Ravelympics - Day 4

OK, here's my progress so far:
Sorry about the washed out look of the photo, I didn't realize it until I downloaded the picture and I'm far too lazy to try again. The cable pattern isn't showing up good in the photo and it's a little hard to tell it's leaves in person unless it's stretched a bit. I know blocking will help though. There will probably be even more knitting done by the end of the day. There's not much interesting on right now but I think tonight's broadcast should be pretty good. I have about 4 inches left on the back and I really want to finish the back.

I'm still enjoying working on this and loving the way it's coming out. I think I've got a good pace going and, as long as I don't burn out on the pattern, I think I may actually complete this by the end of the olympics.

I'm basically knitting on this exclusively, although with the decreases encroaching on the cable pattern, it's getting a bit complicated to work on too late at night. I busted out my english garden socks and knit a few rows on that last night but not many.

Oh, and a bit of a yarn review for you. I'm using Knit Picks Cadena to knit this it's 70% wool, 30% alpaca. It's soft and sturdy and really nice to knit with. And it's bulky so it works up really quick. The only problem I'm having is knots. I hate when there are knots in my skeins of yarn. These skeins are only 110 yards long, in my opinion that's pretty short for bulky weight and there is no need to knots in skeins so small. Well, skein 1 went fine, no knots. Skein 2 was a disaster with 2 knots in it! They're tied up so tight and so close to the ends of the yarn that I thought the yarn had just knotted a bit and went to untie it when I realized that the yarn was broken. I had almost knit right through the knot thinking it wasn't a big deal, but I'm glad I didn't! I'm about halfway through skein 3 right now and I've had 1 knot already. I'm very disappointed with this. I spit spliced it back together so I won't have any extra ends to weave in, but this is just unacceptable to me! I think I'll have to do a bit more research next time I buy another large quantity of knit picks yarn.

Ravelympics, day 2

Last night and today have been somewhat productive knitting days. Last night I knit through the whole opening ceremonies, although it was so cool that I wound up watching a lot more than knitting!! I did some stuff around the house this morning while my sweetie played on his xbox. But then he decided he needed to go fix our front steps that are coming a little loose. It was perfect timing. . . right as the olympic coverage was starting!! So I sat and watched rowing, beach volleyball, swimming, and cycling while knitting away on my sweater. It was a nice relaxing day. Then my sweetie came back in and wanted to play his xbox again, oh well, it was nice while it lasted. Now I'm trying to wrangle the pups, who are just uncontrollable the last few days. But, I did manage to take some pictures of my latest WIPs.

First the english garden socks. They are just plain stockinette and I'm hoping they'll fit since I just guessed on the # of stitches I need. The color changes are just too wild to make anything with a pattern, I think this shows off the yarn nicely though. Oh, and it's so soft!!! They are getting put by the wayside for the next 17 days though.
Then, my second sweater attempt, what I'm calling my olympic goal sweater. I love it so far. If it turns out as good as I hope then it will be good motivation to lose weight!!
This is about 8 inches of the back. It's going pretty fast. Gotta love bulky yarn!! I'm hoping my sweetie will let me watch tonight's olympic coverage and I'll get even more done. He doesn't understand the whole olympics thing though so I don't want to force him to watch it and we only have one TV in the house (usually not a problem, but it just may be a big problem tonight!)

9 months down!

I'm now nine months preggers!! Only one month left, hopefully less. She was breech at the last appt and I'm really hoping she flips or has flipped already. The next appt is Tuesday and I think if she doesn't flip by then we may be scheduling a c-section (ouch!). Her room is just about ready for her. I'm waiting to get the cushions for the glider back from the cleaners and then it will be all decked out. The only real think I have left to do is pack my hospital bag. I've got most everything I need gathered together, I just have to actually put it in a bag.

Today is also the kickoff of Ravelympics! I'm going to try to knit a sweater in 18 days, unless the baby comes before those 18 days are over, then I think I have a pretty good excuse for not finishing. It's knit on size 10 needles, so I have a good chance of finishing. I haven't knit anything on such large needles in a long long time.

