1 Week to Go

I am feeling well! I have finally been able to wear my maternity jeans for the final 3 weeks of pregnancy without them totally falling down. Though, the most expensive pair just wasn't going to work at all and went into a donation bag for Good Will complete with tags on still. I have to laugh when I pull on my so called "skinny jeans" that are actually funnel shaped to accommodate pregnancy. Non maternity tees are still working just fine.

I have still not packed my hospital bag! It will certainly be better if I do it rather than leaving it up to Jeff at the last minute--who knows what he would pack in there? I can picture it now, my bag would have the dog dishes and kibbles and the dog bag would contain my toiletries and clothes!!

I have been out shopping again. I love the little Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore rattles I found at Barnes and Noble. They have a fun sound and can hang on the car seat. And, I couldn't resist the plush Eeyore. He is looking up from the playard here.

The Chicco playard arrived and Jeff set it up in the living room and it looks like it will be really helpful and safe. It isn't at all quick to collapse and move, so we decided to get a little bassinet for next to our bed.

(bassinet photo from Babies-r-us)

When we were shopping for the bassinet, we finally got a glider and ottoman too. Everyone says we "must have one". I hope it will work out at least for Jeff. The one in the store seemed really comfortable, but what we now have set up at home seems too tall for me and the ottoman too low even though it is supposed to be exactly the same thing we tried out!

(glider/ottoman photo from Babies-r-us)

I think what I really need is a new armchair and ottoman for the living room. I like to slouch with my legs out straight. The vintage chair I've been using is getting too worn and I've already moved it's matching ottoman up to the nursery to use with the new chair in there. Ikea has an Ektorp set which would probably suit me, but we'll see about that in a couple of months or when we have some time/energy for getting that sort of thing.

Jeff's sister K sent an adorable selection of baby gear and a little board book. He's going to be one well dressed and entertained baby!

This past week, I was a bit disappointed to find out that I am not eligible to donate cord blood to the public bank because I spent more than 3 months in the UK back in 1992! I am really surprised that they would refuse a donation of otherwise eligible cord blood for such a low risk seeming reason--the possible exposure to mad cow disease. It could have been a match for someone or useful for research! Plus, I was on a student budget at the time and I hardly even ate any meat and can only specifically remember having beef one time (a gorgeous pub lunch on Ilkley Moor of beef stew in Yorkshire Pud)! For meals, I ate a lot of jacket potatoes with beans, cheese and Branston pickle sandwiches or cups of tomato soup. And, a shop directly on my way home from classes sold individual pieces of Baklava and Turkish Delights that would fortify me for my walk home in the cold and dark Scottish winter afternoons. I wish when I set up the appointment over the phone that they had asked me about my travels along with the eligibility questions they did think to ask as it would have saved me a drive. On the bright side, I can stop feeling guilty about not getting around to donating blood as they consider me ineligible for that too. I was turned down years and years ago, but really thought the restriction had been lifted since.

Fortunately, it was not a totally wasted trip as Jeff was with me and we went to Chipotle for an early dinner. I couldn't believe it when we got to the checkout and the crew of Chipotle workers told us they were "buying our dinner"! I've never had that happen before anywhere! Jeff was looking around for a hidden camera! They insisted and I can't find anything out about spontaneous free meals on the web, but they do draw business cards out of a pot for free lunches, so maybe it's just something they do sometimes? Anyway, that made us happy especially after the disappointment at the blood bank just moments before.

I am going to make an effort to rest and relax a bit more this week. One way I can do that is by knitting, of course! I am almost done knitting the 12 month sized Easy Baby Cardigan with just a couple of inches of sleeve remaining. (You can see the newborn sized one in my Christmas post.) I need to order some zippers online since I couldn't find the right type/size at JoAnn Fabric. I haven't tried machine sewing on knitting before, but I'm hoping it will be pretty easy to do. I'll try it out first on some swatches. I also have to think about what to cast on for next! If you have any good pattern recommendations for classic sorts of boy sweaters, do let me know! I'm often going to knit ahead by 1-2 years or so in the hopes that they will fit by the time I finish them.

