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.

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every time i say "two itty bitty socks" in my head i say it in the voice of the count from sesame street. anyway, two itty bitty socks down and i'm already halfway through the first mitten.

sorry for the lack of updates around here. as usual, things are busy busy busy at home with all of the apartment shuffling and the fact that i'm still working 8 hour days. my maternity leave is coming up though! i'm off march 9th and it can't come a moment sooner. i'm tired. i'm tired of all the crazy decisions at work (especially since i haven't had time off from this place in close to 7 months) and the fact that they keep piling work on me right before i leave. what they SHOULD be doing is transitioning me off of projects, but they're more keen to get as much out of me before i go instead. they better hope i don't go into labor early.

anyway, back to the apartment and baby. here are a few things we've done in preparation:

• i got the baby owner's manual and maintenance log from babygeared.com. i will be prepared!
• purchased a slow cooker and vegetarian slow cooker recipe book on recommendation from cari.
• KP has moved all the computer stuff from the office to his new desk in the dining area. pics to come.
• i purchased some very cute prints from carla sondheim on etsy for the peanut's room. i found her site through apartment therapy's newest off-shoot, the nursery.
• also found through apartmenttherapy, i bought some flor tiles for the peanut's room and the bathroom. for the peanut's room, i got 9 toy poodle tiles. the bathroom, i got 6 stripe a pose tiles. i love them! and so much cheaper than rugs.

there was also a huge amazon purchase of wipes and diapers but we don't need to go into that. the entire apartment is still pretty cluttered but i expect it to be much better after the weekend. my parents and brother are coming on saturday with the crib, a rocking chair, and tons of other small things. they are also taking away a bunch things from us to store or use. i expect the place will open up some by sunday.

in the meantime, knitting continues as it's one of the only stress-free things that i do nowadays. believe it or not, i'm only about 12 rows away from finishing the 3-hole shawl! i'm so excited to be done with this! just gotta finish up this last repeat, 5 rows of garter stitch, weave in the ends, and block it. i expect the blocking will take place on sunday while i'm out with the spiders. let's hope it doesn't take forever to dry!

i also started a new project but i expect it to be done very quick. it's a simple slip stitch scarf for my cousin's daughter.

pink!

she specifically asked for a pink scarf and since she's allergic to wool, i broke out the cotton ease that i bought at the yarn riot. i wanted it to be really warm, though, so i decided to double-strand it and use size 10.5 needles. it's knitting up fast! since it's for a 5 year old, i only have to make it about 4 feet long before putting on some fringe (oh yes, this baby definitely needs fringe.) i should be done by the weekend. so i guess you'll get two FOs really soon!

what's next? i really want to make some stuffed animals for the peanut so i'm going to break out my lamb's pride and jess hutch book and knit up something fun!

geez, i almost forgot! this past sunday was spider's spinning day at marie's. i had a great time and learned that i am just not a spinner. i couldn't get the hang of it and really don't see the appeal of making my own yarn (though i do see the appeal of dyeing yarn!) this is a good thing. i do not need another hobby. really. a few pics from sunday are in the gallery.

p.s. also, sorry for the spam that showed up in the comments last week. the spammers are outrageous! even after installing the security code, they get through. after seeing those few buggers, i added yet ANOTHER layer of spam protection to the blog, akismet, which is now available for movabletype. hopefully this will help as well.

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why is it that time is flying so much faster as i'm getting older? the other day on the F train back home from work, i was sitting and staring into space because i had finished my book and was too tired to knit. it's these occasions where i notice the people around me and have my "new york moments". for example, i was eavesdropping on this trio of youngsters, a couple (boy and girl) and their guy friend. the girl says, "i just turned 15! i can't believe YOU'RE 17. god, that's soooooo OLD!"

