FO: Dan's Fuzzyfeet

Before
Pattern: Fuzzyfeet
Needles: Clover bamboo 16" circular, size 11 (and some aluminum circular thing for the toe)
Yarn: Patons Merino, a little bit in an oatmeal color, and most of a skein of deep olive



After
(the magazine is for size reference, although I also wanted to share the insanity of a granny square hooded poncho!)

These were fun, fast, and long overdue. They're my third pair, and I can totally see the improvement in my sock abilities over time. I almost felted them too much, but Dan was able to stretch them out a little bit while they were damp. He wants me to paint on puff paint treads in red (nice choice, I think). I have the pattern memorized now, so I will be casting on for my own pair at some point... I think.

The dogs have been extra cute lately, which almost makes up for the fact that they chewed up a string of Christmas lights and gave us quite a scare (we're not out of the woods just yet, but things have been progressing normally... down below. ahem). Someday, someday they won't be so recklessly chewy, right?

Baby Pictures

In the top one, you can see a profile on the right side, facing up. The middle one is... something I forgot, and the bottom one is of Mutie diving in an effort to obfuscate its organs from the tech. Silly Mutie.

FO: Sweet and Simple Baby Hat #2

What can I say? It's really cute. I started some booties with the leftovers from the hats, thinking there wasn't enough for a third, but if the first boot is any indication, this Microspun is like the jar of Vaseline in the medicine cabinet- no matter how much I use, I can't seem to make a dent!

So I started something else to take with me to class:

Even with cables, it's relatively mindless and knits really fast. The only thing that makes it less than ideal is the scraping sound the aluminum needles make when I'm knitting. Oh well.

We had a baby appointment today, and everything looks great. We'll have another ultrasound in four weeks because the technician didn't get the best angle of the blood vessels surrounding the heart (Mutie kept diving out of the way!), but everything else is right on track, which makes me wonder: what on Earth can I worry about now? It's too soon to start fretting about labor, and the baby's fine... sheesh. We got to take home a profile shot of the baby, and even in fuzzy black and white, it's still really, really cute. Then it was donuts and a nap- I am worn out!

FO: Sweet and Simple Baby Hat #1

Pattern: Sweet and Simple Baby Hats
Yarn: leftover balls of Lion Microspun from Holly
Needles: size 3 circs

Wow, what a cute little hat. It was perfect for class knitting. So perfect, in fact, I'm making another one:

It's a lot like the Umbilical Cord hat from SnB, but with gauges calculated for different yarns (nice!). Dan thinks they look like rainbow acorns, and that's good enough for me. It seems a little big, but as my mom said, it'll fit the kid sometime.

Here's another preview of the craft room. This is where I keep my inspiration for amigurumi and ripple afghans:

FO: Bainbridge Scarf

Silky Wool, $3 odd ball at Neighborhood Knits
size 3 needles (yipes)
Knitted 5" instead of 4" width (to cover my chin; next time I might just go with the pattern)



And here's a little preview of the new craft room:

Feeling Good

Now that the morning/evening sickness is finished, and I am cruising through my seventeenth week, I am feeling good. Not just good, but great. I've got more energy, I sleep better at night, I feel I can focus on reading and work, and the urge to knit has returned (I just need to photograph some FOs!). I have this feeling of camaraderie and love for the people around me that almost feels... drug-induced, which isn't to say that I didn't love my husband before, but that I find myself thinking specifically about it and saying it out loud a lot lately. It's great. It feels like when we said our first I-love-yous, with butterflies in the stomach and the whole shebang. Best of all, those butterflies are genuine baby movements! Little Mutie has been flopping and kicking and practicing Tai-Chi and wiggling and who knows what else, and finally, finally I am tuned into it. I realized once I felt it that I had probably been feeling it earlier, but just so faintly that I thought it was just indigestion/mild cramps (sorry, little one!). I am a natural-born worrier, and so every moment that passed between the last midwife visit left me wondering if everything was okay. I mean, there was no proof that the baby was still kicking... but now there is. All the freakin' time. The baby wakes me up in the morning, and kicks me goodnight in the evening. And yesterday, a totally cute baby/dog moment happened- Vandal jumped up on the baby gate (I had corralled the pups temporarily in the living room) and kissed my belly. I just about melted, although I realize that I had probably just wiped a potato-chip hand on my shirt. I suppose I can dream of a harmonious family where dogs love babies and nobody gets jealous...

In the next 24 hours I will have a project photo and the reveal of the new craft room, for anyone who doesn't care about babies.

Craft cyclone

I am in the midst of moving my craft room from one spot in the house to another, and there is stuff. EVERYWHERE. It's already looking great, and I'm really excited for how it will turn out. In the meantime, there are no FOs (one coming soon, I hope!), but there are some dogs who have been very, very patient during all the madness.

Camouflage!


The coldest, snottiest snout in all of dogdom

Four days and 600 square feet later...

Well, the house is torn up, but the new floors are in the living room(s) and kitchen. I can't wait to post finished pictures, but, for the moment, furniture is everywhere, shoe molding litters the floor, everything's in boxes, dogs are sliding...

