WiP It Wednesday: The Belated Version and Contest Update

I had every intention of actually getting this post written on Wednesday, but Piper became Her Highness Ultimate Crankpants of Doom last night and I ended up crashing in bed as soon as I got her to stop screaming at me and fall asleep.

I have a finished sock!



I started these socks the day before Piper was born so I would have something to work on in the hospital while I was in labor. Yes - I knit quite peacefully until the contractions were about 3 minutes apart - and seeing as it took a few hours on the pitocin drip before the contractions had me in a good place to start pushing, I'm really glad I did!

A close up of the pretty blues and purples:



I have to say I am loving this yarn - I'm not normally a purple person - that distinction belongs to my Mom. However, I really liked the interplay of the blues and purples. At first I picked the yarn because of its shade, but once I started knitting with it I fell in love all over again because it was so soft and easy to work with. The yarn is Crock-O-Dye (colourway 798) and is 65% superwash wool, 20% nylon, and 15% silk. I will definitely buy this sock yarn again.



The problem with taking pictures in the winter is that my sunroom, which has the best natural light for pictures, is off-limits because it is just as cold as outside - and I am limited by the light that comes through the narrow windows in my living room. I put the socks on the gaming stool to prop them up and give some nice contrast in the light... and Lucky apparently thought I was creating a sunny pedestal for him...

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Contest Update!

My friend, Tara won my Baby Arrival Pool - she was smart and not only picked my actual due date, but February 1st was Tara's birthday as well! So, let me know what you have in mind for your prize, Tara!

Thank You, Zonda!

A few days after Piper was born, a package arrived on our doorstep with all sorts of lovelies from the very talented Zonda. It was so unexpected and generous - we can't say thank you enough!

There was a little vest for Piper:



I have to say - this is the only thing made for her that fits her right now! All her other handmades are too big for her still.

There was also a Cotty socks and hat set for Piper:



Some Smooshy sock yarn for me(!):



I was almost afraid to put up a picture of this yarn - my Dad is addicted to the colour red and I think he is going to demand to have something made for him out of them...

And an art kit for Willow - thank you so much for thinking about her as well. She has been very good about the baby, but she has had the odd sad moment when she thinks the baby is getting more attention. And I have to say that Zonda is a dedicated knitter - not only are there tags on the outfits saying what the pattern was, yarn, and colourway - but she sent me the leftovers as well!



Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Snow Day Schoolwork Substitution

Willow and Piper watching Cleopatra:



Willow has a biography book report project this month, and she decided to do her report on Cleopatra. Willow is a nut for anything to do with ancient Egypt and Rome, so Cleopatra was right up her alley. We bought this Cleopatra biography and she zoomed through it.

Cue to about 10 days ago when the news about Elizabeth Taylor being very sick was on tv - Willow a bit scared at how this old lady looked in the pictures. I explained the Elizabeth Taylor had been a great beauty and that she had portrayed Cleopatra in an extravagant movie before I was born. Willow said she wanted to watch it - I warned her it was over 3 hours long, but that we would request it from Netflix. However, my Mom was flipping through the channels and saw (serependitiously enough) it was playing on Encore, so I recorded it.

We had another (!!!) snowstorm blow through last night, and received the 5:30am call that there was no school today. It worked out well - my Mom also flew back to BC today, so I was glad to have Willow help with Piper. Willow said she wanted to watch Cleopatra, so that is what has been on the TV all morning. I'm impressed that Willow is critiquing the movie - explaining things to me that were different in real life.

And, no - Piper wasn't actually watching the movie -



She was fast asleep.

A New Weird Level of Hoarding...

...because really, those of us with large yarn stashes know at some level we are all guilty of hoarding. I'm lucky enough that my husband considers my stash further insulation to the house at this point, and doesn't mind my purchases as long as I keep them to a dull roar.

Yesterday, my Mom, Willow, Piper and I were at Joann's, picking up stuff for Willow's biography book report project and some buttons for a sweater Mom knit for Piper. I was helping Mom choose her buttons when I saw these:



Aren't they beautiful?!!

I have no clue what I will make with them, but I had to buy them for some as-yet-unidentified button-requiring project. And even better yet, all the buttons were BOGO! I did some searching online for a beautiful orange or yellow yarn to make a sweater with (for who, I'm not sure) but haven't found anything that grabbed me yet. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Flight of the Cookie Dough Mansion

You know, if I dug through my photo albums, I could probably find a picture of our good friend Keith from 10+ years ago when we lived and taught English in Japan, but he probably wouldn't appreciate that very much...