I am also reading a Bill Bryson book called At Home: A Short History of Private Life. It's been on my list for awhile and I recently bought the paperback copy when I happened to see it at the bookstore. It's very entertaining so far.

Christmas

We had a quiet, but happy Christmas. Although we were feeling very festive, we only put up a couple of strings of lights and a jingle bell wreath on the door. I was sure if we did the usual amount of decorating, the baby would come early and there would be a new baby and decorations to take down all at the same time. I didn't want to risk having decorations up until March or something!

Jeff and I didn't do surprise gifts for each other, but I did get him a new video game (Uncharted 3) to play during his vacation and we had a few surprise presents to open from family. I got some Cascade Pacific yarn for baby knits from my mother. There were a few more things for the baby too, like a touch and feel farm animals book.

Christmas afternoon, I cast on with the new yarn for the newborn sized Easy Baby Cardigan and knit most of the body portion. Yesterday evening and today, I was able to finish up the body, complete the sleeves, seam the hood and weave in the ends. I may make ties to hold the front together as shown in the original, but first I am going to check some stores for other kinds of closures. I keep thinking snaps might be nice. It is such a good pattern that I might make the 12 month old size as well. I have plenty of the same yarn for that too. I might add buttonholes for that or possibly sew in a zipper.

Front view of the Easy Baby Cardigan.

Back view showing the cute, pointy hood.

I haven't gone out shopping the day after Christmas in years, but planned on it this year. I had a $20 coupon to spend at Williams Sonoma (from spending $100 on presents there before Christmas), so I was excited to pick something out for the kitchen. I got a fun cake pan in the shape of a tree stump. It is a different take on the yule log. It is quite adorable decorated for Christmas with meringue or marzipan mushrooms, mice or other woodland things. I think it could be fun other times of year too! At Easter, I could decorate it with chocolate bunnies and a chocolate/coconut bird's nest and jelly bean or Cadbury eggs. For kids, I could make it with some gummy worms or bugs, LOL! We also got some hot chocolate which I may wait to open until February/Valentine's Day. I can make it up in the Breville Milk Cafe I got last year. And, we got a box of Peppermint Bark. That may not make it past New Year's as it is so moreish. Everything was at least half price before the coupon was even rung in! If only one could always do that much shopping for under $20 at Williams Sonoma!

We saw lots of good sales, but the only other shopping we did was at Baby Gap and Carter's. We found 3 of the cutest onesies at Gap marked down to $2.99!! We got 9 outfits at Carter's where everything we picked was between 40 and 70% off and then we were surprised with an additional 20% taken off at the checkout.

We topped off the day with lunch out at Chipotle and later had lattes too! I think I might be back into the habit of shopping on the 26th ;)

Well, next year should be our most exciting Christmas ever, the first with our son. I can't wait to start celebrating holidays with him!

Little Boy Blue Hat

The ribbing should make this hat work for a lot of head sizes. I'm hoping it will fit from newborn to 3 months or so. The pattern is available free: here. I used up some Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran I had left from knitting Marmalade. The color is called "frost" which seems appropriate for my January baby!

I altered the pattern slightly as I got to the top decreases. I decreased more rapidly as I wanted a rounded shape and it seemed like it was going to get rather pointy if I continued to follow the pattern. But either way would be cute. I think a pom pom could be nice on top, but it's doubtful that I have enough yarn left for it.

Baby Mittens FO

I didn't have a pattern that was quite right for my yarn or gave overall dimensions for different ages, so yesterday, I improvised to make these. I hope they will fit from birth in January through April. I can fold up the cuff to shorten them a bit as long as the width is ok. I didn't make thumbs as there isn't any point in them for this age range. I think they complete the set quite nicely!

