Sweets and Socks

Boy did my Valentine deliver! Take a look. It is both what I wanted and what I didn't want. I asked for candy but I also secretly wondered if I should have given my lack of will power and my current state. I know I'm pregnant. I know pregnant women gain weight. It is just mentally difficult to see the scale climb (though I keep telling myself that means my baby is healthy!!!). Before pregnancy I had made Lifetime with Weight Watchers. Though I've never felt weight is a huge issue for me, it was so mentally freeing to be able to go into stores and actually like the clothes I tried on and to actually consistently fit into the sizes I wanted to at every store. Anyway, I trust I'll get there again. I just hit that phase where nothing fits well and I feel like it is pointless to go buy something since I won't be pregnant much longer. I just need to be patient and not do anything drastic like go cut my hair!

KNITTINGBENEFACTOR?

Does anyone else keeping getting reminders about the Blue Moon Fiber Arts sock club and keep wishing some magic knitting fairy would grant your deepest wish of paying your membership fee? Are there any rich knitting benefactors out there???? Seriously, I am so wanting to join but there is no way I can afford that right now. I've racked my brain. I should mention that the Ebay sale I had going to try to make some extra cash (cute Pottery Barn comforter that I no longer want but everyone else seems to be bidding high on) went terribly awry? The comforter sold for $128 and when I went to go to mail it, found out my husband might have accidently thrown the bag away thinking it was trash??? Not his fault but it was my backup for how I was going to join this club. With a baby on the way and no maternity leave, it just isn't smart. I'm bummed out. Maybe next year.... Blue Moon Fiber do you have a payment plan or a scholarship program?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aren't these just the prettiest cupcakes you've ever seen? I can't take credit. Nani (Queen of the Minicupcakes) made them. I have this picture in my FlickR Faves. These just remind me of today. What I wouldn't give to eat just one of these!



Speaking of yummy, I ventured out in the cold in my current cherub state and went to my favorite LYS, My Sister Knits. Mind you I had to park practically a block away and use my 4-wheel drive to manuever around so I must have been desperate for a yarn fix. I purchased some beautiful colors of Lamb's Pride. Do I really have money for this yarn? No. Have I thought ahead as to how I'm going to get this in the budget? No. Buy now, think later. It's Valentines. I'm currently 22 lbs. heavier (for good reason but heavier nonetheless). I need a treat. Now I wouldn't normally classify this yarn as yummy per se, it's felting yarn. Is felting yarn ever yummy? But the way it is all stacked up and color coodinated in mass quantity at my LYS gets my heart beating. I overheard some much older ladies talking about how they were going to drive the 2.5 hours to Nebraska just to go to Brown Sheep Company. I began to imagine how I could hitch a ride with them and tried to think of things we could talk about along the way. A couple of seconds into that thought one of the ladies started to talk about her doctor appointments and achy hips and I decided I probably have more in common with these ladies right now than I realize. But alas, no invite even though I mentioned how very much I love Brown Sheep Company. Guess I'll have to make the journey myself one day. I didn't realize it was so close. Anyway, I can't wait to begin more purses with these lovely colors.

I decided not to post any pictures of the green and brown felted design that went so wrong. It's just too disappointing.



But, I do have a picture of my craft room! A room of my own. A room for my sewing, knitting, yarn stash, scrapbooking, and other crafty items. My husband calls the room the "art room" because I'm supposedly sharing space with my daughter to do art too. I guess to score such a room I might have made mention of such a notion way back when. She is more than welcome to do art in MY CRAFT ROOM. It is a small room in our basement. We're finishing our basement to make room for our little guy. My husband spent all of Saturday cutting and laying the tile. Isn't it beautiful? We have a contractor coming in to create some shelves for my stash. I am so very excited. My husband is doing such good work. He still has to grout and put in the baseboards. Soon! I found some cute art for the walls too--a picture of a red dress on a wire rack (it's cuter than it sounds) and a black and white print of a plain old thread and needle. Very crafty.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Little Guy

Lots of knitting underway! I'm so happy to have rediscovered my love of knitting. It seems I've been spending more and more time "resting" so I have time to knit. I will post a picture tomorrow of my felted striped purse that failed. I kind of figured it would. I'll be trying it again with some different numbers. I need to remember the cardinal rule of felting: Things tend to shrink far more vertically than horizontally. But I will try to not get discouraged!!!!



