Do-Overs

January 2, 2008 By

First off, let me just say THANK YOU for all the wonderful birthday wishes and belly compliments! I so appreciate you all! THANK YOU AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Now, can we do it over?

Hindsight is always 20/20 and as much as I LOVE being with the rugrats and watching the kids with G and just loving on them and having them love my baby so much, before s/he is even here – it wasn’t the best idea to watch them on New Year’s Eve. It was completely MY idea, so I have no one to blame for myself. It just didn’t feel like my birthday. My sister and her husband spent the night out, so we had the kids for the whole night. And it was long.

The next morning I woke up and promptly threw up.

There is no good reason for puking on your birthday UNLESS you’ve done something so fun, so excessive, it warrants that kind of behavior. I did nothing but have the audacity to get pregnant. Silly me.

The 1st was long and while it was lovely to be with my family and I got to eat good food (read bagels and cream cheese and baked salmon) and I had my prerequisite birthday cake (Carvel Ice Cream Cake – there is no substitute) I was exhausted and felt kind of ill all day. There were tears on my birthday. There was no knitting.

Today hasn’t been much better, honestly. I puked. Again. That’s two days in a row. I haven’t puked two days in a row in about six weeks. I am NOT happy. Honestly, I thought I was done with it. Yeah, sure, occasionally, but I feel like I’m going back to the beginning and somehow I feel like I lost all my coping skills. Or rather they shifted so I can cope with all the other stuff. Ann told me I shouldn’t feel sorry for myself because there’s nothing I can do about it and BUCK UP LIL’ CAMPER. (I told her at least I didn’t call her when I was crying – I called my sister – who was very sympathetic. She said you don’t call me for sympathy and she’s right.) ETA: Apparently Ann has taken great umbrage at the fact that I took poetic license in writing that she said, “BUCK UP LIL’ CAMPER.” She didn’t say those words out loud, even though that might be what I heard.

Anyway. That’s where I’m at. I’d like to do it over please. Tonight G and I are going out to dinner. I hope I can get through it. Isn’t that pathetic?

There has been some good stuff too! I completely freaked out last weekend over the whole baby thing and promptly leapt into action. We’ve ordered furniture for the baby’s room and I may have even registered! How crazy is that? It did make me feel a lot better about things though. Now the great clean-up must begin.

And there’s been knitting! Lots of knitting! (I should note that I feel kind of like a fraud posting these pictures after Jen and La so generously awarded me The Picture Perfect Award. Seriously – I can do much better!)

Oblique now has two fronts! I finished them Sunday night and I’m very happy with how they turned out. It ends up, if you take good notes when you’re knitting the back and making changes, the fronts go very well. Here’s a picture of the fronts laid out over the back.

And here’s a pattern close-up, just for the hell of it.

Still loving the yarn, the pattern, everything. I want it done NOW! I’m going to cast on for the sleeves today hopefully and I’m going to try a mod I read about on Ravelry. ThatLaurie, who knit a GORGEOUS Oblique in her own handspun, cast on the sleeves with a provisional cast on and started right away with the pattern instead of the big cuffs called for. I’m going to do the same. Basically, I’m knitting a larger size and while I like my sleeves long, I don’t think they’ll need to be THAT long. So I’ll knit them and add some ribbing later as warranted. Now to find my favorite provisional cast on. I can never remember which one I like best.

I didn’t really make any resolutions this year – other than enduring the end of my pregnancy with as much grace as I can, birthing a beautiful baby, and beginning the journey of raising a wonderful human being – but I do intend to blog on a more regular basis, whether I have knitting to show or not. Now that I’m not working like a maniac the blog is an excellent outlet for me and I miss the day to day of it. So hopefully you won’t get sick of me too fast.

Thanks for reading. And thanks again for thinking of me yesterday.
L, C

Filed Under: Oblique

Cicek Sepeti

January 1, 2008 By

Cicek Sepeti

Filed Under: Baby? OH BABY!, Life

We’re having a WHAT?!?!

December 26, 2007 By

Reality has set in. Now that I don’t have to think about work 24 hrs a day I’ve realized that OH MY GOD! We’re having a BABY!!! I don’t need to tell you that panic is not pretty. That’s pretty much what I was doing this weekend. Panicking. A BABY! That is FOREVER! AND EVER! AND EVER!

Scary stuff my friends, as I’m sure many of you know. Scary scary stuff.

I tried to assuage my fears with knitting. Selfish self-indulgent knitting. (BEWARE: Some seriously CRAPTACULAR photos to follow!)