*silence*

really, i nearly burst out laughing but stopped myself because that would have indicated that i was indeed eavesdropping. the inanity of that statement left me speechless. i don't feel old and yet i'm twice her age! kids. geeeeez. i can't believe that i'm going to have a baby that in a few years time is going to think that i'm OLD and so uncool. it makes me laugh.

so january is almost over and i'm almost at 34 weeks (with a due date of march 15th) and time is flying. just to keep you up-to-date and all, here's a quick state of the knitting recap.

almost done!

the EZ february sweater will be done before february! amazing. it was so quick and took just over 1 ball of cashsoft DK (it was exactly one ball for the body and then some for the sleeves.) here the sleeves are blocking and tonight i will seam them up and weave in the ends. if i'm lucky, maybe i'll sew the cutie-patootie buttons on that i bought at the point on friday.

getting closer...

the 3-hole shawl is chugging along, of course. i'm just about to start the repeat where i put in the 3rd and final hole. then it's 7 repeats of the pattern, the garter stitch border, bind-off, and block.

the pirates hat is blocked and it looks ok to me but definitely will not fit my dad. it fits me nicely and fits KP very snuggly which means it definitely won't fit my dad as my dad's head is bigger. on to plan B which is a hat and mitten set made out of the lovely chocolate brown debbie bliss merino aran that i have left over from this project. i plan on casting-on for mom's mittens later this week. let's hope that i get both parent projects done before the end of february.

over the next few weeks, i'll be updating you on the state of our apartment as well. i'm a big fan of apartment therapy and have decided to take on revamping our apartment in anticipation of the peanut's arrival (don't freak.. we've been working on it for weeks and i just decided it was probably a good idea to take pictures and document it. i'm not tearing down any walls or anything. just switching out furniture, moving it around and making room.) stay tuned for before and after photos and what i've bought on my budget to get everything in order.

on a blog related note, mint 2.0 came out yesterday and i immediately installed the upgrade and screwed a bunch of things up as i usually do. i think that everything is back in working order now but you may have seen a lot of RSS updates and corrupted feeds over the last day or so. my apologies. we should be golden now.

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not that i didn't feel pregnant last week or the week before, it's just that after a whole weekend of working on the apartment, i'm starting to feel tired to my bones. that and i'm not sleeping well. i got up this morning before the sun was even up so that i could make it to an early dentist appointment. and the dentist? not fun while pregnant either. it's just one of those things that they don't tell you about until you're in the chair and scraping away. trust me, you don't want to know the details.

thankfully it was a three day weekend for me so even though i spent saturday and sunday cleaning, reorganizing, and plugging up every last little hole into my apartment with triple expanding foam and steel wool (ah, NYC.. anyone who tells you that they naturally do not have a mouse problem is a big fat stinking' liar) i got a chance to camp it on the couch most of yesterday.

but before i got to do that, i did get to give bedtime bear a little scrub.

scrub a dub dub

more soap please!

what you see there is after TWO soakings and one scrubbing. the second scrubbing was the most successful. then he was thrown into the wash and the dryer and came out looking brand spankin' new. don't even ask how he got so filthy in the first place. he was well loved by KP and now he will keep the peanut company and will hopefully teach her that bedtime is good.

in response to all of the questions about the baby knits from the last post, all of those were made by family members for me when i was a baby and my parents stowed them away. i didn't even know that they kept them! it was a nice surprise. every one of them will be cared for put to good use. no, sorry, they are not for sale, but i'm sure that if i love one over the other, i may come up with a pattern for it. we'll see. everyone seems to love the poncho!

on my day off yesterday, i spent some quality time watching 24 saved from the previous evening while knitting on the 3-hole shawl. i redid the math and determined that i need at least two more balls of noro silk garden, putting this project at a whopping 13 balls needed. i ordered some from ebay (this is well within the guidelines of knit from your stash 2007, by the way) but the lot is different so i'm holding off working on it anymore until the new yarn arrives. i want to see if there's a real difference or not, and if so, i'll want to work it into the current panel.

the pirates hat also got some time yesterday and i'm about 6 rows from completing all the colorwork.

but i wanted to make good on my 2007 goal of "sewing more" so i decided to whip up a sewing machine cozy. this was a quick and dirty project which i totally made up as i went along using some stash fabric i had lying around. since my sewing machine does not have a permanent home (no room for it) it tends to get all dusty hanging out in the corner or on a shelf so this cozy was needed..

my scandalously naked sewing machine

much better!

the little bag off to the right is for the pedal and power cords (ignore my gatorade on the left.. love that fruit punch!) i even managed to put a slit in the top where i can grab the handle to get it off the shelf.

and here it is, sitting in its new home on the newly reorganized shelf with all of my craft books.

it's nice to have it accessible now with all of my craft books which were also hidden away in the corner until the major reorg of the apartment started happening last weekend. things are looking up! but damn am i tired! only a few more weekends of this sort of work to go before everything is ready for the peanut's arrival.

to come? a new desk, changing table/dresser, storage unit from ikea, new table and chairs from ikea, other assorted storage goodies from ikea, a crib and rocking chair from my parents, stuff from my registry, etc etc. wow, there's still a lot more to do and cram into the apartment!

