Emergency Sock Yarn to the rescue

First off, computer survived the fate of the power supply. Note to all of you out there; if your computer starts randomly rebooting and when you start poking at it, you notice that something feels really warm, don't do what I did the first time this happened a couple of years back; don't restart your system over and over trying to figure out where the harddrive error is occurring. If it's a random reboot, it's almost always a hardware problem; software problems tend to happen when you're doing the same thing.

Anyway, Staples came through for me. I called them Sunday morning to ask what power supplys they stock. The guy who answered the phone says "380, 430, 500." Those are wattages. I said "Antec?" (which is the brand I'm fond of). He says, "Uh- yeah." In his "as if there's another kind." voice. It was fantastic. I bought a bigger power supply than I did the last time I bought a power supply, because I am a novice in this world of computer building, and I consulted several friends who said that, while I don't run a system that technically *needs* 500 watts of power on a regular basis, I do run a system that consistently runs at the top end of it's load (I'm trying to use all the fun computer terms I've been learning with them so that then I hang out with them I fit it, this is like knitters who randomly drop the difference between Fair Isle and Norwegian stranding into conversation, don't mind me), so it's kind of like baking bread in a pan that's only just barely big enough. You're going to get some in the oven eventually. How this is a metaphor for blowing the fan on your power supply, I don't know. Let's just say it works.

Anyway.

New power supply. Computer is working well. Yay!

Now, Friday, before the world got all stupid, I had taken this picture:

This is a picture of every skein of Emergency Sock Yarn that I have gotten with all of my Socks That Rock kits over the past year and a half. It's cool stuff, just as soft and pretty and durable as their big skein cousins, but since I'm obsessive about having short legs on my socks, I never use up my whole skein of yarn, so I've never needed to break into my Emergency Yarn Stash. So they became a kind of artwork, decorating this really cool teapot that I got from a friend in California who I have since lost touch with.

Each little sock yarn came on a little key chain type holder, so that you could clip it wherever you personally might run into a need for Emergency yarn. I used it to hang off the lid of the teapot. I started with just one skein on there, and then hung another one off that same skein, again and again, for a year and a half. These are just dinky little key chain holder mabobs. I don't blame the original one for giving out.

I thought about just clicking a different key chain thingy on the teapot and going from there. But then the one skein where the dodad was shot would keep falling down. I thought of taking just that one teeny skein down, but that felt like cheating.

So I thought, and I thought, and then I thought ah-ha!


This is more-or-less the LisaKnits pattern for Baby's First Hat that was in the collection that Karin sent me last January when I had my wisdom teeth pulled. If I thought hard, i could probably tell you the progression of socks that rock colors, but I don't want to. I like the watercolor progression of the hat. I like that I have something to put on my little baby's head that was dyed with love and caring by some of the nicest women I've heard about.

Hooray.

Now, on the subject of nicest women I've heard about, I am still working away at the sweater from the Lisa Souza Sock! in Mulberry. This is the pattern I've been working on -- the small raglan cardigan at the bottom of the photo. I'm not showing you pictures because it still looks stupid due to the fact that the pattern wants me to knit each piece separately and then seam them all together, and I'm being stubborn. I hate seaming raglans. It could just be me, but it seems like it never ever works out right. The seams look messy and unpleasant, and I get all huffy, and that is not the experience I want with this sweater. So I'm knitting each piece up to where it says to start doing armhole shaping, and then I'm going to knit them all together in the round and work up to the neck. If it weren't for the lace pattern, I would be really obnoxious and reverse engineer the whole thing so that I was also knitting it from the neck down. So I'm not going to show this to you until I have gotten to the "in the round" part.

If you see a problem with this, please alert me quickly. I've thought that I should probably decrease an extra stitch on each front and two each on the sleeves and back to eliminate seaming stitches...anything else?

And finally, some of you have been diligently and desperately asking me for belly pictures as you've heard that there is a belly worth seeing now. There is, and I will, I promise. I'm not being self-conscious about my size (yet) but Robb is too busy with his digital life tonight to take a picture. Don't blame him, blame me, I didn't think of asking him until he was wrapped up in Heroic Shattered Halls. If you don't know what that means, thank your lucky stars. :)

Two last quick notes...one day back from vacation and I want to quit my job, plus I got word that my aunt is back in the hospital with pneumonia and a high fever that they just can't kick. They're not allowing visitors at this point, because she needs to rest too much. Prayers appreciated.

Much love.

update, and not about knitting

got home tonight and discovered that the fan in my computer's power supply has bricked. Thankfully, as far as I can tell, this *fantastic* event occurred without damaging anything else in the computer; when this thing goes fooey, it can blow your motherboard, processor, hard drive...it's not really an unexpected thing to have happen to my computers, I push them hard, but it's still frustrating to find out that your computer is unusable half an hour before Best Buy closes.

with luck, tomorrow, I will get a new power supply, and all will be beautiful and gorgeous in the world.

If luck is not with me, I'll be ordering one to arrive sometime next week.

Either way, I'll be fairly quiet until then, as I'll only get computer time when I can pry Robb free. hahahaha.

Anyway, I'm enjoying my vacation. I'll try and sneak on in the morning and at least give you a pic free update.

Much love.

Because every newborn needs a sweater that looks like my parents' retro 70s kitchen all knitted up.

So let's just get that out of the way right now, shall we?

I used up my skein of Rare Gems from the BMFA ladies to make a Babies and Bears sweaters for the new arrival in December. It's almost done; I think it needs rhinestone buttons, but i'm not quite sure where to acquire such things on the cheap, so it may have to wait a few weeks. Which is fine, because this is where my superstition exercises itself slightly; I won't really really really really finish any of the things that I'm making until Thanksgiving or so. I'll have a button sewing-on party.

It's a great way to procrastinate, don't you think?

The sweater came out a titch small, I think, but first babies run smallish in both my families and Robb's, so I'm hoping for the best.

I'm also starting in on what I hope will be the sweater to bring my little baby home in; I got seriously stressed about this for awhile -- it'll be December, this was an important decision! -- but I think I've made the right choice. The sweater itself will be a Peter Pan & Wendy design -- I'll scan the pattern in some day when there isn't crap on my scanner -- but what makes it really important is the yarn. I tore my house apart this past week trying to figure this one out, ten different kinds of strung out because I wanted something perfect for my wee one, but yarn buying is completely out of the question under the current budget restraints. I kept tearing apart the yarn shelves, and then putting them back together, and I kept moving the same skein over and over again, while lamenting the lack of a perfectly colored yarn, crafted with love and sincerity by a wonderful person.

And then I realized that the yarn in my hand was Mulberry colored Sock! by Lisa Souza.

And I felt something of an idiot.

The pattern calls for a DK weight yarn, and it took me a full four hours to get the gauge right. Sock! is a fairly, well, sockish yarn, and I thought I remembered hearing that if you doubled a fingering weight yarn, you get a Dk weight yarn. Apparently, I miss remembered, because I was getting a gauge I associate with worsted weights -- 5 stitches to the inch, when the pattern wanted 6. Single stranded, the gauge was perfect, but too loose and lacy for a winter sweater. Eventually, I doubled the yarn and went from the suggested 4mm needles down to 2.5mms. The yarn isn't quite as drapey as it might be, but it has a denseness and solidness that makes me happy. It feels like Lisa's caring made solid and put close to the skin of someone who'll feel it, if she doesn't mind me saying so. I'll post a picture when there's more to show than just an inch of garter and an inch of stockinette.