My friend Keith is now a writer, and he has a children's book available on Amazon:

It had lights made of gumdrops, and beams of white chocolate.
It had two stripes of red hot bubble gum for doors, and windows framed in peppermint.
Its roof was made of cookie dough, and the walls were too.
It was a Cookie Dough Mansion.
And it was flying.

FLIGHT OF THE COOKIE DOUGH MANSION

A magical adventure never tasted so good.

For children ages 5-7. Approximately 5,000 words. Please note there are no illustrations beyond the cover.

You can purchase the ebook at Amazon.

Enjoy!

Finished Object... Um, Wednesday?

I have to say, not being in the office everyday has completely messed with my sense of calendar time. I have no clue what day it is other than it is a weekday because Willow has to go to school.

The Reverse Mullet Jaywalkers are finished!



I actually finished them about a week before Piper arrived, but wasn't able to snap some good shots of the socks.

Close Up:



I love the mix of the pink and white! It's funny, because I am so not a pink person, but this yarn called to me.

Another Close Up:



The Particulars:

Pattern: A bastardized version of the Jaywalker pattern, with the chevron pattern in the front, plain stockinette in the back.
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks 16" circulars
Yarn: TLS Dover Superwash Sock in the Crushed Candy colourway

Would I make this pattern again? Not sure yet - I mean, the modifications were easy enough, and certainly made the knitting go faster... but I haven't tried on the socks yet... Willow (the sneaky bum!) has tried them on and they are slightly big on her, which disheartens me on my chances of a good fit.

And what do you do with the baby while you are trying to take pictures of the finished objects?



Put her at the other end of the blanket! And let me tell you - that was easier than trying to hold Piper and compose this post.

Lucky Shot

You aren't seeing the bigger picture above, but Lucky was sharing a blanket with Piper:



Lucky is still getting used to Piper, and at this moment he decided he was going to share her blanket with her since a lovely bit of sunshine was crossing the blanket. To get the first photo above, I laid down on the floor with them and managed to catch that great sunlit profile shot of Lucky.

Happy Valentine's Day

Enjoy some gratuitous Piper pictures!

My Dad seems to think this baby is never awake because in almost all my pictures so far her eyes have been closed. Trust me - she's awake an awful lot - but it usually happens to be between one and five o'clock in the morning...



Piper's Monkey face blowing kisses:



And my peaceful sleeping Piper:



It's interesting - as much as I think Willow and Piper look alike, I can already see differences. It may be only due to the fact that Piper is a pound and a half smaller than Willow was at birth, but Piper has more angular features than Willow did at this age. She also has my lips, unlike Willow, who has her Dad's wide smile. I'm eager to see what colour her eyes end up being. It took Willow nearly two years to settle on a colour - she started off with the newborn blue, then green for nearly 18 months, and eventually landing on a hazel colour. Piper's eyes are newborn blue right now, but are quite light coloured around the iris, which makes me wonder if she will end up with lighter coloured eyes.

Tuesday's Child is Fair of Face

Piper Jean has arrived!



Me and Piper

I love how in the first picture taken of the two of us she is sticking out her tongue. Somehow I think this is predicting things to come.

Piper was born on her due date, February 1st, 2011, via induction. I had been hoping to go into labour on my own since I had also been induced with Willow, but my OB decided that due to some health concerns that Piper needed to come out at 40 weeks. My Mom had arrived a few days earlier, so on the morning of February 1st, Andrew, my Mom, and I slowly made our way to the hospital in an ice storm for my 6am induction appointment. Willow spent the night at her other grandparents' home, and didn't even have the benefit of school to distract her as all the schools were closed due to the weather.



Andrew and Piper

 The L&D nurses check me out, and determine that I was 4cm dilated and 90% effaced, so this wasn't going to take long. I was hooked up to a pitocin drip and Andrew went back home to retrieve my hospital bag (seems everyone forgot to bring it, even though I had pulled it down to the front door...). After that, nothing happened for a few hours. The nurse would come in every half hour and up my dose of pitocin, and my Mom and I worked on our knitting (a baby sleep sack for her, purple and blue socks for me), and Andrew read Stephen King's Full Dark, No Stars (his birthday was the day before and this was my and Willow's gift to him).



