Sock-Haiku-ooza

Sea Wool Bordello
Short ebony double points
My first knitted socks

Don’t ask… I have no idea why I felt the need to go down the poetry path.

Moving on.

For the past three weeks every spare moment has been occupied with my Sockapalooza Socks because I was trying really hard to be on time.

Each time I left the house, the socks went with me…

Because you never know when you’ll get stuck at a draw bridge in Seattle.

Alas, there were not enough bridges or spare moments and I needed three weeks instead of the two that would have indicated a deadline met. *sigh*

In retrospect, I should have started my socks sooner. Unfortunately, not having knit socks before, I felt the need to complete a couple projects with sock-like elements first so I could have the requisite skills to produce a decent pair of socks for my pal. By the time I finished “warming up” it was baby time and well, no more time for knitting (see, it was really all the little one’s fault- he should have been on time not early).

Oh, well.

The good news is that I shipped my socks out on Tuesday. Phew. They should arrive any day as they are just popping down I-5.

Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that she likes them and that they fit. I’m a bit nervous as she has made many pairs of socks… I don’t want her to be disappointed by my paltry first effort.

Actually, I think they turned out OK for a first timer.

The details:
Pattern – Bordello Socks (on the yarn label)
Yarn – Fleece Artist Sea Wool
Color – Fruit Punch

I knit these on my fabulous Lantern Moon Sox Stix (Ebony, Size 3). Love these needles!!!! Easy to knit with and they are adorable too- what could be better?

So now the socks are done and I am free to knit whatever I want… the question is what don’t I want to knit? Is there a vaccine to prevent Castonitis?

I'm a Crappy-paloozer...

So I am feeling like the worst Sockapalooza 4 Pal ever- on both ends of the swap. First of all, outside of a brief mention I haven't said anything about the socks I received (sorry Suzanne!). AND I have not yet sent my socks out. I know. Awful. Twenty lashes.

Well, I finished my socks today but it is Sunday so I can't send my socks to my poor neglected Pal downstream (I did email her to let her know they were delayed) so let me at least rectify the other situation...

My upstream Pal, Suzanne of The Frog's Blog was my exact opposite in that she was extremely prompt, my socks arrived on August 3rd! (and I know from reading her blog that she finished my socks waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy back at the end of May- even though she too, had a new baby)

So, without further ado, because really, there's been too much already- I give you my socks:
Suzanne, as we would say back in the South: ya' done good.

The lovely Falling Leaves pattern in my current favorite color (Lime #02) in one of my favorite yarns: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Fantastic! I requested ankle high socks as my calves are huge making normal sock occasionally uncomfortable. Cozy, comfy & soft. Perfect for displaying in my clogs or for hanging out on the couch knitting nursing the baby. Forgive me for not photographing the socks on my feet, I tried but the shots were all lousy and did not do Suzanne's efforts justice.

Thank you Suzanne, thank you, thank you, thank you.

So there you have it. I feel better now. Up next, my sock effort and then I will be free to knit and blog guilt free.

Non Sequitor

I just saw an advertisement on television for Billy Ocean. He's playing at a local Indian casino which I guess says something about the career longevity of 80's pop stars whose catchy tunes stay in your head long after the tv ad is over.

Carribean Queen, do dum, dum, now you're sharing the same dream, do dum, dum...

Now you can share the private Hell currently taking place in my baby-addled brain.

But I digress and I did have a point, sort of.

And it was this:

Damn! He looks so old. I remember bebopping to his tunes at middle & high school dances back in the day.

Get outta my dreams, dum de dum dum, -ba-, get into my car...

Okay, before you all get outta here because you can't take this lovely trip down memory lane let me just finish my point.

So he looks old... does that plus the presence of two kids make me a grown up? Because honestly, I sometimes have a hard time thinking of myself as one... like I have a permanent self-image of an 18-20 year old... Anybody else have this issue? Or am I just crazy?

Oh, one last thought, and then I promise, no more Billy Ocean, ever.

Get in the back seat baby

Huh? The back seat? Does she need a car seat? Exactly how old is this chick you are trying to pick up Mr. Ocean?

Whats-apalooza?

Good grief. Has it really almost been a month since I posted? Is anyone still out there?


Life in the land of dirty diapers and baby spit-up is predictably hectic and challenging. I won't bore you with the gory details. Those of you with two or more children will just smile knowingly and tell me "I told you so" and those of you with one or no children will just be either a) frightened or b) disbelieving. Let's just suffice to say that my knitting time has been curtailed exponentially and I don't remember the last time I had five minutes by myself that didn't involve a cubicle or room requiring toilet paper.

My middle sister and parents were here this past week and it was nice to have them around to lend a hand. Todd's dad flies in tomorrow for a long weekend. After that we are on our own. Or I should say that I will be on my own since Hubby will be starting to work again for the first time since the little one was born and I will running a zone defense on my two kids instead of he & I covering them together in a man-to-man set. Actually I have had them to myself the yesterday and today. It wouldn't have been too bad (I took them for a loooooooonnnnnngggg walk at Green Lake both days) except that Hubby has conveniently had evening commitments. I start to lose it around seven in the evening...


Enough about that, no one wants to hear me whine about being a mom.

So.

I hear there is this cool sock swap happening this week called Sockapalooza 4 or something. Sounds really neat.


What's that you say?

I signed up for the swap?

