{Babies & Dolls}

Whew, I have fallen so far behind that I wouldn't even know how to begin to catch up. Most of you either know me in real life or in "real life" so nothing would be all that new.

The biggest news, the news that's making me knit again, though, is that we're going to be welcoming a baby girl into our family in April. A girl! When I first found out I was pregnant I thought I wanted a boy. I know boys, have all boy stuff and a little brother for Emmett would be wonderful. Then I had my first scan and I decided I kind of wanted a girl. I wanted girly stuff, all shades of pink and lots of daisies. Tea parties, dolls and crafty time where I try my hardest to let her make her own thing and not interfere. And after seeing her I kind of thought she was a she...and I was right!

Anyway, a blanket is already on the needles and while I was in the states for Christmas (too much to catch up there but it was wonderful) I bought yarn for a couple of cardigans and Matt bought me What to Knit When You're Expecting by Nikki Van De Car. Before I found out the baby was a girl I swore I wasn't going to knit for this one. But how can you not knit for a girl?! Now that I have the sewing machine I want to do a bit of sewing, too. I bought Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby when I first found out I was pregnant and can't wait to make the snuggler (which can also be found here for free) as well as a few other things.

My first finished sewing project with the new machine was the doll in the (kind of lousy) photo. It's the Poppy Doll pattern from Hop Skip Jump and I cannot BEGIN to tell you how well this pattern is designed! I have loads of trouble with dolls when you have to squash the arms and legs inside and stitch around the body and you don't have to do that at all with this pattern (insert sigh of relief). I will tell you, though, that she's wearing a scarf because I'm pretty rubbish as sewing the head to the body. And I tried SEVERAL times. Ah well. And I'm a terrible blogger as I've totally forgotten what pattern I used to knit the little blue sweater.

The flower buttons were free with an issue of Mollie Makes which is a another thing I'd like to catch up on eventually. I LOVE that magazine and really think everyone should at least have a little browse the next time they're at a bookstore (it's available in the US as well). Oddly, though, I haven't subscribed to it but did subscribe to another one made by the same people called The Simple Things which is a monthly little mix of loveliness: craft, food, gardening, life. One of my favorite features is the list of simple pleasures one the back cover. A few from this this month: seeing my breath on the air - the smell of baking filling the house - the eerie silence of a snowy day - warm hands. Love, love, LOVE.

Anyway, the doll went to my mom for Christmas and there was a flurry of Christmas knitting as well after we booked our tickets. As soon as I get photos, I'll have to do a little post.

All right, time for a little nap. We just got back on Sunday and our schedules are all kinds of screwed up. We've been up until anywhere from one a.m. to four and sleeping until  anywhere from eleven in the morning to two in the afternoon! Ridiculous. It's really up to Emmett, though. I could adjust but he has no idea what time it is so we're struggling a bit.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Coming Home Cardigan

Thanks for the Emmett love! He's unbelievable and we are so unbelievably lucky. We get almost no sleep, feeding has been harder to learn than I'd expected and recovering from both an episiotomy and a c-section is challenging but I'd do it all over again in a nonsecond. In fact, I think I was already talking about having another one before I'd even reached the recovery room. He's so freaking cute I think we owe it to the world.  :)

I know I said I wasn't going to post photos of him but I can't resist! 

Coming home from the hospital was not the pleasant, sunny experience that I expected. By the time we did leave Saturday night it was after ten and I was emotionally drained and exhausted and couldn't bother changing his clothes so he went home in a cute little sleeper. I did try the matching hat on him but it didn't fit his little noggin since it had been mishapen by the ventouse and forceps. Thankfully, the pumpkin hat did fit so he had something homemade to come home in.

He had his first visitors the other day so I made sure he was wearing the cardigan.

I never ever thought I could, instantly and with all my heart, love something that I didn't pick if that makes any sense at all.  He was given to me - made by us - and I am so lucky!

Symmetry

This morning we leisurely hopped out of bed at 9:30, got ready and went into town for a nice, quiet breakfast at a new cafe that opened this week (and we've already been two three times in as many days).  Just the two of us with no pushchair, diaper bag or even Moby Wrap in sight.

Since the baby ball started rolling last night, we're really trying to enjoy these last moments.  It's rolling a bit slower than we thought it would - we were sure we wouldn't get to sleep through the night, let alone get through most of today - but signs are definitely pointing in the direction of "You Could Be Parents By the End of the Weekend!" and I feel really good about it now. Much calmer. I woke up feeling cheerier and happier than I have in days and that mood has managed to stick with me which is really saying something considering how crazy my hormones have been. 

