IT'S DONE!!!!!!

My longest running UFO, my sweetie's baseball sweater, is finally off the needles. Pieces are seamed and all ends are woven in!!! The other day I had all the pieces knit and was ready to start seaming.
I had a minor freak out thinking I wouldn't have enough yarn to knit the collar since all I had left was less than a quarter of 2 balls in that color. But I wound up having enough for not only the collar but also for seaming the sleeves. This morning I finished all the weaving in of ends and had a grand plan for this masterpiece.
I was going to wrap it up and leave it in the baby's crib. I will be out of town on father's day so I was going to call him and tell him to go look in the crib. I was going to have a card that said something along the lines of "time to get used to handmade presents". But I just couldn't wait. How can I work on something so hard and then wait a few weeks to see if it fits and then not even be there when he tries it on for the first time.

He came home from work today for lunch and I just couldn't contain myself. He said he really likes the way it looks and that it fits him great. The best compliment was that he said "Yay, now we don't have to buy sweaters for me anymore"
He did laugh at me though when I told him I started this almost 2 years ago when he left for Iraq. I'm gonna let that slide since he did give it rave reviews. We'll see how he likes it when he actually wears it for a day. I'm hoping the cotton doesn't stretch too much.

Knitting Gift Baskets

I've been watching tons of baby shows the last few months and I see these people leaving the hospital with lots of flowers and I think what a waste. Yes, flowers are gorgeous and they definitely brighten someones mood. But you just had a baby and you're no longer pregnant, you're in a pretty good mood already. Wouldn't it be better is people could send you a knitting basket! I woke up at 3 in the morning and just couldn't get the idea out of my head. There are a few places that you can order knitting themed gift baskets, but not like ordering flowers. I wish people could just go online and find a new baby girl knitting gift basket that had pink yarn, a pattern for a baby sweater or a book of baby patterns, needles, some baby themed stitch markers, and maybe a little already made knitted toy for the baby. I think I'm on to something here. But how to get them delivered to hospitals all over the country, that's where I hit a snag. I think I need to develop this idea further. Although it probably already exists and I just couldn't find it online.

Normalcy Returns

Life is returning to normal today with the arrival of my sweetie at 1am and the departure of the bunny babies. First off the bunnies. . . this morning I woke up and too the pups out in the front, then I went to check on the bunnies and they were gone! No signs of a predator, they were just gone. I waited until about lunchtime and kept checking on the nest to make sure they weren't just exploring a little, then released the hounds. They were so happy to be in the yard again and so was I!! Here's a picture of the bunnies from a day or 2 ago:
It's 2 bunny butts and a bunny leg. They started hopping deeper into the nest when I started taking pictures.

My sweetie returned a day early from his work trip to China. Everything seemed to go ok, but more importantly he came home with gifts!!

First there's these little ceramic things. They put them on his pillow at the hotel symbolizing the stone pillows people used to use. There's a much better story than that on the card they left with them, but it's all the way upstairs and I'm tired today!
He got a set of silk sheets and pillowcases. They're going on the bed tonight, although Trapper has already shown a bit too much interest in the tassels.

He also got us a nice set of chopsticks with the little blocks to rest them on. We do enjoy using chopsticks whenever we can so these will go to good use.
A little something just for me, a silk purse. I think he did a fantastic job of picking out a simple fabric for me. He said there were ones that looked a lot more like traditional Asian designs, but luckily he didn't choose one of those cause that's not my style.
And last, but definitely not least, a present for the baby! I had a bit of a panda obsession before I decided I wanted to be a marine biologist. Maybe it's something I can pass along to the baby.
That's it. No knitting updates yet. I keep forgetting to take pictures of my sweetie's sweater. I'm probably more than halfway done with the sleeve now so I'm really hoping for a Father's Day finish!

We lost one

We lost another bunny last night, this time to a natural predator of some sort and not my dog. I'm hoping that the last 2 make it out of the nest ok.

Almost done with the front of the baseball sweater. I'll take some pictures when I am.

