so i'm just back from a good drilling at the dentist and in a FANTASTIC mood and thought that i would write a blog entry. thankfully for all of you, i will be writing it over the next few days for a wednesday post and you will be spared most of my bitching.
i've been obsessed with finding "new" and interesting TV lately what with the writer's strike still going on (COME ON!! i'm sick of reality TV!) everyone who knows me knows that i despise all reality TV but project runway. i'm so glad it's back on the air! i was actually sorry to see elisa go last week. she had really grown on me. it's too bad that the challenge itself was such a snoozer. god, can we get a little more creative please? pour on the pressure, apply the heat! i wanna see these designers sweat!
in an effort to get more project runway into my veins, i started (and finished!) watching project runway canada (don't click on the link unless you want to know who won!) which is the greatest thing since sliced bread. i've gotta be honest here. i actually LOVE iman and brian baley more than heidi and tim. iman is amazing as a host. she really has strong opinions and i totally agreed with her on every decision. she also strikes me as being very sweet and caring.
brian baley and iman
brian baley, the mentor, was great too. he actually MENTORED. he had opinions and real words of advice for the designers. where i feel that tim gunn has pulled back from giving helpful commentary (maybe at the behest of the producers?) brian would come out and tell them what he thought was wrong (or right) with a garment and steer the designer in the right direction. mustache aside, i really adored him. i can't wait for the second season! too bad that it's not available in the US. watch it on youtube. trust me, you won't be sorry you did.
amongst all the PRC watching i was knitting on koolhaas finished koolhaas. this took me FOREVER to finish but it's because i was really only able to fit in a few rows here and there amongst all the other things.
large koolhaas
hiding
i made it large so that it would fit my dad. if it's a little too big, he can flip up the ribbing. looks great right? uuuuhhh, what's that? let's zoom in...
oops
ooooooops! forgot to cross one there! oh well, it still looks ok, i think! oh, and i got my new gorillapod. combined with the new camera, i expect my FO pics to be much better.
i also got to do a little sewing this past weekend. i whipped up two new pairs of cloth shoes for the peanut. these will be the last that i make seeing as she'll probably be crawling and walking sometime in the next 4 months.
pair #1
pair #2
i followed the tutorial again but used my pattern for making 6 to 12 month sizes. (i'll post this on the patterns page soon.) feel free to download this PDF and make your own as well. notice that i didn't exactly make right and left foot shoes. seriously, you don't need them.
shoes shoes shoes!
anyway, all in all, peanut has 4 pairs now. i made three of them and the fourth (top left) comes from kaya's kloset etsy store. if you don't want to make your own baby shoes then i highly recommend you get her to make them for you. she does great work.
i leave you with a picture of some highly yummy "mac daddy" from the veganomicon (which i got KP for christmas.)
this is the obligatory happy new year blog entry, as usual. i'm going to keep it short though because one of my new year's resolutions is to post more often at the expense of long-ass posts. this is probably in everyone's best interests to be sure. let's look at 2007's resolutions (heh.)
have a baby, take care of her, and get back into shape afterward.
go back to work in the fall (this should be easy as i don't really have much of a choice!)
launch my super secret website by july. i'm sure you'll hear more about this soon!
watch more movies (basically use my netflix membership more.)
sew more (we'll see if i can do that this year since i couldn't accomplish it in 2006.)
ok, so i had the baby (peanut!) and am taking care of her. i am not in shape. i miss the gym terribly but it was a package deal with work which i quit (there goes half of #1 resolution and #2 resolution was a bust [but a good one!] as well.) i wish it were easier to get out with the nut during the winter but dressing her up and getting out the door can sometimes take 30 minutes! and we don't always have the time to spare. oh well. when the spring comes and the weather is nicer (and hopefully i'm done breastfeeding) then i can really concentrate on getting back in shape.
the super secret website is on the WAY back burner. maybe late in 2008? i used netflix more and knit from my stash mostly. KP doesn't get a sweater (i'm not sure he ever will!) i've decided i'm not really into colorwork so why learn to steek? and my sewing is neither here nor there.
so what about 2008? here's what i'm thinking...
knit a sweater for myself. just one, please!
knit more accessories
continue to knit from my stash
keep sewing!
lose some weight when breastfeeding is over
socialize the peanut
post to the blog at least once per week
this all seems pretty reasonable to me but, then again, last year's resolutions did too!
to end this post, i bring you some knitting updates. i recently decided that the peanut really needed a pair of legwarmers (ravelry). every time i suited her up to go out, her shins would be exposed.
warm those legs!
