psuedo post

Life has been a blur since I've gotten back. I have been taking pictures, but haven't had a chance to blog. The belly grows ever bigger and I think this will be the week I say goodbye to my belly button. The weather warms (finally) and everything has turned green. For the first time ever I saw my Queen of the Night tulips bloom. I've been knitting when I'm not working on the house or passed out on the couch.

I'll have a real post with pictures this week, I promise. I just need to upload them all.

And for my PIF people. I haven't forgotten you. I'm secretly working on your goodies.

Home again

I'm back (I got in Sat nite) and all went well. Unfortunately I'm now in allergy hell and unable to take my usual medicine. It may be a few days before I get the pictures and such up.

Off again

I'm off again to help while a family member is in the hospital for an operation. I'll be gone for about a week and won't be able to post. I should have a bevy of knitting photos when I return.

ps...I've updated Footprints in the Sky with pictures of the last few months. I think you'll be able to forgive my lack of posting when you see what my days have been filled with.

And the winner is...

Anyone who said boy!!! Yep, we're having a boy and there is no doubt about it. He pulled his little toes to his nose and flashed us! He also didn't stop moving the whole ultrasound...until she needed him to move his legs out of the way to check something. Then he wouldn't budge. That is definitely our child. It was really amazing to see him move and feel it too.

So who won...well since so few people voted...we have 3 winners. Yes, all of you that said boy get a prize. Mouse, pamudom, and cygknit will be receiving a set of my handmade wooden knitting needles. You'll have to be a little patient about their delivery date. It will be a few weeks before I can get into the shop and make them.

Woo hoo!!

Contest!!!

Since I missed my blogiversary back in February, I've decided to do a little contest of sorts. Tuesday evening is my ultrasound, where if the little flying monkey cooperates, we will know what it is. I'm taking guesses up until 1pm Tuesday, EST. Then I will choose a name or two from the correct guesses to win something. I'm not completely sure on the prize yet, I think it will depends on who wins (I'm not going to give knitting gifts to my non knitting readers)

So...leave comments if you think it is a boy or a girl.
Some possible helpful info

• my main cravings have been for fresh fruit with a few other odd ones here and there (pad thai, tater tots, Friendly's ice cream sundae with peanut butter sauce and hot fudge) but the fruit has been the constant.
• Food aversions- chicken. If it is cut up and small in the dish (and not the predominate flavor) I can manage it. Sit a chicken breast in front of me and I gag. And salmon.
  
• No heartburn yet.
  
• I've only had one baby dream that I can remember and it was a girl.

And this is how I am carrying:



So let the games begin!

Um...yeah

I really don't have words for this...I think it speaks for itself.

Random Conversations With A Insatiable Geek

Wow, I didn't realize quite how long it has been since I've posted. With my morning sickness gone (yea!) and some renewed energy I've been a busy bee around her. I also have my husband back from his 3 month stint of overtime, which means I get little to no computer time.

I also hit a stale point in my knitting. I finished the projects I had been working on and found myself not sure where to go next. I've been finding it hard to sit and knit lately. It seems the little one is giving me bouts of RLS, not fun after a day painting in your stocking feet. (those pictures will be up soon). I pulled out the Ballet wrap cardigan and attempted to figure out where I left off...then I really stepped back and looked at it. I decided I didn't quite like how it was coming out, so off to the frog pond it went. I'm debating the same with Kyoto. I have the sleeves and the neck band to do. I wanted to do the sleeves in the round but may just do them flat to get them done. I don't have enough dpns in that size to do them in the round and I'm having trouble finding more in that size. They are just two small to go with circs. I could magic loop if I felt like learning how to do that, but I don't on this project. I'll try to make a decision by this weekend.

I wanted to start some of the duck feet booties for my little flying monkey but the store I usually but the yarn at no longer carries that color. So more hunting for that. I did finish my last pair of boot socks...I'll get pics soon. After digging through my stash (ugh..hey did I miss flash your stash again???) I found 12 balls of a light violet wool that I got on clearance from JoAnn's. I had hoped to get more colors but never made it back. Anywho I am making the cabled baby blanket from Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss. We don't know what the little one is yet but if it is determined the blanket is too "girly" then I can always dye it. I need to knit something.