BUNNIES!!

This will probably be a long post, but these little bunnies have consumed our life this weekend so they're pretty important to me!
FRIDAY NIGHT:
It all started Friday around 7pm. Cooper starts barking and whining in a way that I've come to know means "Hey, there's something living in my backyard, let me out to go chase it!!!!!" I look outside and see a bunny sitting in some ivy under a tree, no biggie there, that's a pretty regular sight around here. But it stays there for a good 5 minutes and isn't scared away by Cooper barking. At the time I realized that wasn't normal, but didn't think too much of it. At about 11pm I let the dogs out for the last time at night, it was pitch black due to lots of clouds and absolutely pouring. Usually Cooper will just stick his nose outside, feel the first drop of rain, and decide he'd rather hold it until the morning, but Friday night he bolted outside. A few minutes later Trapper comes in and Cooper is still no where to be found. I look out the windows and see him under the tree, then I see he's jumping around and pawing at the ground. I send my sweetie out in the rain to see what it is cause at this point I know Cooper's caught something. He goes out and said it looked like the ivy was alive. He thought at first we were infested with rats, but then I told him there was a bunny there earlier in the day and so it's probably baby bunnies. Since it was pitch black and pouring, there was no much we could do without risking stepping on lots of little guys.

SATURDAY MORNING:
We wake up and go outside to assess the damage. Cooper had dug up a nest of bunnies just like we thought. 2 were a couple feet from the nest and didn't survive the night in the cold and rain. One was safe and sound in the nest. We searched the ivy and found one a few inches from the nest. My sweetie picked it up and it didn't look like it was breathing and it was cold, but it didn't look as bad as the ones we knew didn't make it. He held it while we looked for more and then he jumped cause he started kicking. We decided to bring this one inside to warm it up them we'd bring it back out with the others. As we went to go inside my sweetie almost stepped on a second bunny. This one was about a foot from the nest, but had more cover than the other one. It started moving a little as soon as I picked it up, but it was very cold. So we brought that one in too. We put them in a shoe box with fiberfill to try to keep them warm and put them in a closet away from the dogs, who never knew they were in the house!
We also put some fiberfill around the bunny in the nest since it was now all by itself and we couldn't built the nest back up because everything was soaking wet. My sweetie grabbed a handful of leaves and spread them out on the concrete so they would dry and we could use it to cover the nest later.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON:
The bunnies in the closet seemed to be doing better and responded to being touched and were moving all over the box, although still laying on their sides and not sitting up like the one in the nest. We decided it was time to put them back with their brother. We went outside and removed the fiberfill from the nest, put the 2 bunnies back, and covered the nest with the now dry leaves. We also put 2 twigs across the nest in an X. We read that the mother bunny will only come at night and only stays for 5 minutes at a time, so to see if a nest is abandoned you need to put 2 sticks across it and see if they're disturbed the next day.

SUNDAY MORNING:
We go outside to see if mama bunny came to visit them during the night and the sticks were exactly as we left them! We didn't know what to do and we were expecting another day of rain. We felt horrible about leaving them out there knowing they hadn't eaten anything in 2 days. I called the local wildlife rehabilitation clinic and left a message, but no one got back to me. We figured the best thing to do would be to leave them out another day and hope the mama came back. If there was no activity by Monday morning we would take them into the clinic. My sweetie went out and built the nest up a little more knowing we were expecting some pretty heavy rain during the day and we hoped for the best.

SUNDAY NIGHT:
Around 6:30pm Cooper starts going crazy again!!! I run to the window and see mama bunny sitting on her nest. She was there for about 10 minutes she seemed to be sitting still and feeding them for a while and then she started rebuilding the nest. She came back again at 8pm and hopefully a few times during the night. Hopefully this means the bunnies will make it. There's only one down side to them, I can't let the dogs in the yard until they leave the nest. Back to walking them in the front yard on the leash. They're very confused by this and keep whining at the back door. I'll get a picture of the bunnies in the nest if the sun ever comes out again.