i whipped these up really quick using some cashmerino aran from the stash, just cast on 40, join in the round, 2x2 rib until they are long enough and bind-off. easy peasy. took two nights of watching "planet earth" which was really awesome. KP and i now speak like david attenborough constantly.
compact koolhaas
i also cast on for koolhaas which is coming along slowly (ravelry). all the cabling really bakes my noodle (which is already pretty toasty) and i'm doing it all without a cable needle which is a lot of fun. this one's going to my dad when it's done. i've owed him a hat for at least a year now!
almost done
oh and KP's first ode to argyle sock (ravelry) is complete and i really like the way it turned out! now just have to cast on the second one.
it's a good thing that i'm not doing any christmas knitting this year because i know that i would have no time in which to do it! it's already the 13th of december and i cringe at the thought of 2008 approaching and i've done little to no knitting in 2007. i was just looking at my ravelry and i'm surprised by how few projects are in there! i could have sworn that i knit more than that. it's an illusion in my mind, i guess.
i've started something new and i think that this time, it's going to take. poor KP. i think that i've started and frogged about 3,278,763 socks for him at this point. either i choose the wrong pattern or the wrong yarn or a combination of both. this time, though, i feel the mojo, but time is limited around here. i'm not getting much done. a round here and there.
creeping along
i'm calling them "ode to argyle" socks. just a simple diamond pattern i drew up on some graph paper. i did my very first tubular cast-on (via ysolda) for them! i hope to knit on these and finish them before the end of the year. KP has off between christmas and new year's and i want to knit knit knit during that time!
recently, i dressed up the peanut and i took pictures of her looking cute for christmas cards. we had one spill but otherwise she sat for them nicely. i wish i had a more professional camera and lighting setup. she kept moving and making everything all blurry. i eventually had to cave and use the flash. the final photo was very cute but here's an outtake.
goo!
i had to give her curious george in order to make her happy enough to sit for 5 minutes at a time! those babies. short attention spans.
her aunt cheryl gave her a walker for christmas and it is the hottest thing around here. she still hates being on her stomach so now that she knows how to roll in both directions, she just rolls onto her back whenever we put her on her tummy. my guess is she won't be crawling for quite some time. but she wants to be MOBILE! she wants to follow us around! this walker is great for it. our apartment is a bit small for it but what little mobility it gives her makes her happy.
mobile nut
in other news, if you read subwayknitter then you know that i'm hard at work over here geeking out (another reason why i don't have a lot of knitting time.) i'm updating her movabletype and templates.. giving her a NY subway feel. we're not going kitchy (and besides i happen to know that the MTA hates it when you parody the subway) but instead minimalist with a hint of subway. i think that you'll like it when it's done. i'll give my geek review of MT4 when all is said and done.
p.s. i already know that my new year's resolution is going to be to post once per week. let's hope that i can do that starting in 2008!
well, the christening was yesterday and i'm so glad that's over and done with. you know, some babies are totally resilient. they can handle all situations, anything that you might throw at them. not the peanut. she needs her two naps per day and early bedtime or else she's very very unhappy... like hysterical unhappy. i really don't think that we'll be able to do much with her until after she's a year old. i just can't take the heartache of her crying for hours on end.
getting her hair wet
so the funny thing was that we were in the church and peanut was doing really great. she was quiet and happy even when the deacon would lay his hands on her head. she didn't even cry when we poured water on her! but then the deacon put the oil on her head and she lost it. cried and cried and didn't stop for the rest of the ceremony. in fact, didn't stop until i had brought her out to the car and fed her.
cute but very upset
she looked great in her christening gown. i had to take it off of her right after the ceremony though. it was big to begin with. i definitely misjudged her size. in the beginning of the day, it would have fit a one year old. by the end of the day, it would have fit a five year old!
i know that i really ought to make a better effort at updating here more often. the days just slip past me though! this week was especially grueling. there was a point where i didn't shower for more than 36 hours. gross. we came to the conclusion that the peanut is just not ready for legumes. tofu did not sit well with her last week and then green beans caused her to cry for two hours on friday night. oh well. let's hope she grows out of it.
tummy time in the park
in recent milestones, her bottom two teeth have poked through the gums (they are so sharp!) but she won't let me see them or take a picture. she's also been babbling quite a lot. of course, i have video (she gets a little quiet for about 15 seconds but i tell you that it's worth it to watch it all the way through.)
i'm also making really great progress on the christening gown. jody was just talking about getting her knitting groove back and boy do i know what that's like! i want to knit on this gown 24 hours a day. since it's my own design, every time i finish off a piece of it, i sit and admire it or pick apart it's failings (which thankfully are few.) i've refused to rip it at all so any faults are entirely mine. there's just no time for ripping around here. it's push through or give up.