And then, finally, I have to brag. I'm having one of those "I have this and you don't" moments, even though it isn't charitable, but look look look what Ranee sent me for my little one-on-the-way!

Angora and cashmere, she said, just perfect for a baby born in the dead of winter.

Thank you thank you thank you, Ranee!

In other news, my aunt has relapsed again; bone marrow tests haven't come back yet, so we're not sure how bad it is this time, but with this particular disease, it just kinda keeps getting worse every time. More chemo, for sure. So far, she's staying just ahead of the science curve, though; each time they battle her back into remission, they say "if it comes back, there's nothing more we can do," but by the time it does, they've come up with something.

Here's hoping for another something.

Much love.

This post has sod all to do with knitting.

Just so we're clear from the forefront. I don't want to be blamed later.

Today, I got some of the most personally depressing news I've gotten in awhile. I was at work, and someone came in asking for Wood's Tea cds. For those of you not in the know, Wood's Tea Company is a folk band that started here in Vermont, and has been touring to an avid and rabid fan base for about half a million years. I first saw them in 1995 or so, with a boy I thought I loved. I've seen them three or four times since, hired them to play at Marlboro when I was Student Activities Director there. Robb fell in love with their music -- impressive for his 80s metal tastes -- and I always meant for us to go see them live, but it never worked out with his schedule or mine.

And then, today, a customer told me that Rusty, the co-founder of the band, had died of a heart attack at 56.

I've never had a personal conversation with Rusty, but I feel like my heart is breaking. I miss him, somehow, even though I only knew his music.

And I feel like someone is reminding to get my ass in gear and do what I want to do now, because maybe I don't have as long as I might think.

Much love.

I'm here, I'm alive, I'm sorry!

It's all okay, I promise! I've been hit by early exhaustion, heartburn, and uncontrollable emotions. That turns out to be the 1-2-3- punch that ko'd this kiddo into a brief retirement. But the ref only got to the two count, I kicked out of it, and I'm swaying a bit, but I'm back on my feet.

Sorry. Robb's been playing his WWE game a lot on the playstation lately.

Just about 24 weeks now, which means this crazy ride is almost halfway over. So far, being pregnant is rough on my system; by no means as bad as some of my friends have had it, but nothing as calm and easy as some other friends. Heartburn, back pain, swollen feet. At my doctor's appointment yesterday, there was some talk of limiting my hours if I don't recover some from being so damn tired.

Work is stressful and insane. Various situations have contrived to turn my boss into something of a lame duck president, which leaves me divided. I don't think he can salvage the situation he's created, which makes me feel a little bad for him, but he created the situation, so there's also an aspect of "Well, then, take your medicine." He's back from his little vacation on Thursday; I'm not looking forward to it. The only thing that makes me like him at all right now is that he acknowledged that I worked so insanely much overtime in the last three months that he's letting me take a week's vacation without pulling it from my vacation time, which means that I will still have vacation time to spend at the beginning of my maternity leave.

I've hardly been knitting. I seriously need to cast on for the last sleeve of the ladybug sweater, but all that stranding is daunting in my current state. I finished the pretty yellow-and-blue sweater but it's not quite as charming as I'd hoped. When I have a bit more of the financial resources, I'm going to go find adorable buttons, and that should cheer it up some as well. I might just cast on for the star sweater in navy and yellow and let that cheery color brighten me up as well. It's worth a shot, right?

Oh, and they took another look at the ultrasound yesterday (they couldn't get a clear view of the umbilical cord last time, and sometimes the abdominal wall doesn't seal properly, and you get bowel poking into the cord, wanted to make sure that wasn't happening) and the child was being less modest, so they took another look at the business end, and are pretty sure we're having a girl. I wrote that in white on white, so if you want to know, highlight the word. Otherwise, you can wait and be surprised at the end. :)

I'll try and actually start posting pictures and things and being interesting again. You'll know how it goes; perhaps you can let me know!

Much love.

There is a word.

I do not use it often.

I don't believe my friend J invented it, but I do know that I first heard it from him.

I don't use this word often, because it conveys such a depth of sarcastic hatred and complete defiance of authority that I would never want to cheapen this beautiful word by overusing it. By allowing it to apply to simple situations and regularly annoying people who would be sufficiently covered by "jerk" or "idiot" or one of the other, more common phrases circulating in the common slang.

But I use it today, to describe my boss.

Because my boss is, in fact, an asshat.

I'm trying to keep this from becoming a work-bitching blog, because those are boring, but I need to share just this one incident from today, because it was the first time I've actually been glad that I turned ratfink and told the DM about what's ACTUALLY going on in our store.

Today, Mr. Boss took one look at me and said, in a worried tone, "Are you okay?"

I thought, maybe I could be honest. "No, I'm not," I said.

"What's going on?" He asked, although he was pulling out his "sincere tone" and I should have known better than to answers:

"I'm exhausted. I'm tired out from all these 48 hour weeks, and I'm starting to be so tired that I'm worried about my health."

And his answer? Now, keep in mind, that this week, both my co-manager and I are scheduled for 45 hours, but thoroughly know that we'll need to put in almost 50 to even keep the store running at all, and he's grousing about being scheduled for 40, because his Friday isn't "really" a day off, since he has family stuff to do. His answer:

"Well, we don't really have 40 hour a week jobs, do we?"

Well, we don't, but you do. Asshat.

Anyway. Thank you for listening. Now, for pretty things.

First of all, my personal slice of heaven:


And second, the Minnowknits sweater in full progression.



I love the construction of this little guy. Knit the back, keep it on the needles, knit one front, three-needle-bind-off the shoulder. Knit the other front, repeat. Pick up stitches from one armhole to the other, knit down the sleeve. Cast off. This will leave me with two seams, and then just the collar to knit.

And, I think I'm going to buy the pattern for EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket when I get paid this week.

I love baby things.

Officially half way there.

Much love.

Done.

I declare myself done with being overheated, miserable, and bitchy due to my pregnant status plus above 80 temps. I understand that air conditioning turns me into a gigantic wuss because I stop coping with warmth. I don't care. I understand that it's bad for my allergies. I don't care.

Hear me?

I DON'T CARE.

Robb and I are off to attempt to find an air conditioner that will fit in our tiny windows.

Wish us luck, please.

I will write later, from a (I hope) much cooler home.

Two very quick notes:

One:

Watching a cat lick wasabi is hysterical.

Two:

Heartburn bites.

Green?

One of you left a comment yesterday, about a particular color. Now, I would certainly never want to suggest that I discriminate against colors, or that I dislike green-lovers. I mean, I understand about green. I know it's like that boy you loved in high school, and you paid off the girl sitting next to you forty bucks so that you could partner with him on the social studies project, because you were sure you'd invite him over, make him cookies, and then you'd make out all night. I get it. What you need to realize is that green is all slick and sexy looking, but it's always going to call you at the last minute and tell you that it has a big date with the head cheerleader for the homecoming game, and by the way, you'll let him copy the homework, right?

I don't want to hurt you, but I want you to understand the truth. A little hurt now is better than a lot later, right?

Green is not to be trusted.

In this form:

or this one:

green is okay.

In this form, green is always suspect.

I've been up to some non-green things lately.

That bit of yellow-and-blue will turn into this eventually. The beigey yellow is Jaeger Matchmaker DK, one of my favorite Merino yarns of all time, and the blue is Cashsoft DK left over from the Welcome Sweater that I still haven't remember to take a picture of. The pattern is cake, which is good, because my brain is mush.

So much so that I just realized that the picture above was taken with the knitting upside down. Doh!

