A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

while we WAIT!

Here is the baby blanket that the Monday night knitting group made for her:

Isn’t it pretty! I think she’s really going to like the bright colors and its the perfect size for using with the car seat and stroller – which since we’ll be out and about much more than when the little guy was a baby is great!

And here is the one that I recently finished out of the Suri Silk:

This is super soft and very pink – I plan to use it to bring her home in . . . but it isn’t the most washable fiber so it will be more of a special occassion blanket than an every day kinda blanket . . . but it was so soft I just couldn’t resist

And here is the 3 of us together at Easter . . . weeks ago and I’m already the size of a blimp! Now just imagine how much bigger I am at what, like 6 weeks later?

And isn’t the little guy adorable in his suit? Too bad he’s had to wear it like 4 more times since then for all the funerals we’ve gone to lately . . . but he sure is cute!

Sorry for the lack of posts, we’ve been going through a bit of a rough patch lately . . .

We, the three (soon to be 4) of us are fine, but there has been a lot going on lately that has taken an emotional toll.

Last week a good friend’s father passed away. He’d been quite ill for a few months now and was 97 years old so it was no unexpected but D was upset for his friend . . . then we (he) decided we should take a little drive – 3 hours away to visit his Aunt and Uncle. After getting the Drs permission to go that far from home, we packed for the trip and left after the reception that followed the funeral on Friday. We had a nice visit with his Aunt & Uncle and with his cousin and her family who live next door and then made the return trip on Sunday.

Monday morning we received a phone call from another dear friend, someone he grew up with. Apparently, they had tried all weekend to reach us – their son, only 18 years old, had been in a car accident that previous Friday night and had been killed. This child, their middle child, is D’s Godson. We’ve spent the past 2 days going to his wake and funeral, the reception after and to their house to visit and share memories. The little guy has been with us through all of this and is showing a remarkable understanding of what was happening. We’ve been doing our best to explain on terms he can understand and to answer his questions and he’s been remarkably good when the situation has called for good behavior (like the funerals) and has brought many smiles to both grieving families.

Unfortunately, it appears we may have several more funerals to attend in the coming weeks. Another good friend’s mother has been sent home with hospice care and given only a few weeks. She’s had liver cancer for several years and it has become too much. She has made it clear she is ready to leave.

We have 3 family members who have either just had or are having surgery this week . . . one for cancer, the others less serious but still risky. My step-father’s father isn’t doing well and is being sent from the hospital to a nursing home; the prognosis there is also not good.

And so we are all on “egg shells” and emotionally exhausted at the moment. I’ve been too tired to even knit much the past few days.

Baby update

We did have another Drs apt. today. We passed the Non-Stress Test with flying colors – it didn’t take anywhere near 20 min to record the 2 periods of movment they were looking for from Baby Girl. We measure out just where we should size wise and everything seeems to be right on track for her to arrive in about 3 weeks time.

I did, however, gain 4 lbs in the past 10 days. Given the turmoil going on, the crazy schedules, the trip and the receptions and all it isn’t really that surprising. I have not been eating anything resembling my regular diet lately and we aren’t even going to discuss the 4 slices of homemade apple pie and blueberry pie I managed to eat over the weekend . . . though I will say, homemade pie tastes even better when you don’t have to make it yourself! And so, 4 lbs in 10 days. We’re still within a reasonable weight gain and so we’re going to overlook it under the circumstances.

We are mostly ready for the new baby to arrive. I have a supply of newborn size clothes that have been washed and put away; we have the cloth diapers though I’d like to wash and line dry them before we use them again and I’ve picked up a week’s worth of disposables; we have a crib, though it isn’t set up yet (she’ll be sleeping with us just like big brother did) so if it isn’t set up for her arrival I’m not going to stress; I did buy new crib bedding today as I decided I want to save his set for him as a keepsake and for her to have her own. The new set has pink butterflies! Who could resist pink butterflies?

The one thing that I do actually need to do before we get too much closer to arrival time is pack a bag for the hospital. The baby’s stuff is ready but I’m not entirely sure what I’m bringing. That will be my next little project, hopefully this weekend.

