carseat inset to the car. Why can't it be there? I might not, however, since Paul doesn't want it there.

After all this, I finally finished packing my labor bag. I finally said screw it to the birth plan. I know what my plan is -- give me drugs and lots of them. If I need a c-section urgently to prevent harm to my baby or I, please do it. That's my plan. Also, please bring me ice. I'm anemic and I need to chew on it or I'll die. (That last part might be a bit exaggerated, but all I can think of is ice-chewing nowadays. I watched Iron Chef tonight and watching someone poor ice all over some fish made me very hungry for ICE.)

I hung around a bit on IM in case my replacement needed help, but got no IMs, so I just bothered Paul and E a bit. Doing some review of my labor bag also brought me to mind that I had realized I needed a 'baby memory book'. I remembered seeing some at Michaels, or so I thought, so I decided on a trip there. I also decided to pick up some possible iron-ons (for onesies), a book on how to make cards, some edible glitter, and possibly some cotton for knitting dishclothes.

I got to Michaels, realized they didn't have baby memory books. Depressed, I went through the iron-on aisles and thought that iron-ons were much cooler when one knew the gender of one's baby. (A pink and black skull onesie is cute for a girl, but I'd prefer the gigantic cupcake for a boy.) Also, it's hard to put 'Daddy's girl' on a onesie if I don't know if I'm having a girl. The card making section had tons of materials for making cards, but not a single book or kit on how to make them. Considering my attempts on flying blindly into scrapbooking, I wisely backed off. By that time, I was too depressed to get any yarn or edible glitter, and I simply left.

I then decided I wanted Dairy Queen ice cream, only to drive past it and decide it was too expensive. That's my problem with life -- when I want to shop or eat by myself, everything is too expensive. I have a mental block on spending money in some weird way. I actually need Paul there to prod me into buying anything besides books.

After all this, I realized I was right next to Hallmark and I was able to buy Paul's birthday cards, which I promptly did. I considered the single gender-neutral baby memory book they had, and decided against it when I realized it called for a letter from the father to the baby. In ten years of being with him, I couldn't get Paul to write me a single love letter. I doubt he's writing to this baby.

Got home, and started the lasagna. It was a fairly easy recipe, but I decided to clean the kitchen after I was done and had it in the oven.

Sat down at the computer after, and felt like I had been lazy and gotten nothing done, which caused me to cry. I love pregnancy hormones. To summarize: I did a ton of stuff, felt lazy regardless, got a guilt trip about my mother, ached in my lower back for about 60% of the day, got two shots, cried, and planned for my outings tomorrow.

I am terrified of labor, and I still cannot wait for it. I'm going insane. I'm afraid that if left alone for two full weeks, I might decide to actually repaint some portion of the house with cheap-o paint because it will simply make me feel less lazy.

A Spam Machine

Apparently, Blogger had to review this blog to make sure that I was not a spam site. I wonder what happened in my first post to trigger this fear?

Anyway, I'm rushing along on my baby blanket. It is supposed to measure a good forty-six inches long, and I measured it today and found that I was already at 20 inches, which is nuts. I'm tempted to cast on for a nice soft hat now, but I must stay on target. The hat can be done after Kittle. The blanket must be finished prior to Kittle!

Damn you, Ravelry, for having so many people posting non-baby projects that are just gorgeous.

In other knitting news, I plan to hit some knitting stores in my area this upcoming week, and I want to buy some yarn for Helen's socks as well as buy some yarn for socks for the baby and myself. Perhaps I'll buy some knitting magazines as well.

Failed Blogger

I'm a multiple time failed blogger, but the only time that I was even remotely successful was when I was blogging about knitting. So, why did I stop last time? After years of some interesting projects such as three baby blankets, three tops, and about fifteen pairs of socks, I decided I would knit my husband a Harry Potter scarf and do NOTHING ELSE. I eventually stopped knitting. I stopped blogging. I started to draw and cross-stitch and do other artsy things. Mostly I just sat on the internet.

After a bit of light prompting on my husband's part, I finally finished the scarf, and I was pretty proud of it, but reluctant to move to anything else. Then, two of my good friends decided they were going to have a child, so I started knitting them a baby blanket. As anyone who has ever knit a blanket knows, it can take a good long while, so I hunkered down on that.