Here is a picture of our little guy in 3D! He kept sticking his foot in the picture. Amazing how flexible these babies are! Our little girl kept saying, "say cheese little brother!" So cute. She's going around telling everyone that her baby brother is in her tummy and the other night at dinner she let out a huge sigh as though she were exhausted and pulled her shirt up and said, "baby brother in my tummy." She must watch me moan and groan. Kids say the funniest things sometimes. She's such a drama queen. My husband always says sarcastically, "Gee, I wonder where she gets that?" Whatever.

It's snowing AGAIN here in Colorado. ARGH! I know I shouldn't complain given that upstate NY has 12 feet of snow. But seriously, the snow from Christmas was just beginning to melt. I'm ready for spring. Today's high is only 20 degrees.

Very little progress is being made with boogers and bathtime (thanks for those who've asked!). Seems the only thing that can get our girl to take a bath is her daddy. I either have to call him and put him on speaker phone to convince her to get in or he has to be here to assure her that boogers don't eat people. I hope something changes soon.

A New Purse!

Here is a felted purse I designed for a friend of mine for her birthday. She seems to really like it a lot and uses it on special occassions. I like the mix of colors. I initially started this purse with some browns and greens but the yarn I selected turned out horrible in the end. Such a waste of time! So, I'm sticking to Lamb's Pride from now on. I like the predictability of it.

On the baby news front, we had a little scare this weekend. I am only 29 weeks but woke up at 3am on Sunday with contractions. We finally went into the hospital at 7am when they hadn't stopped. Turns out I have an infection and am now on antibiotics and was given something to stop the contractions. The doctor said it is common to start to get contractions with an infection and we caught it way early. I'm just so grateful. I can't imagine having a preemie in the NIC unit. I just want our little guy to continue to grow strong and big for however long. It really puts my complaining and uncomfortableness in perspective.

Anyway, pics tomorrow of the 3D ultrasound and maybe another purse (if I can finish!).

Bunny, Blankie, and Boogers

Here is a picture of a bunny and blankie I knit for our baby. I think I stuffed the bunny too much because you can see the white stuffing through the knit. Oh well! The picture shows it worse than it is in real life. The room is almost done. My friend Becky is finishing up the bumper and quilt. I sewed a bed skirt. I'll get a picture up soon.

I've also started back on my felting projects with some new designs. I am designing a clutch. Here it is prefelt. I just used colors from my stash. I'll fill you in on how it actually felts out. I have a feeling I'll have to rework it.



My friend Joan at Lip Gloss and Cheerios has inspired me to write a little more about my adventures in motherhood since every day brings a new event--each one more funny and bizarre than the first.

The latest saga is my daughter won't take a bath because she is afraid there are boogers in the bath. She sees a floatie and thinks it is a booger coming to get her. It is the closest thing to a panic attack I've ever seen. I feel sympathy for the poor kid but after days of not bathing it is ridiculous! My husband and I had to bribe her with a popsicle and even then her little heart was pounding and she was distraught. Her hair was still somewhat soapy but I was just glad to have had her dipped in water for a bit. I've tried asking her to shower instead. I've tried taking the bath with her. I've tried talking her through it. Nothing is working.

These irrational fears usually come about when my husband has to leave town for work. Last time he was gone she was afraid of dragons in her room and woke me up four times one night. That fear left when he returned. I thought this was just residule missing daddy but it has lingered.

Today I might try not filling the bath but just running the water to rinse her. I just told her it is bath time and she said "No boogers." Sigh.

The other exciting event for today is a 3D ultrasound! I can't wait to see our son's face!