Big sister and little sister

 Around 11am the contractions were finally becoming potent enough for me to ask for some drugs. I was determined to be more proactive about pain management this time - with Willow I had three failed epidural attempts and in the end had an unanticipated drug free birth. The nurses administered stadol, which promptly put me to sleep for about two hours. Apparently I snored.



Even outside the womb my hand still goes in front of my face!

When I woke up I asked that the epidural be administered now. I was very apprehensive about this - as I mentioned above, eight years ago the anethesiologist couldn't complete the procedure with Willow. He said my vertebrae are very close together and I was so far into my labour that I was not able to relax enough to allow him to put the needles in. I had explained this to the nurse earlier, so she advised to have the epidural early before the contractions became too strong. The epidural hurt. A lot. I didn't realize there was so much patient participation involved. I was sitting on the edge of the bed, my arms around the nurse as if hugging her, back hunched over - and between contractions I had to guide the anethesiologist as to what is the middle vs. right vs. left of my spine so he can put the needles in the right place. But, it ended quickly, and relief was blessedly quick.



What is this goop in my eyes?

 The epidural felt weird. I had no feeling between my mid-torso to about mid-calf - but had no problem moving and rotating my feet and ankles. The nurse asked if I can feel any of the contractions. I told her it isn't pain, but I definitely feel pressure and I can feel the baby moving inside down the canal. She said that was great - so many people can't feel anything at all, and it makes it difficult to know when to push.



Sleepy Piper

About 2:15pm the OB came in and said that I am 10cm dilated and we are good to start pushing. The nurse installed this bar up around hip level on the bed, and between her, my Mom, and Andrew, they manage to get my dead legs braced against the bar to give me some leverage while pushing. This was never offered with Willow, and I think it worked very well. After about an hour of pushing, Piper was bumping right up against my pubic bone, so the nurse and I played tug-o-war with a towel (I kid you not!), and Piper's head was able to dip under and make the last descent. The last thirty minutes were pretty much a blur - the crowning was pretty intense, but not painful. Piper came out quickly in a straight shot at 3:50pm, with her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck two times.



Little Miss Pouty Lips

 Andrew cut the umbilical cord and the nurses whisked her away to clean her up. They called out her stats - 6lbs, 10.5oz, and 18.5 inches long. What?!?! What happened to the baby that was supposed to be verging on 8 pounds? She was just a tiny little bean! The OB took care of me - I had a small internal first degree tear. The nurses put Piper on my chest and she looked up at me - and I was in utter love.



Piper and her blanket

We came home two days later, and I was never so grateful to have my Mom here with us. No matter how good the baby or how well you are recovering, it is hard to take care of a newborn. You yourself are exhausted, your baby is adjusting, your body is going haywire with hormones - and no matter whether you are a first time mother or seasoned professional, nursing is not terribly intuitive. And if you are really lucky like me, you come down with mastitis to boot. I thought I was coming down with the flu because I was all headachey and having hot flashes and chills. It wasn't until some angry hot red patches showed up on my breasts that I clued into what was going on. Antibiotics and Advil became my bosom buddies (pun intended!).



Look at those cheeks!

Here we are, a week later. Piper is gaining weight - athough Mom and I had to go out to Carter's yesterday and buy up a wardrobe of newborn clothes because she was absolutely swimming in all the 0-3 months clothes we had. She's a tiny little bean - in fact, I started calling her Piper Bean instead of Piper Jean! Nights can be hard - we seem to alternate between nights where I am lucky enough to get 6-7 hours of sleep spread out, and nights where when I finally get her down I have been awake for 19 hours and am weepy with exhaustion. Piper is a fantastic nurser, and cracks me up because she wants to hunt for the breast and growls while nursing.



Piper and Lucky

 Willow absolutely adores her baby sister and wants to hold her all the time, but the Lucky the cat was so put out when we first brought Piper home that he hid out in the basement for a few days and then peed in the bassinet. He is coming around - for a cat who was upset, he gets into an awful lot of her photos.



Lucky the Sentinel

 We are so blessed - Piper is a happy, healthy baby. We couldn't have asked for anything more.

Just How Cold Has It Been?