Striped Baby Hat FO

This pattern, like the socks I posted about yesterday, is from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby 2. I used up leftover yarn from the socks (and bunny, an FO from earlier this year) and altered the stripe pattern so I wouldn't run out of the brown color. I just made the stripes as I went, so maybe I would have made the first white stripe narrower if I could have anticipated exactly how it would look, but I think it's ok. The brim rolls up over it anyway.

It was a quick knit--I started and finished it yesterday! It looks cute with the socks and this outfit my parents sent.

I wonder if I can find a pattern for little tiny mittens to complete the set? I have some more of the white yarn I could use and a little of the brown I could use on the cast on edge of the cuffs...

Knitting Content!

I know, it's been awhile since I've had a knitting post, but pregnancy hasn't involved nearly as much sitting and knitting as I thought it would!

These baby socks are a pattern from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby 2, a very sweet book. (I really love the little argyle vest pattern in it.) I made two identical pairs to try to outsmart the universal tendency for socks to separate from their mates.

These were easy to make and I carried the yarn so there weren't too many ends to weave in. They are seamed up the foot/back.

I never quite know whether to slip the first stitches in the heel purlwise or knitwise. I ended up getting crossed over stitches on one side as you can see pictured to the right (if you open the picture in a new tab to see it full sized). The pictures in the books never seem to show that side! And, when I paid for a sock class once to ask that very question I was told "either way"! Arrrgh! My toe shaping stitches are crossed over too and that part is blurred in the picture accompanying the pattern. I guess it looks ok like this and the socks are tightly constructed with no gaps anywhere, which is the important thing. However, I'm curious, what do you do???

2 Months to Go!

I am excited to be heading into the last weeks of pregnancy. So far, everything has been going smoothly. The baby is getting very strong and pokes my stomach out in funny ways and we try to guess what body part it is. One can see the kicks rather than having to feel for them. He kicks throughout the day and night! I guess those nighttime kicking sessions are preparing me for even more interrupted sleep in my future. Today, I took a nap and actually dreamed about beds and sleeping!

My only difficulty is some hip and pelvis pain as the ligaments loosen up. I am not able to go for a proper dog walk and stairs can really make me hurt too. It's not bad every day, but I really notice it is worse if I do too much on a busy day and then I have to rest. I so miss sleeping on my stomach or resting on my stomach to read a book or just to flex my back the other way! I know my hips will be grateful when I can vary my positions to include stomach or back sleeping again.

I'm still keeping busy and mowed the lawn recently and cut back the butterfly bushes too. The upper body workout was good for me and I didn't have to walk much. I have plenty more cutting to keep me busy for awhile and I doubt I will get to all of it this year, but I don't want to fall too behind.

I've gained about 15 pounds. I am still wearing my pre-pregnancy tee shirts and yoga pants. I did recently get some of the yoga pants in one size up so they would stretch better around the bump, hopefully right to my due date. I have not been able to wear maternity jeans yet as they fall rapidly (and alarmingly!) down as soon as I try to walk, but perhaps they will work in the last weeks. I don't think I should have bought 5 pairs!! I don't know if I'll have to get any maternity shirts in the last weeks or not. I am not too worried about being stylish, so as long as the tees cover me, I'll try to wear them to avoid having a lot of barely worn maternity clothes in the closet. Besides, I can cover the tees with sweaters and scarves, so no one really sees them anyway!

I am eating lots of little meals/snacks at this point. It is funny how often the baby starts to kick as soon as I start to eat, like he doesn't like losing any space! I've been making Nigella's Breakfast Bars each week for Jeff and I. They are a good snack for me with lots of protein, yet also sweet enough to satisfy cravings. I am also really loving smoothies. I make them with partially thawed strawberries and blueberries and non fat Greek yogurt. I was recently shown that Greek yogurt has a lot of protein compared with the plain kind I was using...more flavor and better for me?! Yay!!