After breakfast, as we walked back through the close, picking up leaves for reasons that will become clear in a few seconds, we talked about how amazing it is that we met in person two Novembers ago, were married with me living in a new country by the following November and that by this November we'll have had our first child.  It's absolutely amazing. What in the world could happen by November 2011?!

Matt also pointed out another funny little bit of symmetry.  Last night, after the signs started and as we were getting ready to go to bed at a crazy early hour in case it was a long night, the phone rang.  I heard Matt ask who it was and then say, "Okay, I'll keep that under my hat," before handing me the phone.  It was my friend Maggie!  I haven't talked to her, literally, since the day I moved here.  I ran into her at the airport when I was leaving the US as she was coming back from England where she had been visiting her brother.  She's also the reason I signed up with the penpal site where I met Matt.  It only seemed natural that she call out of blue just as we start to think our little acorn might arrive soon but I didn't even think about it until he brought it up.  It's such a funny little world!

And here's the reason we were gathering leaves...

I had actually brought it with me to take a picture of under a tree or something but I completely forgot to put my camera in my purse.  It's currently with several things that need to go in the hopsital bag at the last minute.  :)

Anyway, once we found out he would be here before Halloween I knew I needed to make him a little pumpkin hat. This might become his coming home hat if it's not too big - we'll see. I sewed in the ends and, like magic, the signs started appearing.  I think I need to come up with something else "magical" to knit on tonight while watching one of the last few episodes of Dexter Season 4 (which is so freaking, amazingly good). 

Time for a little tea and biscuits - keep your fingers crossed for me that tonight's the night!

A Little Acorn Update and Letterbox Love

If cats could sense impending labor like animals sense storms I would say our little acorn's arrival wasn't far off.  Lucy, my older, less affectionate (with me anyway) cat would not leave me alone this morning until she had a little cuddle while lying on my bump.  She eventually slid off, though, since there's not much room left in my lap and went upstairs to curl up in bed with her real favorite: Matt. 

Another reason his arrival could be on the horizon is that I had a sweep this morning and she said the results were "favorable".  I'm not banking on it but we'll see.  I go back Tuesday for another if this one doesn't work and if that one doesn't work I'm being induced on...wait for it...Wednesday!  Eight days!  Why in the world they're inducing me one day after a sweep, I have no idea.  I'm tempted to cancel the second sweep if this one doesn't work.  I would have preferred to wait another week to be induced but, honestly, at this point I'm ready for it to be over and meet our little man.

A few minutes after we got home, some letterbox love arrived!  I participated in a little hat swap over on the November 2010 Parents group on Ravelry and here are my goodies from JenInProgress (who also calls her little one her acorn!):

How cute!  Just last night I was looking at the Aviatrix Hat pattern and thinking that I'd eventually like to make one - think briefly and you shall receive!  And note the maple leaf - Jen is Candadian.  :)

And I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention the package my Dayton friend, Chris sent recently!  We had arranged to do a little swap for a magazine I can't easily get here (Interweave Knits, Weekend - speciafically for this uber cute Mariner Pullover pattern) and she went crazy overboard and sent along lots of fun things I miss: Kraft Mac & Cheese, Junior Mints, taco seasoning, candy corn (which Matt has never ever had!) and Goldfish crackers.  The crackers are so going in my hospital bag!  Thanks again, Chris!

I'm off to take a little walk and then pack the aforementioned hospital bag I meant to pack yesterday.  Better safe than scrambling - especially after the nightmares I had last night. 

[Probably] The Last of the Baby Knitting

Thanks so much for all of the kind and supportive comments on Tuesday's "We're Having a Baby" freak out post. Two days later and it's sunk in enough that I'm not only feeling somewhat better but I'm also large and uncomfortable enough to look at the bright side of delivering a bit early. 

HIs crib/cradle arrived yesterday and we bought sheets for it today so, other than doing a bit of rearranging in our bedroom to fit the crib/cradle, we're physically ready for him to arrive.

And I've finished what will probably be the last of the baby knitting for awhile.  