Really? Hmmmmm.... socks.... deadline.... massively overwhelmed website... I think I remember something like that but are we at the end already? Seems like it was so far in the future... Like August 2nd or something.

Pardon? I didn't quite catch that last bit.


Today is August 2nd?


Oh dear.


Alright, so maybe I'm not quite that screwed but I am woefully behind in my sock manufacturing process. You see, several Sundays ago I was all set and ready to go: had the pattern, had the yarn, had the needles, ready to cast on. I just needed to finish the hat I was working on and then it was go time. I figured I'd finish the baby hat during Pooh Bear's nap and then I'd start the socks that night. A perfect plan. Only one teensy problem. The next day, a Monday, yup, you guessed it- I went into labor. Now the hat got finished but the socks... let's just say their inception was, um, delayed a couple weeks. And since that time, not a whole lot of knitting happening. The most progress I made was when my parents were here but I managed to negate that by making a mistake and dropping several stitches necessitating a large amount of ripping from which I have not yet recovered. Luckily Sasha wrote me to let me know I had until the 7th to mail my socks especially since my socks are just going for a short trip down I-5. But still... I think I need major tinkering with the time space continuum in order to finish.

And to make matters worse?

The socks from MY pal arrived today. I'll post a picture as soon as I find the time to take one.

So I should go- I feel guilty typing when I should be k2tog, k3(4), kf&b, kf&b, k4(5), ssk-ing.

Hey, let's have a CONTEST!!!! I'll send a fabulous Prize to the commenter who correctly identifies the sock pattern from the above. If more than one person gets it right I'll pick one winner at random. No idea what the prize will be but I'll make it a good one.

(See I've been gone so long I'm resorting to a contest to get you guys to read!)

Hey..... Wait a minute....

That's not a baby knit...

It's a baby!

Our little Piglet finally decided to join us Monday, July 2nd at 5:28 pm. At 8 lbs, 3 ozs and 20" long he was bigger than I thought he would be, and yes, he had an even bigger head than his sister. I'll post more about the actual birth later (yes, there was knitting during labor), for now I give you these pictures to enjoy while I go feed the ravenous little monster!

Holding Pattern

I'm still here. The bun is still baking.

My frustration is getting to me. *sigh* I am chasing the carrot but someone keeps moving the stick. When we went to the hospital last weekend they told me to come back when my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they were strong enough that I had to stop what I was doing until it was over. That occured last night so we went back. I had charted my contractions for 3 and a half hours before I decided to call Labor & Delivery. I gave them the run down and they told me to come on in. Hubby and I put Gwen to bed leaving one of my good friend's to hold down the fort and we hopped in the car. Neither of us had much hope that this trip would end with a baby but we had hit the milestone the hospital prescribed so we followed directions. End result of the trip: no baby. I am still 4 cm dilated but I am also now 50% effaced so that is some progress. They also "stripped my membranes" which isn't as bad as it sounds- it is a simple procedure that can release hormones to stimulate labor- we'll see if it has any effect, so far it has just made my contractions somewhat more painful. This time, when we left the hospital, they told us not to come back until I was having regular, close, white-knuckle contractions. So there you have it- the new carrot.

And in non-baby related news (yes! there is some!)

I finally finished the Knit Puffy for my Secret Pal:

Here it is in its natural habitat :) Pattern is from OneSkein. Knit per the instructions from Aloo yarn. I know I complained about knitting with the nettle yarn but in the end I was really pleeased with the results. I might even make another one. But not anytime soon. I sent the package off on Monday and my pal, AJ, received it yesterday. I really enjoyed Secret Pal 10 and will most likely do the next swap.

I have also been the lucky recipient of a couple of fun and fabulous packages in the last couple weeks.

First up, a prize from an SP10 group contest, courtesy of Robyn, my fantastic hostess!

This is a really cute cross-stitch kit. The balloon reads, "Who are these kids and why are they calling me mom?" For those of you who don't know, cross-stitch was my first needle art love so I am looking forward to tackling this project. Thank you Robyn :)

Next I received a treat from Sasha of free wool as a prize for a contest she ran:

All sorts of good things. Three vintage knitting pattern booklets (I swear I think my grandmother made me one of the sweaters in one of the books- it looks so familiar!), a Japanese booklet of little animals (the correct term escapes my brain at the moment and I am too lazy to look it up) to needle felt, recent copies of BabyBug (Pooh Bear loves this!), mothering, ReadyMade and Bust- all of which is really more inspiration than I can handle right now. My crafting/knitting to do list is multiple pages long and I know that my time will be limited to non-existent soon. The bag included some whistle candy and a Fran's Macadamia Gold bar which was waaaaaaaayyyyy too tasty. Last, but certainly not least, is a really neat skein of Noro Sakura which is a really unique yarn. Fabulous bright colorway and it periodically has these sections where the yarn is wrapped around the base in a way that totally reminds me of the friendship bracelets I used to make with my friends from embroidery thread back in the day -So fun! Thanks Sasha!

Lastly, a big hug and thank you to everyone for the kind words and good wishes you've sent my way as I have been making my way way through the slowest labor ever recorded, I really appreciate it... you guys are keeping me (somewhat) sane.

Next time: Baby Knits - the longer BtB stays in, the more I get done...so that is the bright side of this whole thing. BTW, generally a bad sign when the nurses at your doctor's office take a look at you and say, "Man, you are going to drop that baby any minute!"

