makes me very, very cranky.
But I did get a chance to start my Oblique. After a lot of measuring drama (imagine me yelling into the phone “I ran out of tape!” and that one totally believing me!), I settled on the size 46 – which I think is like the large. My chest is measuring 43 right now (pre-pregnancy I was a 40) and I figure when my milk comes in I’ll be about a 56, but I don’t have to button the sweater. In fact, I may not put buttons on it at all until, you know, next winter. I see this as a cozy big blanket of a sweater and I’m completely unconcerned about it fitting my post pregnancy body.
I got gauge with 9s (which hopefully means the sweater will go FAST!) and then I was reading over at Emily’s how she was concerned about the twisted ribbing pulling in around her hips and I went up to 10s for the ribbing. I’m very pleased with how it’s working out.
I actually had about ten more rows done but about two rows ahead of what you see here I added an extra yo. On the next rs row I realized it and dropped it, but it caused some stitches on the left leaning lace section to be…big. It was absolutely driving me CRAZY so I ripped back. Yes, yes. I tried to fix it without ripping back but it wasn’t satisfactory to me and it’s my sweater so if I feel like ripping back ten hard earned rows then I’m going to do it. I feel like I have absolutely no control over my life these days (read my body is NOT my own) and if I can have some control over my knitting I’m going to do it. 😉
I know the last picture I posted of the yarn looked a lot bluer. This picture is much more accurate. It’s gray. A very nice gray with a definite blueishness to it. I adore the yarn and I think it’s perfect for this sweater. Beaverslide Catbird for the skimmers.
I’m working non-stop. I work in my sleep. My dreams are about work. It’s kind of sad. But it will all be over soon and I’m meeting all my self-imposed goals. There’s not much time for anything else though. This weekend I may be out of town, and if that’s the case, I hope to do some knitting. I still have my birthday as a goal for this sweater – about a month. The work will end and I may just knit all day and all night and wouldn’t that be FUN! We’ll see.
Pregnancy news: I’m in the slog-o-rama part of it all. There’s nothing really good to look forward to except the actual BIRTH. I feel the baby ALL THE TIME. All the time as in oh my god give mommy a break for three seconds PLEASE. Unless of course I realize that I haven’t felt it in a little bit and then I’m all poking and prodding my belly begging the kid to move. I definitely look pregnant. I’m getting bigger by the second and now I’m obsessed with my nose. Does it look bigger? Georgie hesitated ever so slightly and I think I cried for an hour. The hormones are BACK with a vengeance thank you very much. And I still feel sick much of the time. The puking has all but stopped, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel like puking. Ah pregnancy. Hardest thing I’ve ever done. Ever.
Kim posted the other day that there’s now some unwritten rule about not blogging knits in progress, only FOs? I am SO out of the loop. You’ll get plenty of progress pictures here because honestly, that’s what I want to blog about. I NEED progress pictures. And don’t you know? It’s all about me these days.
It’s ALWAYS about progress and process…what else is there in life? I’m loving that yarn;-)
I’m just happy that you keep blogging and you always have such pretty progress pictures that its fun to watch things grow.
Oh, I love the progress photos! I’m such a slow knitter I need to ‘knit’ additional projects vicariously through others! 😛
I love progress shots – it helps me visualize the process along the way. Don’t stop!
I know the feeling on work work work. I’ve been glued to my computer printing out photo packages. I’ll be so glad when this set of orders is out and I can look at something other than the crew team.
I’m with everyone else – I love the progress shots – it gives you something to look forward too in the end with a gorgeous finished object 🙂
I’m with you on the pregnancy thing. Both of mine weren’t all that much fun (especially the many weeks laying on my left side toward the end – I think the mattress has a permanent imprint of my body in that position) Just PAMPER PAMPER PAMPER yourself any time you can and make NO excuses for it.