Last Wednesday we were hit with a huge snow and ice storm, and it hasn't been warm enough since then for any of the snow or ice to melt away. Melt, yes - enough to create some pretty spectacular icicles - but not warm enough for them to go away.

We had Andrew's birthday lunch at his parents' house yesterday, and I snapped these pictures on some of the bushes outside my in-laws' house.

The poor camellia - this was the first one I saw, and it prodded me to take pictures of some of the others. It looks like it has hands made of icicles.



This azalea caught my eye by how the diagonal branch has an elongated formation - I imagine the branch is under a lot of stress with the weight of the ice.



This is the same bush - but looks like it has some daggers hanging from it:



This azalea also has a thick band of ice - not dagger-like, hanging off its main stem. If you look in the lower left hand corner you can see some icicles that are sticking out horizontally rather than vertically:



Here is a close up:



This one really confused me at first, but Andrew figured out what must have happened. The icicles were vertical at one point, but the weight of the ice on the branch caused the branch to bend, and then it froze in that position, making the icicles horizontal.

Willow has been home with me since Wednesday as well - Andrew tried to take her to school Wednesday morning. He slid 12 feet into the first intersection on the main road, turned around, dropped her back off at home home and said she was staying home with me. The school district ended up calling a short day and yanking the kids at 1pm, then calling snow days on Thursday and Friday due to the road conditions.

Beauty on a Sunday

Isn't it beautiful? My in-laws pick up an orchid every year at the Philadelphia Flower Show (which sadly we will miss this year since it isn't a great place to bring a one-month old baby). My black thumb is amazed at how they have kept this one going for so long. The only houseplant I'm safe with is a Christmas cactus...

Finished Object Friday

One of the ladies in my January due date group delivered a stillborn son earlier in 2010, and the rest of us decided to knit or crochet squares to make a patchwork blanket for her and her husband. This was the square I made. I was supposed to mail this off today, but as I was putting the package together, I noticed that someone (ahem! Eight year old!) spilled hot cocoa on it. Now it is hanging to dry and I will be mailing it tomorrow instead.

Pattern: Xs and Os washcloth (Rav link)
Yarn: Takhi Yarns Coast in Teal
Needles: Size 5 9" straights (I do use straight needles once in a blue moon)

Modifications: If you look at the pattern, there is some lacework in the middle, but I decided I would just knit stockinette for the center to give the square some more structural integrity. Plus I suck at lacework. This was the first time I had ever tried knit a textural piece - and I am quite happy with the result.

Just Bread, Please

You know, it isn't easy to take a picture of bread - it was too dark to go flashless, and the flash just kept reflecting off the bread. Trust me, these pictures aren't doing the bread justice.



I had planned beef stew for dinner yesterday, and since we had friends coming over midday, I knew I wasn't going to have time to run out to the grocery store and pick up bread to accompany the stew. So, I went online and found this recipe: Italian Bread for the Bread Machine. Easy enough. The only substitution I made up front is I used bread flour instead of all-purpose flour.

When the dough was finished in the bread machine I also opted to make one big loaf as opposed to two smaller ones as directed. The picture isn't really giving you a sense of scale, but the loaf is about 14" long by 6" wide at its thickest. I was a little worried about how much longer I would have to bake it with one loaf rather than two, but in the end it was only a few minutes longer and I simply went by how brown the bread was getting.



It was delicious! I have to say that my stew* really paled by comparison - I would have been happy just to have the bread for dinner. The crust was sprinkled with cornmeal before baking, so it had a great crispiness, and the inside was dense and chewy - and it was very easy to slice the bread. That may sound odd, but having the bread be too squishy (that it can't hold up to slicing) or be have a crust so crispy that it just flakes apart when getting sliced are both major pet peeves of mine. My only complaint when all was said and done was that I wish the bread had been a little bit saltier - the recipe only calls for 1.5 tsp of salt, but I'm a novice here - I'm not sure if I can up that by half a teaspoon and not have it affect other parts of the bread.

And hurray for leftovers - this bread is going to make fantastic grilled cheese sandwiches today!

(* The stew? For the first time I tried making a stew that incorporated a bottle of brown ale. It wasn't unpleasant, but had the effect of making the stew rather sweet. I prefer my stews to be more savoury. There was plenty leftover, so I had Andrew salvage the solids and a bit of the broth, and I am going to combine it with some canned diced tomatoes and try to counteract the sweetness.)