Oblique now has my full attention. I’m loving it! I finished the back and the measurements all seem good (it’s going to be big and comfy!) and I started on the fronts. I am a big fan of doing the fronts and sleeves together. It takes a bit longer, maybe – maybe not, but you can also keep better track and make sure that you do the same thing for both fronts/sleeves. I’m at the point on the sleeves where I can start the shaping decreases and that shouldn’t take too long. I figure the fronts should go pretty quickly because you’ve got raglan decreases along with neck decreases – that’s a lot of decreasing! I’m hoping, maybe, to have the fronts finished by the weekend. Ambitious, to be sure.

I’ve started feeling sick again. Sad, but true. And I’m tired. Things hurt. All of which makes me really nervous because I’ve still got 13 weeks to go.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday or day off or Tuesday. I’m trying to think up a spectacular birthday contest – something really over the top this year. We’ll see how well my brain works!

Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Baby? OH BABY!, Oblique

Ho! Ho! Ho!

December 25, 2007 By

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

SPIN OUT 2007: FINALLY!

December 21, 2007 By

Hi all! Good news! The Spin Out 2007 Prize Packages have been awarded! I have sent emails to all of the winners – please, please, PLEASE! Check the email address you used to email me your raffle information. Also, PLEASE CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDERS! I can’t tell you how many times email gets dumped into spam!

I realize that many of you are not at the place where you usually read your email (ie: work – I’ve gotten a few Out of Office Replys already.) I’m sorry for the timing of all of this – but don’t fret. Your box will be waiting for you. And maybe if you read this you’ll check your email? (And your SPAM filter?)

The emails all came from the same address: cara@spin-out.org.

Whew!

I also want to take a moment to sincerely apologize for the length of time it’s taken me to award these prizes. If I had had any kind of inkling what a humongous undertaking this would be – that the bulk of the work would coincide with the exact same time that my business is at it’s busiest. And that this year my business would be busier than ever. And that I’d be pregnant and sick and have half the energy I usually have – well, to be honest, there wouldn’t have been a Spin Out this year. Last year Spin Out was in June – which gave me the whole summer to get things out and still have plenty of time before work got crazy. And there were maybe HALF the prizes to give away. And work wasn’t as crazy as this year. And I wasn’t pregnant and sick.

I truly appreciate that you have not given up on me. Know that I want these prizes out of my house as much as you want to see them in the winners’ hands. I’m reminded daily (by the boxes ALL OVER THE HOUSE) that I haven’t fulfilled my obligations. I always fulfill my obligations. My integrity is something I treasure and I’d hate to think that someone might question it because I’ve been sincerely overwhelmed this year.

To all of the people who so generously donated to the raffle and to all of the vendors who so generously donated the prizes: I AM SORRY. Truly sorry.

Thank you.

I will be announcing a list of winners and the remaining prizes that were never featured sometime in the coming week. I want this all done (and hopefully OUT OF MY HOUSE!) before my birthday. Think of it as my present to me AND you.

Thank you again for your patience and continued support.
L, C

Filed Under: Spin Out 2007

Living for the Weekend

December 18, 2007 By

Sometime Sunday night I realized that this past weekend was the first since, oh I don’t know, SEPTEMBER that I didn’t have any obligations. I worked maybe a total of an hour and the rest of the time was blissfully my own.

There was some food shopping (which I abhor) but the rest of the time I knit!


Front of Right Mitten

I started my Bird In Hand Mittens Friday night, first casting on with 4s. Then 3s. And finally settling in with 2s. The first two needles sizes gave me a HUGE picot edge and I decided that there was no way I could down below 2s. In fact, I told myself if I needed to go back up for the colorwork that would be okay. Surprisingly, the 2s are working perfectly!


Front of Right Mitten Closeup

I ended up going with the last picture in the last entry – the blue that is probably closest to the brown in heathery-ness. I actually tried a couple of rows with the top blue, but I wasn’t loving it and when I consulted with Georgie, he picked the bottom blue. So far so good!


Back of Right Mitten

I’ve tried to remain very conscious of my floats and spreading the stitches out as I go along and I’m very pleased with my results. I think my stitches look incredibly even and my floats are all at a similar tension and MAN these gloves are thick! It’s almost like they’re felted! They are going to be SUPER warm. They fit just fine on my hand – not too tight, not too loose and I’m loving watching the colorwork unfold. I managed to knit a couple rows past the thumb gusset. I think my plan is to finish the first mitten, then knit the second mitten, then GO BACK and do the thumbs. This way whatever I do on the first will be fresh in my mind on the second.


Back of Right Mitten Closeup

Also, I don’t miss the braid at all! I think the cuff looks lovely with Alice’s mods.

I did NOT neglect Oblique! (Although I was sorely tempted!) I’m in the midst of raglan decreases and I hope to have the back finished very shortly – maybe even tonight! As is my usual way, I’ll be casting on both fronts as soon as I’m done the back.

Two wonderful projects! What could be better than that? Thanks for your input on the mittens – I hope my choice doesn’t disappoint.