Baby pictures:

a hand:

and a face:


I'm in love already.

And, we've decided. Kid wants to stay modest, fine. The Kid will be officially known as such until December, when we will find out boy or girl the old fashioned way.

Now, I'm all worn out from the heat, so I think I'm going to close my eyes awhile, and try for some rest.

just so you know

I'm okay. I'm exhausted and miserable for some hormonally based reason that I'm not understanding, but whatever. I'll have ultrasound pictures tomorrow, I'm too tired to fiddle with the scanner tonight.

Knitting a pretty little Minnowknits sweater (because I'm stubborn, the sweater was designed for cotton, and I'm knitting it out of Jaegerknits and DK wool -- just to be obnoxious.

Kid had its legs crossed, and its hand in the way, so no telling if it's a boy or a girl; the end decision by the Robb and myself was fine; if the kid wants to be a surprise, it can be a surprise.

Yellow and green (ew) it is. :)

Until tomorrow.

A superfast, non-spoiler review on HP7, and a shawl update

For a review, and at risk of losing my PG rating:

The book is fucking brilliant.

I hate ends of series. They never, ever end up right. The only one I've ever really, really liked was the last episode of Quantum Leap.

Until today.

Brilliant, I tell you!

And, the shawl for the wedding.

I finished casting off Saturday morning, and had no time to wetblock it. I was planning on steam blocking it, but I thought to myself...I could spend an hour sobbing over how it won't look the way I want it to, or I could relax, read my book, and then have a shower and go to the wedding.

So I did.

Robb has promised to take me out to dinner next week, when both of our lives calm down, and I will have the shawl blocked and wear it then.

If I can figure out where in this apartment to block it out. I actually miss the wall-to-wall carpeting; the padding was so convenient for sticking pins in.

Accepting blocking suggestions.

Harry Potter Fans.

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

The phone calls from my store about various crisis (crises? I can never tell) started around 10:30 yesterday morning, as I was driving all over town buying helium and food and prizes for raffles. The plumber came to fix something and (he denies it, of course) managed to shut off the filtered water for the whole cafe. One of my cafe staff who had been feeling sick all week but refusing to see a doctor chose today (yesterday) to lie and say that someone had said she could go home when she couldn't, leaving no one to cover breaks until 5pm.

At noon, someone was trying to get me to come to work. I lied, said I had too many errands to run. I'd worked three twelve hour days before yesterday, I agreed to come in at 4, I don't figure how I need to feel bad about this.

The party was insane. It was awesome. People were mostly friendly. I had one drunk from the Beerfest who eventually managed to sneak past me and got my boss so mad that he threated to call the police on him. I had one girl who got too warm and had a fainting spell into the arms of a certified First Responder (convenient, that). She's fine, don't worry. We tracked down her dad and called 911 at the same time. The EMT guys were pissed at how many people were in our store and I bet we'll hear from the fire marshall, but hey, it's not me who gets the fine.

We called people up in line in groups of 50, based on colors and letters written on their bracelets. I'd thought I'd be able to call which group when over the PA.

Nope.

After ten minutes of hearing people say "What?" I just gave in and started shouting.

Yup, I yell louder than our PA system. Yeah. I haven't actually tried talking yet, because ironically, I woke up before either of the people I live with. /shrug.

I got my book, read about three chapters last night before it was 4:30am, and I was very nearly unconscious. I didn't want to fall asleep and bend the pages, so I decided to drop off until now.

I have 2.5 garter stitch rows still to go on the shawl. And the bind off. And figure out some way to block it before 5pm tonight. I hope silk steams!

I am alive.

but Harry Potter releases on Friday, and I need that shawl for a wedding on Saturday. I have twenty-rows-and-change-plus-blocking to go. That doesn't sound like so much until you figure I have 300+ stitches on the needles now, and will have 700+ by the time I cast off.

I'll see you all next week. In the mean time, think good thoughts for me; there are some things at work that are not being done properly, and having done everything I could think of inside the store to try and make things better, I'm reaching outside the store for help. As I said to my mother, either things'll get better, or I'll get a hell of a lot of money out of the retribution lawsuit. Personally, I'm hoping for the former. I used to love my job.

Take care, and hug someone for me.

I love polite people

After the ridiculously rude day I had (no, I don't want to talk about it, thanks for asking), it was so nice to come home and find a very polite email from Cornelia Granger at Martingale, saying that they were aware of the issue I'd found, and where to find the corrections in the future. Here is the link, if you're working on the shawl.

Here's the pic:


Um, so the colors are now more visible, but the pattern isn't. shrug. It's pretty. I don't know how you garden people get such good pictures. Is it because of the late afternoon sun? Stupid job.

My life is dramatic today; I'm tired; I'll talk to you all more tomorrow.

Today is proof

That being pregnant has driven me completely batty. Off my rocker. Insane. Yes, you heard me.

This week, the cafe in the bookstore has FINALLY finished being remodelled, and, starting tomorrow, about eight of us in the store have to go through a week of training to be certified to work in the new cafe. It's a franchise thing, they make the rules, not us.

The training finishes Wednesday.

Do you know what book comes out on Friday?

Do you know who is in charge of running our release night party?

Yours truly.

I promised to be a slave to my boss for the entire week if he'd promise me that Saturday off so that I could go to a wedding about an hour south of us. Friends of Robb's, I've met them once, but still. It's a chance to dress up and feel good. And buy a new shirt.

So, do I use my common sense, realize that the week will be completely insane, and go out and buy something? Rather than become obsessed with a new project that will take up all my spare time this week?

Exactly whose blog do you think you're reading?

I couldn't help it. I lost control when I saw this. Robb and I had just gotten back from Essex, but I heaved myself back into the car and tore back through town to make it to the LYS before they closed. I got there with about ten minutes to spare, picked out my yarn (Blueberry Hill, and the only humiliating thing is that Kalen totally called it; I'm spending too much time there if they know what I'm going to chose before me) and headed home.

Lookee.

Don't even ask if I balled it up and started knitting. I have 11 days. Of course I did.

I took pictures of how it looked so far, but they came out horribly, so I'll take more tomorrow. There will be more lace to drape on the purple flowers outside that, as Alison points out, are trying so hard to be adorable.

Side note: I'm pretty sure I've found a relatively small error in the pattern; I've emailed Martingale about it, and I'll let you know what they say. I don't want to be a blabbermouth until then.

So, off to knit more rows (I'm currently on 15 out of 64). Cross your fingers for me, and know that I do my best knitting under stress. It's the blocking that tends to get me.

To wordpress, or not to wordpress

Debating, debating.

I could take my blog to wordpress. It's better than blogger, it's more reliable than blogger, I could actually learn CSS and make my blog look like I WANT it to look, instead of the pale imitation of how I want it to look that I'm managing with blogger. I've been doing this for a year, clearly I like it, clearly it makes me happy.

I could import my old entries from blogger and Livejournal and actually have the whole blog in one place.

I would end up paying for the CSS upgrade and probably the space upgrade.

But I would like it.

Thoughts welcome.

I went to the yarn store

and I didn't buy yarn.

My roommate asked "Are you feeling okay?"

The answer to that is, technically, no, but we'll leave that aside for now. The fact that I stubbed my toe on a 20 lb barbell because I'd forgotten that I'd used it to prop the bedroom door open isn't really anyone's fault. Except, ya know, mine. But whatever.

Look what I got at the yarn store:


Robb's instructions were to "look excited." He takes direction well.