almost done
i've actually made a lot more progress on it since this picture was taken. i've finished one sleeve and immediately started working on the other. i love the lace details on it. classy and yet understated.
bottom lace
you may recognize this gown a little as i've based some of the design off of the elizabeth zimmerman february baby sweater. i adjusted for my gauge for the yoke and the lace is the same gull stitch but everything else is my own (a shot of the yoke and skirt increases). i've put a small amount of the same lace on the sleeve as well. it's very cute. the nut is going to look very fetching in it. i have three small silver ladybug buttons that i bought at brooklyn general for the yoke. i can't wait to sew them on!
this time of year i get really into all the new fall/winter designs that out and about. lots of good ideas in the new winter IK and some new internet designs as well! ysolda's been at the top of my list lately. between her hats and the cute little elijah elephant i've added plenty of her patterns to my ravelry queue. as i mentioned in my last post i have some new DB pure cashmere that i bought at 50% off at webs.
pure cashmere.. yum.
i'm thinking that i'll make ysolda's gretel with it and then some fingerless gloves to match. i love this color i bought. it's grey with the slightest hint of green. it'll go with most of my winter coats. ETA: i'm just realizing looking at this photo that the ball band was amended with "45yds". i could have sworn i saw it listed as 50 somewhere. crap. that's 50 less yards that i have to work with! by the way, still on sale at webs. in case you're wondering.
i'm also going to cast on for flair with my artfibers ming once i'm done with the christening gown. then i have to think about what i'm going to knit next for the nut. i want to get her in as many handknits as possible before she can voice her opinion about whether she likes them or not!
all of this knitting makes me feel so good. more like i'm back to my old self. now if only i could stop myself from baking! my latest obsessions in the kitchen have been muffins and bread. i'm dying to try that no-knead bread that everyone was so hot for last year. we finally have a french oven that i can use but i'm waiting on a stainless steel knob for the top of it instead of the plastic one it came with. the plastic one can't go in as hot an oven as needed for the bread. mmmmm, bread man.
anyone who knows me knows that i really don't care for halloween. it's usually just an excuse for women to dress up all hoochie and pretend like they are always extroverts when they usually are not. that, and the last time i really got dressed up some biatch dumped water on me at a party and i nearly clawed her eyes out. that was close to ten years ago.
it's nice to have a baby now who i can get all costumed out! look what $15 at oldnavy can do for your happiness quota:
my dragon
she was just too darned cute i had to show her off.
mommy and peanut dragon
in other news, i finished two baby socks. woopee. so exciting i nearly died.
baby socks, under baby shoes
i've been so busy lately. you know how i was going to freelance for work after quitting for 4 to 6 weeks. guess what? i'm still freelancing! this is both good news and bad. good news is that i still get a paycheck and benefits. bad news is there's no time to blog after working and taking care of the peanut all day. i can barely shower (in fact, i'm now showering at night after she goes to bed.) any extra time i may have i've been knitting on the christening gown because i have a solid deadline there.
oh, and family who reads this? no christmas knitting this year. so sorry. i can't handle it.
i leave you with one more peanut pic and the news that i bought 10 skeins of DB pure cashmere on sale at webs. $8.50 a skein! (so much for staying away from rhinebeck so i wouldn't buy yarn.) it's lovely. i can't wait to photograph it and use it.
now you don't. bu-bye charade sock! it was nice knowing you.
taking a page from laura's book, i decided that these charade socks were just not going to work out. this has nothing to do with the pattern (the pattern actually rocks hardcore) but with my execution. man-sized socks on 2.5mm needles would take me FOREVER to knit and the 72 stitches that i cast on were just not enough. i had KP try them on last weekend and they were tight and damned if i'm going to rip and re-cast on more than 72 stitches. looking back on my progress it took me months to get where i am (or was before i ripped). so my plan is to find thicker sock yarn that i can knit on US4 needles and make faster man-sized socks. any suggestions? i have nothing in the stash except for this that might fit the bill.
so socktoberfest has started and i thought, hey, now that i don't have the charade socks maybe i should gather up my sock yarn leftovers and make baby socks for the peanut! i have quite a few leftovers...
a little leftovers can go a long way
and i think that i can whip them up during october. i really want to try and do it seeing as i failed so miserably at project spectrum. at least i've been mainly knitting from my stash! what little i've knit..