Filed Under: Bird In Hand Mittens

Choices

December 14, 2007 By

So I’m thisclose to being done with work! In fact, last night I finished the biggest project left and now all I have to do is wait for prints and cards to come in and send them back out. There may be a few straggler holiday cards to design, but for all intents and purposes, I’m DONE! Whew! This was the busiest I’ve ever been and for the most part everything went very well. My clients are happy which means I’m happy. God knows what I’m going to do next year when the babe is here, but I’m not going to worry about it now!

In the meantime, now that my head isn’t filled with work lists, all I can think about is knitting. Not the fact that my house is a disaster and my husband keeps asking me when that whole nesting thing is going to kick in. Not the fact that my first born will arrive in like THREE MONTHS! Not even that my birthday is only a few weeks away. Nope. None of that. Only knitting.

Yesterday I had to drive G into the city and while I was there I thought I’d stop at Knitty City since they had a pattern I was DESPERATE to own (read: couldn’t wait to order it through the mail I had to have it RIGHT NOW even though I won’t be knitting it anytime soon.) While I was there I couldn’t help but look around and since they have a great selection of Cascade, I thought I’d check it out to see if I could find some other colors for the Bird In Hand mittens. When I first decided that I wanted to knit the mittens I thought I’d make them in a similar color combination to the felted bag I made oh so long ago that I LOVED. Basically I wanted a blue/green and the brown.

Now I’ve got choices.

Here are the three blue-greens I’m thinking of. The ball in the center is the one I used for the bag. I think it’s too green for what I envisioned. The yarn on the top is still a heather (they’re all Cascade 220 Heathers), but it doesn’t have much color change in it – it’s a very lovely blue. The photograph isn’t doing it justice and I think I like this one the best, but I’m not sure it goes the best with the brown. The yarn on the bottom is the third blue – much more heathery, but it’s darker, so it will be more muted against the brown, but the heathery-ness probably matches up the best with the brown. Want to see them again?

Tough decision, no? What do you think? In the meantime, I want to cast on this second. I’m going to do the modification I saw over at kathrynivy.com. Alice’s modifications to the cuff are spectacular as far as I’m concerned and yes I’m wimping out on the braid. First off, I’m not really a braid kind of girl – second of all, I don’t have the mental capacity to learn a new trick this week – I just want to knit. Third, I think the braid’s not going to show up so well in the brown. So there. No braid. Thank you Alice!

Now the big questions – which needle do I start with? The last time I tried stranded knitting I had to go up something like three or four needle sizes and the mittens were STILL too small. I’m tempted to start out with 4s and see how I do. Although I should probably start with 3s. Off to knit! Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: Bird In Hand Mittens

Carried Away

December 13, 2007 By

Thank you all so much for your comments and encouragement. I made it through the test. I have no idea if I passed or not, but I’m sort of counting on failing. It’s easier that way.

ETA: BRING ON THE COOKIES!! I PASSED!
 The dr’s office called a few minutes ago and I’m all like I failed didn’t I and the nurse was like, no, you passed! You’re fine! YAY! Don’t think this means I’m going to overdue it or anything, I’m just relieved that I don’t have to pay super microscopic attention to everything I eat. Eating continues to be a challenge for me – I still feel sick most days – and the idea that I can AT TIMES eat what I want because I want to is VERY freeing for me. Thanks again for all your support!

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. First off, I threw up before I left the house yesterday (at 7:30 AM) and that ended up being a GOOD thing, even though I’ve tried very very very hard not to throw up on an empty stomach my entire pregnancy. It was good because I found out that if I had thrown up DURING the test, the test becomes null and void and I’d have to do it over again. So the goal became DO NOT THROW UP – and I didn’t. The only other thing I was a bit apprehensive about was a panic attack. Not eating – low sugar – ups and downs with sugar – are a sure-fire prescription for panic in my life. It’s actually one of the ways I figured out how to keep it in check. Haven’t eaten? Feeling anxious? DUH. I was a little bit concerned about it and my thinking did get kind of wacky at some points, but otherwise I was okay. I got more and more tired and more and more famished as the test went on, but it was really okay.

I’ll tell you, the part I’m most grateful for is that the disgusting sugar drink I had to consume was the LEMON-LIME flavor. My sister always had the ORANGE flavor and she used to joke with me that I would love it because I am a HUGE orange soda fan, something she hates. My flavor tasted like flat-ish thick Sprite and I can still taste it and think I will never drink any kind of lemon-lime soda concoction again. I would be DEVASTATED if they had given me the orange drink and somehow my beloved Fanta was forever tainted. So I’m grateful for small things.

I also got a lot of knitting done! The lab was pretty quiet so I was sitting by myself most of the three hours – perfect for knitting away!