I finally finished the Bitty Cable Cardigan that we're beinging him home in. I had ridiculous amounts of trouble with this for ridiculous reasons.  I found my notes last week, though, frogged the entire thing, started over and finished it off in two days.  Then I paired it with the little trousers I thought it would go well with and it didn't go as well as I thought it would so we today started a mad scramble to find something and happened upon a really tiny pair of jeans that look perfect.  I knitted it with Debbie Bliss Rialto which I would defintely recommend for baby sweaters - after blocking it's fantastically soft. 

And this is a last minute knit - the Baby Sophisticate.  I still had two skeins of Rowan Wool Aran leftover from my One Skein Scarf that I crocheted for myself last week and couldn't help but use most of it to knit up something for the acorn. 

We did a lot of running around today - a bit of shopping, a midwife appointment, meeting Matt's mum and stepdad for tea - and took a two hour nap when we got home but here it is eleven o'clock and I could defintely sleep like I hadn't had a nap at all.  I can't believe how tired I've been this past week and know I should enjoy the ability to sleep as much as I can.  So off to bed for me.  

The Acorn's Oak & A Finished Object Catch Up

As if the baby shower on Sunday wasn't enough to turn a frustrating day around, I was in for another surprise when I got home. Matt had finished clearing out the baby's room, mopped the floor and had the changing table and half the chest of drawers put together!

After showing him the shower goodies, I decked out the changing table and started filling the chest of drawers with all of the clothes we brought back from Ohio. I'd forgotten how tiny and cute some of those little outfits were! Then we put together the crib, did a little "staging" and had a Skype chat with my parents to show them around since they so kindly bought the furniture for us. 

So now that the room is mostly finished - we have a lot of little finishing touches to add, of course - I can reveal the tree! I haven't even started on the leaves but I can add those little by little. I have visions of Mom and I making leaves while we're waiting for the baby to arrive....

It's huge! It goes from floor to ceiling and nearly takes up one entire wall. We're also adding a little birdhouse nightlight and I'm going to "carve" our initials into the tree as well.  

The room really already looks fantastic but I'll wait until we've done some decorating before I post any more photos. My granny has made us a little woodland themed quilt that Mom is bringing, too - I can't wait to see it!

In the mean time I do have some - sigh - finished baby knitting to talk about. I keep saying I'm going to knit something for myself but nothing really appeals. I have a blue and a purple skein of Rowan Pure Wool Aran, and I'm determined to knit myself a cowl with one of them before the acorn gets here. In fact I may add that to my (should be long but is really short) to do list for tomorrow.

This Seamless Baby Kimono and I go way back..back before Matt and I even got married. We were getting married, though, and we'd talked about having babies and we knew we were eventually going to try so I didn't feel like I was really jinxing anything. Technically, this was my first sweater - not the Shalom or the February Lady Sweater - although I didn't block this and sew on the buttons until this week. I did make a few changes to the pattern: I used buttons rather than a tie, sewed in a popper on the inside of the side opposite the buttons and did a seed stitch along the bottom rather a few rows of garter. I love it but am a little worried about the cuffs. They didn't
actually show up in any of the photos I took but they're kind of tiny.  

This is another pair of the Garter Stripe Baby Socks and I call them Alan's Socks. And why is that? This yarn was actually part of the prize package I received from Kim when Alan Rickman won the first Knitter's Hunk back in 2007. I knitted my very first sock with it right away but that's when I discovered I was one of those with Second Sock Syndrome so the rest of it languished in my stash, waiting to maybe be made into a second sock someday. Alan was in the running again this year and doing really well so I decided to knit a pair baby socks in his honor. I finished them just a few days before he was crowned Knitter's Hunk again this year!  So, yes, Alan's Socks - very appropriate.  I'm also quite proud that I almost got the pooling to match.  :)

This BItty Cabled Hat is part of our little acorn's coming home outfit.  I've mentioned the cardigan that goes with it before because, even though it's very simple, I'm having trouble with it.  I had the body finished but ended up with gaping holes under the arms that I just couldn't fix so I ripped it back to the arm holes but then somehow managed to flub up one of the cables and into time out it went.  Unfortunately, the pattern for it is one of the ones I can't find and I had already made some very helpful notes which are now also who knows where. I think rewriting them is also on the list of things to do tomorrow since I'm beginning to feel like having his coming home outfit complete is pretty important.  That and finally settling on a car seat since that's really the most important part of his coming home outfit!

I took a photo of this with a quarter and a 10p coin to show just how bitty it is. Very, very bitty.