Young man, this behavoir is unacceptable...

Where to start?

I finished objects to share.

I have fun prizes from blog contests I have won recently to show off.

I'm still pregnant. Barely. Annoyingly. Frustratingly. Painfully. Crazily. Still. Pregnant.

So much to cover, so little time and really, I want to skip the knitting stuff and go right to the baby kvetching.

So I'll compromise: a little knitting and then I get to bitch share my story.

So here's a shock, I have baby knits to show. Knock y'all over with a feather, right?
Ah, yes. Another rendition of the Bib O'Love (full size this time) and the Baby Genius Burp Cloth from the indispensable Mason-Dixon Knitting. I knit these from Lion Cotton (Lion Brand's version of kitchen cotton) in the Wedgewood colorway on size 6 Crystal Palace bamboo straights. It took me a little more than one ball to make both. I love the way the variegated yarn made a cool x pattern on the bib. Unfortunately, you can tell where I switched to the new ball of yarn on the burp cloth. I thought they were both the same dye lot but I had misplaced the ball band for the first skein so I couldn't be sure... In the end I figured it, screw it, it's just a burp cloth. These two cuties will be winging away to Rochester, NY as part of a gift for our good friends who had a little boy a couple weeks ago.

I swear, I am actually going to make some of these for my kiddos at some point- hopefully before they graduate from college.

OK. Enough knitting for now. I will share my fantastic blog contest prizes next time... I have to get the ridiculousness that is the last week of my pregnancy off my chest.

BtB, he is a troublemaker.

I may feel 500 times better at this point in my pregnancy than I did with my daughter but he is causing me grief nonetheless. As y'all know, I have been having contractions for over a week now, and at my doctor's appointment last Thursday I was 2 cm dilated so I was making progress. Thursday night the contractions went from 20-25 minutes apart to 10-12 minutes apart. Hooray! More progress.

Friday night arrives. Contractions are now 5-6 minutes apart. When they had been consistently at this pace for 3 hours we called into the hospital to check in and see what our next step should be. Come on in, they told us, but need to rush or hurry since the pain was still completely tolerable for me. So we call our sitter to come watch Pooh Bear and we finally arrive at the hospital around 1:30 in the morning. We are put in a triage room in the Labor & delivery wing, hooked up to all the fun monitors and then we wait for a doctor to come around to check on me. At 2:00 the doctor comes in, checks me and says that I am 3 cm dilated and she feels I am still in latent (early) labor. She goes off to check with her chief to figure out what to do with me. They decide not to send me home but to see if I can walk myself into active labor. Hubby and I are told to go walk the hospital and to come back at 4:00am to be checked again.

Walking at 2 in the morning. For two hours. fun. Did I mention I had slept maybe two hours the night before? But I will prevail. I will do what they ask and get to active labor. I have rarely met a physical challenge I couldn't overcome and this is no different. I am going to have a baby dammit.

A hospital is very boring between the hours of 2 and 4am.

At four we are back in labor & delivery and my contractions are now a) 2-3 minutes apart and b) more painful. Both good signs.

A quick cervical check shows that I am now 4 cm dilated. Yes! I have accomplished the tasks set before me. But wait, the refs throw a penalty flag and put the baby game on hold.

My cervix is not thinning like they would like, maybe I am not where I need to be. The doctor leaves to consult with her chief again.

Minutes drag on and finally at 4:30 am the doctor comes back with the good news that they have decided to admit me. Hallelujah! I am going to have a baby.

We are assigned a room for which Hubby is very grateful- even the horribly uncomfortable sofa/bed combo they have for family members in the labor rooms seems like a feather bed at this point- we are both exhausted.

I get my IV put in- the nurse chose a horrendous location- as soon as it was in I realized that it totally restricted my hand/wrist range of motion and that there would be NO KNITTING possible as long as it was there. At 5 am my fuzzy, sleep deprived brain thought this was a crisis and I almost asked her to move it but it was pretty painful the first time and I am not quite psychotic enough to go through that again (in retrospect it really was a bad location, I could barely change my clothes). They told me to try to get some sleep so I did.

Fast forward to 8:30am. The doctor comes in and wakes me up. My contractions have slowed down to 7-9 minutes apart so she wants to check me again to see what, if anything, is going on.

You know what's coming don't you?

Zero progress. Nothing. Zip. Nada.

*sigh*

They discharge me and send us home.

So disappointing. So close and yet so far.

Since Saturday morning my contractions have bounced all over the place. We have been walking everyday trying to to get to active labor. I can get close. Last night the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they were pretty painful but clearly I am still here so....

I know I still have three weeks until my due date so everything is fine but it is just the frustration of being so close and going home empty handed. The constant contractions and everything else is just making me uncomfortable so I am Ready.

Seriously, the concept of walking around dilated to four cm while my insides play Twister for more than a few more days makes me crazy.

So listen to your mama little boy and come on out, we want to meet you!

Hey look! Knitting!

Another day done and BtB is still cooking :) It will be interesting to see what my OB says tomorrow afternoon- if things are progressing or if they have come to a standstill. Go baby, go! Mama is tired of being pregnant.

Tonight I actually have knitting to share... Here is my finished baby blanket.