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sorry for the week long blog absence. i really want to be good about posting while i can (before the peanut arrives and sucks away all my spare time!) but last week was incredibly busy as was this past weekend. the week that we all return to work after an extended vacation always seems hectic. yeah, i was at work between christmas and new year's but not many other people were so getting back in the swing of things was tough on tuesday and wednesday. then the rest of the week flew by in a big blur! i didn't get to do as much knitting as i had hoped but this weekend was full of progress at chez gleek.

without even a prompting from me, KP got going on house clearing and storage early on saturday morning. i was surprised and very grateful! we both worked on going through our massive library of books and sorted out the crap from keepable. about twenty books ended up on the curb (but they didn't stay there long thanks to the wonderful weather and abundant street traffic in the slope) and half of our collection ended up in the storage space in the basement. we ordered huge plastic storage containers last week for this very purpose. needless to say, it was very cleansing to me. i love a good purge of household items.

from there we cleaned and rearranged furniture in anticipation of moving items out of our second bedroom (formerly know as "the office") to make room for the peanut. i was exhausted by the end of the day but managed to knit a little and cut out some fabric.

on sunday, after a trip to babies "r" us with kaitlyn, i spent some time in front of the sewing machine and whipped up these two drawstring bags.

i got the formula for making these from jess. her instructions were quite clear up to the point of "sew the squares on the bottom of the long rectangle" at which point my pregnant brain completely checked out. for about an hour, i just couldn't figure it out! i tried pinning the square along the bottom but the darn things never matched up. i was beginning to get frustrated when i decided to go at them in reverse order and it worked! sorry this description is so vague but it's her pattern and i don't want to give away all the secrets in case she wants to make a tutorial. if she doesn't, maybe i'll do one. we'll see.

anyway, the bags are reversible. i picked some fabric for the insides and will still probably never turn them inside out.

inside out? maybe not

i really want to buy a fat quarter collection or two and make more! these were so easy once i got the hang of it.

in knitting news, i finally started some fair isle, though i'm beginning to wonder at the practicality of making winter items with the climate being all crazy lately. dude, it was close to 70 degrees here on saturday! beautiful but freaky.

aaarrrrr!!!

here be pirates!! my very first fair isle, and though it's a lot of work, it's fun and i am enjoying it. i've made it totally through the first repeat of the pattern and am now working on the second one. it's slow going but getting faster as i get used to knitting with two hands and keeping my floats loose. i can't wait to see it all done!

when i was just too tired to concentrate on the pirates hat (like after all that moving work on saturday), i worked on the 3-hole shawl which is now one more hole closer to done.

2 holes down, 1 to go

originally i bought one bag of silk garden (10 balls) on ebay to make this. then after working through the first 3 balls, i did some calculations and thought that i would need 11 balls so i bought one more ball on ebay. now, alas, i think that i'm going to need 12 to finish this sucker. either the yardage is just not consistent in silk garden or i've lost my brain and ability to do math. considering that i'm 30 weeks pregnant, i'm going to go with reason #2. looks like i'm going to have purchase another ball on ebay soon (which is the only place that i can find this particular colorway.) oh well, it's in the rules of KFYS2007 that i can do this, thankfully!

some of you are probably wondering about my stupid sock creatures. i hit a snafu last week with my first one being that i sorta sewed the tail on the wrong side of the body and it became not so much a tail anymore. use your imagination. it may be salvageable. we'll see. the second one is still in pieces because i need a lot of patience to sew such tiny things together. patience is something that i lack lately.

later this week, i hope to cast on for a knit for the peanut! i'm planning on making the baby sweater from elizabeth zimmerman's knitters almanac. see this lovely one that carrie made? i'm making mine with some RYC cashsoft DK. it looks like a quick knit so i hope it'll be done soon (look at me hoping for something to be done before i've even started it! i've clearly lost it) then it's on to more peanut knits! she is due on march 15th and i'd like her to be decked out in some of my handmade goods.