Buuuuut, once that's done, then I can start on Mutie's nursery. I ordered fabric for my First Quilting Project of Some Consequence, and UPS assures me that it will be here any. moment. now. Alas, I have no craft room, and no sewing machine set up, but when the package arrives, I will hug it and kiss it and name it George. The quilt is a retro space theme, with lots of polka dots and muted, Eames-era primary colors.

There's a bloglines button in the sidebar. I've recently discovered the joys of blog subscription, and I wanted to share!

What I got for Christmas

...none of it was knitting. None of it. But that doesn't mean that I won't be getting something knitting-related for myself... sometime.

The breakdown:

• Prime lens and bracket for my 10d (hurrah!)
• kitchen goodies- pyrex refrigerator dishes, silicone spatulas, wooden spoons, a stainless frying pan, an 8-quart pot, and an old-fashioned popcorn popper
• Deadwood, season 3, The Simpsons, season 5, and Carnivale, season 2 (and the lost episodes of Ren and Stimpy)
• his and hers Nalgene bottles
• a 4.0 (that one I snuck under the tree for myself- I'm not grade-driven, but I like to look good on paper)
  
• a super-comfy robe (that doesn't have pockets that the puppies chewed to bits, might I add)
• a fine blend of gift cards
• my grandmother's Christmas tree- this was her favorite time of year, and the tree gave her so much delight that she put it up before Halloween (no joke). This is the tree my baby will see at its first Christmas, and the thought of it brings tears to my eyes- the bittersweet kind.

All in all, a pretty good haul. We spent a lot of time with family, and that is its own gift. Our trip to Chicago is canceled (or rather, postponed indefinitely), so Dan and I are going to enjoy each other's company as we rip out linoleum and berber instead. Happy holidays.

Next up: New Year's. A most dreaded holiday for the former party girl turned pregnant lady. Our solution: we're staying in. It's veggie sushi and a Lord of the Rings marathon. Not everyone's cup of tea, but we will enjoy it.

Woah

I got 100% on my acoustics final. Seriously. Apparently I guessed right on everything. And there was a lot of guessing.

Go me. Let's just see if I can repeat that performance tonight on the Syntax final. Yeesh.

Back on knitting!

Hurrah! And even a little crochet, too.

I had the itch really badly this weekend when I should have been working on a final project for school (damn you, acoustics), so I made myself one of these neat headband things that everyone on crafster called a panta. I used up the Kureyon I had left over from when I made the Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers. Like, two years ago (sheesh). Well, at least now I have a matching set, and an insatiable lust for Noro that can't be satisfied on the current (baby/school) budget. Yarn philanthropists: email me and I'll send you my address!

Then I started to crochet a Totoro for the baby, and when I looked around my disaster of a craft room, I realized that I had a lot of acrylic everywhere, and that I could make a lot of toys (really, what else is it good for?). After I finish this crochet project, I promised Dan I'd make a bunch of Katamari cousins for Little Mutie.

Then I started an elephant.

Dan's painting the front bedroom, eradicating the floor-to-ceiling royal blue in favor of a light, lemony yellow for the new and improved craft/guest room. Then it's on to the living room, and then the nursery (and then new flooring- yikes!). But I can't help him, and although I'm relieved for not having to labor with a brush, I feel bad for feeling so lazy, and I really want to be a part of improving our house. Oh, well. I'll sew some curtains or something. I am tired and nauseous, and although I am showing a little, I don't feel pregnant, and it frustrates me to not be able to do some things that I would be able to do normally.

There are tradeoffs, though. Last night, for example, I think I felt the baby move. It was a fluttering feeling, not like gas (of which there is a lot!) but... unique to my experience. Maybe it was Mutie, practicing its dance moves.

Baby's first picture

Here's the Little Mutey (mutant). Dan and I have been calling the baby that the whole time, and since we've got proof that it's a little alien, we're sticking with it. We don't want to know the gender, and unlike some folks, I have no problem calling the baby "it" for now.


It was not the most comfortable procedure, but the technician was a pro, and we even got to see the baby wave its arms and legs. The still images don't really capture the experience. Dan even teared up a little when we saw Mutey's heart beating. With a little luck (and the power of positive thinking), we'll be having a summer solstice baby.

I emerged from NaNoWriMo victorious, although the same can't be said for everyone who started the month with me. I have one more gigantic paper to write and a couple of tests, and then the semester. is. FINISHED.

Still no knitting, sadly. But I've been less nauseous lately, so who knows? Maybe a baby bonnet is in my future.

Happy Thanksgiving; moving on...

We're vegetarians. So Thanksgiving isn't our most favoritest holiday. So we get through it.

We drove 4 hours today (I say we, but it was Dan behind the wheel) and visited both of our families. We worked out the plans for Christmas, which is always a pain in the butt to get nailed down, and we made vegetarian stuffing. All in all, it was a success.

I will probably go out tomorrow to get a pecan pie, if there are any left in the stores. I didn't get any pecan pie this year.

So we got through it, and we're moving on.