This is the Baby Blanket from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. Knit from Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in Willow on my trusty Addi Turbos (Size 7 & 8). It matches the hat I knit a couple weeks ago. Here they are as a duo:

This blanket was a super fast knit- it has been done for well over a week (it is a small blanket, 18" x 24", good for car seats or use in a swing or bouncy seat). I cast on for it on a Tuesday night and wove in the ends on the following Saturday afternoon. I would definitely make this again and I think it would be a great gift item.

That's it for tonight. I need to put the finishing touches on a couple things and then I need to do a little housework before bed. Sleep is good.

I'm pooped.

So excuse the lameness of this post. I have lots of goodies to share but it will have to wait for another day... I am just too tired tonight.

I have been plugging away on my two gifts. My bib and burp cloth are done except for the button that needs to be sewn on the bib. And I now have 21 of 29" complete on the bath scrubby. After I finish the tube I "just" need to do 19" of i-cord.

I have two baby projects that are eating away at me, crying out to be cast on but I am being good, holding them at bay until the gifts are done.

And speaking of the baby-to-be (BtB), he is certainly giving us a lot of hints that he will be putting in an early appearance (those of you who are only interested in knitting can turn away now, this post is taking sharp left into Babyville). I have been having consistent low-grade contractions since Saturday night with a journey into some pretty intense contractions Sunday night (as in I thought we were headed to full-on labor intense). As a result of Sunday's fun and games Hubby decided not to make his scheduled trip to San Fran this week. So of course, with that decision made the contractions let up and have been pretty mild and less frequent... Typical. You know that I would have gone into full blown labor the minute he stepped on that plane but now.... :)

And just to keep us on our toes, BtB decided to take a looooooooonnnnnnnngggg siesta today and not move or kick for hours, freaking us out. One trip to Labor & Delivery later everything is fine. As soon as the nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitors he "woke up" and his heart rate was everything it should be. I was grateful he was fine but somewhat chagrined at making a wholly unnecessary trip to the hospital. At least I found out that I am now 1.5 cm dilated (half a cm more than on Thursday) so things are making slow progress. My doctor has said she'll admit me when I hit 3 cm so I am halfway there (since I was induced last time we have no idea if I am a fast or slow laborer so they will admit me a little earlier than they would with some women just in case I am fast).

BtB will be 37 weeks (technically full term) on Saturday so he can feel free to put in an appearance anytime after that. I hope he doesn't dawdle. Stick a fork in me- I'm ready to be done.

The stash not flashed...

Well, I was going to snap some pictures of the yarn stash this evening after Pooh Bear went to bed but it isn't going to happen (sorry Robyn, I'm an SP10 Contest Slacker). Why not? Let's just say climbing up the two flights of stairs to my craft disaster room holds little to no appeal when your are sitting on your couch experiencing false (I hope) labor. Oh the joy! Oh the amusement! Oh wow, that hurt. Better now. Still not climbing any stairs until I have to...

I can tell you about my stash... A picture may be worth a thousand words but words, well, they are worth 1/1000 of a picture.

Seriously, my stash is not all that exciting even if it has enjoyed exponential growth since the beginning of the year. Kind of like my belly.... hmmm. Stash enhancement justification! Katie's First Law of Pregnant Yarn Acquisition: One's stash must grow in proportion to one's pregnant belly. Kind of like men gaining sympathetic pregnancy weight. Pregnant knitters of the world rejoice and unite! You really need that yarn. (I am nothing if not an enabler- don't say I never did anything for you) For those of you who aren't pregnant- sorry. But give me time, I'll be un-pregnant here shortly (please lord, let it be really shortly) and I'll have to come up with the Corollary for Non-Pregnant Stash Acquisition.

Actually, my stash is very easy to visualize: just imagine the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, Baby Cashmerino, and Cashmerino Aran displays at your lys. Yes, the whole thing. Good. Now to that add the RYC Cashsoft display. Toss in a few skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Hand Dyed Cotton and a few of their organic cotton skeins. Got it? Next add around 20 skeins of Rowan Handknit Cotton and 10-15 balls of various "kitchen" cottons. That's about it. Oh, well, you can toss in a dozen skeins of sock yarn: 3 STR, 1 Yarn Pirate, 1 Sea Wool, 5 Shibui, 2 Lorna's laces, 2 Claudia's Handpainted- ok, so that is more than a dozen, technically 14. That's really about it. I mean, I have other random stuff but really- lots and lots of Cashmerino and Cashsoft- I love the stuff.

OK, I need to dash, I have knitting to so and my post from earlier today did nothing to restore my mojo (I had kind of hoped whining would magically make knitting happen) so I need to get my fingers on the needles or the three pairs of booties I am imagining will remain a picture in Last Minute Knitted gifts and three skeins of baby cashmerino in my stash (off white, light blue and apple green in case you were wondering).

Ack! I've lost my mojo.

Yup, Austin Powers and I have that in common (I hope that is all that we have in common).

For a couple weeks there I was flying. The needles were flying and the yarn was sailing. And now? Um. Not quite a grinding halt but reeeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyy slow.