I had an antenatal appointment today to check the progress of my gestational diabetes. It was a miserable appointment in that we waited for two hours only to talk to a consultant and the GD doctor for about twenty minutes but, thankfully, things are good and I'm still able to control it with diet rather than medication. The consultant also seemed fairly open minded to the fact that I'm really against induction if there's no medical reason for it. I'm also open minded to whatever needs to happen but, of course, would like things to happen as naturally as possible. I don't want to be in labor for 48 hours and I really love the idea of using a birthing pool for pain relief (not for the actual birth, though) and an induction means being hooked up to a machine which means no birthing pool and a possible long labor with interference.  

I'll settle for a healthy baby, though - no matter what it takes.  :)

Baby Shower, American-Style

Things have been a little stressful around here and last week more days than not were spent riding an emotional roller coaster that one had two speeds: sad and mad. Yesterday started out that way. I didn't even consider putting together my bag for knit group until it was nearly time to walk about the door which was Not a Good Idea since everything here as we make the spare bedroom a nursery, the third floor attic/office a storage room/spare bedroom and the conservatory a conservatory/office, is 100% topsy-turvy. Things you thought were there are actually who knows where and yesterday that proved especially true for the patterns of a couple of projects I'd wanted to finish.  So I threw what I could find in my bag and hit the pavement, running a little late. 

Imagine my surprise when I rounded the corner of our newly found quiet little alcove at Cafe Nero and heard, "Welcome to your surprise baby shower!"  

Baby showers aren't as popular here as they are in the US but Libby said they wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything just because I lived here - how nice is that?  They even researched baby games!  You just don't realize how often you say the words "baby" and "knitting" at a baby shower put on by knitters until it's part of a game where you can't say them at all.  

Besides our little acorn's very first piggy bank (we've already started collecting 5p coins in a wooden acorn for him and have been looking for a proper bank for months) and his first "oh my goodness, push that button one more time and that''s going up on the shelf where you can't reach it" toy with lights and music (just kidding - it's very sweet and not loud at all) there were, of course, some beautiful hand knits!

What little boy wouldn't look handsome in this little cabled sweater? This was knitted (in my favorite color, no less) by fellow ex-pat Phoe who also kindly took photos and made the gorgeous flower arrangements.  This is going to be so cute with the little pair of jeans we bought last month and I'm already sad that, eventually, he'll grow out of it!

I've had this pattern in my Ravelry queue but I know it would have never turned out as cute as this one made by Alice (that's her on the right in the above photo)!  Again, he's going to look so handsome!  Matt and I are, no doubt, going to have the best dressed baby in Salisbury.

 

I've been looking at tag blankets for awhile now and am so glad I never actually bought one because this one that's handmade by Libby is so much nicer!  The bright color ribbons have so many different textures that I even found myself absentmindedly playing with the tags and the back is lined with a sweet, soft, blue Peter Rabbit fabric.  I already know it's going to be a Little Acorn favorite.  

Thanks so much to Libby, Stephanie and Phoe for putting it all together and to everyone else for coming - I had a really wonderful time!  It's hard to believe that the next time I meet up with the Poultry Cross Knitters, our little boy will probably be asleep in his pushchair or cuddled up in his Moby wrap!

 

Phoe also posted about the shower so to see more photos (especially more of a very pregnant me), hop over to her blog, A Life of a Photographoe. :)

Emily & The Acorn's First Socks

If you've known me for any amount of time you probably know that, as much as I love sock yarn, looking at sock patterns and even knitting them, I've never actually finished a second sock.*

Until today.

Who knew that getting pregnant was all I had to do to cure myself of Second Sock Syndrome?  

 

I really had no business taking photos of these today since it's so gloomy and rainy but I was too excited to wait! 

These are the Garter Stripe Baby Socks knit in some Socks That Rock that my friend Bertha sent ages ago (I knew it would become socks eventually!).  

 


They knit up in no time at all and are super cute.  

I've also knitted a tiny, adorable cabled hat but it's a dark brown and really has no business being photographed today.  It has a matching sweater that should be simple but I've been struggling with it so it's tucked away for a bit.   I'm going to embroider an acorn on a newborn onesie and it, the sweater and the cap are going to be his coming home outfit (with a pair of trousers we've already bought, of course).   I can't believe that, as of today, I'm 33 weeks and 3 days and he could arrive in about seven weeks!