Knitting Group

I would like to thank the ladies from the Monday Night Knitting Group for the lovely Log Cabin baby blanket they gave me for little C. this past week. I’m really very touched, esp. now when things have been so overwhelming. I hope to have a chance to get a picture of it in daylight this weekend so I can post one here. Thank you!

Yeah, that’s right, I’m going to blame it on pregnancy food cravings

I’m sitting here as I type this watching “Biggest Loser” and eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream! How’s that for irony?

Baby-wise things are moving along . . . she and I are growing – up 4 lbs in the past 2 weeks (and no, its not from icecream – really) and it turns out I’ve developed Iron deficiency Anemia.  That wasn’t a huge surprise since I’ve been borderline anemic most of my life . . . but it turns out that the anemia likely explains why I’ve been short of breath and tired a lot of the time lately.  I’m now taking iron pills and have been told that after a few days I’ll likely start to feel better.  That will be nice.

The little guy and I also managed to get a cold – I’m pretty sure we (okay, he) picked it up at the Musuem of Science when we went this past Friday.  He loved the museum! We’re thinking of becoming members and taking him often as he had such a good time.

The tide pool was easily his favorite – he just loves playing in water . . . now I just have to convince him not to splash the other kids or to drink the water! Say what you like, but this little guy is all Boy!

Knitting

The Minimalist Cardigan is done! I finished the knitting on Friday, blocked it over the weekend and sewed it together on Monday just before knitting group. 

I actually got blocking wires – steel rods frome a welding shop – on Saturday so that I would be able to block the sides straighter than they turn out with pins.  The blocking made it a lot easier to sew up, I think.  I had worried a little that the texture of the Moss stitch would make sewing it up that much harder but it worked out.

I had changed the gauge from 5 st/inch to 4 st/inch which meant doing a bit of math . . . there were a couple of things I would do differently but overall I’m happy with how it turned out.  Naturally, since I’m the size of the “Goodyear” blimp it doesn’t fit quite the way I’d like it to fit at the moment. 

I’m working the sleeves of the next sweater . . . I’m doing an EPS Yoke sweater in the style of the Icelandic Yoke sweater though, again, my gauge is different . . . but since its and EPS sweater gauge isn’t an issue. 

The plan is to knit this one up quickly as practice for this style of sweater and then to do a KAL with a couple of the ladies from the Monday night knitting group – we’re going to do the Fair Isle Yoke Sweater (or the Icelandic as an alternative) and I plan to steek the front and turn it into a cardigan. 

And since I just have to share the cute photos – this is the little guy on a rocking horse that a friend of mine from knitting gave me last night for him.  He was soooo excited when he saw it this morning and rode it on and off all day.

This is what was waiting for me when I went to lock up the hens last night! Isn’t it a colorful array of eggs? There had actually been 4 in the morning as well for a total of 13 eggs yesterday . . . we’re averaging about a dozen a day lately!

Knitting

I’ve been doing some knitting lately . . . not as much as I’d like but general house stuff was getting in the way for a few days . . . darned housework!  I had hoped to finish the Minimalist Cardigan by this past Monday and actually wear it to knitting on Monday night but that just didn’t happen.  I’m now 11 inches into the sleeves and have about 1.5 inches to go before the decreases begin . . . from there I think it will move along but its driving me nuts – I just want it done!

I did take about 24 hours out of knitting on the sweater to do a quick Chemo cap for a friend of ours.  I had made her a hat last spring but it turned out that it was a bit too big and she asked if I could fix it . . . I offered to knit another instead and that is what I’ve done.  I just have to sew the hem and weave the ends and it will be ready for delivery.  I’ll try to remember to take a picture of it before I give it to her.

I had finished the KP socks I was doing – originally started in July of ‘06 – but I only just got around to taking a picture . . . There is a post on the finished socks a few posts ago which now includes the photo . . . if you look closely you’ll notice that one of the socks has a different colored toe – that is because I ran out of yarn entirely before I could finish the 2nd sock.  I realize that the pattern I did was a bit of a yarn hog, esp. with the length of the leg – but I’m still dissappointed that there wasn’t enough yarn in the 2 skeins.  I don’t think they even make that particular yarn anymore but if they did, I wouldn’t be buying any more of it!