Let me pose this question to you: What takes longer, a baby blanket or a burp cloth. Well, duh. The burp cloth should be a breeze and the blanket will take longer. Unless you are me. Last week I cast on for a baby blanket on Tuesday night and wove in the ends on Saturday afternoon. That's right, less than 5 full days start to finish- awesome! On Sunday I knit a Bib O'Love. Fantastic! On Monday I cast on for the Baby Genius Burp cloth. Figured it would be done on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. Today is Friday. The burp cloth is incomplete. Really incomplete. Halfway done and that's it. I just cannot get going on it. I think about it when I sit down. I have it next to me on the couch. I pull it out of the bag and I think I knit but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Here's the problem, or at least what I suspect is the problem. I have many little knits I want to make for my impending arrival. The burp cloth- not for #2. It is a gift for friends of ours who just had a baby. They live in Rochester, NY so I need to get it done so I can mail it, the bib, and a couple other things off. But I really want to work on things for my baby. And so, I procrastinate and I make no progress on anything while every day the clock ticks closer to my due date and piles of yarn languish, hoping that someday they will be adorable little booties.

I actually have one other project, the bath scrubby, that I need to finish and mail off. I'm about halfway done with that too and it is also more time consuming than I thought (how hard can a 29" tube of stockinette knit in the round be?).

Ugh. Just last week I felt like I could whip out anything in a miraculously short time frame and now I am lodged in a quagmire.

I'll post pictures of the baby blanket soon. I also need to Flash my Stash for SP10 before the end of today. But for now? Back to the grind. The booties may be singing my name like a siren but I will prevail (I hope).

I'm a Lucky Girl!

Guess what has arrived?

My Secret Pal 10 package complete with the big Reveal Information!

Let me say, a big

THANK YOU!!!!!

to my fantastic pal: Karen Malave of The Knitting Patch.

Just like my first goodie box this one was full of lovely things:

Let's see...

-Chocolate (Lindt Milk Chocolate with Toffee bits & Toblerone), can't go wrong there, yum!

-A copy of Knit 2 Together (yippee! multiple projects from this book are on my "to knit wish list")

-An adorable needle felting kit (I have been ogling needle felting kits online and classes around town for months but had not done anything about it yet- now I just have to find the time)

-And lastly, a beautiful skein of Sea Wool with the dpn's and stitch markers to make the Bordello Socks on the label (I swear Karen was reading my mind, I have picked up and put done a skein of Sea Wool every single time I have gone into a yarn store of late. And this colorway is a perfect choice for me, a red with touches of pink that beautifully combines my two favorite colors)

Participating in SP10 has been a great experience, it has been so fun to receive fun gifts in the mail. I still have one more package to send to my spoilee (I opted to do three packages) but I need to finish up the bath scrubby I'm knitting before I can get it out the door. I'm about halfway done and hope to finish it by the end of the week so I can send it off and reveal myself. I keep putting off working on the scrubby because I don;t like the yarn... I know I could just scrap the thing and send a store bought scrubby but it isn't the same and, well, I'm stubborn. I will conquer the Aloo!

Same Knit Time, Same Knit Channel

I feel like I really am becoming the blog equivalent of a 24/7 all baby knits cable channel but I am in a rut rhythm and I am scared to go in another direction for fear I'll lose my BK mojo.

And so, here is today's humble offering:

And here is a close up to show the pattern and a better representation of the color (apologies for the sad indoor lighting).
This is the baby hat from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. I knit it in the called for Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in the Willow colorway (#85). This colorway is basically a blend of the Sage and Bone colorways and I picked so that it would blend with the Bolero I finished few days ago. (Cute baby sets!) I won't bore you again with my undying passion for this yarn. Knit on size 7 & 8 Addi Turbo circulars. I finished this Tuesday night so it took no time at all (cast on Monday night) and it would have been even quicker if I had not had to rip the first 12 rows out because I can't read.


That done, last night I cast on for the matching blanket:

I am about a quarter of the way done already. It is a small blanket only 18" x 24" but after the Albatross Experience small is good (my mother always told me that good thing come in small packages). This is the same yarn as the hat.

Both the hat and the blanket together only take 3 skeins of yarn so I'm going to keep this in mind for future gifts as it is (relatively) thrifty and quick. When I purchased the yarn I had it in my head that it was going to take four skeins so I will have leftovers... Anybody have a good bootie pattern that utilizes worsted weight yarn? Or another little baby garment that only takes 150 yards? If not, I'll hang onto the yarn for future use but I just thought I'd ask.


Lastly, here is something I rarely do. I tend not to flash pictures of my daughter all over this blog because I am slightly paranoid (hence the use of a pet name for her) but tonight I cannot resist. She was just being too adorable and I have to show off share.
Besides, I'm sure that #2 will have plenty of pictures here on the blog when he joins us so this way when my daughter is 16 and hates me she can't say I didn't give her equal time.


OK. That's it for tonight... I'm going to go knit so I can get this blanket done (figuring it will take about a week) because at some point I need to make a pair of socks for me.

More of the same

That's right! More baby knits! I swear, one day I will make something else. I have yarn on hand for a few "for ME" knits but they always seem to get back-burnered. I wonder why that is? :)

Here is my latest incarnation of the Baby Bolero from Oneskein.

I really like this pattern. The yarn is fabulous- Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton (I used the Sage colorway). Soft and squishy and oh-so-nice to knit with. I worked this sweater as the pattern was written but I chose not to do the little motif on the back. I did have to go down a needle size to get gauge however (Addi Turbo's in Size 7 and 8).

This is my second bolero and I have plans to make a third with short sleeves and contrast trim (I may go really crazy and make the trim seed stitch instead of ribbing *gasp*).