By this time, I was almost over knitting. Then, I found out I was going to have a baby! I knew I had to knit just a few things for my own baby, including its own blanket and hat, and maybe a small wee sweater or socks. I finished the baby blanket for my friends Paula and Tom and ordered the yarn for a hat for my own baby. I told my boss, Helen, that I'd teach her how to knit, and I gave her one of my knitting books and some beautiful Cascade Pastaza yarn and some nice bamboo needles.

Bad luck struck at this point for me, I got a blood clot, and a nasty one and ended up in the hospital for several days. Bored, angry, tired of playing Tetris on the DS, I told Paul to bring me the yarn for a second sock I had never finished as well as my needles. Over a year earlier, I had made the first sock in a ribbing that I ended up hating beyond all belief, and I had refused to start a second sock pair without finishing this pair. The small, light project was the perfect thing for laying around drugged up in a hospital bed. I finished the second sock in two or three days. By the time I got home, I was in fine knitting form. My yarn had come for my baby's hat and it turns out my knitting magazines were easy light reading for the bathtub (where I spent most of my time), and knitting was a nice activity to do as it allowed for me to fall asleep into a drugged haze easily. I could knit in bed or on the couch. Since I could read my stitches easily, I never got lost on where I was.

By the time I had finished my baby's hat (or nearly finished it depending on my baby's eventual gender), I had ordered the basic yarn for my baby's blanket and started knitting that. By this time, I had gone back to work (while on blood thinners) and found out about something called Ravelry. I applied to join Ravelry and forgot about it. Then Bryan sent me a link to his friend Sophie's Knitting Blog where she had beautiful work, and the next thing you know, I was writing to her about her blog and listening to her discuss Ravelry.

I joined Ravelry a few days later, and then rapidly became OBSESSED with it. If you see this and you want to see my projects, I'm Septy on there.

would you rather...

I'm sure many of you have played the game, "Would you rather..." or "This or That" where you describe two horrible or great occurrences, and you're forced to choose between the two.

Here is my own pregnancy's version of "Would you rather..."

Would you rather...

"Sleep on your left side or right side."

As some of you might not know, I had a blood clot strike my thigh during my 24th week of pregnancy. This blood clot was large, dangerous, and I'm now on blood thinners shots twice a day. My doctor has advised me that sleeping on my left side is the best option for my baby. My surgeon has advised me that sleeping on my right side takes the baby's weight off my vein and allows the blood to flow more easily back to my heart.

This is a hard one. I mean, I don't want this baby to die after I've put this much work into it, so it seems like sleeping on my left side would be the sensible thing to do. I like my baby after all. He or she is already, obviously, going to be the cutest baby on Earth. (Also? Good news! It's probably smart. Genetics say if both parents have fairly high IQs, it has a good 85% or so chance of inheriting instead of turning out to be dumb. Unfortunately, the few sips of wine I've taken during pregnancy might have counteracted Paul's natural ability with math and science.) Shouldn't I make sure it gets here?

However, on the other hand, I'd like to live, and making sure the blood gets back to my heart seems like a fairly reasonable thing.

RESULT: A compromise. I often sleep on my left side, but in the middle of the night, I sometimes believe I can feel the blood flow having problems in my thigh, so I turn over to my right side. I hope the baby does okay, but I'll be pissed if I die.

"Take Lovenox or Heparin."

Well, Lovenox has one major disadvantage in the late game of pregnancy -- it takes 12 to 24 hours to wear off sufficiently for me to get an epidural. And if you think I'm going through labor without major drugs, you are crazy.

Heparin will allow me to get an epidural only 4 to 6 hours after my last shot, and can be reversed in case of emergency c-section needs. However, Heparin is now killing people.

RESULT: Heparin. I need drugs in case of vaginal labor or c-section. However, I'll be pissed if I die. (As above.)

"Give birth by C-section or vaginal birth."

Well, c-section has a lot of negatives. Okay, two negatives. One, it's a major surgery. Two, they cut open your body to pull the baby out, and you'll need stitches and recovery time for that. However, it only lasts about half an hour, and then you got a baby!

Vaginal birth is natural (but drugged for me) and easier on my body. Maybe. It might not be. It might take anywhere from an hour to 90 hours. Who is to say? It might result in 'tearing'. It might result in me having to have a c-section anyway. It might cause me incontinence later in life. It might cause me to get hemorrhoids. The baby's heart might have trouble with this option. They might have to frickin' vacuum the baby out of me.

RESULT: Since I can't actually keep the baby in me, and it's getting uncomfortable anyway, I'll go for vaginal birth if possible. However, that's just because I fear getting cut open. If I wasn't a wimp, I'd beg for a c-section.