I fell last Friday. I mean I completely wiped out on the sidewalk. I had either missed the curb or tripped over it but I dropped a bunch of things along the way down; I even lost my shoe. I went down hard on one knee, tearing my pants and then on my hands. I managed to protect the belly. I'm fine except the abrasion and bruise on my knee that still hurt. What can you expect...I'm the girl that can trip on a shadow.

Oh and I completely missed my blogiversary.

There's no place like home...

and I'm glad to back in mine.

It has been a long, long week, but we made it. Dad is doing great and actually left the hospital sooner than expected. Thank you everyone for your wishes and prayers. It will take me a few days to catch up on my email not to mention the laundry and house stuff. Please be patient. That's all for now...I have a stack of mail to go through and some cats to suck up to.

The witch is out...

I'll be gone for most of this week. My father is having surgery again, and I'm going to make sure he wakes back up. I'm a complete basket case about the whole thing right now. Thankfully my husband is going with me to save what little of my sanity remains. I got a ton of knitting done last time...I forsee at least a pair of socks and something for the baby. I hope to return with good news. Please send what ever good juju that you can.

Bags and books and illness...

Oh my!

I'm sick again. Well I'm not sure that I am sick or if it is a bout of allergies. Normally this is a nuisance that I would drug out of existence. Not anymore. While there are several things I can still take during pregnancy, the one thing that really works for me, I can't. So, I do what I can. It has wiped me out again, just as I was gaining momentum with the waning of my morning sickness.

I did end up buying a bag, if nothing else to get me though my little trip this week. Even if I don't keep it as a knitting bag, it is one I will find useful for other things.

I also ended up getting my hands on my very own copy of Simply Baby. I love the Debbie Bliss baby knit books. I love most of her stuff. And now I have a little one of my own to knit this stuff for.

On the hunt

I'm hunting for a new knitting bag. Unfortunately Target is out of stock on all the bags I was considering. I'm not one for internet shopping on things like these. I need to touch and look inside and try it out. I want something smaller than what I am using that zips shut and looks more stylish. Right now I have a large open tote.

So what bags do you guys use?

And for something completely different...

So the difference between this



and the real thing would be this little one:



Yes. We are knocked up again. All is well with the little flying monkey. Thursday we got to hear the heartbeat. It has been a roller-coaster of paranoia and excitement. The Doctor told us the chances of anything happening this point are very slim.

So now you know why I've been so sick and tired lately. I'm pretty much useless weeknights between the "morning" sickness and exhaustion from working all day. The guys at work have been fabulous. They won't let me lift a thing.

So no I can finally knit baby stuff for me!

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Can you tell I'm getting my geek on???

In the tradition of the Princess Leia hat (which I will make one of these days) ...now we have the R2-D2 hat.



Hrm...I think I know what I'm making the boy for his birthday. Whether he wants it or not. (not that he wears what I knit him anyway.)

keeping warm during the zombie invasion

This was just too cool.


Read about it here. I originally found it here.

Holiday (for some)

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

I know I've been quiet lately. There are big things a brewing here at Chez-Goth, things I can't talk about until somethings are finalized. That and I'm still struggling with my health. I've been battling a headache for 5 days now. We also lost the computer for several days due to storm induced power failure. The surge protector and battery backup didn't prevent a fun little glitch that was over clocking the CPU, and my tech support (aka husband) was working long hours at the time. But the computer is running, he's nearly done with the insane hours, and we should be rid of the extra cats by the end of the month. Things are looking up. Now if I can just get rid of the gnome in my head with a jackhammer, things would be going quite well.

Year of the Rat

I can't believe it has been so long since I've written. I'm still not feeling 100% lately. After working all day I'm whipped and pretty much completely useless. So the only real progress I've made on anything has been the weekends. I even skipped out on both my knitting groups this week. I'm just so tired.

I actually had my husband home for about 24 hours between yesterday afternoon and today. I really miss him. He has about two weeks of sheer chaos left. Then he's mine again. Today I attacked the linen closet and the green room. It is amazing how stuff just clusters and gathers and multiplies.