Tonight I cast on for a new baby project- the baby hat & matching blanket from Natural Knits for Babies & Moms. OK, I only cast on for the hat but the blanket will be next. The hat shouldn't take too long so I'll wait until it is done to post pictures (I'd be halfway through right now if I hadn't misread the directions through a white chocolate cheesecake induced haze at Purly Girls earlier... I had to rip back to the cast-on and start over).

Lest you think knitting for baby-boy-to-be is my sole focus I am making some (slow) progress on my other WIPS. The Bath Puffy is about halfway done. I can only work on it for short amounts of time because the yarn annoys me so much.

Also, to mitigate a teensy bit of mommy guilt (I'm not making anything for daughter- I am a horrible person) I have been slowly working on the socks I started for her. To be honest, I love working on her socks. I love the yarn (Cashsoft DK), like the pattern and adore! my fabulous little teeny rosewood Lantern Moon Sock Stix. If it weren't for the impending baby deadline these socks would definitely be at the front of the line.

That's it for now, the bun in the oven is telling me to eat something sweet and delicious but since I am on a modified low-sugar/carb diet (ahem, please ignore the cheesecake reference above) I think he'll have to make do with some sugar free jello or pudding *sigh* So unfair. Whatever happened to eating (cookies) for two?

Punctual?

Er, not so much. Although today is technically a tomorrow, just not the one I had in mind when I told you there would be finished object pictures "tomorrow." So sue me. You won't get much and you'll find my sock yarn stash underwhelming. It's hardly worth the effort.

But better late than never, eh?

These are my finished Baby Bottoms from Knitting Pure & Simple. The yarn in Rowan Handknit Cotton in Chime (3.5 skeins, I think). I knit these on the called for needle size of my Addi Turbos. My gauge is a bit big but babies grow so I wasn't stressing over it. The pattern has several options: elastic waist pants, Elastic waist pants with feet, footed overalls (high waisted), and the overalls without feet. These are obviously the high waisted overalls with feet. I think I will make another pair keeping the feet (fewer booties/socks to chase around) but trying the elastic waist. There is a matching cardigan pattern available for free on-line and I might have to add that to my ever-growing list of knits-to-do.

Here is a close up of the cute train buttons I found to complete the project.

My husband likes trains so I had him in mind when I was shopping, I guess.

In other knitting related news, I received my invitation to join Ravelry today. Yippee! I can't wait to get started although I fear this may cut into my already inadequate knitting/blogging/reading time.

Oh. Are you wondering what happened to the promised new WIP picture? No? I didn't really think so but I'll tell you anyway. It is now a FO. Pictures tomorrow. REALLY. I already took them. And uploaded them. No excuses. Tomorrow night...

The best laid plans

I had every intention of having a nice Finished Object post tonight but, I don't.

The Object is finished, I just didn't get around to taking a picture and now I am too lazy to go take one. I blame sun exposure. After all, we don't often have 85 degree days in May here in Seattle (everyone who lives here knows summer doesn't start until July 5th). My whole being is thrown off by the flaming orb in the sky.

I'll have it for you tomorrow. Maybe I'll even take a picture of my new WIP. It isn't anything exciting since it is my second time around with the pattern (Baby Bolero from OneSkein) but hey, it's knitting and this is a knitting blog :)

Which brings up an interesting conundrum: The more time I spend knitting, the less time I have to blog. So then I feel like I am neglecting something but it is a knitting blog (technically) and so there needs to knitting content so I need to knit... such a catch 22. Oh well. I'm trying to keep the knitting part of this blog pretty steady now since I pretty much know that once #2 is born this will probably become an "all baby all the time" forum- at least for a while. It seems to be a trend in the blogosphere. Consider yourself warned.

Off to work on the teeny bolero.

Phew!

Well, I am glad to hear that I am not alone in my bewilderment over clueless women birthing babes for fun and entertainment, I was beginning to wonder.... hmmmm. Maybe I should cut down on my cable tv consumption.

And to address a couple comments- I know the birth of my daughter was an anomaly- there was nothing normal about it and most women never even see a 24th of of labor, let alone twice that, thank goodness. A brief (as possible) explanation: I had pre-eclampsia and had to be induced at 37 and a half weeks. Inductions are not the fastest things ever and mine was no exception. I had two rounds of cervadil (12 hrs each) followed by pitocin. While the cervadil caused contractions I really made no progress dilation-wise until I got the pitocin so I got to experience all the fun of contractions with none of the results for a full day- yippee. My water broke naturally around 32 or so hours (not really sure, it is all a little hazy) and I finally dilated fully and got to push around 40 hours- and then I just kept pushing... I pushed for at least 7 hours which is unheard of but I had really good stamina and there was a complex emergency c-section down the hall that robbed me of my doctor for a while so the nurse and I just kept going (I'm a bit stubborn). It finally became apparent the Pooh Bear was stuck and I was delirious so it was c-section time. I keep saying I could write a book about the labor experience because I literally experienced almost every aspect possible.

This time will be better because I cannot be induced again due to the c-sec (the contractions induction causes are really hard on the uterus and can be too much for one that has been cut open previously). So it is either a naturally occurring labor or another c-section for me. I'm hoping to skip the c-section this time but I'll be happy with whatever method is the safest for #2.

One last comment before I move on to knitting (which is why most of you read this blog, not to hear my ridiculous life moments), so if you're bored hang tight... yarn is coming.