Alison, it's beautiful. I've actually hugged one of your shawls, and I was still surprised at how gorgeous and soft and wonderful this book is. I want to make all of these shawls at once. I was only saved from actually casting on for about four of them by having given away most of my larger size needles in favor of my Denise set, and that's being used for my AbFab kit, and because I don't have the right sort of yarns in the right sorts of amounts to do them justice.

But soon. Soon. I haven't decided which one will be first...but I love the book. I love the stories. I love the pictures.

Yay!

Here's the other thing I've been working on, in this stupid heat.

Baby socks are the most adorable things ever. The leg of that sock? 24 rows. The heel? Turned on 22 stitches. Holy canoli adorableness!

Photo taken in the anorexic garden planted on by my landlord's ex-wife. Don't get me started. Seriously, when I saw the collection of annuals she had planted, nicely spaced out about twelve perfect inches from one another (seriously, I saw her with a ruler), I thought of grabbing a shovel, claiming "the dog did it," and then offering to replant the garden myself.

Sheesh.

Anyway. :)

More smiles, later.

Still.

Some things I am still.

Still Healthy. Had another doc's appointment, and everything is still great. Heard the baby's heartbeat again (140, described as "great" by Dr. Amy). Found out I was allowed to take Claratin, so now I just have to cope with sinus headaches, instead of constant sneezing and exhaustion. It's a fair trade.

Still Frustrated at work. My boss is being a bad-word badditybadword, and I don't know what to do about it. No, it's not about me being preggers (although that isn't helping) and it's not about me being female (which I could shut him down over in about three seconds), it's more that...well, the biggest part of a general manager's job is to be a leader, right? Not a threatener, or a yeller, or a shover...a leader. The guy who stands out in front going "Come on, guys, we can get there!" My co-manager and I spent half our time running around doing damage control for this guy, and both of us are too damn busy for that kind of nonsense.

Still not knitting much. Yes, I am perfectly aware that this whole "birth thing" is like five months away. Yes, I know how much clothing that means I should have by then. Why do you ask? The allergies were awful, it was like hell with a runny nose, and all I could think to do was sleep. It's getting better now, but I can still feel my body being all off-kilter.

More still soon. :)

Fishkill; survived.

Well, survived there, survived back. Yay.

I have nothing exciting to tell you about the training. Made these:



During two days of boring training that felt like I'd already gotten it. They told us all about the training we'd get next time. Whoopie. I'm sorry, if you're already a retail manager, and you don't know how to manage conflict...I fear you won't ever learn. But that aside.

The socks are less pink and brown in person, more purple and green (bad light in here today, I need to start taking knitting pictures among the shrubbery)...the only real problem I have with them is that I so adore the color striping on the soles that I got kind of irritated at the lacework pattern on the foot. I'm strange, what can I say. And the ribbing...well, first sock was in my luggage in the car when I was finishing up the second sock, and I wanted to be able to say that I had finished them at the training session...so I just cast off. With so much laceyness, these will be at-home socks, anyway, so I'll probably just leave it. I think they're lovely, to heck with anyone else. :)

Everyone keeps telling me I'm starting to show...Took a picture to prove not so much...


There are some changes in my lower abdomen, but all that upper stuff is just me. Having lousy posture.

Nothing else to report. Robb's taking me to lunch, then minigolf. I love days off. I will probably cast on for sleeve #2 this afternoon. If I feel strong.

FYI

I am leaving today to go to Fishkill, NY (no, really), for a lameass boring waste of my time fascinating training session in Leadership and Development. I will be incommunicado until Wednesday. The Socks That Rock are coming along with me to keep me company. I don't plan on starting a big argument about whether or not it's rude to knit in meetings; please trust that if people expect me to retain information, and they're just talking at me, I need to be doing something with my hands. This way, I get a pair of socks, and some of the needless boring useless wonderful information that they wish to impart to me.

Pictures when I return.

Has it been so long? Sheesh.

I'm tired of being tired.

I know that I have no real complaint compared to people suffering from all sorts of diseases. But once the nausea faded, I was once again struck with bizarre waves of unbelievable exhaustion. Example: I got up at about 5 am this morning to soak my toes before I went to work (ingrown toenails on both big toes got removed on Friday). I worked for nine hours, not including lunch. At 7pm tonight, I was overcome with exhaustion, and curled up on the couch for a "nap." Twenty minutes ago, Robb woke me up (second time this has happened in two days) to say that I should get up or go to sleep in bed. I'm not so tired that I'm not amazed that he put up with my five minute whine about how I didn't want to do either one (it's practice for having a child, I suppose) but I am amazed that I'm actually sitting upright right now. In about five minutes, I'm going to go collapse in bed and read The Black Stallion's Blood Bay Colt for another ten pages before I am overcome with snoring.

Finished the first sleeve on the ladybug sweater, faced weaving in the ends on the body of the sweater, got pale, and decided that a little break was in order. Started working on the Welcome set, the pretty one in pale blue Cashsoft DK -- the body was done, just needed the sleeves. Messed up the number of rows on the second sleeve cuff.

I was going to show you pictures of all this, but I'm too tired to go and turn on the camera.

I was also going to show you pictures of both this month and last session's BMFA Socks That Rock yarn, demonstrating that in three months, I haven't started knitting anything for myself. Apparently, that will also happen next time.

I leave you with this picture, just because Robb said I wouldn't dare post it. Our roomie has a girlfriend who needed a picture of his new haircut, and Robb was trying to crack J up.

Yup. Having his child. On purpose.

Hat update.

Blogger saves your drafts automatically.

Not so much.

Anyway.

What I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by my computer deciding to finish the command it had been given yesterday to shut down (whatever) was that I hate the days when people get fired. Not me, but it still makes the day stressful.

In an update on the hat situation, I've decided to keep knitting. Robb came over and made some comment about it -- sort of a "What if it's a boy?" with a significant look at the pink stripe, and don't ask me how me managed to look significantly at a single row of color, but whatever -- and my reply was that if it's a boy, I'll sew a Red Sox patch on it and some random truck buttons or whatever. Because I love it. So nah. :)

Just in case you were losing sleep over what I'd do.

Lynne, it was nice to see comments from you again. Hugs!

Much love to all.

More actual knitting content!!

It's a trend, can you believe it?

Two things -- something to show you and something to ask you.

First, to show you.

Sunday was D&D night. Yes, I'm one of those geeks. Lvl 4 Elvish Cleric of Corellon. It's fantastically fun. My middle-little brother, Chris, plays in our game, and he shows up at about 7, gently waking me from my nap on the couch (if Olympic napping were a sport, I'd have a run at the American team this year). He says, "I have a present for you, from Grammy."

That alone nearly made me weep.

Here's what was in the bag he gave me.

Is that not exquisite? Handknit (she used to do this on her machine, but in her age has decided that there are a hell of a lot less people who deserve to be knit for, and therefore all her knitting is by hand again), and the color is more of a gentle, pastel yellow, with a handspan of fringe on each side. Gorgeous. Exquisite. I dream of knitting things like this, but never get past the sheer SIZE of the beast. This is big enough to cuddle one person -- or one person and a toddler -- under with no problems, so long as you're friendly, and maybe have a pretty shawl around your shoulders. The yarn feels like one of the softer strains of Red Heart, but I'm only a yarn snob when it comes to what *I* knit with, not what other people use. And this is an afghan I can cuddle under, snuggle under, and then throw in the washer. It's exactly what I need right now.