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with only a few more hours to go in 2006, i'm here to reflect on all that's happened this year. it was quite a roller coaster ride!

early in 2006, my work life was turned upside down when my boss decided to quit so that he could travel the world (can't really blame him) and then one of my coworkers in my small department left to move to seattle. bummer. that left only me and one other coworker to do the work of four people (really five, we were always short staffed). working for the man is tough enough but doing work for others for the man is even worse. i had to cut back on all of my vacation time and burn myself to the quick in order to make things passable at my job. that was probably one of the toughest things i have ever done, and it went on for over four months while management tried to find replacements.

while dealing with work issues, i also helped put on two plays this year with madair. they were both a lot of fun to work on but very time consuming. it was a good thing that i refused to do freelance web work this year! i'm not really sure where i would have found the time. i did do a few jobs here and there for friends, but in the end, it was nothing compared with having a paying client who demands fast work for almost nothing.

then came the pregnancy, right at the tail end of summer. i'm glad that i got a chance to live it up a bit before heading into the first trimester of hell. i was so sick and i thought, "what happens if i'm like this the entire time?!" thankfully, around 15 weeks i stopped feeling ill, and around 20 weeks i got my regular appetite back. i've been able to go to the gym 2 or 3 times per week since the end of my first trimester and that's helped a lot. the gym is my saviour. i couldn't live without it.

speaking of which, my hubby, KP and i, also have had a chance to learn from each other and support each other this year. he is my rock and my love, and i couldn't live without him. kisses!

in non-personal matters, 2006 was not so bad! i got to spend lots of good times with the spiders. the spiders grew considerably this year and each week at the point got a little more busy and crowded. we supported each other through crises and laughed at each other's jokes. i could not do without those girls. i love them all!

they also helped me through plenty of knitting projects! let's take a look back at my goals for 2006. (i promise there will be pictures in this post.. hang with me!)

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well, i'm finally in my third trimester and boy am i tired. i think that i woke up about 5 or 6 times last night! my guess is that this is mother nature's way of preparing me for the incoming baby but, really, i could use the rest! i'm still working 5 days a week (and probably will right up to when i burst) so i could definitely use a break. oh well.

anyway, this'll be the first post in a while about knitting where i don't have an FO to show. are you disappointed? hahaha, i'm feeling the pressure! but there's christmas knitting going on at chez gleek and progress being made on the 3-hole shawl so i guess i'm doing something!

one christmas hat done, another half way there

i suppose you COULD count this as an FO but i'm lumping all the christmas knitting into one project and won't consider it done until it's ALL done. here we have one hat complete (on the right, a baby cable hat. very stretchy) and another at its half way point. i'm getting knitting in whenever i can nowadays especially during my lunch hour while i listen to music at my desk. it's my calming point of the day.

one hole down!

and here is the 3-hole shawl with one hole complete. i knit on this whenever i'm bored of the hat. i think that i should be able to get to the second hole by christmas if i'm lucky, but i have one more hat to make after this one is complete so i'm not holding my breath.

after christmas knitting is over though, it's clear sailing into next year. on the plate for january is some baby knitting and more glittens for me (which should be really quick because i'm making them a bit smaller than the last pair.) i also am determined to make some stupid sock creatures for the peanut and resurrect some of my old stuffed animals from my parent's house. lots to do before she arrives!

now before anyone else posts about this, i wanted to share this link i saw on apartment therapy this morning! GIANT KNITTING! seriously this is some cool stuff. rugs and housewares. i really want that garter stitch poof to sit on. check out the giant needles they use at the end of the post. bet the TSA won't let you bring those on a flight.

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the mondays after a five day weekend? mmm, not so much. nor tuesdays for that matter. especially when other coworkers are still on vacation and i have to cover for them. i've been so busy these past two days, i'm surprised i'm still alive! and you all have been updating your blogs and making it even harder for me to get around to updating mine. shame on you! no really, thanks. you saved me from having to commit seppuku at my desk and ending it all.

ok, enough with the sarcasm as i have a long post for you. it's mostly photos, you lucky people. first, let me showcase one of my two latest FOs (and possibly the last one you'll see for about a month).

me, the bump, and some legwarmers

yarn: one strand of silver sport weight alpaca from a touch of twist and one strand of grey munsell merino 150 rainbow color no. 136 leftover from the somewhat cowl
needles: US8 denise interchangables magic loop
pattern: cast on 48 stitches and do 1x1 rib

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the need for two legwarmers, silly! and behold, they are complete!