Despite the hours of labor and the exhaustion I experienced, the actual physical pain was not at all what I expected. Yes, I had an epidural but not until I was almost 9 cm so I felt my fair share of contractions... Honestly, and women everywhere are going to want to kill me for saying this, but it was a lot more painful when I blew out my ankle several years ago dancing. It was not as excruciating as I feared, for me anyway. Maybe I am just used to "playing through the pain" from dancing for so long (you know, if it ain't gushing blood or falling off, you're fine, keep pirouette-ing). Or maybe I had so freaked myself out to think it was going to be horribly painful that the actual experience was a "let down." Or maybe I'm just weird...

AND NOW WE COME TO THE KNITTING PORTION OF OUR PROGRAM

I am actually making progress on those WIPs I posted about last week- hooray! I'll be ready for another round of cast-on-itis in no time :)

I finished these three days ago but didn't get around to taking a photo until tonight.

These are the downsized booties from the Royal Baby set I made earlier. I'm just pleased my math worked out and they still look like the intended product. Here's a picture for size comparison's sake.

I also have been working on my baby bottoms.

I'm really pleased that I figured out how to do the foot on the first leg with a minimum of brow crinkling and swearing... not having made socks before this was my first experience with a seamless, sock-like structure. I'd like to complete these over the weekend so I can get to work on the other 200 baby knits I have in mind. Nine months is simply not a long enough gestational period to get all the requisite baby knitting in... I'm ready to be done being pregnant and mentally/physically wouldn't mind if he comes early but at the same time, every day he's in there = more rows completed!

Labor is not a Spectator Sport

So one of my obsessions, pregnancy-wise, is watching the myriad of reality shows on tv dealing with birthing babies. You know the genre: A Baby Story, Bringing Home Baby, Runway Moms (although seeing fabulous looking pregnant women always makes me feel inadequate, I still watch the show- glutton for punishment, I guess), Babies: Special Delivery, et cetera. The premise is the same, follow a mom/couple through the last bit of her pregnancy and her labor/delivery, followed by a brief stint of the life at home post-birth.

With the exception of Bringing Home Baby the focal point of all these shows is the labor scene with all the requisite shots of the mom huffing, puffing, grunting and screaming through the pain. Why do I watch? I'm not sure. But I do... I can't help it.

I enjoy watching but two things do bother me.

Does no one take the pre-natal classes I had to take? Some of the couples are sooooooooooooo clueless. They don't know what to expect other than the general notion that a baby will somehow appear at the end of the day. Now I know that not everyone has access to all the resources I did but seriously folks. Last week I watched one episode where the woman was a mere six hours into labor and was freaking out because (insert extremely whiny, pitiful sounding, sob inflected voice) "nobody told her it was going to take so long."

So long? Puh-lease. You got an epidural at 2 cm- how bad can it be? You just said you can't feel your feet- are you really in pain or are you just bored? We all know that those of us who grew up in the MTV era supposedly have no attention span.

As the woman who had a 48 hour labor episode before they wheeled me in for a c-section, peddle your sad little pity party elsewhere. Really. You have had nine months (give or take) to prepare for this moment- could you not have read a book, a pamphlet, or a website? Asked your mom, hell, asked any woman who has kids- somewhere along the line someone would have disabused you of the notion that labor is a relatively rapid experience (and yes I know that some women have miraculously quick births but thinking about them just makes me jealous and bitter so I try not to think about them).

My second issue? This is probably just quirk of my personality but I do not understand the women who have a bajillion people in the birthing room with them. Yes, birth is a wonderful, magical thing- but folks, no matter how you look at it, it ain't pretty. And call me crazy but the last thing in the world I would ever want would be my in-laws in the room with me. And do you really think your five year old son/daughter needs or wants to watch you give birth? Seeing mommy crying and screaming for multiple hours? My daughter freaks out if I lay down on the couch, thinking something is wrong- seeing me give birth would no doubt result in my paying for years of therapy for her. Sorry, but the only person not in the medical profession who is allowed in the room with me is my husband. He sees me every morning with bed-head and all those other not so glamorous moments we all experience. I think he has a realistic view of me and the vigors of labor won't disillusion him at this point in our relationship. Besides, he had a hand in this process and should be there so I can wring his neck and call him names when the pain kicks in for the miracle that is birth.

I've spent a great deal of my life on stage but ladies, birth is not performance art.

I promise no ranting in my next post, I have knitting content to share.

My Bag Overfloweth

Last week I received an email from my lovely & talented SP10 Hostess Robyn with our next contest "assignment": photo and blog all your WIPs. Now had this e-mail arrived 24 hours earlier this would have been a piece of cake. I was being very productive, slowly whittling away at the projects I had on the needles until I only had two left (can you believe?).

But alas. The email landed in my inbox mere hours after a cast-on crisis (four new projects in an afternoon). And so I have a much longer list... and my knits barely fit into the ol' knitting bag.

First up is my oldest UFO, the Razor Shell Lace Scarf (pattern by Hilltop Yarn, an lys) started early last December.

The end product is beautiful and I love the yarn (BSA Royal Alpaca) but it is dull to knit. The lace pattern is only a two row repeat so it doesn't require a lot of brain power. The whole thing is supposed to be 109" long but I will shorten it (I'm only 60" tall so I hardly need a scarf that long). This picture is old but I haven't picked up the scarf in moths so it is, unfortunately, still accurate.

Next up are the Baby Bottoms (scroll down) from Knitting Pure and Simple.

