here's the quick and dirty update about everything that's going on.
my hands are swollen and they hurt like hell. it's even tough just typing this much less programming all day long or knitting. so everything that i love doing has really slowed down. i can barely wear my rings and i'm not sleeping well at night. we're at week 37 though, so not much more to go!
my parents came this past weekend and brought the crib, a rocking chair, and some hand-me-down clothes and stuffed animals. they took away a bunch of stuff too so now the apartment is actually starting to feel more spacious. i spent all day on monday breaking down boxes, getting recycling together, and cleaning the place up. i finally feel more in control of things.
now, on to the fun stuff! there'll now be a lot of pictures and not as much text so be sure to check out the extended entry for more.
first, let's check in on the FOs.
blocky blocky!
yes, it IS what you think it is. the 3-hole shawl is done! i had a lot of fun blocking this sucker on monday. i've really perfected my blocking technique. in case you're interested, my method involves a soak in soak until most of the excess dye has been extracted (there was very little in this case.. good ol' noro!) then if the yarn is super scratchy (like good ol' silk garden) i do a soak with some fabric softener. i really like the seventh generation soy-based brand. it has a nice lavender smell to it and is not chemically harsh. i then drain the item as much as i can and then (HORRORS!) place the item in the washer on the spin cycle to get rid of the excess water. the whole towel thing just doesn't cut it for me. it's always too damp, and the washer on spin cycle has yet to felt anything. i'm quite happy with it. i had to pin this out on the bed because it was too big for my blocking board.
some of you have asked how this thing in worn. here's a little step-by-step pictorial to show you.
locate the holes
left and right arm in the first two holes
wrap around the front and put your arm through the last hole
ta-da!
there you go! sorry, once again, about the picture quality. i took these in the morning with the tripod and my point-and-shoot camera which refuses to focus on me when i use the self-timer. bah. check out that pregnant tummy!
so, to recap...
yarn: noro silk garden #225, 12 balls
needles: US7 denise needles
pattern: pattern #73 from let’s knit 世界の編物 (sekai no amimono) autumn-winter 2005-2006
and i also finished that scarf for my cousin's daughter.
yarn: lion brand cotton ease in bubblegum pink, double-stranded
needles: US 10.5 denise
pattern: none, borrowed the stitch pattern from one of my many books, but here is the pattern.. cast on a multiple of 3 plus 2 stitches. [RS] *P2, K1* till you have 2st left. P2. [WS] *K2, move yarn to front and slip next stitch pwise* till you have 2st left. K2.
i put a lot of fringe on this one. it's for a little girl after all. turned out pretty cute! hopefully she'll be able to wear it. it's been beautiful outside the past couple of days.
on sunday, the spiders threw beth and i a baby shower! they presented us with a ton of lovely gifts, food and good company. i took pictures of all the gifts (except for a great baby changing thing that jess gave me that got buried in the crib) and put them in the gallery. there are also a few pictures of who was there. i was too tired to take many pictures, sorry. i love my spiders!! they're awesome and the baby shower was a lot of fun.
now, i'm quickly running out of steam so i'm going to wrap this up by saying that i'm on my second mitten of the brooklyn handspun trifecta and i've started a knitted stuffed animal from jess hutchinsons's book (sorry it's out of print.)
june bug body
here's the body of the june bug (you can see it on the cover of the book in the bottom left corner) and i knit that all last night. very easy so far! i'm going to cut back on some of my knitting for a while because it does hurt my hands. i'm guessing that updates will be sporadic till the peanut is born but i won't forget about you. i promise!
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