warm and soft legwarmers

well, they're blocking which is good enough. hopefully i can wear them soon and get a photo of them in action. right now they are hanging up in the bathroom almost dry. see that cake of yarn there in the middle? that appears to be the never-ending skein of alpaca. seriously, i BARELY made a dent in the darn thing. what am i going to do with all that extra yarn? it's sport weight and i can't imagine wearing it unless it's an accessory. suggestions? or maybe someone wants to do a swap for it? exotic (no gelatin) candy for about 400yds of alpaca? let me know.

anyway, last week i was working the box office for project playwright II so i had a lot of time to knit while waiting for the first act to end. i started up some glittens (gloves/mittens) for my friend marc.

one glitten in progress

i've actually finished this glove and started on the second one. i'm going to do both of them and then put the mitten tops on them just so that i can make sure they are knit the same. all the specs are on the projects in progress backpack page.

and who wants a picture of a cute baby in something handknit??? i do!

aw! what a cutie!

here we have baby H enjoying his new sweater. it IS a little big on him (considering i made the largest size) but he's a fast growing boy and i'm sure he'll get plenty of use out of it. won't you?

yep

i think that he agrees.

well, i have tomorrow off from work so i have a lovely 5 day weekend ahead of me! much relaxing, socializing, and knitting to take place. thankfully, KP and i are heading to our family on LI for thanksgiving which means i don't have to clean the house or bake unusually high quantities of food. tomorrow, i'll be knitting with the spiders and again on friday so expect to see many more pictures in the coming days. i did cast-on for the 3-hole shawl but only knit two rows on it so far. when i have more progress, i'll take a picture. no need to bore you with what i have for now.

happy holidays!

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can you believe it's november? what the heck happened to 2006?! i feel like new year's was just a month or so ago. time is really flying.

speaking of flying, my fingers have been doing a lot of that lately. not only have i been coding like a mad genius at work, but i've been knitting every night. it's so nice to be back into a routine again. the first trimester of my pregnancy really had me down and out, but now i'm back! i feel pretty normal nowadays with only the growing stomach to show that i'm really pregnant. no weird cravings, no insatiable appetite, just normal. it's kind of nice!

so here's the progress on the latest projects:

getting close!

i'm really cruising along with this baby ribbed jacket! i finished the second sleeve last night and started working on the right front (that spot where you see the needle hanging out.) i think that i should be done with the body of the sweater tonight! i have the money pit at home and will probably watch it and knit tonight if all goes according to plan. i haven't seen that movie in years but it gets quoted a lot around my household.

growing...

the mistake rib scarf is growing slowly. i keep switching back and forth between the two balls of yarn i have because they are from different dyelots. i do one big chunk, then another so that, in the end, it will look like it was intentional to have big blocks of different color texture. i should have alternated on alternate rows but i didn't realize the difference until it was too late... and i hate ripping. so there ya go.

the second angel sock (no picture.. use your imagination) is past the heel and cruising through the foot. i now work on this on the train some days when i don't feel like reading. this morning i got a lot done on the way into work! so, needless to say, i never finished a pair of socks during socktoberfest, which is a bummer, but i was into the spirit of the thing anyway, and i certainly learned a lot from lolly on sock making! so thanks for the great KAL, lolly!

i still haven't casted-on for the second leg warmer yet, but i will as soon as i get through the body of this baby sweater. the recipient of the sweater is waiting patiently for it, so i might as well get it done ASAP.

not to be left out of the whole KAL thing for more than, like, 3 seconds, i joined the norovember KAL. it's also very much like socktoberfest in that there's no pressure, but if you can knit with noro in november, then do it and join the KAL! i've been dying to start my japanese 3-hole shawl forever. you may remember it?

the 3-hole shawl

it's basically one REALLY long rectangle of wavy stitch with three holes in it. your arms go through the first two holes and then the rest of the shawl wraps around your front and your left arm goes through the third hole. this way your arms are free to do things. great for breastfeeding, if you ask me. this is from the fall/winter 2005 let's knit magazine in japanese. thankfully, i know enough japanese to do this pattern easy peasy, and it has a chart. no problem.

and this is the yarn i'll be using (from the stash, of course):

noro silk garden 225

so, once the baby sweater is done, i'm going to cast on for this bad boy. i hope to finish up the angel socks soon too, because i have some christmas knitting to get going on as well. november should be fun! thankfully, i have a nice long thanksgiving weekend at the end of the month and a week of working the box office for the next madair production (come see the second annual Project Playwright!) to get lots of knitting done. huzzah!

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