As for any trend about not posting on WIPs, that would kill it for me. I need to see the process, the mistakes, the pattern adjustments. It’s how we learn from each other and how I can connect with a knitter. So just WIP it, WIP it good!! **humming Devo song**
It’s all about you these days and that’s how we like it. 😉
Love the new sweater color!
That last line cracks me up. It’s a good thing it’s all about you these days, because very soon, and for a very long time, it won’t be about you, at all, anymore. And that is a surprisingly wonderful thing (at least it was for me). ;}
I love your finished items, but I love your progress shots, your commentary on your progress and you stories much more than the FO’s. What’s the saying? “the fun is in getting there” or something of the sort?
I totally hear you on the blah pregnancy time. You’re over the newness, you are over the firsts pretty much, now it’s just anticipation for the birth which seems forever away. If you can when you are done working so much I suggest you go on a vacation of some type. Even if it’s just a spa for a day. Something to break up the waiting. I actually went to Hawaii when I was 8 months pregnant. I was young and stupid and it was my first and my DR. said it was ok. I don’t advise you do that but a trip somewhere nice may be fun.
And I had a though about baby knitting…you said that you won’t knit for the baby yet, but you also said you had a friend that is just as pregnant as you. Knit for HER baby and ask if she will knit then for yours. Then she can send her knit to your mom or sister’s and you can send your knit to her or whomever and then you CAN have a red sweater to bring your baby home in. A hand made w/ love one too. Just not hand made w/ love by you. But you are giving a little of your love to her baby. What do you think?
ANd I love red. Especially red and white for babies.
That is totally bizarre that you are breaking something cyberemilypost to post in progress info. I’ve been posting FO’s just to have them online. Although the world can peek into our blogs, it’s our blogs and we can do whatever we want. I thoroughly enjoy watching projects progress. Yes, it’s the process, indeed.
I remember that feeling in my first pregnancy like, Body?! What are you doin’, girl? You are MY body! and my body answering back, Not any more! Now you gotta share me! (Good times.)
I read that “only FOs” thing somewhere, too. Don’t believe it. That is devil talk. We all need to see progress shots and hear about traumas along the way. Otherwise we will all feel like we are the only ones who ever screw up 🙂
Progress shots rule.
People can tell you what you should do, but you’re the Mom now!
Sometimes my life is only about tiny progress. I will celebrate what is there.
In my last trimester of both my kids, I remember the amazing realization that each had a waking, sleeping cycle which got longer and longer. I enjoyed the connection when all I wanted was a baby in my arms.
i totally post progress shots but it’s hilarious to see that those posts (at least on my blog) get like 4-5 comments and an FO post gets like 35!!
they only love me for my FOs haha 😉
you keep making me want to order beaverslide by the way – what’s a girl to do!
I love progress shots and hell these days that’s all I have to show so people can just deal.
I think the whole thing started because people were feeling pressure to finish things since they had posted from the start. We all know that some things go fast and some take years. we’re all knitters so I think we can understand when something isn’t done in a week.
Hey Cara! You’ll be surprised at your boobs while nursing – they actually could be SMALLER than normal after nursing if your baby nurses properly! If you’re ‘engorged’ or uncomfortable at all it means you might need to consult a lactation specialist, which I did and it saved me and my ‘nursing career’… 🙂 Nursing should be nothing but pleasurable for your baby AND you!
I’m another one for progress pictures! I love that when I see a finished product, I can scroll through the archives & refresh my memory of the whole project. Plus, it sometimes makes understanding the modifications easier for me.
I say bullpoo to the no WIP thing – how the heck are we going to learn anything? The only reason I rarely (if ever) post WIPs is because I never remember to take progress photos. That, or I am knitting something boring that has been done a billion times before.
Love the blog, as you were my dear, and phooey to anyone who says different. Sorry the nausea is back, I am rooting for you.
Claudia
What’s the point of not sharing works in progress?
Unless you finish in two days….
Silly Kim must be making rules for folks without access to cameras all the time. Yeah. that’s it.
