Now we are one.

Peanut butter birthday cupcakes with peanut butter bones

As you can see, Dan was poised to hold them back if necessary. The 50mm proved too long for the living room.

We sang to them while they frantically choked down whole cupcakes with treats sticking out of them. They were very impressed, and spent the next twenty minutes gratefully belching.

Viking never eats as fast as Vandal, and so she ran away with her cupcake to Mommy. She didn't take her eyes off of it while she was chewing (she got most of it- Vandal broke free of Dan and got the crumbs).

Their actual birthday is tomorrow, but we wanted to celebrate today. They got new dentabones, and tomorrow I'll give them their new rope toys (to replace the throw rug they claimed and had been fighting over for months).

February is a work-in-progress

and I am actually kind of impressed with my ability to keep up with everything. The baby is very active (more so, I'm told, than other babies its age), and I am feeling pretty damn good (but TIRED). I've been knitting up a storm, and although I would rather focus on that, this week is kind of busy school-wise, and I am going to be up late tonight, writing a paper (yuck- at least it's only three pages... in grad school. yeah, I know). I've got a couple of weddings that I might be photographing (I'm in Detroit, but I'm willing to travel. And I'm cheap! Hire me!), and I am actively searching for a new job before I get so big that there's no way that I'll get hired, discrimination laws be damned. I know the second everything slows down, a baby comes out, so I'm trying to just go along with everything that's happening and simply focus on making an effort. It's not easy to keep from feeling overwhelmed.

But when I do, I get out my camera, and take a few pictures of works-in-progress:

ooh, a black felted bag. Exciting!


That's more like it- Dan thinks it looks like Fruit Stripe Gum (it's odd that he'd liken a hand-knit item to a gum, but whatevs)


It's not perfect, but it is cute- I want to bind it this weekend (and then it's done!)

FO: Bunny Blanket

Bunny Blanket
Pattern: Blanket Buddy (obviously without the head)
Needles: US 11
Yarn: Lion Homespun
February3-16

I took some liberties with the project when I realized that I was going to have a lot of leftover leftover Homespun if I didn't make it bigger. It's kind of pink, but in a neutral way. I decided against the stuffed bunny head, and opted instead to join an equal number of stitches in the round when I got near the end, and do matched decreases (like a sock toe) to make a little bonnet top. I might put bunny ears on it, but then again, I might not. The yarn is (once again) from my stash, so I wanted to use as much of it as possible! I am loving this FO streak, especially since it is clearing out my weird collection of hoarded yarn (much of which was freecycled).

The photo is in the nursery, and as you can see, there isn't a lot of afternoon light in February. It is peaceful in there, though.

(Bunny gender is simulated- actual baby sex may vary)

FO: Buttony Fade Sweater

Buttony Fade Sweater
Pattern: Buttony Sweater (inspiration)
Yarn: Samband of Iceland Lopi, and some Lamb's Pride for the sleeves
Needles: US 11
January 31-February15

Because of gauge differences, I cast on 76 stitches, with 27 on the back, 10 on each arm, and 17 for the front. I made it a crop length when the yarn gave out (I knew it would). The buttons are from Big Box craft store, and the yarn is totally stash. I am on a yarn diet, after all.

I had a phone interview today, and I have been given a real, live in-person interview (for a job that will quadruple my salary-man, am I poor!). Holy crap! Fortunately, I can actually still fit into my old interview clothes- I went to a job fair this weekend, and when I was honest about my pregnancy, the general response was, "Really? You are? I can't tell." I am five months, people.

Obviously, this sweater is for showing off my belly, not concealing it.

FO: Limari Scarf

pattern: Bulky Cabled Scarf by propertrappings (ravelry link)
Yarn: Aruncania Limari, two skeins and a bit
Needles: US size 13

This was satisfying. I actually finished it a couple weeks ago, but just got around to weaving in the ends this afternoon. The hat I made of the same yarn is getting a little fuzzy, but it's so soft, I don't care! I would knit with this again, although I don't know what I'd make with it.

