Monday, September 24, 2007

A New Project!

I can't believe it's been ten days since my last post! I have been feeling better, and that's largely meant that I've had the energy to get caught up on everything that didn't get done due to morning sickness. There has been a lot of crafting going on over here, but I've only got a couple of things to share. Everything else is in too much a state of incompleteness.

First up, Sweet Pea's blanket.
I cast on for this on the 14th, the day we got our ultrasound done. This is the project I am most in love with right now (for obvious reasons). It's got a way to go, but with this soft, fluffy yarn, it's actually growing quite quickly.

That's about all I have for knits today. I've continued to work on the Purple Shawl, but at this point it's been sucked into the Knitting Back Hole. I'm not sure it'll be done for this Christmas. Actually, I'm not sure it'll be done for next Christmas!

I haven't had much time to work on the Lattice Socks. The pattern requires a bit of concentration and although I no longer feel much like puking, I'm still really tired & slightly spacey in the evenings, so concentration is at a minimum.

I spent the better part of yesterday working on a sewing project. We all know I'm a slow knitter, but did you know that I'm even slower when it comes to sewing? It's really sad. But, I managed to make this:
It's a maternity skirt. I don't think of myself as being "cheap," or anything, but I have real issues with paying $30-$45 for a piece of clothing that I will wear for a total of six months. Unless God has other plans for us, this will very likely be our last pregnancy. We are on a bit of a budget, what with trying to save up a couple of extra paychecks so I can have a maternity leave, too, so I'm really picky about how I spend money.

The skirt turned out to be quite a bit larger than I expected, which is probably okay since I ballooned to astonishing proportions during my last pregnancy. It'll give me a little "room to grow." (Which is NOT to say that I will be indulging in extra cookies any time soon.)

And in other news, yesterday was the first day of fall. I wasn't sure about this until I watched the news. We can't tell it's fall here in St. Louis because the high temps have been in the 90's. And we haven't had a drop of rain in weeks. Despite the lack of rain, some of my plants are thriving:

These beauties are the overachievers of this summer. They are called Jack-o-Beans, and they have pretty much taken over our front porch. I think I may have planted a few too many for such a small flower bed that is so close to the house. They are as tall as me and have vines that are threatening to invade the neighbor's yard.
They have a lovely purple flower and end up producing large, purple seed pods (which resemble pea pods). If you dry out the pods, you can extract the seeds and have a ton of them to plant the following spring!

Have a great week!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Important Mystery Project Update

Well, as you'll recall, Mystery Project #1 was the lattice socks. I have completed the first sock, and am well on my way to completing sock numero 2. I've got a few more pattern repeats to go and then I can start the heel flap. From there it should go pretty quickly (since there won't be any of that pesky cabling to knit).
Mystery Project #2 was to be a lace shawl. I have been defeated by my first attempt at lace knitting. It was just too time consuming, and required too much concentration. I could never get around to working on it because there was always some type of distracting stimulus (or three) in the room with me. I ripped it out & started again, this time with a pattern I can do in my sleep. It's all garter stitch, baby. With increases on each edge & in the center of every right-side row. It's going pretty quickly, but I'm starting to wonder if I'll have enough yarn to make it a decent size. It's not lace, so I'm not sure how much real estate I can gain on this thing from blocking it later.

And now, I will address the Mystery Project #3. You may have even forgotten about it because I haven't shown you any pictures and haven't really given you any updates. Well, I'm happy to say that I've got a picture to share. This "project" is coming along really nicely!


Yeah, well... I never said it was a knitting project. I have been working hard on this one, though! This is largely the reason I've been mostly absent from Blogland and from Ravelry lately. I've been exhausted and fighting nausea for most of the last 6 weeks.

As of today, we are twelve weeks along, and I'm so happy to be able to report that I am finally beginning to feel better! I have these bursts of energy, and can eat on a mostly regular basis now. I've been waiting to truly get excited until today. You know, the first trimester... you're sick & tired & very aware that lots of things could go wrong. But, we got to see him/her this morning. The heart beat looks good. He/she even kicked during the ultrasound, so we got to see that. Oh, and he/she is growing. Like. a. weed. Right now Sweet Pea here is about 6 days larger than he/she should be.

LilMan has been very excited about the baby. (He picked out the nickname "Sweet Pea" after I said that in no uncertain terms could we nickname the baby "Optimus Prime" after his newest favorite movie.) He has been touching my tummy frequently and thinking up all kinds of things he can teach the baby. He can't wait.

After Matt & I left the doctor's office, I did what any devoted knitter/mother-to-be would do & went straight to the yarn store. I've waited until today to buy the yarn for the first baby knit because, well, I didn't want to jinx it. Silly, I know, but I just didn't want to start a blanket only to have something go wrong and then have to figure out what to do with a half-finished knit.

Here's what I got:

It is Plymouth "Oh My!" Yes, it's 100% nylon, but that should make it relatively durable and wow, is it soft. You pick it up and just say to yourself (or to the clerk at the yarn store), "Oh, my! This IS soft!" We have to wait another several weeks (6-8) to find out if Sweet Pea is a boy or a girl, so I decided to make the first baby knit a multi-colored blanket, suitable for both genders. I'm thinking it will be a log cabin style... probably square or rectangular in shape.

Okay, well, I've got to go. I must do some real work at some point today. I believe I will very likely be blogging more now that I don't feel like "death-warmed-over" (as my daddy always says). Have a great weekend!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Coming Attractions

It's been a while since my last post. Again, life has intervened and I haven't had much time to blog. I've also been a little frustrated because my current WIPs have been slow and plagued by problems. I think I've got them mostly figured out, and am back on track. I think.

I will have a TOTALLY and UTTERLY, COMPLETELY HUGE post coming up. Probably tomorrow. Maybe Saturday. I promise to include some pictures and interesting topics.

Check back later for the full skinny!