The greatest gift she gave me, though, is knowing where my knitting came from. Is that silly? I mean, my mother taught me to knit when I was six, I think, even though I made her do the casting on until I was 8, and I don't think I finished ANYTHING until I was in college. But now I know where the knitting CAME FROM. I know why it meant something to me when I first touched needles and yarn. It's funny, these little connections I found to my biological family, long before I knew them. The first time I heard Frank sing and play his guitar, I told him that I'd just found something I didn't even know I'd been missing. That's how I felt when I spread out this afghan.

Yay.

Now, on to the question.

This is the knitting I did for D&D night, after deciding that I wasn't up to counting sleeve rows.


This is the skein of Regia silk from the last SEX. Now, truth time; does the thread of pink make it too girly, just in case AlisonH is right? I dream girl, but she says boy, and since Robb is already raising an eyebrow about ladybugs, I should know if this is something that might just end up in a hope chest for next time.

Lemme know what you think. :)

Actual real live knitting content

Can you believe it? I know it's making me dizzy. Oh, wait, no, that's the 77° weather with the nearly 50% humidity. It's a darn good thing the doc gave me a medicine I can use for my allergies, that's all I'm saying. Yeesh. My poor nose.

Now, knitting content.

I finished the body of the ladybug sweater, and started the sleeve. I'm going to show you, but you have to promise something first. Promise you won't make fun of me for the myriad mistakes I made. Not the fact that the ladybug isn't properly centered, or that I didn't increase right away like I was supposed to, or that I completely forgot that I needed to change needle sizes until I was halfway home. None of it. Because I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you think you're reading one of those perfectionist blogs where someone pulls out photoshop to point out a teensy weensy mistake that half the time I can't see until they pull out their superexpensive camera and zoom waaaaaaay in, and then rip out a week's work to fix it...you're reading the wrong blog. If you're one of those knitters, I admire you. You're my personal hero. I aspire to be you. But it ain't never gonna happen. If you can't see it from a galloping horse, it's not worth my time, that's been my motto for a lot of years.

Okay.

You promised, now, remember?

Here's what we have:

See, that's not so bad, right?

I'm not showing you the inside. Not yet. Maybe later.

So, real live knitting!

I also fell down at the yarn store yesterday; not as badly as I might have, and the bulk of my purchase was planned. I got this:

For the star sweater set I was showing off last week. Not the jumper, just the sweater, booties, and hat. Depending on how D&D goes tonight, I may cast on for this; we'll see if I can afford to be paying attention to the row counts in the ladybug sweater or not.

But the yarn store tricked me. They tempted me in with Dale ULL, and then had on display, not just a new shipment of Cherry Tree Hill Potluck, but two new sock yarns I've been dying to try. Really, it's lucky I made it out with just these.

The CTH in Jewels (it's so purpley, I swear they dyed it just for me) and a skein of Regia Silk color in a neutral-but-vibrant tone that just screams "baby hat & socks please!" and a skein of Tofutsies in a purpley blue colorway that I'm very excited about.

Can anyone else tell that I plan on having attention for nothing but stockinette socks after December? At least not for a little while.

Now, I'll leave you with a couple of family photos. First, my six-year-old Jilly-cat shows her fangs:

And then goes and claims to her Daddy that she's not a lap cat. This photo also contains a rare sighting of Robb, looking at the camera and not making a goofy face!!


Have I mentioned lately how completely and utterly I love my life? Even if it is so hot that I stole a pair of Robb's boxers.

84° tomorrow. God save me.

Has it really been that long?

Sorry to those of you who emailed me a little worried. I kept thinking "I'll blog after I knit," or "I'll blog after I clean," and then rather than cleaning or knitting, I just went to sleep. Sorry about that.

Everything's okay. 'Nother doctor's appointment today, everything is proceeding beautifully. The doc's Doppler listening thingy was on the fritz, so we got to look instead (aw, drat, right?), and let me tell you, that kid is kickboxing around in my uterus. It's all adorable while I can't feel it, but I anticipate in another couple of months I'm going to be bouncing around, led by my belly.

I finally did pick up my knitting again, but my summer slump seems to have hit, and with the stupid humidity, I just don't want to move.

But it's pretty outside, the baby growing in my belly is healthy, and when it rains, my street smells like lilacs. Can't complain.

Pay no attention

to the woman behind the curtain who is going to distract you from the fact that, with Vermont in its second day of ridiculous 85+ temps, I haven't picked up knitting needles in two days.

Instead, I'm going to show you this:


Which is a set from Dale Baby Collection NR 110. I'm sorry if you love this pattern, the book definitely seems to be out of print. I got my copy in...dear God, I was still in college, so before 2001. I had every intention of making that little jumpsuit for my cousin's firstborn...but um...yeah. Nope. I was defeated by stranding and dpns. And I just don't think I'm crazy enough to try that again, but I am smitten with the little yellow set.

Ooo, pretty, right? Pretty... :)

And really, what gives with this weather? It's just not acceptable, and whoever ordered it needs a kick in the head. Honestly. It's supposed to drop back down into the 70s tomorrow, and I can live with that. This almost 90 stuff...I hated it before, and with the pregnant metabolism keeping me warmer anyway, I thought I was just going to die yesterday. It was bad.

Robb also got a good laugh in yesterday, when Mom came over; she had managed to find some really cute quasi-maternity tops at Kohl's, which will help me get through this ridiculous heat wave, since they're cut so that they can be worn when you're hardly pregnant, and let out when you're more pregnant. Sounds like a plan to me! But the big reason she came over was because she'd finished up the hat on the Wee One Welcome Set which she is knitting with Koigu Kersti, and she needed to learn how to do mattress stitching to seam the hat up. I also had to attempt to teach her the make-one increase, which didn't go as well. She didn't believe me that all you do is pick up the little bar between stitches and knit it -- she kept asking why I was "flipping" it around. I am a very bad teacher, and did my best, but I've been encouraging her to sign up for a class sometime. She has really good knitting instincts, but doesn't trust them at all.

Anyway, Robb enjoyed the whole thing, because the stereotypical image is Mom -- or Grandma -- teaching the little daughter how to knit -- and even though that's how we started, some twenty-three years ago now, it's now completely reversed. I guess I just made so much stuff up in college, when there wasn't anyone to ask, that I lose patience with being asked to do it "the right way." I already told her to bail on the idea of m1r and m1l. It's too confusing for the first time you do something, and anyway, I can't ever remember which one is which anyway.

Oh well. :)

I woke up feeling happy and healthy and hungry for the first time in a really long time. One of those silly days where I looked at Robb this morning and just burst into tears because when he smiled at me, I just felt completely safe and loved and magical.

And the best part? He looked at me, said "You're having one of those scary, wonderful, reassuring moments, aren't you?" And I nodded, and then he just held me while I cried for a bit.

He's a good 'un, always.

I liked smiling.

Snicker.

Okay, so I'm awake before Robb (as I usually am, since he sleeps until 10 or 11 most mornings, no big deal), and I'm at my computer, poking through blogs, reading emails, etc.

I keep hearing this...rhthymic, kind of grinding sound. I'm panicking, trying to figure out what fan or bearing in my computer might be making that sound, and what I can do about it before it explodes and takes out my, I don't know, motherboard, which I can't afford to replace just this minute.

And then I realize.

It's not my computer.

It's my boyfriend.

Snoring.

Hehe.

Here's a picture of the ladybug sweater, just to convince you that I still know how to knit.

One more set of ladybugs to do, and then the rest of the body is pretty much plain knitting. Each sleeve has a row of ladybugs, and if I'm not bored to tears, so does the hat.