We have a home visit with our midwife tomorrow to go over my birth plan and I've been putting off the housework all day so I should get to it.  Knitting a tiny sock is so much more fun....

*In my defense, I only have about two inches left on the leg of the second of an actual pair of socks.  Getting pregnant, loosing my knitting mojo and then finding that the only things I want to knit are baby things kind of got in the way!

Feed Me, Seymour!

Want to see the blood glucose meter the NHS gives you if you have gestational diabetes?  Here you go:

 

I'm only kind of kidding.  I used it last night for the first time and got an error message seven times: not enough blood/use a new strip.  After I burst into extra drippy hormonal tears, Matt convinced me to stop trying until we could buy a "real" meter in the morning.  This morning I tried Audrey II one last time and got another error so it was off to Boots for a new meter.  We bought an Accu-Chek Aviva Nano because his dad recommended it and it worked great.  Not only did I get a healthy reading but it worked the very first time and it didn't hurt, thank goodness! 

Speaking of hormones and good news...one stress I've had recently has had to do with deciding when my parents were going to visit in November.  Obviously, babies rarely ever come on time- especially first babies - so it's been really difficult.  Too soon and they might miss the baby all together - too late and Mom would explode with anxiousness.  The other day, though, they announced during a Skype chat that Mom was taking a short leave of absence for the month of November and, if it was okay with us, she's going to come on the first and stay about three weeks and Dad will come a week later.  Some women, I'm sure, wouldn't look forward to that at all but it makes me insanely happy. 

I'm due on October 30th so we could spend two weeks twiddling our thumbs but...hopefully not!  I really like the idea of having her here before our little acorn arrives.  I could use a little help with the, ahem, nesting.  I also have this feeling that he won't hide out for too long but that could just be my own anxious hopefulness.  My intuition was right about him being a boy but I had a fifty-fifty chance with that one after all!

And now for a little knitting! 

I heart baby hats.  Tiny, quick and the cutest little things ever.

This is the Greenleaf Baby Hat knit with some leftover Stitch Nation Alpaca Love which, besides being hand wash only, is perfect for baby hats because it's so soft.   

And this is Emmett's Apple Hat knitted with Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmere which is one of my favorite yarns to knit with.  The stitch definition is gorgeous and the colors are really vibrant.  As cute as this pattern is, it was the "Emmett" part that really drew me in because that's been one of our top name choices for the little acorn.  Matt came up with it because he likes my name so much.  I know that, thanks to Twilight (which I'm, ironically, watching right now), it's not going to be as uncommon as it used to be but I like it.  It actually reminds me more of Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas and it reminds Matt of Back to the Future.  We've been referring to him as Emmett instead of Ola recently but we're still undecided.  Some of the women from my mom's office voted and, of the three names we like, they liked Emmett best which I thought was kind of funny.  I like that my mom finally has a future grandchild to talk about. 

Whew, I think this post is long enough - hope everyone is having a great day!

Froggy Friday

You've heard of WIP Wednesday and FO Friday, right?  Yeah, well, Froggy Friday is the usually unseen and less popular fourth cousin

First off, the one you might have already guessed...remember this little crochet sweater that I asked your opinion on a couple of weeks ago?  It's fate has been decided.

 

There were lots of fantastic suggestions and I thank you for each and every one.  I really contemplated finishing it and putting it aside so that I'd have a gift for a someone having a girl.  I even got momentarily excited because Ginny had just had a baby girl but by the time it was cool enough for her to wear it, it definitely wouldn't fit.  That thing was tiny. 

Then, as I was searching for buttons for my latest Pebble Vest, I found these...

 

Sorry for the lousy photos - it's incredibly overcast and rainy today

I did a little research and they could possibly be French buttons from as early as WWI or WWII but one site also said they're also still being made.  These, obviously, aren't new but I can't really imagine they're from the early 1900's. They either came from a tin that Mom bought for me in an antique shop or a giant tub that my granny found at a garage sale so who knows?

Then I thought about Chris' suggestion of adding buttons and patches to the original crocheted sweater to give it a military feel.  So, as strange as it may seem to use buttons that could potentially be from WWI on a baby sweater...I might use buttons that could potentially be from WWI on a baby sweater.  Maybe.  I could have added them all the way down the crocheted sweater but I still wasn't happy with the crocheted look so I frogged it.  Done and done.