You keep on sharing. We’ll keep on lapping it up!
Hooray for progress shots. I *love* the color of that Beaverslide. Yummy yum.
I think big comfy sweaters are the bomb, but I’ll second what a couple of others have said–your boobs *may* not get bigger than they currently are while nursing. I was a 40″ pre-preg, jacked up almost immediately to 44″, and then stayed there until after I weaned. Then again, I also know people who just kept on growing. Pregnancy–the great mystery game.
I’ve heard that rumor too, but I have yet to see any truth to it in the blogs I read. I will continue to post progress pics. The heck with PC!
So glad to see you working on a sweater.
Nah, not an unwritten rule, but a few comments here and there over the summer and fall about how WIP’s are boring or the fear of failing in public causing one to only want to post finished items :(. For us slow knitters (me), there would be no blogging if I only posted FO…LOL.
It’s only knitting, right? I know many of us love to watch the progress :-)….so keep em coming!
I am all about progress shots. Glad to see you are too! (plus, we have come to expect that from you, Cara!) 🙂
Wow. A lot of people jumped all over Kim for that one. I was surprised at all of the comments she got disagreeing so strongly.
I like progress shots, but I’m not sure I’ve ever posted one. (My apartment is too cluttered for me to easily find a clear surface to photograph my knitting on.)
Glad the nausea’s improving!
Yes, yes! Keep the progress photos coming!
How do you think I have learned so much about knitting?
I’m glad you are feeling (somewhat) better and back to knitting.
Put another vote in from me for progress shots. The world would be a sad place if all we did was wait for the destination and not enjoy the ride (wait didn’t mom say that to me on long car rides?).
Rules were made to be broken. I’ve been posting FOs lately, but only because I’ve been knitting things like squares and snoods. A snood takes about an hour: there’s instant gratification for you.
My kids moved pretty much all the time, but never hauled off and walloped me as I understand some fetuses like to do. Just wait until they’re 11 and don’t finish their homework until 10:30 on a school night, and then you have to get them up in the morning.
I’m itching to start Oblique, too! I printed out the pattern the other day and came up with some Cascade 220 in a nice, everyday color… for an everyday sweater, you know? I’ve only had time for one swatch and my gauge is too small (ugh, do I really want that Double Moss — there’s not that much, is there?), so need to go up a needle size, but need to get something finished first because I refuse to buy another pair of THAT size needle.
LOVE your gray color. I have a $10 gray cotton sweater from T*rget that I’ve worn for years — one of my faves, goes with EVERYTHING.
I love reading about other people’s progress! I love this Beaverslide yarn, I will have to knit something from their product one day.
Gorgeous Catbird. Just gorgeous. And your WIP pics give me hope. And a huge thanks to Kim for spawning a little reality check in knitblogland.
Interesting – I do WIP Wednesdays so every Wed I post progress on everything I have been working on that week. There is a growing group of us doing it too. If getting away from that is PC, well, I am not going to be participating. I like to post my WIPs if for no other reason than right now I am working on big projects and wouldn’t have any content otherwise!
I love progress shots because a) I live vicariously through you (on numerous projects), b) they are all I seem to muster, and c) I know whether or not to knit something. Welcome to the “what size do I knit club thanks to your boobs” club! And yes, for now, it is all about you . . . but as someone said previously, it soon changes but a for a brief time, it is all about you again except for all the wrong reasons, in which you learn to be blamed for everything, taking it with a grain of salt. Makes for some lovely stitch patterns!
The Oblique is looking great so far and I’ll watch your progress with great interest as I’m pondering the same sweater. Personally, I think blogging only about FOs would be terribly boring, so my readers are going to be stuck with a constant parade of WIPS, UFOs as well as FOs. Take care of yourself!