I've stalled a bit because a.) I've been on an anime kick lately, and stranded knitting+subtitles=big mess and b.) I've just been lazy in the sudden heat that Vermont is throwing at me. 85 degrees? What is this nonsense? The world is lucky I have the next two days off, and all I need to do is sit around and pant, that's all I'm sayin.

There's another Dale sweater I'm considering...It must be fairly out of print, because I bought the book some five years ago, and I can't find the pattern anywhere online, I'll scan it in if anyone wants to see, it's a pretty patterned sweater with stars and moons on the cuffs and the button band. The question in my mind is whether knitting stranded in cotton will make me want to rip my face off, and I should just continue knitting colored wool sweaters (the colorwork on this one is much less, so I wouldn't hate myself for knitting it in wool in a three month size, and seeing it outgrown more quickly) and save the cute little kimono tops for the wool.

Thoughts?

Well.

The unexplained crying jags have given way to a light melancholy, which I can cope with. Yesterday was completely absurd. My mother and I decided to see what was available in the line of maternity where here in nowhere'sville, New England, not that I need this sort of thing yet, but my clothes are starting to snug up, and my appearance is important in retail, so...

We went to every store in this town that sells any kind of maternity wear. Guess how many tops I saw that would be appropriate for work?

Zero.
Zip.
Zilch.
None.
Nada.

This is slightly incorrect. Technically, I could wear those stupid, fruity, brightly colored, big patterned shirts that have the cross under the bust and the floaty panel under the belly and the fairy sleeves. If I was 17 and pregnant, I would be in love with those. However, being 27 and pregnant, I have some desire to maintain my current appearance, which is...well, khakis and button down shirts for work.

I don't see why this is hard. I'm certainly not the only woman in retail who dresses this way, why is there NOTHING for me to buy to wear to work when I'm all gigantic?

Grr.

It didn't help that my mother was not on the ball with her self-editing yesterday. The couple of comments that just stopped me in my tracks: first, I commented on a couple of shirts she was saying were pretty and said "That's just not me, Mom." She looked me dead in the eye and said "Well, you're not you anymore. So there."

That stopped me, and made me want to cry in the middle of T.J. Maxx. I don't believe that I can't be me and be a mom. Yeah, things will be different, but I'm still me, right? The base material is the same, it's just that there's an added definition now. Someone tell me this is true.

Then, she asked me if I'd put on any weight since I'd gotten pregnant. Stupidly, I told her yes, probably 8 or 10 pounds. Then, with the grouchiness that I can only imagine hearing from a woman who has been on a diet my entire life, and who has completely forgotten that I was trying to get my body in shape before all this happened and my energy went out the window, she said "Well, you'd better slow down, if they only want you to gain 25 pounds."

I stopped and looked at her and said "We are not talking about this again, okay? Thanks."

I love my mom with all my heart, and she's treating me very well right now...sometimes she just talks before she thinks, ya know?

Anyway, I haven't knit a stitch all week, because with my sudden snitfits, it doesn't seem wise to have lace or Dale in my hands when the urge to break things arises. I do think things are levelling out -- it's like everything is going backwards, I got moody first, then sick, now the sickness is fading, and the moodiness returns.

I promise there will be knitting to see when you next visit this happy-go-lucky blog!

OH!

And, I forgot to say, thanks to everyone who wished me a happy mother's day! You guys made my day.

See, I'm not always a brat. I'm just...work is...and the stress!...and I'm sick of being sick!...

Ya.

Grumpity grump

I'm sulky today. I think that's the only word for me. I woke up obscenely late (for the girl who is regularly at work at 6am) and finally rolled out of bed (only because Robb was snoring, tha jerk!) at 8am. I took advantage of Netflix's new Watch It Now! thing to watch The Prince & Me, which I figured to be cute and annoying, but a sure thing. I adore Julia Stiles, and I thought I'd have fun.

Instead, this movie...just got on my nerves. I don't quite know why, really, but it...peeved me off. I was trying to knit the ladybug sweater, and the ladybugs of course weren't coming out well, which irritated me, and then I went back to bed for awhile, and when I got up again, I felt dizzy and sick despite having eaten like a good girl when I got up earlier, which prompted the least healthy response I know of (fine, if my body doesn't want me to eat, I won't, nah!). I didn't say I was being smart, just grumpy.

I did about twenty seven bazillion loads of laundry, but you can actually see both our floor and the papasan again (no, B, haven't changed out the cushion yet, haven't figured out what to do with the old one), so that's something. And then I curled up on the couch, knit more ladybug sweater (they were behaving this time) and watched Just Like Heaven.

This should have been a great day. Why am I being such a brat? Robb is even bringing me home my favorite calzone from my favorite pizza place. And I'm being such a snot, and I know it, but my ability to fix it? Gone.

Sigh.

I'm too lazy to take pictures for you, I'm sorry. Tomorrow. Promise.

Lookee what I got.

So, went to the doctor today, was pronounced very boring, (which is good, in this case), and after some procedures which really made me feel she ought to have bought me dinner and a movie first, was rewarded with this.


That's our little one. Almost an inch now, we saw little arms and legs, and it flipped around a couple of times for us, which was very nice. I got a little weepy, and Robb's telling his WoW friends, which is about the same, for him.

Everything looks fantastic. The ultrasound puts me at 9 weeks, a little earlier than I'd been led to believe before, and my due date was revised to December 13th. Which is not a Friday, I just checked.

The little one's heart is beating at about 174 beats per minute -- doctor said that was great -- and everything looks fantastic.

Yay.

Here's what else I've been up to:

This is the Dale ladybug sweater -- I think it's out of patternbook 152, but it's all the way across the room, and I don't want to check. I decided to do this one in the 6 month size, which will either mean it gets tons of wear or none, but I just had a kind of feeling not to make it in the newborn size, so I'm not going to. Nah. It's coming along well; I got bored and flipped the hem up to make it stop rolling on me, and it still has its lumpy places, but all in all, I'm extremely pleased with how my colorwork is coming out. Go me!

And, because someone might ask, here's the inside:

A weight has been lifted off my mind, and I feel very much better. I'm going to go drink a gallon of water, and stretch out on the sofa. Maybe watch Fellowship of the Ring. Who knows??

Smiles, all around.

Pictures to come

I'm okay, I'm okay. I've been sick (again) and exhausted (again) and Vermont caught on that it's summer, making it hot and humid here (again). My job is stressing me out, which is probably increasing my symptoms.

But I'm not dead.

More to come.

Trading Nausea for mood swings

Seriously. I'm like a fifteen year old girl, flying off the handle about nothing, weeping in meetings, and it's worse than being fifteen, because I have the intellectual capacity to understand that I'm acting like a crazy person, but still no ability to do anything about it. Oh well. I keep apologizing, and people laugh and pat me on the head. I hope they still think I'm cute in a few more months! Or maybe I'll just distract them by letting them pat the belly. People are starting that already, and I want to yell a bit. I'm not showing; I just look like there have been a few too many calzones 'round the middle. Oh well, 'salgood. :)

So, the two big projects right now, apart from unbelievably tiny sweaters:


This is the Gothic Leaf pattern by Sivia Harding, although her pattern is for a stole, and I'm making a scarf. If any of you were around when I was knitting her Hanging Garden Stole, you might remember the relationship I have with large, rectangular things. yeah. There's a reason why I don't have a baby blanket WIP. Just sayin'.

The yarn is Yarn Pirate, the only skein of such that I've ever managed to score in the craziness surround updates at The Loopy Ewe. The color is Quicksilver, and I'm loving the gentle shading, which I don't think distracts from the lace, since it's a monochrome pallet. (I know that's a right spelling of pallet, but is that the right spelling of pallet? Anyway.) This, I think, will be a gorgeous scarf for fall, when I want something around my neck, but it's too warm for my wears-like-iron wool scarf that I've had for a few years.