It must be the hormones, but I have been singing Christmas carols for weeks, and the tree has been up since the beginning of November. I guess this year is going to be a good old-fashioned Griswold family Christmas (I've already watched that movie a couple times!).

Here's the yarn, secret pal. Sorry it took so long to get a picture of it! I am feeling a little better, but still not knitterly.

wee tiny knits

Well, I haven't been knitting lately. Not even a little bit. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of it soon, but when I do, it probably won't be for me. I'm thinking things that are a little bit smaller. Like way smaller. Like baby-sized. Although I don't know why I should knit for a baby that's been giving me morning/evening/all day sickness that is so bad I can't knit because I can't focus on things that close to my face.

Oh, well. The baby's due in late spring, and that means that it won't need too many hand knits right off the bat. Even if I make it to the end of the pregnancy without having knit a stitch (heaven forbid!) at least I will have a couple of months before cool Michigan weather sets in.

Thanks, Secret Pal, for the yarn. As soon as there's a little more light outside, I'll take a few pictures. :)

Ugh.

I am feeling a little out of it lately. The worst thing about it is that the thought of focusing on knitting, something so close to my face, is a little nauseating. I have put those projects on hold for a moment, and I have been working on something a little easier on the eyes (and tummy).

If you've never heard of NaNoWriMo*, there's still time to join (I didn't get going till the 5th last year and I still pulled it off). The race is on to produce 50,000 words toward a novel before the clock runs out on November 30th. It's a lot of fun, and stress, and this year I roped both my husband and my sister into it with me.

Happy noveling!

*The website is a little overloaded at the beginning of November, so if it doesn't load, it's not because I made this up.

Fall fall fall- hooray!

It's here! It's here! Let me shout it from the rooftops!

Check the shoes- they have little foxes on them. Adorable! (and yes, my feet are this big- it's not a trick of the lens)

This yarn is even squishier than it looks on the screen. It's the tiniest bit splitty, but I'm generally not a yarn splitter anyway, so I haven't noticed. Bamboo and cotton are a match made in heaven.

Goodbye Jaywalkers, Hello, Monkeys

Yep. I did it. I finished the seemingly endless Jaywalkers. I'll have a photo soon. I haven't felt like pulling out the camera. I haven't felt like doing much of anything except sleeping and eating lately. And sleeping. Miraculously, Vandal has been quite a friendly puppy lately, and has been snuggling up to me on the couch in the evening. I sometimes wake up because her insulatory (um, is that a word? poof-it is now) powers have set my feet on fire! She has also been accepting belly rubs, something I thought I'd never see from my little alpha.

It was almost 80 degreed today. What gives? Are we ever actually going to have sweater weather?

If I thought it was funny, this title would be a joke

So my dear, dear husband parked his manual transmission car on a hill today. This car has no parking break, mind you, because it is very, very old (but compact and fuel efficient, you see).

He just called to say that when he saw that it was missing that he knew that it probably had rolled down a hill.

HE KNEW WHEN IT WAS GONE THAT IT HAD PROBABLY ROLLED DOWN A HILL
HE KNEW WHEN IT WAS GONE THAT IT HAD PROBABLY ROLLED DOWN A HILL
HE KNEW WHEN IT WAS GONE THAT IT HAD PROBABLY ROLLED DOWN A HILL

Why oh why would anyone park their car when they knew that it was probably going to flee the scene? Is it really worth being a minute early to work rather than five minutes late? Let's do the math on this:

How much is it going to cost to get it out of the tow yard and pay the minor traffic offense? THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

That's THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS that 1. we don't have and 2. I can't believe he's three bills worth of airheaded. We're broke college kids, people!

Let this be a lesson to all: please, learn from his mistakes. Don't let your car get away!

It just keeps coming

The weather is still pretty warm this week, but it doesn't seem to have stopped fall from trucking along.

I am almost done with the Jaywalkers, which is good, because I am ready to get started on a new sock project. It's almost the kind of weather where I would wear socks, and so far I only have one finished pair!

And for my secret pal: here's the lovely circular case, with some honest-to-goodness Michigan apples. Love it!

Fall!

The weather is starting to turn a little in Michigan. Acorns are falling out of trees onto the pavement like machine-gun fire, it rains in the evening, and the leaves are just beginning to turn. Tracy and I went to the Renaissance Festival last Sunday (another sign of fall), and I took a few pictures:

I've almost turned the second Jaywalker heel, and I'm making slow but steady progress on Petal. I have finally broached the knitting-in-class idea, and so far my profs don't seem to mind. I am still participating, I'm just doing something with my hands (that isn't doodling, playing with my hair, checking my email, or texting). In fact, my acoustics instructor walked past me as I was pulling out my bag and remarked, "Huh. Another knitting linguist." Who'd have thought?

Brian and Beth get married tomorrow, and I am taking my (big bad) camera along. I bought a new (and jeebus! expensive) flash and I can't wait to try it out- the man at the shop (Eric) assures me it's fully auto. That'll be good till I get the hang of it.

Hey, Secret Pal, here's a shot of the soap- the body wash ran out this morning so I am looking forward to giving a full review.