And since I'm past the halfway mark, here's a photo of my 22 week belly:

Please excuse the background- I have no full length mirror, and so I used the 70s wall-tile one that's hidden behind the bookcase in the front room. :)

Knitting for class: a dilemma

Well, it's quarter to four on a Tuesday, which is precisely the time that I get to thinking about class this week (which starts at 6pm tonight. I am a procrastinator!). The requirements are simple, and yet I struggle to figure out what to bring with me. In order to qualify as "class knitting" the project needs to be:

• simple and relatively mindless
• a single color (even stripes make me look like I'm not paying attention)
• devoid of techniques that require a pattern/reference book
• large enough that I won't finish it in a couple of hours
• not so large that it doesn't fit in my bag
• made of stashed materials (so, so broke!)
  

I've got a couple of things on the needles right now (a sweater and a baby blanket), but neither of them seem to fit my criteria. I'll probably throw one of them in my bag anyway, and see what happens. Don't get the wrong idea- my classes are really interesting, but I need something to do with my hands when I'm listening or... I stop listening. It's just who I am. The knitting prevents doodling, or the creation of shopping lists.

I made a quilt for Mutie over the weekend- my first! Once I bind it and take pictures, I'll post information. I am officially a sewer now!

FO: Oldest UFO in my stash

Pattern: Something I made up, hoping it would be big enough for a bedspread (wrong!)
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver, Baby!
Hook: H?

I have had this thing since, oh, I don't know, 2000. My mother commissioned it when my parents bought the cottage, and I have worked on it here and there ever since. It's been unfinished for so long that the thought of it was always too overwhelming to even give it a try, and it has been moved to THREE different residences and stowed in a closet. Wellllll... its most recent closet was the one in the nursery, and I suppose the spring cleaning/nesting instinct combination finally got to me, and I pulled it out. I crocheted until I ran out of the colors for the stripes, bound it off, and did a simple dc border. My mother was very pleased (and surprised!) to receive it. Don't ever commission an afghan from me, unless I'm pregnant!

It's absolutely HUGE! -probably about nine or ten feet long and six feet wide. It fits over the back of the sofa and is large enough to cover a grown human completely.

In other news, I've been working on this:

It's lopi, and so it sheds worse than the dogs and isn't as soft, but I'm bustin' stash and I think it'll fit despite the baby bump, which is less a bump and more a smuggled exercise ball (and I'm only 5 months!).

FO and pattern: Limari Hat

Made this in class on 20 January 2008. It’s big and sqooshy, and not the style of hat I normally wear, but I impressed a ton of people when I started and finished a hat in class.

I wrote this to go with this totally cute scarf (Ravelry link), which I have made out of the same yarn.

Yarn: Arucania Limari, in some kind of peach colorway (it's on closeout at Webs right now for about $8/a skein!)

Needles: US size 13, or size to get gauge- I'm a really. loose. knitter. and the fabric isn't too tight (I don't like stiff hats), so you may need to experiment to get a gauge that suits you

Gauge: 1.5 stitches/inch, measured across a knit rib (I know, not too accurate, but hey)

Cable Rib pattern:
Round 1-3: *K2, P2* repeat ** around hat (9 repeats total)
Round 4: *K2, P2, CL (slip a stitch to the cable needle and hold to the front, K1, K stitch off cable needle), P2, CR (slip a stitch to the cable needle and hold to the back, K1, K stitch off cable needle), P2*; repeat ** twice more (3 total repeats)
Repeat rounds 1-4 for pattern.

Hat:
CO 36 stitches. Join to work in the round (don't twist it!). Knit in Cable Rib pattern for 7" or until the hat is almost deep enough (I made mine to cover my ears), ending in row 3 of pattern. To decrease for the top:
First row: *k2, 2tog, CL, p2, CR, p2* repeat around hat
Second row: *k2, p1, k2, p2, k2, p2* around hat
Third row: *k2, p1, k2, p2tog, k2, p2tog* around
Fourth row: *k2, p1* around
Fifth row: *k2tog, p1, k2, p1, k2, p1* around
Sixth row: *k1, p1, k2tog, p1, k2tog, p1* around
Seventh row: *k2tog* around
Eighth row: *k2tog* around, k1

Thread live yarn through the stitches and pull it shut. Weave in ends and enjoy. You probably don't need to block it.

P.S. taking pictures of yourself is tough!

Tiny Kicks

Dan felt his first baby kicks last night while we were watching a mini Dexter marathon. I didn't realize that the baby had gotten strong enough to make its presence known externally, but I felt a jab in the arm that was across my torso (there is no good way to lay on the couch anymore), and Dan was able to experience a couple of little kicks before the baby settled down.

There is a living being growing inside me. I am growing a person.

It's pretty awesome when that realization hits.