I’ve gotten QUITE carried away with Oblique! As far as I can tell (and my calculations might be off) I’ve knit a whole five inches more than the pattern calls for. Which is kind of okay with me. I see this cardigan like a big lacy blanket to wrap myself in! I don’t even care if it’s HUGE post baby! I love the yarn, the color, the pattern – MORE is definitely better! I’ve got a couple more waist increases to do and then I start the raglan so it’s all good. I’ll make the back and see how it fits and if it looks completely ridiculous, well, then, I guess I’ll rip it and start over. Otherwise I’ll start on the fronts! I LOVE THIS SWEATER so far! YAY!

I also bought some yarn yesterday:

Ever since Margene started knitting her Bird In Hand mittens I’ve been pretty smitten myself! Yesterday I ran out to Patricia’s and picked up some Cascade. The colors are a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I’m considering these mittens practice. I have very limited experience with color work, so we’ll see how it goes. If I love them and I can knit them okay, then maybe I’ll try some different colors. We’ll see how it goes. For now, I’m excited to start. We’re supposed to have some big storms this weekend and I think I’ll be pretty much done with my work so I’m going to get all cuddly with my boy and my babe and KNIT.

And last but certainly not least, as I was heading to check out with my Cascade, what should catch my eye, but some firey red and pink KOIGU!

I ask you – what girl who just suffered through a three hour endurance test replete with vomit, starvation, exhaustion and fear DOESN’T deserve some Koigu? I thought as much. So I bought it. 😉

Filed Under: Life, Oblique

Always Look On The Bright Side

December 11, 2007 By

I’m trying to convince myself that the fact that I failed my 1 hr Gestational Diabetes screen today (with flying colors, I might add) means I get three hours of knitting time tomorrow morning when I go for my 3 hr GTT test. Whoohoo!

Somehow, though, it’s not really working. The other night I couldn’t get the baby to move for about an hour and a half and completely freaked myself out – I drank some grape juice and stayed on my left side and finally, at around 2 AM, the kid started moving. Then, the next morning, I threw up all over the place – I always keep the toilet seat up! Not yesterday. Fun times.

I love feeling the baby move all the time and just when I think I’m enjoying being pregnant, another stumbling block. I know failing my 1hr test doesn’t mean I have GD (my sister says she failed the 1hr with all three of her kids and never failed the 3hr) but I just want something ANYTHING to be a little bit of a no brainer already. I just want ONE thing to be a little bit easy. I know I shouldn’t be ungrateful because the fact is my baby is healthy and seemingly happy floating away in there and that’s the most important thing. I KNOW THIS. But still, I’d like to catch a little bit of a break. Just a little one.

It’s times like these I’m glad there’s still so much work for me to do. Busy is good – otherwise I’d be sitting here crying my eyes out.

Filed Under: Baby? OH BABY!

No knitting.

December 7, 2007 By

I haven’t knit since my last post. I’m back at work full time. I miss my knitting.

I’ve been thinking a lot about getting back into blogging every day – or at least almost every day – but I’m having trouble remembering what I used to blog about so much. I couldn’t have had knitting EVERY day, so what did I talk about?

Here’s what’s going on:

— I found a cute top to wear to a couple of parties I have this weekend. NOT maternity. I can’t wear a maternity top to save my life. I had an argument at the maternity clothes store the other day with the salesperson who told me the reason the tops don’t fit is because I need a new bra. Yeah. That’s gonna help. My chest is BIG. Bigger than the little tiny spaces they allot for boobage in the empire waist maternity tops. My bra is FINE thank you very much. Much more supportive than the one you’re trying to sell me. Anyway, so the top I found was in the Women’s department. Lots of room for boobs and bellies. Big girl clothes have saved my life this pregnancy. Soon, though, they’ll be riding up too much in the front, but for now they’re just right.

— I am in desperate need of a pedicure.

— I don’t think I mentioned this – but I got new glasses. They’re red. I desperately hope I don’t look like Sally Jessy.

— My hair is the longest it’s been in years and I’m loving it. I’m rocking out a Farrah feathered hair thing (which hopefully offsets the SJR thing) and my hairdresser was totally right – the bigger I get the more hair I should have. So my head doesn’t look like a pin head. His words, not mine. Man’s a genius.

— This past weekend I took off my wedding ring. I have two wedding rings – one fancy – one plain platinum band. I don’t think I’ve taken the plain band off since the day I got married. I’m wearing it around my neck now. I like it, but I miss it on my finger. My hands haven’t swollen too much, but they go up and down all day and I’m scared one day I won’t be able to get it off. Better to take it off than have to have it cut off.

— I haven’t worn any of my monkey socks yet this cold season. I think that needs to be remedied and remedied ASAP. Maybe today. But which pair to choose?

Random blather on a cold Friday. I have to go back to work, but I hope you all have a good day and a great weekend!

Filed Under: Life
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