We finally found a home for one of the cats in the basement. Her new owner will be coming to claim her in a few weeks, after the show is out of tech. I think the other three are going to have to be taken to a no-kill shelter. We just can't keep fostering them. We've had them over a year and work on the house is being held up by the residence in the basement. Not to mention my inability to use my studio while they reside there.

I 'finished' the back to school vest. I haven't joined the shoulders yet. I tried it on quickly at knitting one night and wasn't too happy how the upper portion was fitting. I have to put it on here and see how I care to proceed. I do need to write the designer though. I discovered some eratta that wasn't listed on her site.

I've picked up the ballet wrap cardigan again. I'm more than half way done with the sleeves. I still have to figure out where I am on the right front. I took it to SnB the other night and started the sleeves as they were conducive to talking and knitting. The front will be me and the cats and some solitude.

Beyond that I need to figure out my next project. I have some more baby knitting for friends looming in the future. One of them is having triplets!!! And I'm hunting around for a spinning wheel of my own. That's what I'm going to do with all my birthday money.

So there we are. I'm going to keep puttering around the house while I still have sunlight to burn.

um..whatever

I'm still not feeling well and insomnia leaves me completely drained by the time I get home. At least work isn't boring right now. And my Love has been home more so I get less computer time, though he recently realized he has overtime from now until MARCH!!! We've also been catching up on last season of Lost, before the premiere on the 31st.

I have been busy when home and semi-conscious.

I took a bit of my Christmas money and purchased Fitted Knits and Knitting Lingerie Style. I've been eying these two for a while so I splurged.

I reknit my husband's alien scarf from the first Stitch and Bitch book. I knit it on too large a needle last time and it stretched a lot. I did notice a few mistakes when blocking this one, but he doesn't care, so I didn't either. He better wear it this time.


Here is my sewing project from before Christmas. I finally got around to photographing it.


It's a generic shift to wear under period garments. I was horrified when the Renn faire rolled around and I had nothing to wear. So I'm working on my period costumes. My next is either the Regency undergarments or the Civil War ones.

On a whim I started knitting this little number from Fitted Knits.



It's the Back to School Vest and knit in Plymouth Encore Worsted. Meant to be a stash buster I find that I need one more skein. Hopefully the color won't be too off. This will probably be a painting sweater anyway. I've got some Cascade 220 in mind for a 'good' one.

And then there is my special project from my handspun. I knit a womb. Yep, that's what I said.



This project has special meaning to me, after this summer. It's meant to be a good luck charm of sorts. And I think its damn cute. Though the original pattern is lacking in ovaries, so I may have to whip up a few of those.

So that's what I've been up to. Well, I'm off to bed.

Blah

I'm not dead...just sick. And blogger's been giving me trouble.

I have been knitting tons though...

Hopefully pictures soon.

Happy Birthday to

ME!

This is what I looked like 31 years ago today....well tonight. At this point I was still folded in half and stuck in my mom. (I was born after 11pm.)

So everybody CELEBRATE however you see fit!

My First Handspun

Here I am finally posting the pics. I believe I finished this on New Years day.

Here's the plied yarn on my swift. I don't have a niddy noddy (honey if you are reading this Hint HINT) so I used the swift and measured around. I ended up with about 93 yards.



Not a great close up but you get the idea.


Here are my weapons of dying...my crock pot, food dyes in straight red, red with a touch of black, and red with a touch of purple, and the instructions found here.


Here's the dye pour. I put on the cover and walked away and wrestled with the computer for several hours...



When its done it looks like this. I actually added dye several times to get a deeper red. It was still in the pot when my Love came home and asked if I knew there was yarn in the crock pot. *sigh* boys.


Here it is. My first hand spun. I'm very proud of it. There are a few wonky spots. I liked doing the singles on the drop spindle but the plying really killed my hands. I couldn't knit for a few days. This experience really is pushing me to seriously take steps to getting my own wheel. I'm addicted to the dying too. I keep thinking of color combinations. I may try some acid dyes but I'll do those in the shop at work.




So there it is...and tonight it will become something else.