In knitting news, I've been working on my nursing shawl and a pair of socks. I'll post pictures later, along with some pictures of the spinning I did while Val and the kids were visiting. I've been really lazy lately, but I'm hoping to have some FOs to post one of these days too!

A little of this and a little of that

I've been up to quite a bit lately. My sweetie and I decided to make maple sugar candy the other day. It was much more successful than our first attempt where it didn't set up. This time we beat it for a bit too long and it set up too quickly to get it into the molds. We had to put it in a glass pan then cut it apart later. Not the neatest looking candy, but it tastes pretty good!
My next endeavor was to make a sling for the baby. I was going to order one on etsy but they depend on your size and I didn't want to spend all that money then (hopefully) loose weight and have to buy another one. So I went to Walmart and got some inexpensive fabric. I wanted something heavier than quilters cotton and my only choice was camouflage, great for a boy, not so great for my little girl. But I did find this camo fabric:
It's camo butterflies, a bit more girly. After 2 hours or so of sewing and trying to figure out the instructions, I had this:
My baby sling. I've got my great babyhawk mei tai carrier for outings, but this will be nice for around the house while I'm trying to get stuff done. It's basically a slightly shaped piece of fabric that is folded in half. My body goes where the chair is and she'll go in the fold of the fabric at first and when she gets bigger she sits on the fabric. We'll see how it works and for $8 worth of fabric and 2 hours of my life I can make another one if I loose weight.

My last crafting project was a rag quilt for the little girl. There's a quilt shop hop going on this week and I went to the 2 local quilt shops (that's probably all I'll get to because I really don't have the money to spend on stuff and I feel like I have to buy something at every store, plus all the other stores are about an hour away). Anyway one shop was selling a rag quilt kit. I had this grand idea of making a beautiful, labor-intensive, appliqué quilt for her, but I haven't worked on the thing in months so I thought I'd make her a rag quilt in the meantime so she at least had one blankee from her mama! Here's a picture of the back:
And one with a bit more fabric detail:
I just washed it today but I haven't gotten a picture of the ragginess yet. It's absolutely adorable though!

And just for the fun of it, here's a picture of Cooper protecting the house from his lookout on the deck:
One of these days I may actually have a knitting FO, but don't hold your breath!!

Today's Haul

I don't go shopping all that often anymore. Everything is just too far away, so I combine my shopping trips into massive shopping trips. Today was no exception! I had a gift card to spend at Babies R Us so I invited my friend to take a trip with me to go use it up. She's a mom so I figured she'd have some good advice on final baby preparation things that I didn't think of. And she sure did. My one big purchase at the baby store was a temporal scan thermometer. I know a few people with them and they all say it's the best thing ever. My sweetie thought it was pretty stupid, but he's a boy so what do you expect! Other than that I got wipes and newborn diapers, diaper rash cream, some essential breastfeeding items, and a few cloth books.

After that it was off to Whole Foods where I stocked up on biodegradable plastic bags to use in the diaper pail. What's the point of using biodegradable, plastic free diapers if you're just gonna throw them in a plastic bag? Then was lunch at Olive Garden and a trip to Toys R Us. I actually didn't buy anything there, my friend was shopping for her son's birthday.

I got home and realized that the quilt shop hop started today and I got back in the car and went to the 2 close shops. The other 9 shops are about an hour or so away so they will have to wait til another day (I'm thinking tomorrow!) I got a kit to make a crib size rag quilt, a penny rug kit to make a small thing to put a votive candle on, a new thimble, and a new marking pencil (it's like a mechanical pencil but with chalk!) All in all it was a very successful day of shopping. I tried to nap when I got home but the dogs would have none of that, after all I did leave them alone all day and they deserved some play time!

Hopefully tomorrow I will manage to spend less when I go to all the quilt stores! The shop hop goes on through the weekend and most of next week. I would love to spread it out a little, but with gas over $4 a gallon here, I'm not about to make that many trips to Columbus if I don't have to. I'm going to try to hit the remaining 9 shops tomorrow, but I'm not counting on that actually happening!