And I'm not even going to think twice about the fact that a Pebble Vest takes exactly seven buttons!  :)

And then there's the Easy Baby Cardigan.  My original idea was to add crocheted loops and buttons after it was finished but I liked that idea less and less with every monotonous stockinette row.  When I got about an inch away from starting on the garter stitch bottom band I decided it's big enough for him to wear more than once or twice which warranted frogging it back and adding button holes.  So, in a matter of minutes, this...

...became this!

Ack! 

I had another reason for frogging it - not a great reason but a second reason none the less.  There was a medium sized pool of purple on the back (you can kind of see in the first photo) that bothered me a little bit and now I can fix that, too.  

All is not lost - I do have a finished project!  Granted, that finished project is a third Pebble...

I'm not really footloose and fancy free when it comes to color (even though that's my word for 2010) .  I'm not good at matching things at all.  That said, the buttons are all the same...just different, muted colors.  I also picked out several shades of orange buttons that looked good but I forced myself to put them back because I was leaning toward all the same shade rather than mixing them up.  These buttons are better than brown buttons on a brown sweater but they're still safe.  Thankfully, I still have a few months to work on that color thing....

A Pair of Pants That Aren't...Pants

I have really struggled with one particular word that's used differently here from the way it's used in the states.  It's such a commonly used word that a fellow Raveler even warned me about it before my first trip to visit Matt nearly two years ago. 

The word is "pants" and here it means underpants. As in, "When Matt grabbed a towel from the hamper to blot up the water that suddenly started running down the sitting room wall during a storm on Saturday, a pair of my pants tumbled out with it and neither of us noticed so they laid there on the floor for a few minutes, in front of his dad and stepmom, before I spotted them."  And yes that really happened and I can't stop thinking about it.  I'm more upset about the pants than the leak. 

Anyway, I have the hardest time remembering to say "trousers" or "jeans" when I mean those things that you wear over your underpants.  And you have no idea how many times you use a word until you really have to think about it because, suddenly, you're using it wrong all the time.  

Why all this pants talk?  Because I finally took pictures of the Kanoko Pants I finished knitting last week!  And these pants are the kind you wear over the other kind.  Or rather, you wear them over a diaper. 

As I was knitting these I thought the legs were going to turn out impossibly long but they actually, I think, turned out perfect for the size of 3 - 6 months (the pattern says this size fits 3 - 9 months but I think getting them to fit at 9 months would be quite a stretch - no pun intended).  I like the pattern so much that I already know I'd like to eventually knit the largest size (18 - 24 months).  

 

Now that I'm in my third trimester I'm feeling a lot better about being pregnant.  The hormones have calmed down - at least for now - so the fact that my family is four thousand miles away doesn't weigh so heavily and constantly on my mind.  More things are starting to ache, I napped for about three hours today and couldn't have stayed awake if I'd wanted to, I have acid reflux every night and Matt and I have decided that I have to be getting bigger each and every day but being in a better place, mentally, makes everything easier (along with that fact that he's nearly constantly kicking, swatting, punching and rolling around in there these days).  For now, anyway.  

I'm in between knitting projects right now since I just finished a third Pebble Vest...it's currently on the blocking mat.  

It's a breeze to knit and such a cute pattern that it was just too hard not to cast on a new one while I was contemplating what to knit next.  Plus I had seen the ones a Ravelry friend of mine had made last year (ten of them!  I have a lot of catching up to do) and I wanted to try her technique of using mismatched, multicolored buttons because it looks really good.  

I still don't know what I'm going to knit yet, though.  I have three (maybe four, I can't remember) skeins of Colinette Cadenza in pretty Adonis Blue that I'd like to make something out of but it's variegated so I'm looking for something simple.  Maybe the Easy Baby Cardigan but with buttons and loops.  

I feel like a lot of my posts end with "Now I have to go eat something" but I can't help it...I have to go eat something!

Green & Growing Sweater

Finally - a finished sweater that isn't teeny tiny or a Pebble Sweater Vest!

This is the Offset Wraplan knitted in the 3 - 6 months size with Rowan Extra Fine Merino DK caught on sale for £2.25 a skein which makes this little sweater a steal!  

I'm contemplating adding a little frog face or oak leaf applique but I also like it just the way it is.  The color - Emerald - is bright, cheery and fantastic. 

The pattern is a breeze (except perhaps for picking up stitches for the button and buttonhole packets - it always takes me at least two tries to pick up the correct amount of stitches) but I put it aside for a couple of months due to holes under the arms.  Thankfully a little time out did the sweater good and my second attempt was successful.    