This is the first repeat plus a bit of the Absolutely Fabulous Shawl from Colinette. This colorway is Antique, if I remember correctly, and I'm totally in love. It's so funky and crazy, it will be wonderful to wrap up in come winter time, and plenty wide enough to provide discretion AND warmth. Yay!

Days off are good for watching movies and knitting and just generally slobbing around. That's my plan for today. Hope yours is just as fun!

100th post

On blogger, anyway.

Note to self: stop asking the boyfriend questions at 1am when you're both too tired to have a conversation. It will only stress you out, and cause him to consider you to be even more irrational than you currently are.

Anyone want to give me good reasons that we should be buying a home, and not renting? So far I have 1.) creation of equity 2.) more reasonable cost (even here in stupid VT) 3.) and it just makes me feel safer, somehow. less at someone else's whim. I'll take any other suggestions that anyone else has to offer.

Also, he's suddenly disliking the middle name of Joseph, which has huge familial associations for me. I'm hormonally messed up enough that even typing that makes me want to cry, and that does not lend itself to reasoned discussion.

So.

Pictures of SEX from the weekend:

The Colinette Abfab kit; I've made two of these before, the diamond pattern for my mother, and the stripe afghan for my now-ex girlfriend. This time, it's for me-me-me, and it's going to be a shawl, a nursing shawl, to be precise, and it's going to be exquisite. Or else. :)

Malabrigo and Cherry Tree Hill Supersock

Rowan Calmer
And Studio Mohair and Lorna's Laces Worsted.

I made out like a bandit.

First project; The Absolutely Fabulous Shawl. Great for knitting while watching 24. When not watching 24, or when having slightly more attention-span, the Yarn Pirate Quicksilver I scored awhile back is turning into a scarf version of Sivia Harding's Gothic Lace Stole. Wish me luck!

Okay.

I think the worst might be over.

I am knocking on wood, now that I've typed that.

For three days, now, I haven't wanted to just fall over dead rather than continue to deal with my stomach. I'm still have nausea waves, but not this all-encompassing, life devouring, agony of the soul, sickness.

That's really really good.

One of my bestest friends -- B, who commented a few weeks ago that I was doing this creating a child thing "all wrong" -- came to visit. She decided that I had been buying enough for this little creature in my body -- now thumb-joint-sized, if you're interested -- and that she was buying things for me.

First place we hit? You guessed it. Yarn store.

I'll post the pictures as soon as my camera batteries charge up, but here's the total.

One Colinette Absolutely Fabulous Afghan Kit in the Antique colorway, with the intention of making the shawl.

One skein of Lorna's Laces Black Purl in the worsted weight, for socks for me.

Malabrigo for slippers for me.

Two skeins of Cleckhelton Studio Mohair 8ply for a scarf that I've always loved in the store's display.

A skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Martha's Vineyard, probably also for socks.

9 skeins of Rowan Calmer for a lovely Reynolds' pattern sweater that I've been admiring for an age and a half.

And, the store had restocked their colors of Baby ULL, so we got a better colorway set for the ladybug sweater.

And, without my noticing, she paid for the Addi Lace needles that the store had gotten in, that I ordered months and months ago. I *meant* to have ordered two pair of the 1s and 2s, realizing how wonderful they would be for the lacy socks I loved at the time, because it's not often I'm going to knit proper lace on size 1 needles, but with the huge backorders of these online, it may just be that I get to stroke them from time to time, and that's fine with me. :)

It's nice to be spoiled rotten, from time to time, just so that you remember what it feels like.

Then we carried on to the local Pier 1 clone and got rugs, new baking sheets, a cooling rack, etc. It was highly fun.

And of course we skeins all the AbFab yarn and I'm heavily involved in making myself a shawl. Superfun!

Pictures when the camera is up to speed.

Sick sick sick

I've knit four rows in two days.

This is progress.

I understand now when the doctor said that the first trimester is a wash.

Oy.

This isn't fair.

I feel so lousy I can't even concentrate enough to knit.

Chinese food is out, apparently.

Think good thoughts for me, please. I feel -- to quote my best friend's 8 year old -- like poopy.

FO Report: Royal Set

I think it looks like a perfect fit, don't you?

The pattern is the Royal Baby Set from Blue Sky Alpacas. The yarn originally called for is their Royal, a completely gorgeous, 100% alpaca yarn that just makes me coo to touch it. But my LYS only had skeins of Alabaster, Petticoat, and I think Cafe Au Lait, so I went for the less expensive Alpaca Silk in Kiwi. If they'd had Primrose or Seaglass, all bets would have been off, and I'm still tempted by the Seaglass. But this yarn is not washable, and it is not cheap, so I will think long and hard before clicking that order button.


There's a little hat that matches, isn't it cute?





I changed nothing noticeable about the pattern, but there may still be a big change coming up. The pattern calls for ties that wrap around Baby and tie at the side of the sweater to hold it clothes -- the essence of a wrap sweater. I might be being paranoid-pregnant-lady, but this doesn't seem terribly safe or convenient to me. I'm imaging trying to tie a squirming newborn into this and having a rough time with it. I'm thinking of coming up with a way to place buttons, instead of the wrap tie. Thoughts?

Also, slowly getting a handle on the rampant nausea. What seems to help is sweet things and spicy things, and all the bland stuff that people were telling me to eat to calm down my stomach make it distinctly worse. I don't know if that means anything painfully significant, but there we are.

On to the Newborn Welcome Set in Cashsoft DK.

Also, random fun -- Robb says he doesn't see why I'm not knitting in purple, as "purple can be manly. On a baby." But pink, in case you were wondering, is never manly, no matter what these guys say. So says my boyfriend, and he's the one with the gear that allows him to comment on this issue.

I need to find some deep plummy purples. In baby or Dk weight yarns. Oh my.

The thing about superstitions, or, Yarn Fumes cure mood swings

the thing about superstitions is this: they're supposed to make you feel safer, more in control. Don't break mirrors. Avoid black cats. Don't walk under ladders. Stay away from the number thirteen. Don't knit anything for your baby before three months, and you won't miscarry.

But what if the superstition doesn't help? What if it makes you feel worse? What if it makes you focus on the bad thing, that COULD happen, instead of the miraculous thing, that is happening?

I found myself in a terrible mood yesterday. One of those terrible days when nothing is right, nothing is good, and I was ready to just explode with frustration. Making it worse was the fact that the mood was based on nothing. Chemicals in the brain only.

Normally, to fix that mood, I go and breathe deep of the yarn fumes, but I knew that if went to the yarn store, I'd get sucked into the baby knits, and then I would buy baby yarn, and then I would knit baby things, and I was being superstitious about this, remember?

A couple of friends gave me a good kick in the ass and reminded me that a.) if the absolute worst happens, and I miscarry (which is unlikely, really, if you look at my familial history and Robb's, and you don't need to tell me if the fact that my mother never had a miscarriage doesn't relate to my chances, thanks), will I really be sadder because I knit a baby sweater or some socks? No. I'll be truly miserable, but knowing me, I'd feel slightly better, because there would be proof that, once upon a time, there was a baby growing inside me. It would help give me the strength to try again. And when I was ready, I would have a little blessing to give to another child of mine, if that felt right, or another child in the world, if that were appropriate.

So I went to the yarn store, and I didn't even have an accident. If I'd had an accident, I would have spent significantly more.