Just another comment on expanding chest size… mine definitely went up during pregnancy, and a bit right after my milk came in, but since then it’s been slowly going back to closer to the original size. It seems like now that I’m about 4 months post-baby having, they’ve lost some of that gi-normous quality even though I’m still nursing. I’ve read it’s something to do with the autocrine system adjusting to the baby’s actual needs…
Z was a big mover in utero, too. And she continues to be a big mover on the outside as well. She tended to get the hiccups a lot, too, both before and after birth.
It must be too late or I am otherwise stupid but I couldn`t find your email here. My husband, also a big fan of Bruce just gave me this and I instantl had to think about you.
http://fogonazos.blogspot.com/2007/04/bruce-springsteen-performed-incognito.html
wondering if you know that clip 🙂
Dahling, it’s your blog – it SHOULD be all about you. 🙂
I remember that both my girls had constant hiccups in the womb. Even all during the night, when Mommy was trying to sleep. It was like someone rhythmically kicking the back of your seat in the movie theatre. They’re all grown up now – I’d love to feel those hiccups again, just for old times’ sake. 🙂
Who made up that rule? I think one should do whatever suits their blogging style. I like seeing progres photos because it allows me to see how the pattern actually works out, and what people come up to work around problems.
I too noticed my nose got wider! Not that yours is but is this some phenomenon that happens but women keep a secret?? I’m loving following your progress so keep it up. Make certain you are keeping a diary of milestones. I so wished I did so the second time around because I kept wondering how far I was the first time when I felt the kick? How far was I when I surpassed my husband’s weight (ARGH!!!)?
Love the progress shots. I want to knit this along wichyou but I got so many things on the needles these days.
I used to sob when I watched Marcus Welby MD (you prolly don’t know that show) when I was pregnant and the smell of my Husbands golf bag….yeah the thing that held his golf clubs… used to piss me off to the extreme I thought it was such a foul smell. Pregnancy is definitely wack.
A rule about not posting WIPs? I’d have nothing to post!
sounds like you are making the perfect sweater, that will last you through several years of nursing.
(warning.. those boobs won’t go down til you quit nursing…. so figure a couple years of “wow”)
big grin..
I’m so glad that you are doing so well. Preganacy, while difficult for many of us, is so totally worth it!. trust me, you’ll be so glad.
Fo’s are great shots, and so are WIP’s—-I especially enjoy when we get a peek at a picture like the one of a few days ago with your pregnant friend. Two works-in-progress! Your blog is wonderful, and I am guessing it is because it is a reflection of you. Hang in there, because when you are bringing that new little one home, you won’t believe that nine months could have gone so fast! It doesn’t seem like it now, but it will come spring.
oh, yeah:: remember the first, very first flutters you felt from the baby? how exciting it was? and right about now, you’re like, *alright baby, get your elbow out of my spleen* and praying that your digestive system will settle back into some semblance of normal–
can’t wait to ‘meet’ zee baby!
Oh, don’t ever stop with the progress pictures! I love them!
This is another one of those blogworld kerfluffles for which I’m totally out of the loop, isn’t it?
Having read Kim’s post, and the comments therein, I suspect that the people who complain about WIP posts being boring are NOT BLOGGERS. And childish, to boot.
I think 99.9% of blog readers understand that it’s better to have ten WIP posts followed by an FO post, than to have two months of silence followed by an FO post.
Nah, no rule. I love progress pics.
I think the comment Kim made about WIPs was in response to my query as to whether I could post progress shots on my blog of Morocco (the shawl I have in development for her.) Some organizations insist that submitted patterns be a surprise. And they are certainly within their rights so to do.
But me? I like to watch how things develop. Besides, the feedback I get is invaluable to the design process. That’s why I prefer to work with “indie” dyers and on line retailers. I like the inclusiveness of the online community and would burst at the seams if I had to keep a secret like that for months.
I’d have nothing to blog about. And the honesty I value in my blog would disappear like sock yarn updates.POOF! Gone…
Speaking of bursting at the seams,NICE tummy shots!
Bursting at the seam blessings!