And Already It Starts

Why thank you for getting me this comfy chair with the dangly things!

WiP It Wednesday

Why, yes - real knitting has been going on around here.

Remember my Reverse Mullet Jaywalkers (party in the front, business in the back?). I am about 3 rows away from kitchnering the toe and starting on the second sock.



Despite the fact that the sock is holy crap pink, I'm still holding onto hope that these socks fit me - but there is no way I am going to try them on until after the baby is born and the swelling has gone down.



And then there are my ugly socks. I know I threatened to frog these - but sometimes a girl just needs a pair of plain jane socks that she doesn't need to think about when she knits.



I started this hat - a secret project - I won't get into who it is for because I'm really not sure whether that person reads my blog or not. In any case, it is Halfdome from Knitty knit in Malabrigo Silky Merino in Archangel. So soft! I could knit these all day just to feel the yarn. I decided to go with an inch of 2x2 ribbing rather than a rolled brim.



And my final WIP is still progressing - here is your weekly Sprog fix:



I found out today that while she is still head down, she is also 'sunny side up,' meaning that her back is to my back. Babies are supposed to come out with their backs to the mom's front - it makes for a smoother exit. Willow was also sunny side up, so I had some painful labour where she kept banging up against my pubic bone rather than sliding out. Here we go again -

Okay, Sprog - You Can Come Out Now

... Your blanket is done.



As my Mom predicted, it is going to be more of a pram blanket than anything else because of its rectangular shape. I was hoping for something a bit more square, but the final measurements are about 30" by 40".

The Particulars:

Pattern: None in particular - it was a 4x4 checkerboard with 4 rows of border on each end and 4 stitches of garter selvedge on each side.

Yarn: Plymouth Encore Colorspun Worsted in Colorway 7711 (green, white, and yellow stripes), 4 skeins

Needles: Aero Size 8 circulars (24")

I'm really happy with how seamless the striping is on the blanket, especially since 4 skeins of yarn are involved. I'm really particular about things like that, and each time I pulled a bit out of each remaining skein to see which one would match up the best.

Here's a close up of the checkerboard:



Whew! I was getting worried that Sprog wouldn't have a handknit by her Mama by the time she arrived - this is a big load off my back :) I have other things on the needles for Sprog, but I wanted to bring her home in her own blanket.

Don't Like Cutting It This Close...

I finished Sprog's baby blanket tonight - and this is how much yarn I had left when I had bound off the last edge. I really don't like cutting it this close! A finished object post will come tomorrow after the blanket has been washed.

Baby Arrival Pool - Updated!

Yay!



I had a much friendlier ultrasound tech yesterday - so I have a picture to show you this week!

Okay - here is a list of everyone who put their name in for a date:

1/5 Discoknits (Deborah)
1/8 Fiona
1/11 Karen
1/13 Penny Karma (Sarah)
1/15 Teri
1/16 Shirley
1/17 Kemtee (Kelly)
1/18 Batty (Vesna)
1/20 Dave
1/22 Dharma
1/23 Bezzie (Kaye)
1/24 Krysstyllanthrox (Haley)
1/27 Turtlegirl76 (Cristi)
1/28 Stariel (Ariel)
1/29 Jaime
1/30 Melyssa
1/31 Zonda
2/1 Tara
2/2 Mom
2/4 Kingshearte

Whew! As you can see, there are still a few days where no one guessed Sprog would arrive. What I will do if Sprog should happen to come on January 25th, for example, I will have a random drawing from everyone who picked a different day. I want there to be a winner regardless of what day Sprog shows up.

Good Luck!

Confounded by the Math

I've been on a frantic tear to get Sprog's baby blanket finished - and I honestly thought I was going to finish it this weekend. But then I measured it.

Sigh.

Let me back up. I'm not using a pattern here - it's a simple checkerboard pattern - 4 rows by 4 stitches. The striping is unplanned - simply a by-product of the yarn. I have 40 squares across the bottom, so I figured if I did 40 rows of squares up, I would have a pretty much square blanket. Not so.

I finished the 40 rows of squares last night, measured the blanket, and came up with 40 inches in width, but only 25 inches in length. CRAP! I'm on my last skein of yarn, so the blanket is only going to be as long as this yarn holds up (I'm anticipating maybe 5 -7 more inches in length).

Gah!