"Get kicked or not get kicked."

I am getting kicked, prodded, pushed, and smacked about by the baby a lot nowadays. It's progressed way beyond the gentle flutters of week 20 when I was entranced with the fact that I had managed to create a life inside of me.

I'm now at the point where I've had enough. This child is STRONG. In fact, I told Paul that when this baby comes out of me, he's going to mock me because the baby won't punch that hard, but I swear, I see my stomach roll with its movements.

It has headbutted me in the ribs, kicked me in the bladder, and punched me in the lungs, I think. I will be happily playing computer, or reading a book, or driving, having forgotten the pain of pregnancy when Kittle gives me a 'gentle' reminder that he or she is still alive.

On one hand, I'm glad this occurs. I'm a natural worrier, and I'm always fearing that I've done my baby wrong by taking Percocet during my blood clot problem. (Seriously, I dreamt my baby had three eyes due to my screwy pregnancy behavior.) Feeling it kick and hiccup and move means it is still alive and probably doing well.

On the other hand, sometimes when it occurs, I wish that Kittle took longer naps so I could not be getting weird pains while I'm trying to buy a cup of hot chocolate.

RESULT: Kicks, but that doesn't make me happy.

"Prefer the baby to stay high or drop low."

Well, currently the baby is high, but it is supposed to 'drop' or 'lighten' within the next two weeks. What are the problems with the baby being high? I feel like I'm suffocating about twenty percent of the time. I literally feel like I can't breathe as the baby pushes against my lungs and I'm forced to sit and gasp for air like some sort of fish out of water. Also, I keep having to throw up late in the pregnancy as the baby sits in places that appear to block comfortable passage of food into my stomach. Which the baby is also trying to take the place of.

On the other hand, lightening is often described as feeling like 'a watermelon is sitting between your legs ready to come out' and increasing your bathroom needs from every two to three hours TO every half hour.

RESULT: High. Getting up to go to the bathroom every three hours already sucks. Getting up to go every half hour to hour might actually kill me.


"Boy or Girl."

Girls have way cuter clothes. WAY CUTER. Way more options for clothing as well. Go to your average Target or Babies'R'Us and compare the girls' clothing section to the boys'. Notice how the boys' section has about two racks of onesies while you can literally barely walk through the girls' section? That's because baby girls are cuter to dress. And you can put their hair into tiny pigtails or tiny barrettes.

On the other hand, at age thirteen, that girl is going to become snotty and fight with me all the time and tell me how much more she loves her daddy. A boy will most likely be mellow at that age, or at least quieter in his dislike for me.

RESULT: Healthy Baby. There's no winning with this one.

please stop showing me pregnanct bellies

Ugh. There is something wrong with the world. Every time I get some new piece of literature about babies from my health care provider, it shows me a picture of a pregnant belly. Why are you doing this, United Healthcare?

I hate seeing my own stomach, much less some other pregnant woman's stomach. Just show me pictures of babies so I can imagine how adorable my own baby will be, and that'll bring back the excitement levels.

In other news, I believe my back is actually giving out.

stupid things i've cut myself on

The title should be obvious, but to be clearer, I'm a clumsy moron who can't be trusted to hold basic household items without hurting myself. Here are dumbest things I've used to injure myself:

1. A butter knife, while used for its intended purpose of cutting butter: This is the harshest cut I've received in the stupid cuts department. I wacked into my forefinger good and bled like a stuck pig through three different bandages.

2. My new contact holder's tinfoil covering: I got my worst "papercut" ever from the tinfoil covering. I actually put off opening a new pair of contacts for three months after this cut, and I live in fear of new contact holders to this day.

3. Tag on the back of a new shirt: I simply slid my finger along the back of a new shirt and managed to cut it on the tag. I cut out the tag prior to wearing the shirt, but the shirt was really dead to me after that incident.

4. Blanket: My most recent injury is from an acrylic blanket I have. Paul and I had accidentally burnt a hole in it last year, and I was playing with the edge of that burnt part when I cut myself on it. I'm the only person I've ever heard of with a blanket cut.

weird facts about pregnancy

1. Kittle always flutters happily around when I look at kitten pictures or videos. No kicks or punches or anything, just happy fluttering.

2. I have to scrunch down when I blow my nose, or I get stomach cramps.

3. Kittle is 'viable'. Which is weird.