On the non-bunny front. . . My sweetie left this morning for China. He'll be there for the week for work. I'm hoping to get lots of knitting done while he's gone! I've been working on his sweater non-stop for the past few days and have managed to get 16" done on the front. I need to do 17.5" of stockinette before I get to start shaping and using my brain again. Hopefully it won't take too long to finish and then I have one more sleeve and the collar. I'm so excited to get this thing of the needles and see if it actually fits him!!

Attack of the Pink!!

I've been shopping! I had to go pick up a bridesmaid dress for a wedding at the end of the month, which was a total disaster. It's too big and I can't decide what to do. I've still got a few weeks before the wedding so what if I have it taken in and then my boobs grow more and it's too small! Anyway, the place I had to go to was down in Columbus and conveniently located close to Babies R Us, so of course I had to stop in. The last time I was there I was actually good about not buying anything. I think that's because I was registering and it's almost like shopping. But this time I had to give in to the pink:
My favorite is the outfit on the bottom right, it's terrycloth!

I also finished the second of the February Sweaters. I really like the way this one came out. The color is way off on this, but it's a rainy, dreary day so outside pictures are gonna have to wait.
But, I'm having decision issues for my next one. Here are the 2 I've made so far:
I think that the bottoms one is much cuter with just the 3 buttons. But, I think that the top one may be much more practical with it buttoning all the way down the front. I think I'm going to have to let it stew for a bit before I decide what to do on the next one. Feel free to chime in with opinions!

And last, but not least, I've been bugged by a bunch of people for a baby belly shot. So, here you go:
I'm guessing she's about 15 pounds by now! I obviously have lots of weight to lose after she's born, but I can't worry about it now. I'll try to get a better shot one of these days if I ever remember to ask my sweetie to take a picture for me.

A little update

Not all that much has been going on around here. Life seems to be settling into a nice routine for us. The weather has been just perfect for the past week or so, allowing me to take some nice, long, daily walks with the pups and a friend. It feels like I've been getting lots of knitting done, but it really doesn't seem like all that much now that I've taken some pictures.

First up we have some progress on the second February sweater. This one is made from the same yarn in the same color as the last one. I've changed it a bit though so there are 3 buttons grouped together at the top instead of it buttoning all the way down.
I figured out all the pitfalls the first time around and this one is going much smoother. I'm still not bored with the pattern, but I am finding it easier to pick up other projects instead of this one. This one is for a baby due in August so maybe that's why I'm having an easy time putting it down.

The project that I've been picking up is the baseball sweater I started forever ago for my sweetie. I finally got the motivation to get working on this again, mainly because it's monopolizing the really nice Vera Bradly knitting bag I have! I finished the back and one sleeve then I put it away for months, but this month I decided to work on it as part of the She-Knits Men in May knit a long. I doubt I'll be able to finish it by the end of May, but any progress I make is a plus. This is what I've done in the past 5 days.
This is the front which is 120 stitches wide and I've got about 5 inches done. I need to do 17.5 inches of stockinette before I get to do any shaping. Now I remember why this thing got abandoned in the first place! It's torturous and I don't particularly like working on it, but it is good mindless knitting. I've been suffering from a bit of a headache for a few days now and it's just the right thing to work on since I don't have to think at all!

On the baby front, all is going well! She's growing a lot this month, or at least I assume she is given the growth of my belly! She's also gotten extremely active. I don't feel her when I'm up and doing stuff, but the moment I sit down she's doing somersaults. She's started reacting to things going on outside of me. We went to a ball game, which is probably the loudest place she's ever been since we have a pretty quiet house. We stayed for 7 innings of the game and she was awake the whole time. Last night was the first night she woke me up from a dead sleep with a forceful kick. It's pretty amazing, but hopefully she won't do that every night!

Through it all I've had my little mama's boy sitting by my side on the couch. He had a bit of a hurt belly this morning (thanks to the honeysuckle bush that he likes to gnaw on!) so he was exceptionally snuggly this morning. Isn't he just a beaut!