The Baby Dropped!

I'm pretty sure the baby dropped this weekend. It seems a little early since I'm just in my 33rd week, but according to everything I've been reading, it's not unheard of. It's kinda nice cause I can eat a full meal again and chocolate without getting heartburn. I can see this as being a big weight gain month for me!!! But, the bad points are it hurts to stand for long periods of time and I have to pee every 5 minutes. I'm also thinking she's coming early. I've read plenty online about people who had the baby drop at 32 weeks and still didn't deliver until 40 weeks, but I've also read on just about every pregnancy site that the baby drops 2 to 4 weeks before birth (Val, you just may be here for the birth!). She'd be term by then so it's fine, but I still feel like I have so much more to do before she gets here. I've been making lists of everything I need to do and it seems a bit overwhelming. I did get pre-registered at the hospital today so that's one thing off the list and about 50 more to go. A lot of the list is buying things and I think I'm going to babies r us tomorrow with a friend so I'll be able to get a lot of that stuff crossed off the list.

8 months down!

Yesterday officially ended my 8th month of pregnancy and started month # 9! I'm getting kinda tired of being preggers. I still enjoy feeling her kick, but I don't enjoy the sigh that I can't help when I need to bend over to pick up the dog bowls! I'm getting so big even my pajama pants are getting uncomfortable. I'm in my 33rd week and the baby will be "term" when she's 36 weeks. I'd be completely fine with her coming then!! I think I'm all ready for her. Her bedroom is all set up. Just waiting for the last few things my sister is bringing out in a couple weeks, the bassinet and the glider.

The baby took a few days off from moving, which warranted a trip to the doctor for a non-stress test that turned out normal. Since then she's stopped kicking me with any real force and now just twists and turns and leans. The doc said she's running out of room in there. Our next appt is the final ultrasound to make sure everything is ok and that she's in a good position. I can't wait, I love ultrasounds!!

We took the first childbirth class, which was pretty pointless if you've ever watched a baby story on TLC, but it did help to calm some fears and I'm not so freaked out about getting to the hospital on time and my sweetie having to deliver the baby in a corn field on the side of the road! I'm also considering more and more the idea of natural childbirth. The plan right now is to go natural for as long as I can. I really want to option of walking around and don't want to be stuck in a bed for hours, but I also don't want to be disappointed if I get an epidural so I'm being very open and flexible to everything.

OK, well, that's it for now, I just felt like writing a bit since my sweetie is off watching Book TV. Yes, Book TV. It's about some feminist stuff, which normally is good for guys to watch but he's getting all the wrong ideas and now thinks I should walk 2 paces behind him at all times!! What a boy he is!

SPINNING!!

I've got the spinning bug big time! This weekend I created yarn, isn't that just the most amazing thing ever!!!

First some details on my holiday weekend. Friday we had some friends and their 2 yo over for a bbq. Then we went to this mini carnival thing in town. (There was a lady there with a llama and she told me where to go in town for fiber!) Of course I forgot to bring my camera.

Saturday was going to be yardwork day for my sweetie, but the lawnmower broke. The lawnmower that we bought the end of April broke! We were both pretty pissed off and I now have to drive the thing to a town an hour away to get it repaired. Well, my sweetie was really really pissed off so I looked online for things to do to get his mind off of it and found a canal boat ride about 40 minutes from the house. It was pretty cool. The boat ride is all of 2.5 miles and lasts about 40 minutes. But the boat is pulled by Percheron horses that walk next to the canal, that's the cool part! I liked just watching the horses, my sweetie was much more into listening to the history of canals in Ohio. And the 40 minute drive each way was a nice, relaxing, country drive. Lots of baby cows and horses in the pastures and lots of Amish clothes hanging out to dry. Again, I really wish I had my camera, it's staying in my purse from now on.

Sunday was a wash of a day. We weren't planning on doing much and good thing we weren't cause I got caught up in Wimbledon fever! I started watching the men's final and it went on all day long. While I was watching, I plied some yarn and did some knitting.