except for this.. (you knew there was an "except" coming, right?) but it does lie within the rules. we're getting the nut baptized in late november and i thought it might be nice to make her a christening gown. one that i can dye when said christening is done and turn into a sweater for the winter and a keepsake for all time. i bought some filatura di crosa 501 on elann.com for a steal and have been knitting this up.
me, a model?
hard to tell in this photo (the peanut is not a good model.. she cries whenever i put this on her!) but it's a top-down raglan-type sweater dress. i got the basic idea from the february sweater and the rest i'm making up as i go along. don't ask for a pattern. i have no idea what i'm doing.
and in regards to my miters, they are just sitting on my couch. i'm enjoying the fairly mindless stockinette of the christening gown while watching "heroes" on DVD. oh god, i'm in love with that show! it's a nice cross between "LOST" and "the 4400". i'm glad i'll have something to watch this fall since none of my shows are coming back till 2008. i was smart enough (amazingly) to start recording this season on the DVR while watching last season on DVD. i should be done by the next week, methinks.
oh, and i'm thinking about starting a project for myself once i get through the majority of this christening gown. i'm thinking flair in artfibers ming. mmmmm, can't wait!
yes mommy!
the peanut approves!
p.s. i'm making adjustments to the full text feed RSS. admittedly, it's changes that i've wanted to do for a while and i'm just now getting around to it. i put comments in the RSS feed about a year ago as an experiment and i think that my experiment is now complete. if i were answering more questions in the comments, it would be a "value-add" as we call it in the business, but it's not. i generally write people back via email or amend the entry if there were more questions to be answered. so, as of today, the comments have been pulled from the full text feed. it will only update when the entry has been updated. i will still occasionally break up a long entry and make you click-through for the full entry but otherwise, you'll get it all! i'm sure this will come as a great relief to many of you ;) no need to thank me.
well, i'm glad that i didn't miss it! my blog will be 4 years old on the 30th! sorry for all of the radio silence lately. now that i'm home and taking care of the nut i'm also freelancing for work on the side. between the two and doing little things for the production company, there's no time to blog. right now i have 20 minutes before i have to wake up the sleepy peanut and i doubt that i will even finish this entry in the time alloted. i always sit down to post an entry and something happens! i either lose track of my thoughts or we have some sort of meltdown here. it's a tough job this whole mothering business. thank god it's so rewarding.
wouldn't you know that the first week back as mommy would be the hardest? she's changed so much over the past month i hardly recognized her! i don't know where she gets all of her energy but i could seriously use some of it. up until two nights ago, she was waking several times a night and i had a nervous breakdown over the weekend due to lack of sleep.
don't hate me because i don't sleep
then things changed drastically. i started cutting short her naps during the day now that i'm home and then she slept through the night! well, she did wake once or twice in the beginning of the night and she does always wake at 5AM (on the dot) but no more night feedings! i've slept well the past two nights in a row and it's been blissful.
aw mommy
we also started solids two weeks ago. started off with rice cereal then peaches and today we start avocado. yum. i enjoy making baby food. it's so easy! much easier than cooking real food which is something that i don't necessarily enjoy.
mmmmm
right now she gets her food pretty much everywhere except in her mouth but it's fun none the less.
baby driver
she's growing so fast and changing everyday. just look at that picture! she's already driving (and i've had that song stuck in my head since i wrote the caption.) you know that cute pink hat that i love so much? well, she's outgrown it already. boy that's sad. all the cute things seem to fit her for a hot minute and then she's done with them. i went through her dresser the other day and found clothes that she outgrew but never got to wear!
already sitting on her own
since she's soon to be hatless and fall's approaching, i decided to knit her miss dashwood. what a darling pattern! i loved the picot cast on but that bobble border was KILLER. p4tog? torture. i had to use a crochet hook. it's cute but damn, i don't think i want to do that ever again.
new pink hat
i made the 6 month to 1 year size. thankfully, it's big on her now but i bet it will fit like a charm in about a month when the weather gets cooler. now i just have to make the earflaps and chinstrap. i love the snaps on the pink hat so i'm going to do something similar on miss dashwood.
so yeah, i'm now home. a stay at home mama? a work at home mama? both, i think. we're getting back in the swing of things here. there's more knitting to come and coding from my couch on days when i can. let's hope that things keep progressing on a steady track. i hope to update the blog more too now, but please don't hold me to it! there's lots going on behind the scenes here!
so here i am, back at my desk at work. it feels very strange. strange indeed. it was emotional for me this morning to look at my peanut and say good-bye, see ya later! at least KP is home for the month of august to take care of her. then we need to figure out what we'll do.