I'm knitting these from Rowan Handknit Cotton in Chime (#204). My gauge is a little big but I went with it because babies grow and I'm guessing #2 will get more use out of these in the fall than he will in the summer. I took this picture 2 days ago so I am actually a little further along now, I just finished turning the heel on the first leg.

And now we get to the results on my cast-on mania from last week.

Booties from the Royal Baby Set, v. 2.0.

You might recognize these... I recently finished up the whole set but decided the booties were way too big for a newborn so I employed some math and came up with this, reduced size version. All the details (yarn, etc.) are the same as the original project.

And then there is the Knitted Puffy from OneSkein.

This is knit from Aloo (nettle) yarn. Let me just say that this is a great idea for a project and I have wanted to make it ever since I got the book. My intention was to make several of these puffies and use them as gifts at Christmas combined with some yummy bath products. This first puffy is intended for my Secret Pal and it may very well be my LAST one. Allow me to make a public service announcement: If you do not like knitting with cotton, do not try aloo. I love knitting with cotton- I don't have any issues with it not being springy or having no give, etc. Aloo is another beast entirely. I can knit about ten rows in a sitting before I have to move on to something else. The yarn is stiff, sticky, twisty and generally a pain in the ass to work with. I knew it was going to be a different experience, it being a very "natural" fiber, but, ugh. And to think I had a really hard time finding the yarn. Must be lots of folks like me out there thinking "Hey, cool. Nettle Yarn." Maybe next time I should give a bit more thought to what Nettles are? Since I am a glutton for punishment and I already own the yarn, I probably will make more of these puffies- it just won't be in the very near future.

And now we arrive at my favorite WIP- little socks for my Pooh Bear!!

With everything I've been knitting for #2 I had to cast-on something for my darling daughter (oh, the mommy guilt!). This pattern is from Blue Sky Alpacas and matches the bonnet I made a while ago. The yarn is the same Rowan Cashsoft DK in Bella Donna. This is my first pair of "real" socks, even if they are little (all my previous booties for babies have been seamed) and I am so excited! I have a couple more inches complete now (the picture was taken a couple days ago). I am having a blast knitting these...

The last WIP is this:

What is it? I'm not saying just yet, this is my "Secret Squirrel Project, Part 1a" and it will be revealed sometime later in the summer, assuming all goes according to plan. The color in the above photo is off, the color is really a rose pink.

And that's it. Six projects. But my fingers are itching and the yarn for another one has somehow made it's way from my craft room to my knitting bag so keep your eyes on the list to the right it could be expanding (again), soon.

I'm feeling lazy...

So I will jump on this bandwagon. Actually it was kind of interesting to take inventory of all that I have accomplished in the last year. And there is always another challenge ahead, I guess that is what keeps knitting exciting and fun!



Bold for stuff you've done, Italics for stuff you plan to do one day,
and Normal for stuff you're not planning on doing.



Afghan

I-cord

Garter Stitch

Knitting with Metal Wire

Shawl

Stockinette Stitch

Socks: top-down (working on my first pair right now!)

Socks: toe-up

Knitting with Camel Yarn

Mittens: cuff-up

Mittens: tip-down

Hat

Knitting with Silk

Moebius Band Knitting

Participating in a KAL

Sweater

Drop Stitch Patterns

Knitting with Recycled / Second Hand Yarn

Slip Stitch Patterns

Knitting with Bamboo Yarn

Two End Knitting

Charity Knitting

Knitting with Soy Yarn

Cardigan

Toy/Doll Clothing

Knitting with Circular Needles

Baby Items

Knitting with Your Own Handspun Yarn

Slippers

Graffitti Knitting

Designing Knitted Garments

Cable Stitch Patterns

Lace Patterns

Publishing a Knitting Book

Scarf

Teaching a Child to Knit

American/English Knitting

Knitting to Make Money

Button Holes

Knitting with Alpaca (Scarf in progress)

Fair Isle Knitting

Norwegian Knitting

Dying with Plant Colours

Knitting Items for a Wedding

Household Items (Dishcloths, Washcloths, Tea Cosies...)

Knitting Socks (or other small tubular items) on Two Circulars

Olympic Knitting

Knitting with Someone Else's Handspun Yarn

Knitting with dpns

Holiday Related Knitting

Teaching a Male How To Knit

Bobbles

Knitting for a Living - if only...

Knitting with Cotton

Knitting Smocking

Dying Yarn

Steeks

Knitting Art

Knitting Two Socks (or other small tubular items) on Two Circulars Simultaneously

Fulling/Felting

Knitting With Wool

Textured Knitting

Kitchener BO

Purses/Bags

Knitting with Beads

Swatching

Long Tail CO

Entrelac Knitting

Machine Knitting

Knitting with SelfPatterning/SelfStriping/Variegating Yarn

Stuffed Toys

Knitting with Cashmere

Darning

Jewelry

Knitting with Synthetic Yarn

Writing a Pattern

Gloves

Intarsia

Knitting with Linen

Knitting for Preemies

Tubular CO

Freeform Knitting

Short Rows

Cuffs/Fingerless Mitts/ArmWarmers

Pillows

Knitting a Pattern from an On-Line Knitting Magazine

Rug

Knitting on a Loom

Thrummed Knitting

Knitting a Gift

Knitting for Pets

Shrug/Bolero/Poncho (I’ve made a baby one but not a real size)

Knitting with Dog/Cat Hair (ick.)

Hair Accessories

Knitting in Public