So, onto the spinning. First up we have my first official handspun:
My mom had given me some small amounts of fiber one time. I have no idea what kind of wool it is so I figured it's good practice yarn. Since there was so little fiber I decided to ply 2 of the colors together. I'm thinking I just may knit some squares and felt them into coasters or something. I want my first handspun to go to good use. I've got about 50 yards and it's DK weight.

The next handspun was from the same batch of fiber, but I managed to spin this quite a bit thinner and there was more of it, so I plied it with itself. Here it is just after spinning as a single:
And plied:
It's fingering weight and I've got about 100 yards of it. No idea what it will become. But both mini skeins are going to sit on my coffee table until I knit them up because I don't want to lose them to the stash.

I ordered some dyed roving the other day from Meghan of the Stitch It! Podcast. I'm not going to spin that yet though cause it's too nice to be another practice yarn. I've got this other stuff though that I got years ago at a quilt festival. It's horrendous and some unknown wool content, so it will make a good practice yarn. I've got 8 oz of it so I can try lots of stuff with it. I'm calling it the Green Monster!
Pretty ugly huh? And I think with all the moving at what not since I got it, it seems to have felted a bit so I don't know how well it will actually spin. I'll give it a shot though.

OK, I'm off to enter the Barn n Knit contest. You should too!

Two year anniversary

Two years ago today we welcomed a hyper, skiddish, tennis-ball-crazed, monster into our house. We had a few rough months where he almost went back to the rescue organization. But he's become quite a good little snuggler, a great puppy pillow, an entertaining little brother, and the best mama's boy ever.
Happy anniversary Mr. Trapper Too!!

The sewing machine sees some action

With all the knitting (and spinning) I do these days, the sewing machine has been feeling a little neglected. So I decided to do a quick little project for the house. I'm making cloth napkins. I went to my local box store and got 3 yards of fabric and found some fabric in my stash and made these:
So far I've only made one of each pattern. I've got 15 or so left to sew. The part that takes the longest is ironing down the edges. For those of you interested, I cut squares 14" x 14" and folded over the edges a little more than 1/4" (just eyeballed it) and ironed it, the folded again and ironed it. I did this on all 4 edges then just sewed using a straight stitch on the machine. I think I may try the next few with a zig zag, but then the corners always look a bit wonky. We have about 50 or so paper napkins left in the house and then we're not buying anymore ever again!! I spent about $8 on fabric and will have 20 or so napkins that should last a few years, even with my feral sweetie. Yay going green!!!

In knitting news, I finished the presto chango baby sweater:
The center panel can be taken off and replaced with another panel.
I made a straight stockinette center panel as well. This is a gift for a friend from grad school who's having a baby very very soon. I'm going to babies R Us on my way back from dropping my sweetie off at the airport so I think I'll pick up a rattle or something and send the package out early next week. All in all I'm pretty happy with the sweater, it looks like it's supposed to look, but I didn't really enjoy knitting it and it seems a bit stiff and thick for a baby sweater.

The other thing I've been knitting on is my nursing cover up.
I like this project a lot. It's coming out really nice. I just don't have a comfy place to sit and knit on it where I can place the chart somewhere I can see it. It's a bit of a balancing act right now with putting it on one of my legs and hoping no dogs tails knock it over. We desperately need some end tables! I just finished the first ball of hempathy (you can see the ends coming off the left side) and I think I have 4 or 5 more. It should make a decent size shawl/cover-up.

Usually I like to include some sort of cute picture of the dogs if I have one. Today though we have a somewhat disturbing picture of my sweetie with our younger dog, Trapper. Trapper used to be scared of my sweetie. I got Trapper just after my sweetie left for a year in Iraq. He's a nervous dog in general and it took a while for him to get used to being pet or touched at all. When my sweetie came home it took a good 6 months before Trapper started to realize that my sweetie was here to stay. Now, just over a year since my sweetie has been home, they're best buds. Trapper is still a mama's boy and follows me everywhere. But if the seat next to me is taken by Cooper, which it usually is at night, Trapper is more than willing to be a puppy pillow for my sweetie: