A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

We have a new niece!

Mira Bella arrived at 1:48 am last night! 7 lbs, 11 oz. 21″ (an inch longer and a lb heavier than her big sister) Both mom and baby are doing well. We went for a visit earlier today and actually SIL looks great! They are all coming home tomorrow so we will likely go by again once they are home. We weren’t there when Big Sister met the “new kid” this afternoon but I’m sure it was interesting. “Ms. Precocious” is going to have an interesting time adjusting to sharing her parents, she doesn’t even like to share her toys (she’ll be 3 in May) so this should be interesting. I’ve offered to go by a couple times a week and watch the big one for a while so that Mom and Baby can take naps without anyone pouncing on them . . . . I forgot to bring the camera earlier, hopefully I’ll remember tomorrow adn have a pic to show you . . .

Once we found out that the baby was coming, I started her sweater . . . I’m doing a top down, raglan cardigan with a picot edge at the bottom out of Sidar Baby Care in pastel pink. SIL is allergic to most animal fibers so I opted for a nice washable cotton/acrylic blend. The sweater is now about 1/2 done and I hope to finish it tonight and perhaps even make some booties and perhaps a hat before I go to visit tomorrow so I can give them the gift once she is home. . . .

Needless to say that this has put finishing the sleeves for Liv on hold for a few days and since I’ve been out pretty much all day for 3 days in a row I haven’t gotten much done around here or with the business. Perhaps tomorrow will be a differnt story. We are expecting snow, so other than going to see the baby, I’m very likely to be home for the day. . . .

Speaking of babies. Our’s is doing well, kicking up a storm. I feel the little peanut moving around a min. of 4-6 times a day now, usually more often. Well, off to get set up for dinner . . . .

Went from a cold . . .

to a major case of “Startitis”!

I’m finally really feeling better after being sick for 2 weeks. Funny thing is now I think I may have finally gotten that enery boost everyone says comes in the second trimester as well; I’m feeling like I have far more energy than I did before I got sick.

Now that I’m better I’ll be getting the Inspirations Yarn site back up and running. I’ve got part of the new pages done and still have a ways to go but I will be working on them this afternoon, right after lunch. (Which DH is picking up as I type this so I don’t have long) I’m also excited to say that we are about to have a new Mystery Kit and a new Sock Suprise Kit (SSK) ready to be offered as well. I’ll have more info on both soon! And we have a new book on Spinning with Color, more Fiber Trends patterns and perhaps a few other surprises so there will be lots to see on the site as soon as I get the pages built!

Knitting wise, I took a break from the baby blanket I’ve been working on while I was sick to work on “Liv”; which I had actually started some time last Fall. I had done all of about 7 rows on the back of it before I put it aside last time. At this point I have the back finished, the front finished and I’m 1/2 way through the chart for the design on the sleeves. I’m doing both sleeves at the same time, since I thought it might be fun if they actually match Once the sleeves are done I’ll take a pic while the whole thing is blocking . . . hopefully that will be in the next few days.

I also have a major case of “Startitis” but so far I haven’t actually started anything. I’ve scoured books and magazines looking for my next project. I found one in the Aran & Celtic Knits from XRX but I don’t seem to be able to find the same yarn . . . I’m considering my options for a substitute on that one. I found another that I like in Knitters Stash, its a lace pullover. I’m pretty sure that will be my next one, done in Plymouth Encore which I picked up the other day. Not my usual yarn choice, but realistically I’ll be wearing this sweater next winter, while caring for a small baby who will likely leave all sorts of fun things all over it, so a mostly acrylic, highly washable sweater could be a good thing. I have to start considering the whole “Mommy” thing in planning wardrobe decision . . . a very strange change of mindset! I haven’t started the sweater yet, but I did do a nice big swatch with the yarn, just to make sure that it really will work for that project. I’m trying to make myself wait until the sleeves for Liv are finished before I start something else.

I also picked up some cute baby pink cotton/acrylic by Sidar for a sweater for my new niece, due sometime in the next couple of weeks and some blue yarn for a blanket for my new little nephew due any day now. I haven’t picked patterns for either of those yet but I hope to pick or design something in the next few days so I can get them started. I really should do the baby sweater before I start the sweater for myself and perhaps even start the blanket (should have started one months ago . . .) before I start the sweater . . .

I also still have a shawl and a hat, mitten, scarf set to finish for Inspirations. Perhaps I can try to get myself to finish just one of them before I start another sweater. Then starting the sweater can be my “reward” for getting some work done?

Baby update

The kicking is getting much stronger. I can feel it with my hand from the outside now (mostly lightly but there was one last night that I could really feel. “Daddy” has been able to feel a little bit of the squirming going on for just the past few days. We have another Dr. apt later this week, just the routine kind. I hope we get to hear the heartbeat again

Time to go work on the website.

So now I’ve got a cold!

I’ve been sick for 3 days now and its no fun! I spent most of today in bed, resting, sleeping and even doing a little bit of knitting. DH has been taking good care of me and MIL even made some chicken soup. I haven’t felt much like eating today and I’m only up for a few minutes, got bored being in the bedroom. I’m hoping to feel a bit better tomorrow, or by Saturday.

J stopped by yesterday and left off a container of stew and some cookies, Thank you J! Turned out to be great timing since I ended up really not able to cook yesterday and barely feeling like eating.

Sorry to be such a bummer, I’ll have knitting updates once I’m better.

Sometimes planning things just doesn’t work . . .

I had planned to dye up 2 small batches of yarn this afternoon for some things that need to get done . . . turns out the oil burner that controls the hot water is not running! Why do these things always stop working on the weekend when the odds of getting them fixed are nil? So, no hot water, no dyeing. I’m going to boil a pot of water on the stove just so I can do the dishes. . .

So instead of dyeing I spent some quality time with the fuzzy buns. Here’s Jasmine after her grooming session.

I think keeping the buns outside in their new hutch this year has made a big difference in the amount of coat they have grown. I’d have to guess there is somewhere between 1- 1 1/2 lbs of wool on this bunny! Very furry, furry bunny! Blossom doesn’t have as much as she was plucked in November and her coat is still growing in. This one will likely need to be plucked sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Baby update

We had another ultrasound this past Thursday. Everything looks just fine in there. We got to see he/she moving around a bit, see little fingers and toes etc. We intentionally didn’t find out what we are having, we plan to be surprised in July. The little peanut seems to be growing fast these days. I used a tape measure to measure my belly this past Monday and again on Friday, we’d gained an inch and a half in 5 days! No wonder I was so tired this week! I’m also starting to notice movement more often. Nothing so clear that I can say “that was a kick” as yet, just more a sense of movement and an occassional nudge, mostly at night or first thing in the morning when I’m lying still. Just enough to let me know there is definately someone in there!