My mother has been sending a lot of new clothing for the baby and has sent a few oldies too. This is a hat my grandmother made for me! I think it will be cute to put on my son. The ribbed part can be folded up and looks cute that way too.

Jeff is still working on the nursery, but is finishing the painting phase. There is still a little more carpentry to do and small bits of painting after that, but it is getting there. I can't wait for it to be done! Then, we have furniture to move, baby furniture to assemble and accessories, clothes and toys to arrange. I am looking forward to that last part most of all!

A Big Announcement!

Our lives are changing in a very exciting way! I am pregnant and our baby is due in January!

So far, I am feeling quite well and have had no morning sickness at all. I've certainly needed some naps though!


Fall will be a very busy time with classes and shopping and getting the house ready. Hopefully, we'll get everything done so I can more or less relax for the last month or so.

I won't know gender until early in September and then I will be able to knit some more things in the appropriate colors. So far, I've knit in green as blogged about (the stuffed bunny and the matinee jacket). I'm working on a yellow kimono jacket. And, I have two pairs of little striped white and tan socks to seam up.

FO: Bunny

Bunny is from Baby Cashmerino 2 by Debbie Bliss. I made the little vest to match the jacket shown in my previous post.

The hard part of knitting toys is the face! I wanted something more than the little x stitches shown in the book. I used some (vintage!) crewel yarn from my grandmother's craft things and just went with the colors I had, otherwise I might have picked a softer pink for the nose. But, I do think the bright colors made it cheerful looking! Hopefully the lopsided bits will just be considered 'charm'.

FO: Garter Stitch Matinee Jacket

This tiny jacket is from Baby Cashmerino 2 by Debbie Bliss.

This is the 3-6 month size and I would advise buying an extra ball of yarn as I used one more than the pattern called for.

FO: Marmalade

I finally did the duplicate stitching on Marmalade to complete the argyle hearts!

It is a dim day for photos and it needs a little blocking after being rumpled on my lap while I finished it, but here it is!

Knitting Shopping

I did go for a sunny ride to Sakonnet Purls this afternoon. There are many wondrous yarns there and a lovely shop cat named Lucy. She was assisting at the checkout counter today. They have a large display of buttons that you'd be tempted to buy even if you didn't have something to sew them onto! I was looking for six hearts to embellish my Louisa Harding bag. I think these will do nicely! They are different than the ones shown in the book, but I like to personalize my knitting some.

Also on my list was the spring 2010 Kim Hargreaves book called Misty. I've liked it for almost a year now and I wanted to get it before the new spring book came out. (I am excited to see that one too, hopefully in April. Has anyone seen preview pics yet?) I am going to read through the patterns and decide what to make from it first, but I'm leaning towards Chalk. I think I would go with a dark blue denim color which looked really nice today when I held it up to the new scarf I got yesterday.

I'll go back another day for the yarn. I just stuck to items on my list today, so I have the notions for finishing and the book as a bribe to finish current things!

P.S. My new bunny bowl now contains jelly beans! Yay!

Spring Day Trip

When the days start to grow longer, I get excited about day trips. Today seemed like the perfect day to celebrate spring and Jeff's birthday (which was actually on a busy weekday last week) with a little (1 hour) road trip to Cape Cod.

I haven't really mastered the outstretched arm technique. I was hoping to show off my new haircut, but I'd opened the window which resulted in a hair tornado, so it was really a mess at this point!

We decided to go to the town of Falmouth, find somewhere scenic to walk, browse a lot of the cute shops on Main Street and do a quick look around a village style mall, go out to eat, and see a museum. Being 39 F for a high temp, it was not really a beach day...

It's not the best time of year for a walk in a garden either, but lots of shoots were coming up and there were still pretty, colorful winter berries on some of the shrubs. The nicest thing to see were spring daffs beginning to bloom!