I've been trolling Ravelry for two days now, trying to figure out what to knit next.  I even contemplated knitting something that would fit me but that didn't last long.  I crocheted one little super cute bootie today but it was a bit tedious so it might take a day or two before I start the second (but it will happen!).  These little Kanoko Pants might be next.  I'd also like to knit one of these Pixie Hats to bring him home in but I'd like to find a really special little ball of brown wool since I think we'll either be bringing him home in the Desolation Island Pebble Vest and light brown trousers or a cute little two piece brown pajama set we bought in Ohio (with little puppies for feet - so cute).  

Tonight we're looking forward to the last episode of the BBC series Sherlock.  It's not exactly a remake of the Conan Doyle stories but it is based on his characters.  It's placed in modern times and, while it has it's faults, it's pretty fun to watch.  But first, time to put together something for a very late supper....

Another Sweater Vest

I love this color but there was only one skein of it available so I thought I would give the Baby T-Shirt Vest pattern a try.  "Try" is the key word here.  I got to the point where you put some stitches on waste yarn and knit others for the armholes and I got completely turned around.  Forty-five other people have knitted this patten with no problem at all so I blamed it on pregnancy brain (the same brain that almost brushed my teeth with hand soap the other night), frogged it and fell back on the lovely Pebble pattern again.

Love the color, love the pattern, do not love the yarn.  That’s what I get for knitting this pattern in a soft
wool/alpaca/tweed (Knit Picks City Tweed) and then knitting it a few days later with something
that’s 70% acrylic. I’d say I’ve become a yarn snob but I just knitted
a hat with Vanna’s Choice which is 100% acrylic but still nice to knit
with.

I found these little anchor buttons in my stash while looking for red buttons for the other Pebble sweater.  Unfortunately there were only four of them but I still wanted to use them so on the shoulder they went.  I named this - the Desolation Island Sweater Vest - after a book from the Master and Commander series by my Matt's favorite author,
Patrick O’Brian.  And here's a little geeky tidbit: last Monday Matt had lunch with the man who painted all of the covers for the series with the thought of perhaps doing a documentary on them.  The documentary is still up in the air but, regardless, I think it's pretty cool that Matt got to hang out with him for an afternoon.  

In nursery news, the tree has been painted but I think I'll wait until Matt paints the wood trim before I take any pictures.  It looks fantastic!  Matt dug out my fabric stash boxes and I found some fabric to at least start making leaves with once we pick up some glue and he does the icky, chemically, spray part for me.  It's really starting to look like a baby's room!

And now - starving - must eat!

Finished Bowls and Beanies

A lot can happen in 24 hours.  Matt's upstairs putting the second coat on the tree.  He deemed painting it "overrated" and suggested, instead of helping him, that I go in tomorrow with a small, not so fumy pot of paint and put on the final touches.  That's okay by me - I'll gladly use the time to add a few projects to Ravelry and write up a post!

I had to bring the outdoors in this afternoon to photograph my little Turtle Bowl since we ended up not going out after all. 

I'm not really sure what we'll put in this little bowl but it'll look really cute on his chest of drawers.  You're actually supposed to double the yarn but I didn't want it to turnout ginormous (and I don't follow directions very well) so I only used a single strand.  The bowl is a bit flimsy so I think I'm going to line it with a little felt.

I know I've already mentioned the Baby Beanies book a million times but it is so freaking cute!  My plan is to knit all of the hats in it that are suitable for a boy over the next couple of years (or, at this rate, months).  I started with the Bedtime Stocking Cap.

We went a little crazy with a line of baby clothes (onesie, hoodie, sweatpants and a blanket) that we found on sale at Target that featured helicopters in these colors so I figured they were perfect for a stripey hat.

And this is my second hat from the book - the Chocqua. 

I knitted both of these in the 0-6 month size but I feel like I should have made this one a little taller.  It's cute, regardless, and makes me wish I had some Thin Mints...or Junior Mints.  Mmm, Junior Mints....