again with the hat!
she must have known that i was going back to work today and needed the sleep because for the first time in over a month, she slept well. we put her down for bed at 7:30PM with one arm out of the swaddle and her new blankie and we didn't hear from her until 3AM. i actually woke up at 2:30AM and thought, "is she alive?" i had to go look at her on the video monitor to make sure she was still breathing! for the past month she had been waking up at 11PM, 12AM, 3AM, 4AM, 5AM, and then around 6:30AM. it was grueling doing that every night. i wanted to cry every morning when i realized that i got a total of 4 hours of sleep and not even in a row. maybe she's turned a corner? i hope it's not a fluke.
tummy time
we've been trying to give her as much activity time as she can handle every day and tummy time is my favorite. why are they so darn cute during tummy time? she's rolled over once on her own and i think that it surprised her because i started cheering so loudly. she hasn't done it since.
mommy and peanut
she's my girl and i already miss her! (before anyone comments on how i look, please know that i photoshopped myself heavily. today is the first time i've worn makeup in a long time. what you see in the photo is .. let's say it's a digital fib.)
more photos in this flickr set. and of course, it wouldn't be a peanut-related post without a little video.
ok, on to the knitting! i now have 10 miters complete. i know, big deal, right? 10 miters. but the good news is that i already wove in the ends on them. yep. i'm industrious.
miters on the couch
i keep them in a pile on the couch and just add to them as i go along. i start miter #11 tonight and when i'm done with #12 i'm going to decide how big to make this thing all together. i'm thinking 3 large miter blocks across and 4 large miter blocks in length for a total of 48 miters. i need to look at my colors and decide if that's the best approach.
and i'm making progress on my charade socks. i knit on them on the ride into work this morning. wow, i forgot how much knitting i can get done on the train! notice how they are sitting on my 25th anniversary VK? the "collector's edition" that the post office decided to mangle? yeah. i hate our post office. bunch of lazy bastards. the same lazy bastards that delivered my harry potter book at 5PM on the day of its release. man was i in a bad mood that day!
there are other pictures i need to post of the spiders' bbq but that'll have to wait. gotta get back in the swing of things here. ugh. so many changes in the five months i was gone!
it's hard to believe that in two and a half weeks i'll have to return to work. my maternity leave will be over *sob*. i'm so smitten with my peanut that i get very teary eyed just thinking about leaving her everyday. it's not something i like to talk about.
daddy and peanut, same expression
she's getting bigger everyday and hitting all of those milestones that are making her into a real human being.
sitting in the corner
she just started stretching her vocal cords recently. if your heart doesn't completely melt while watching this video then you must be made of stone :) (click through from RSS to see.. it's cute, i promise)
anyway, i'm uploading more videos to vimeo now. i'm so done with youtube. it's full of crap that teenagers put up there and then comment and say the stupidest things. not only that but the comments are full of spam too. who needs that? it's as bad as myspace now and i swore i would never get a myspace account (and i still haven't!) so why stick with youtube. vimeo is much better. you can find my videos here and they will always be in the sidebar as well.
i love this hat
so besides playing with the peanut and trying to extend her dreaded 45 minute naps (45 minute naps are the very worst. what's the point? you might as well stay awake!) i've been doing a little crafting. the mitered squares are still on the plate. i've finished 8 squares. i plan on knitting another 4 and then weaving in all the ends before continuing.
possible square
possibly?
these are only possible color combinations.. we'll see!
i tried starting a pair of charade socks and have only managed to knit a few rounds of ribbing. i'm just exhausted in the evenings! by the time the nut goes to bed, we eat dinner and then there's an hour of downtime before we turn in. i have a feeling that's going to get better though. the peanut is starting to play more independently now and her routine is getting more predictable.. and she's sleeping better (touch wood). so maybe i'll feel better about getting more done in the evenings.
in the meantime, it's all nut all the time while i enjoy our last few weeks together.
p.s. i got my hair cut. couldn't stand all that hair when it's so hot.. and it was falling out anyway.
things are very hectic at chez gleek these days. just when we think that we've figured things out around here, the peanut throws us for a loop and we're screaming for mercy. we had a blessed two weeks when she was technically sleeping through the night. only one feeding around 3AM and she'd sleep till around 6:30AM after that. it was blissful. then she went through her 3 month growth spurt and we're back to two feedings a night now and my body is aching with sleep deprivation. i was just getting used to getting 5 hours of sleep in a row. it was really nice! well, those days are a distant memory.
ew!
we're also finding that getting her to go to sleep is tough as well. i haven't resorted to feeding her to sleep since she was 5 weeks old but she definitely doesn't self-soothe herself to sleep yet. we have to rock/sway/bounce her until she passes out which thankfully isn't a long time but still too long in my opinion.
fun in the mirror
she doesn't suck her thumb or take a pacifier so i'm at a loss at to what to do for her. we swaddle her in a miracle blanket for every sleep period so she doesn't have access to her hands. i'm going to try switching to the aussie swaddle method this week and see if that doesn't help things. it's all a gamble.
mmmmm
but she's as cute as can be! each time she smiles at me or gurgles or follows me with her eyes, i know that i'm in love forever.
ok, enough about the nut. during the all-too-brief naptimes i'm able to get a few things done around here. i've managed to put blackout curtains in both the master bedroom and the nut's room. i bought the fabric on ebay and sewed them up myself rather than pay $50+ for each window which is ridiculous. no photos, sorry. they are very ordinary.
these are super simple and fun and, wow, actually stay on your head! i love them and want to make more but i already put away the sewing machine because the clutter was driving me bonkers.
from the front
from the back
in other sewing news, i want to draft my own skirt pattern and whip up a few skirts that fit my post-baby body. i DID have a few skirts that fit me well until the nut decided to spit-up all over them and now they can't be worn in public anymore. sigh. oh well. i got the sew what! skirts book and am reading it through now. just need to get some large paper (maybe i'll just use some of the crappy christmas wrapping paper from last year) and get going.
the miters are coming along too. i now have the pattern memorized so i knit them much faster.
pile o miters
and i started a pair of socks but i don't have a picture yet because it's a total of 5 rows. as you can see, the knitting is coming along but not too quickly. just slowly but surely.
now referring to the post title, in the times when i have time to write, code, or blog, i usually don't have my brain with me. i'm not sure where my brain goes during these times but it's surely not in my head. this moment here is brought to you by sunday and the hubby taking the peanut for a walk. i was very happy when he volunteered to take her out! but wouldn't you know it that the instant she disappeared out the door i missed her. of course!
by the way, less than a month and the new harry potter book is out and in my hot little hands! i can't wait! i've been reading the half-blood prince aloud to the peanut whenever i'm feeling a little too silent and i get excited with each passing page. i can't wait! (oops, already said that. where's my brain? don't know.)
ETA: i did some hard thinking about why the peanut wasn't falling asleep well and realized that maybe she's just not soothed enough when i put her down. in walks itunes and my trusty ipod with jbl soundstage and i've got lullabies going for in no time! what would i do without an internet connection? surely i would perish. she's been sleeping well since i got the music going. also, she's started taking a pacifier to sleep! i can't tell you how happy that makes me!
and for all the nursing mothers out there that have had to give up milk/dairy, almond milk is truly the nectar of the gods. if you're not allergic to nuts, i highly suggest you try it. i HATE soy milk and rather dislike rice milk because they have such horrid aftertastes, but almond milk is really yummy and creamy. tastes great in my coffee!
believe it or not, i have had time to knit but almost no time to blog. you see, i really need my faculties in order to write up a post. i can't just jump on and whip up a quickie to keep you all in the loop. that's not my style. so the blog has sat pretty useless these past few weeks and for that, i apologize.
a quick peanut update: she's sleeping much better these days. after my last blog post, she, of course, bucked all that good sleep in favor of late nights and early mornings but now we're back on track. she's only waking once each night for a feeding and sometimes will sleep as late as 7:30 (but usually she's up between 6:30 and 7:00 which is god awful early as far as i'm concerned.) i'm hoping that with time, she'll sleep later. she goes to bed around 9:00PM so the hubby and i have about an hour and a half each night to enjoy the peace. i usually spend it knitting or returning email.
her gastrointestinal issues are also getting better now that i know what bothers her. i can't eat dairy which sucks big time. i really miss my morning coffee and ice cream. i've also realized that i can't eat chickpeas which is a weird one but they really do give her bad gas. bummer. no hummus for me!
anyway, she's really turning into a full-fledged baby! she bats at things with her hands now and interacts more with her environment. it's pretty amazing.
here she is loving her new mobile.
wow! a mobile!
some rings...
practicing hand/eye coordination
the giggle ball...
this ball is silly!
and her gymini.
yawn
oops, she looks a little tired in that photo! more in the gallery.
ok, now onto knitting. i've decided to make a mitered square blanket (i can thank cara for this one.) i figured that each square is a small accomplishment in and of itself and gives me something to achieve that's reachable. i got a grab bag of tahki cotton classic on ebay and bought some elann sonata in white as well (these two yarns are almost identical.)
these are the colors i've chosen. originally i wasn't keen on the light purple but now i kind of like it so i'll go with it.
my first try with US6 needles was too loose which i find strange. i did knit kyoto last year on US6s with great results. i guess i'm becoming a more relaxed knitter! so these two squares will not be used in the final blanket. i also decided, after looking at these, that i will always use white as the stripes (color B) and the tahki color yarns as my background. should be fun!
here are the first two squares i've knit and am going to keep. the stitches are much tighter, as are the decreases. perfect. gonna move onto a new color now so that i don't get totally bored though i'm pretty sure i'm going to knit four squares with each color i have picked out.
KP's socks are hibernating. i started them before the peanut was born and now i don't like the pattern that i chose. i'm thinking, actually, about making charade in a man's size for him. whaddya think?
one more thing, ravlery is kicking ass. whenever i have a hand free while feeding the peanut, i'm on there surfing patterns, adding them to my queue. or looking at the yarn in my stash and seeing what other people are making with it. it's really addictive. i have to stop! especially since i have a secret project of my own that i was working on heavily before the peanut was born and now haven't touched in two months. crap. i've gotta get back on it so that i can have it live by the fall. please send good working vibes my way. i need them. i can't seem to concentrate.
still no peanut, in case you were all wondering. my doctor says that i'm progressing (as of when i saw him on thursday) but otherwise, it may be a few more days. i go back to the city on tuesday (if she isn't on her way by then) to get a sonogram to see how she's doing in there, then i'll know if i need to be induced or not. in the meantime, i'm getting a lot of sitting done on the couch, and of course, knitting!
speaking of which, here's the monkey socks. all done.
love them. wearing them right now! i made sure to block them when i was done with them and it really opened up the pattern. i know it's hard to tell in these pictures though. the variegation of the koigu kind of obscures it, but i love it none the less. once again, sock #2 didn't pool either!
here are the heels.
love the short rows and will probably smack them on every sock from here on out. i have a little formula for making them look all neat and pretty which i'll put after the jump.
the toes turned out nice too.
these are just the standard decrease (ssk on the right side and k2tog on the left) toe and i turned the sock inside out at the end and did a three needle bind off. very comfortable.
so, to wrap up...
yarn: koigu kpppm (don't know the colorway, but obviously, browns and oranges) needles: 2.5mm addi turbos pattern:monkey socks by cookie a.
i'm now on to knitting some socks for KP. i've chosen the gentleman's sock with lozenge pattern from knitting vintage socks by nancy bush using the knitpicks sock yarn that i picked up from veronique. i will probably keep the toe on these but sub out the heel for my short row do-jobbie.
i also started a few mason dixon washclothes with some light green and white sugar and cream i have lying around. if you aren't familiar with these lovely washclothes, check out the MDK knitalong. i have no photos yet.
oh, but here's some yarn porn because i know you all love it.
this is the sunshine yarn that i bought on etsy this week. top: rampage triple dyed, bottom: camo.
by the way, i'm on the lookout/prowl for leftover skeins of tahki cotton classic to make a crocheted rippled afghan. unfortunately, i've totally caught the crochet bug (damn you joy!) but thought that i could put my kyoto leftovers to good use this summer if i can get more colors. if you have some you want to get rid of, let me know. we'll work out payment on a case by case basis.
yep, the peanut is still in utero and it looks like she'll stay there for a bit. my due date is thursday and i have a doctor's appointment then to see how i'm doing. if i'm not progressing, i'll be induced the following wednesday. we'll see! i haven't had one contraction yet! not even braxton hicks. i'm beginning to doubt their existence. regardless, she's coming out somehow and hopefully it'll be soon.
i am glad to report that i am no longer sick! my stuffy nose broke on friday night and now it's just the regular intermittent stuffiness associated with my chronic rhinitis. nothing i can't handle. i am also entirely happy to tell you that i'm on maternity leave! my last day was friday and i think that i might have slightly pissed off my coworkers by looking so happy to go all that afternoon. it felt great to leave my "out of office" assistant on outlook and a temporary greeting on my voicemail that won't expire until august. i've got a great summer ahead of me with the peanut.
i have also been knitting, of course. i'm on a major sock kick right now (possibly inspired by sandra but definitely inspired by the sheer portability of socks) and finished the first monkey sock yesterday while watching law and order repeats on TNT.