Even though it's the 'off season' there was a lot of shopping potential. (I actually think the off season is the best time to go to the Cape!) Some of my favorite shops of the day were:

Bean and Cod, a gourmet shop that stocks Emma Bridgewater Pottery! (Squeeee!) They didn't have their summer stock ordered yet, so it will be worth another trip later. I bought a couple of melamine cups (in the Black Toast pattern) to carry out to the patio when the weather gets nicer.

Sage, a knitting shop. I was on the lookout for bag handles and Sublime yarn. They had the handles I'd like, but in the wrong color! I am very particular about the yarn I want at the moment for specific projects and I didn't see what I needed. But it was nice to look around and it's a good shop.

Uptown Dog, for some treats to take home to Saffy and Silas. It was a little on the cold side for a truck ride and beach walks, so we left them home this time. Besides, the cat likes the company. They now have a box of gourmet, frosted cookies and a new, special dog frisbee that's soft so it will be easy on their mouths.

It was hard to pick just one restaurant, as we were tempted by Italian and Mexican options, but when we saw The Golden Swan, there was no competition. We love Indian food! I really could eat it every day. We started with the vegetable appetizer platter and went through generous amounts of chutneys and then, for main course we had curries with onion kulcha. So yummy! I had no room left for gulab yamun :(

We decided to check out the Cahoon Art Museum and had no idea what to expect. Well, Mr. Cahoon had a 'thing' for mermaids...or, one wonders, if it was a 'thing' for topless ladies?! He collected items with Mermaids like these iron fence sections set into a wall in the yard.

He also painted them. A LOT. His wife painted some rather nice primitives which were also on display. I thought the mermaids were a bit odd (mainly because of the sheer number of paintings of them!), but I have to share two of the images with you. Look here, at the "Cape Knitting Co."!! This is quite the knitting group!

I think they are all knitting flipper cozies! I had such a giggle over these and thought some of my fellow knitters would enjoy them too ;)

There was a room with some 19th century pastorals that were quite nice, a show by a contemporary artist and a show of Cape Cod pottery that included some interesting gourd shaped pieces. I think the house itself, dating from 1775, interested me the most. It was a little sagging, had a number of little stairways and some gorgeous old fireplaces. The kitchen one still had its brick oven. There were some original stencils in the front hall. The windows had lovely old wavy glass.

After all these places, I was so ready for a stop at Starbucks for my bucket of a latte. It was located in the Mashpee Commons shopping village, so I went in The Gap and Williams Sonoma since they were right there in front of me. At The Gap, I was wandering around and spied a glass vase in the center of a display. It had some interesting fabric in it. Jeff said I looked like some bird with a prize worm, leaning across the wide, low display counter and pulling this fabric out of the vase. It turned out to be a sort of tie dyed scarf, which I loved! I think I'd seen it awhile ago in a magazine and filed it away as something I might want, but didn't commit to finding. When the check out girl looked at it she said she didn't even know they had it, so I'm wondering how long it's sat there stuffed in a vase?! While I waited in the checkout line, a new pair of sunglasses jumped into my hands too ;)

From there, I went to Williams Sonoma and it is a giant version of Williams Sonoma--I was in heaven! They have so much new stock, but I 'just' got an Easter Bunny dish, a spice rub and some cupcake papers. Here's a pic that also shows the new EB cups.

From there, we headed for home. I was considering stopping at Sakonnet Purls, but I think they close pretty early, so I decided to save that shop for another day. Maybe tomorrow, or next weekend! It's pretty close by.

It was such a nice day out. I feel quite refreshed and happy after a change of scenery and I love all my little mementos of the day!

Blogger Meet Up, Blog Prize and Shopping!

After I won Kristen's blog contest in August, we arranged to meet up so I could collect my goodies and we could have lunch together and peruse a knitting shop too. It's always best to have company in a knitting shop, don't you think?