I can't help but think these beanies would be SO much cuter if we had a little noggin to model them but even if our little acorn were already here, he still wouldn't be posing for any blog photos.  When I posted that first scan photo we decided that that would probably be the last photo of the baby that I would post.  That rule might temporarily be broken when the baby first arrives but after that it will probably just be glimpses of chubby baby fingers and baby toes.  I think there's just something a little...scary isn't the word I'm looking for but it's close...about putting photos of our little one out there on the world wide web.  But do note that I used the word "probably" twice.  :)

I can't wait to to take the tape off the wall in the morning and see what our tree looks like.  After the tree is finished, Matt just (easy for me to say) needs to paint the trim and the ceiling and we can start moving in furniture and hanging pictures (that all need frames - yet another thing to add to the list of things to do)!  My future is also FULL of leaf making....

The Nursery, Bumps and More (Almost) Finished Objects

Yesterday we started taping the stencil for the tree we're going to paint in our little acorn's room and will, hopefully, start painting tomorrow. I know pregnant women aren't supposed to be anywhere near a room while it's being painted but my mom pointed out that she and Dad painted every room in our first house while she was pregnant with my brother and he went on to join a special program in elementary school for super smart kids and also made his older sister look bad by constantly being a straight A student. 

That said,  Matt has agreed to let me help paint the tree as long as the window is open, both fans are in the room and turned on high...and that I wear a mask.   Not too keen on the mask, honestly, but I did get him to let me swap an actual painter's mask for a handkerchief tied around my face like an old fashioned bank robber.  I''m short, too, so I won't really be able to help paint too much but I really wanted to have something to do with painting the tree.  We came up with a couple of cute ideas to make it very personal that I'm really looking forward to as well. 

 

Hey look, I'm pregnant!  First off, this is not a very good photo but it was the only one where I didn't happen to be holding the tape in front of my bump.  Second, I have to tell you that I have been really bump-shy.  I'm a member of the November 2010 Parents group over on Ravelry and have been avoiding the "show your bump" thread like a pregnant woman avoids unpasteurized cheese.  I do not have a cute bump like the girls do over there and it's a little frustrating and, honestly, a bit disappointing. 

I actually have two bumps.  Bump A which is my belly bump and Bump B which is my uterus bump. Bump A has always been bigger than Bump B - even before my uterus got big enough to actually be part of Bump A - so I didn't look like I was pregnant, I looked like I had a pot belly.  Not cute.  About a week ago, though, it suddenly popped out and I look like I have a baby in there, not just a few pints and a very large lunch.  Thank goodness.

And even though I love the thought of getting the nursery painted and the furniture ordered so that I can start putting away all of the cute little things we've bought so far, I've yet to feel any real nesting instinct other than the one that's in my head when I first wake up.  This instinct thinks getting a long list of things done sounds not only very rewarding but also like loads of fun!  Fortunately, that voice has gone totally silent by the time I've had my All Bran and settled down with my knitting/crocheting at 10:20 a.m. to watch Gilmore Girls.  I do manage to get the basics done, though, and I figure the days of casually watching tv with some yarn in my hands is going to come to an abrupt end here in about three months so I'm going to cram in as much as I can while I can.    

Yesterday I crocheted up a cute little addition to the nursery but still need to take photos of it. It's the kind of project that would really benefit from an outdoor shoot, though, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.  And today I knitted up a bit of stripey goodness...

...but with stripes come lots and lots of ends to sew in so that and attaching the tassel are my two jobs for the evening.  After I wash the dishes, hang up one more load of laundry and vacuum the floor...which I should get started on now....

A Sunday Sweater

I've finally finished a sweater for the little acorn!  Okay, it's not a sweater exactly - it's a vest - but it's finished.  I have one sweater needing buttons and two that need sleeves and buttons so finishing is a pretty big deal. 

I have a lot of love for this pattern - the Pebble Vest by Nikol Lohr - and am resisting the urge to cast on another in a different color.  I found one skein of a beautiful blue wool on sale today and stumbled across some really cute little buttons with anchors on them while looking for these red buttons in my stash today so I might give the similar but completely different Baby T-Shirt Vest pattern a try instead.

This would make a great little gift for a mother-to-be.  I was able to knit it in a day - granted I spent a couple of hours working on it at my knit group and happily spent most of the evening on it as well - and blocked and sewed on the buttons today. 

It's just the teeny, tiniest little thing, though, so he won't get too much wear out of it.  Unfortunately, I didn't check the yarn label of this Knit Picks City Tweed DK until after I'd finished knitting it so I didn't know that I was knitting up a hand wash only baby garment.  That said, in this case not getting a lot of wear out if it is not exactly a bad thing.  Thankfully, the wool I bought today is machine washable.  I made sure to check before I bought it.