i'm home sick today. apparently, i can go to work sick. i can go to work pregnant. but i cannot go to work pregnant AND sick. let me tell you how impossible that is... pretty damn impossible. last week i rushed rushed rushed to get two projects finished up at work so that i could have an easy last week this week. then saturday hit and i started sneezing. i thought that it was just allergies but now that i'm still stuffy and miserable two days later, i realize that i caught a cold. i HAVE to get better before the peanut decides to show herself. can you imagine going into labor while having a cold? i'm trying not to.
so, here's a quick and mostly photographic update of the state of things before i hop in bed for a nap.
the brooklyn handspun trifecta is done.
the trifecta is complete!
yarn:brooklyn handspun superwash soft spun sock yarn in winter's calling needles: 2.5mm addi turbos, magic loop and 3.25mm addi turbos for the hat pattern: none for the socks and mittens. the hat i used this bonnet pattern from hello yarn
because i know that you all love the care bears, here's sunshine bear being a good sport and modeling them for us.
KP asked if i was playing dress-up. i'm glad i'm having a girl! thanks to veronique for letting me use her icord maker for the mittens!
this is how the peanut's room is looking.
progress on the peanut's room
pretty messy, but almost there. the crib (on the right) is holding lots of clothing and other assorted baby crap until i can get around to sorting and unloading it. on the floor, you'll see the flor tiles i bought. i love them! they go perfect with the room and make it feel much warmer in there. that cane rocking chair was a gift from my parents and i'm looking forward to sitting in it and looking out the window nursing the peanut. it was a little hard on the bum so i constructed a VERY simple pillow for it out of some cute bee fabric i had in the stash.
and now that i'm home sick, i've started up some new projects to keep me going.
monkey socks using some lovely koigu that sandra bought for me for my birthday last year.
monkey beginnings
they are actually much further along than this given that i've done nothing but knit, watch james bond movies, and mouth-breathe for the past 48 hours.
and my dad's mittens using leftover chocolate brown debbie bliss merino aran (no pictures yet).
ok, just a few last pictures to send you on your way. i got some lovely gifties in the mail late last week. knits for the peanut!!
and i'm pretty sure this is a baby surprise jacket and some booties from sarah (i miss you sarah!)
thanks ladies! i'm sure the peanut will look smashing in these!
and if you're a battlestar galactica fan and haven't watched last night's epsiode yet, stop reading. dude, i'm sure starbuck is a cylon. one of the final five. my vote is that she wakes up in a bath of goo by the end of the season! all of the dialog in the episode points to it. watch it again if you don't believe me. there's no way that leoban could know everything that he knows about her and then encourage her to die without knowing that she'd be reborn. she even said to lee, "they're waiting for me on the other side." uh huh. cylon. i'm loving this season!
i seem to lack motivation at work to get anything done. i know it'll come to me once i get in there and start really digging, but in the meantime, i'd rather just update the blog.
i had a june bug factory going on at chez gleek this weekend.
arms and more arms
these things were so quick to knit and all in all, so was june bug!
hello!
she's so cute. i think that KP wants to keep her. we both have a thing for stuffed animals.
yarn: lamb’s pride worsted in roasted coffee, rosado rose, and seafoam needles: US8 denise needles pattern: june bug from jess hutchinson’s unusual toys for you to knit and enjoy
mods? not many. i did the entire face in embroidery and i didn't follow the photo. just wanted a simple little face. i also picked up stitches on the head to knit the antennae instead of making them separate and stitching them on. she's pretty small, though. i thought this toy would be bigger but it's not like any of the photos are "to scale" so how was i supposed to know? she's cute, though, and i love her.
i also finished off the mittens of the brooklyn handspun trifecta.
mittens and socks.. so tiny!
here they are with the socks. they turned out well, but i realized that i actually REALLY hate doing kitchener stitch. lots of people love it, i know. but for some reason, it always comes out super crappy when i do it. so after the first mitten, i decided to instead use a technique that i saw on the anemoi mittens: turn the object inside out and do a three needle bind-off instead.
3 needle BO vs kitchener
the 3 needle bind off on the left is much neater than my kitchener on the right. i think that i'm officially off kitchener now for sock toes and what not. this is much easier.
so now i'm just making the hat for the trifecta to be complete. i saw this hat over at brooklyntweed the other day and decided to give it a shot. i'm double-stranding the yarn and knitting it on US3s addis. i switched the increases from M1s to kfb because doing M1s with addi turbo's stumpy points is hell. i hope it looks ok.
back to work.
ETA: so, looks like i'm not the only one who is totally unmotivated today. here's a little something to keep you busy. i promise it's safe for work. just some chickens policing some bunnies: http://youtube.com/?v=ybVb3t560oY
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.