I got Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk in the light green for this little set. This is the one that struck me as the "take photos and then whisk it away to hide somewhere as an heirloom" set, since it's not so machine washable, but I could surprise myself. It's an adorable wrap sweater, and has a matching hat and booties.

The blue Cashsoft DK is for this adorable little set.

The goldenrod Jaeger Matchmaker is for another little wrap sweater out of the Natural Knitters book, which also has an adorable "bump" sweater, the kind with ties on the side that you can let out as your bump gets bigger.

Not pictured is a bag of Dale ULL for that little sweater all the way in the bottom corner, with the ladybugs. How completely adorable?? The colors are going to be slightly different because their offerings have changed since the book was put out, but I'm still in love.

And I feel better again. Go figure.

Thanks very much

for all of your congratulations. :) I love it when new people find my blog, and I love it when they have nice things to say.

I must say, though, that the euphoria of all of this wore off this morning. Now, instead of some glowy mother-to-be, I think I'm just a nauseous, exhausted, pregnant lady. Well, people at work still say I'm glowing. But that's neither here nor there. And the, uh, twins are killin me. Owie.

The most fascinating thing about all of this so far is how it's forcing me to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. I work in retail, you know; the goal is move as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Not yesterday; yesterday, the goal was to work without any dizzy spells, after the one time I stood up too fast and nearly tossed my cookies all over the mass-market table. Better than the new Hardcover table, but still.

I had asked the doctor (my GP, I'm calling the OB I've heard great things about tomorrow to make a first appointment; cross your fingers that I get in!) for her best advice on Friday; what she said? "Get ready to be humbled." And I was feeling that yesterday, in the biggest way. Today, I was less dizzy, but more nauseous. I think I prefered dizzy, all things considered. But I'm weird.

Even my knitting has slowed down. Normally, I'd be done both the third season of 24 and the first German stocking by now. But, since almost all of my energy is going towards work and the couple of little things I'm trying to do around the house (although Robb is being great and picking up a lot of the slack without complaining while I nap away the day on the couch that I still haven't had the energy to put the cover back on since I washed it last week), I fall down on the couch, knit five rows, and then my eyes are closing...friends don't let friends knit while exhausted or drunk.

Not that I'm allowed to be drunk. Until, like, next fall. Of course, that's probably when I'd next crave a beer anyway; I got most of my partying out of the way the summer of sophomore year of college, much to my relief.

So I turned the heel yesterday, I'm playing with the gussets today...I think I'm making the foot smaller than Cookie says I want it to be for my foot measurement. All down the leg, the sock is...it doesn't "fit" so much as it "skims" which is fine for the leg of the stocking -- I want wool pretties, not pantyhose -- but the foot has to fit firmly or it'll make me crazy.

And -- although I still love Louet Gems -- I'd forgotten how much less forgiving it is to work in solid colored yarn. So many of the yarns I've been using lately have been variegated or handpainted sock yarns, and you can get away with weird decreases, or "oops, I ssk'd instead of p2tog'd, no one will ever notice!"...I'm picking back and fixing more things with these.

And tomorrow, when I might have more energy (go ahead and laugh, it's okay), I'll try and post a picture of how far I am on the German Stockings. It'll probably require some help from CameramanRobb in order to get the pretty cable that goes down the leg, so we'll see what we can do.

In the meantime, I leave you with this picture of my two kitties, Jilly (the greyish, huge one) and Keelie (the smaller, almost calico one) performing a feat almost unheard of:

Cuddling.

Sorry, sorry.

I've been absent all week, because work has been busy, and -- well, because I didn't want to say this until it had been confirmed by someone with an MD attached to their name, and until we'd let my mom and Robb's mom (who sometimes reads the blog) know.



Six weeks, one day. Sometime around December 8th.

I'm so unbelievably happy.

I meant to post this last night

but then I got caught by Seduction, and I wanted new socks for work today.

Anyway.

The first part of the story is on Alison's blog. Her daughter Jennie was ill, I played the part of the Digital Welcome Wagon when Jennie moved to the area last year. We hadn't ever met, but Alison emailed me the ice cream story, not asking, exactly, but just kinda saying.

Would you say no to a woman who made you this? Nope, and neither would I. Plus, how often do you get to send someone stealth ice cream, really?

So, after work yesterday, I went by the Ben & Jerry's scoop shop that is across from my work (it's the almost-original B&J's, actually, I can point to the original from the current one, but about ten?fifteen?years ago, they decided to move the shop to Church Street proper. Anyway.

I picked two pints of ice cream (Cherry Garcia and Americone Dream, if you're curious), and I drove out to the address Alison had emailed.

Only, I'm dyslexic. It doesn't normally get in the way, but the woman at the 174 address was very curious as to why I wanted to give her ice cream. She didn't mind, exactly, just...was curious. I might have interrupted her nap. So I got the numbers sorted out, bothered Jennie's landlord because I didn't know which door to use, and found my way upstairs to their door.

Poor Jennie's husband. I think Jennie at least might have guessed who I was and what I was doing there. The conversation between the husband and I went something like this:

Me: (holding out paperbag of ice cream) Hi. I'm a friend of Jennie's mom's, and I've been sent to give you guys ice cream as a get well present.

Him: ...um.

Me: It's okay, really. I'm a friend of Alison's. (at this point, I started babbling about the flavors and why those and I hadn't gotten the Cinnamon Bun and I found out I should have and suchlike).

Him: Do we even know you? (he had this expression...it was like someone had hit him upside the head with a two-by-four. Made of ice cream. It was fantastic.)

Me: Nope. Just a friend of Alison's. Have a great day.

Him: ...thanks.

I got home and told Alison to call them and tell him the ice cream wasn't poisoned.

It was tremendously fun being the ice cream fairy.

Pics of socks after I manage not to be ill during Easter dinner. Wish me luck.

I think I've gone simple.

I've discovered a sick pleasure in scanning socks. I don't know why I think it's so fun, and I am concerned that it betrays a certain frailty of wit. But, there we are.

The other sock is at the heel flap, and I watched six episodes of 24 this afternoon (Season 2, currently on sale for $19.99, how could I pass it up?) while making chocolate chip cookies (that came out too crispy, but I modded the recipe and used a new pan, so I'm just happy they weren't rocks. A hearty addition of vanilla ice cream made them lovely.

Tomorrow, there is stealth ice-creaming planned. It should be serious fun. I'll let ya know.

The rest of my life? Pleasantly dull. I kinda like it.

Relieved and Disappointed

Or disappointed and relieved. Hard to tell which order they're happening in, but I do know there isn't room for much else in my brain tonight.

So, rather than dealing with reality, I set up my brand-y new HP printer/scanner dealio, and played around for awhile.













It turns out that my scanner does a much better job catching color than my camera does, but obviously it's a little less accurate in terms of dimensions.

Those are the cable rib socks from Favorite Socks, and the yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in the color "Blue Brick Wall".

Oh my but I love this yarn. It's 50% wool, 50% tencel, and it feels so soft and strong and silky. And the colors are exactly how I feel today. A little morose, a little under the weather, but still strong and vibrant. Somewhere underneath it all.

I am in love.

with the addi lace needles.

Seriously.

If I could marry them, Robb would be out of luck.

P5togs are a dream. They are no threat, no worry, no stress. I've finished another full repeat of lace between today and yesterday, which had taken me all last week to do one.

I'm too exhausted to type more.

The $1.50 cardi is giving me a headache. I may need to reinvent this thing some. I'm terrified that it won't fit at all. Grrr.

Much love.