We met up at the Wickford Diner which is near this pretty view of the harbor boats. I had a good, traditional diner meal: BLT on wheat with fries.

Kristen surprised me with Louisa Harding Hand Dyed Grace yarn--she reads my blog and knows just what I like =)

Also, some very interesting things to taste! I haven't had any of them before, but they are all flavors I really enjoy, so I'm looking forward to using them in the kitchen!

After lunch, we went to The Mermaid's Purl where I (at last) found a button for my Noro shrug. It will be nice not to have to pin it from now on. We had a sample of the same colorway at the store for reference, but I couldn't remember what size button I needed. Thankfully Kristen encouraged me to get it anyway and I think it turned out just right! And that's one great reason to have company at a knitting shop =)

The rain mostly held off but for a little drizzle, until the very end of our visit when we arrived back at our cars. Then, it started to pour!

Just Stranding...

I took along some car/travel knitting over the weekend, the most serious fair isle I've tackled to date. It is another Louisa Harding pattern called Flamingo.

When I swatched, I tried stranding, then stranding with weaving. Weaving seemed fussy for the runs of 6 sts at most, so I went with just stranding.

I'm not going to frog back at this point, but I really would like opinions on this. The longest floats are about 1.25 inches. Would you have caught the floats? How often?

I would like to get to a point where I am comfortable with fair isle knitting! I am an English style knitter, but I am working on my Continental for holding the second color. I am getting the hang of it, I think.

This is a learning process. I know my stitches may not be the most even I can do since I am making myself hold the yarns with two hands. I may also learn some tricks as I go, so I am not sure the entire thing will be 100% consistent, but any inconsistencies are most likely to be hidden in a seam anyway. Any advice is most welcome!

A Good Find

I ordered a fabric on Etsy, for lining March Hare. It will be fun to carry the Alice In Wonderland theme to the lining!

(Picture copied from Etsy.)

I'm still on the lookout for handles...any suggestions? They should be 16" in length and I'm thinking of some kind of brown leather similar to the ones in the book.

Autumnal Colors

There are still a few summer blooms in the garden, like pink geraniums, pink impatiens and two kinds of morning glories: blue and a ruffled pink. But there are now fall looking purple asters and a few different varieties of sunflowers. I picked a few to display in the house today.

I like the little hearts in the center of the sunflowers.

Do you see them in this detail? Sometimes they show up better, but this is what I happened to get a photo of.

Another view of the sunflower arrangement.

Uh Oh, is that more knitting? Yes, it's March Hare, a pretty bag knitted up the last couple of nights. Another item that needs finishing (and I have to find a handle/lining/buttons for it too). I have to do a major amount of blocking so I can get to some FO's! The trouble is, with new TV viewing (like the fantastic Inspector Lewis) I want to sit and watch while knitting something, not fussing over finishing details. Still, I should have some nice new finished things in October =)

Saffy got a new bed this week. It is a cushy mat with egg crate foam inside and fluffy fabric outside. She kicked away the towel so she could be directly on the soft fluff! She spun around with happiness at first.

Then settled down, but was still attentive in case there were more surprises. Eventually, she got arranged on her side and looked very comfortable.

More Marmalade Progress

Sewing on trims is so trying for me, but this one I'm feeling pretty good about! The main problem is just not feeling confident that I'm doing it right.

I ended up sewing on the trim as I went along to be sure it would match up. I am not sure if the blocking should have happened first, but I think after will be ok in this case. The edges weren't really curling.

It took an excruciating number of tries for me to get the back stitching to look nice around the back of the neck, connecting the side edge of the trim to the cast off edge of the neck.

In the next picture, you are looking down at the shoulder seam, the fabric is in a lopsided position, but you get the idea.

I have a lot of ends to weave in even though I carried the yarns up the sides. Also, I will block before attaching the sleeves, so finishing is still a ways off, but I'm getting there! Oh! I almost forgot, there is still the duplicate stitching to do as well!