Baby

Things are moving along nicely with the new little one.  She moves and twitches and kicks  all the time now – and I do mean all the time.  She esp. likes to start dancing after I finally get her big brother to bed and am able to sit down to rest and knit – figures, right?

I realized the other day that we had 14 weeks until our due date – and that since they plan to induce me a week early we really had 13 weeks (and now its closer to 12) and the funny part was that my main “panic” is that I haven’t finished the knitting I want to have done before she arrives!   We’re basically ready for her – we have a ton of clothes from the first one and from my neices – she is sharing a room with her big brother (at least for a few years) so that is done – I have the cloth diapers etc all ready to go with perhaps just a wash to get any dust out – the only things we really need to do are pick up a few small odd and ends, put together the crib and get a bureau for her clothes. 

However – I’m figuring with a new baby in the house my spring, summer and perhaps fall Knitting will be limited to small things – most likely what the kids need and perhaps a few socks for variety.  So before we reach that point I’d really like to finish the Minimalist Cardigan, knit myself a Fair Isle Yoke sweater as a cardigan and pehaps finish one or two of the other larger projects that are already started . . . oh and I haven’t knit any baby stuff yet!

Isn’t he cute?

This is the little guy wearing the Fair Isle Vest that his Godmother knit for him along with some “Harry Potter” glasses – isn’t he cute? He was headed to Church – one of the few places he can safely wear something as nice as this vest . . . though I did make him leave the glasses home

Its a little tough to be sure yet as they are hard to count . . . but we’re pretty sure we lost another chicken to the hawk this morning.  I had just let them out for the day and they were enjoying their morning veggies . . . I had come in and put the eggs away and then looked out the kitchen window just in time to see the biggest Hawk I’ve ever seen flying off from the corner of the chicken yard. 

I ran out, but it was too late – the preditor was long gone and from what I can tell it took one of my Australorp hens with it.  Bummer!

Dom is going to work on putting some chicken wire or something over the top of their run to prevent this from happening again but it may be a few days before he is able to get to it.  Afterall, it is raining and very muddy and slick down there right now.  We’re just hoping the hawk doesn’t come back for seconds before he can get it done.

We’ve been getting 10 – 13 eggs a day lately – though I expect we just lost about a half dozen a week . . . and we’ve begun selling some to friends and co-workers in the hopes of covering the feed costs (grain is getting expensive!) and afterall – 3 people can only eat so many eggs in one week!

Knitting wise I’ve managed to finish the KP socks about 2 weeks ago but still haven’t taken a picture . . .  and I’m now 2/3 of the way done with the Minimalist Cardigan.  I finished the 2 fronts last night – I knit them both at the same time and realized as I was working on them that the back and front are shaped identically, just split in half.  This meant instead of trying to really follow the individual directions for the fronts I was able to just work the decreases as if I were working one piece and follow the directions for the back – which I found much easier than keeping the other straight.

Since I’m working this sweater at a different gauge than the original I had to take a few minutes to refigure the number of stitches I’ll need for the sleeves and I haven’t figured out how the sleeve cap shaping is going to work yet at the new gauge but I figure I’ve got a few inches of knitting to do on the sleeves before I have to figure it out . . .  and perhaps I’ll read Pam Allen’s article in Interweave Knits about shaping sleeve caps again before I try . . .

Now that I’m most of the way through the Minimalist my mind is racing ahead to planning the next project.  I posted a note in Ravelry to the Monday Night Knitting Group to see if anyone is interested in doing another knit-a-long as I’m finding it both fun and educational to be knitting the same sweater, in person, with a group of people.

I’m leaning in the direction of wanting to do a cardigan, knit in the round with steeks and perhaps a small amount of colorwork for interest . . . . which leads me to EZ’s Fair Isle Yoke Sweater from The opininated knitter but done as a cardigan with a steek up the front.  Someone on Ravelry had done one that way and I just loved how it worked out and that seems like a great pattern to do with a group . . . And I think I may even have yarn to do it in! Which is even better since my yarn budget is pretty tight right now though the stash is pretty flush