Cause it's allllright, I think we're gonna make it
I think it might just work out this time...*
SO MUCH to tell you people. I feel I just blogged, but it's been two weeks! How can that happen? Time just goes, I guess.
1) First, I am sorry to have to add it, but there is a random number you must type in when you comment. Sorry for the pain-in-the-assness. But I am getting royally spammed and it has to stop.
2) We have an induction date. If I haven't delivered by January 8, 2006, we will go in and hopefully have a High Energy Baby that day. OMG it's so close!
3) There is a small person living in my abdomen. Do you people know how crazy that is??? I am just starting to really realize it. He's in there. And he's BUSY.
4) I HAVE been reading all of your blogs. Honest. I just haven't been commenting, I've been lame.
No more meeting minutes. Knitting, please.
SO. I have one half of Bridie's band done.
And. I have most of the husband's sweaker done. There was some tweaking, of which there will be pictures soon.
And. I have made a hat, and some baby socks. Let's take a look!
Hi Grade Ha'
This was made for our friend/contractor, who is a giant man. Picture NBA type. 6'5", 230 pounds, maybe? Big guy. He has been so good to us and done such a great job with the house that we wanted to get him somepin'.
I think it will fit, as you can see it is big on me. Project specs are HERE.
I enjoyed knitting it. It is in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, which is super soft. I hope it will keep his head warm this winter while he is working. We picked red because he is a Georgia fan.
Baby socks!
One of my partners' wife is being induced tomorrow for their third baby, this time a girl. So I whipped these out right quick!
I have to tell you.
I loved making these little socks. I had more fun and am happier with the outcome than with many things I have made lately. Maybe because it's been so long since I've had a finished object. Or maybe I just liked the yarn, or the pattern kept me interested, I don't know. But it made knitting fun again.
Spec's are HERE. I used STASH yarn - gasp! Some Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton I got from a store in NC where my parents live. It's discontinued. I love this yarn, too bad she doesn't make it anymore...
The socks are knit FLAT and seamed, so that was interesting. I wouldn't ever do that for an ambulatory person, but for a baby who won't walk in them they should be fine.
And, because I'm proud of her:
This is my friend Sabrina, who ripped out a store bought sweater and dyed it a beautiful fun green! It was a very eighties sage before. Yay Sabrina!
When we come back to HEK, I'll update you on the other projects, and show you around Jodi's studio, where she makes her awesome art. FUN!
*Christopher Cross, "All Right." You KNOW I get most of my music from what's being played overhead at the Kroger.
So await for the stone on your window, your window
Await by the car and we'll go, we'll go...
We have been listening to the new Decemberists album over and over. It's sooooo goood.
SHOWER FUN TIMES!
I am so lucky. I can't tell you.
I never had girlfriends, really. I grew up friends with boys almost exclusively. I had no use for most girls. They didn't understand me, I didn't understand them. They seemed to all want to get married and all that stuff, and I wanted a career.
Then, in my professional training, I had a few girlfriends, but there was a lot of competition, and I still connected more with men.
A few years ago, I developed my first real girlfriends, and it was because of knitting. It sounds so cliché now, on a knit blog, but it's for real. By the time I moved here to Georgia, because of knitblogs, I had already met Carrie, AM, and MJ. I have been so lucky since to have met many more girlfriends, and in fact have very few male friends here. Don't get me wrong, I have loved my guy buddies, but it's so nice to have my girls here.
Those girls threw me an awesome baby shower. It was just what I wanted. A bunch of girls, hanging out, lots of food, fun times. I can't thank them enough.
Here are the domestic goddesses in question:
They cooked all day, seriously. And that food was so good. They had little pumpkin and pecan pies that HE John later dubbed, "pielettes." He ate several.
And they got me the best cake:
Note that it's in the High Energy Palette of colors.
And here we all are!
Fun times!
Knitting Goodies!!!
And of course, I got so many good presents for the HE Baby - lots of super cute clothes and very useful presents. For this blog, though, I know what you want.
You want the handknits.
One of my favorite unit secretaries, Astrid, crochetted the softest blanket:
And here's a close-up:
And the most awesome Jodi made STR baby socks.
SO. CUTE.
And my friend Rachel - who I didn't even know knitted!! - made this adorable baby cardi with airplane buttons. Awwww!
In other knitting news:
1) I am reknitting the band for Bridie. You knew I would.
2) I am SO CLOSE to the front neckband on hubbie's swecker.
3) I am making a hat for a 6'5" ~220 pound African American man. It's a substantial hat, alright.
Updates soon!
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, Scaramouch will you do the fandango...
First, thank you all SO MUCH for your kind words and advice about the Bridie buttonband. I have decided to take Julia's advice and frog it, and try to knit it without sewing it on as I go. I think she is right about me stressing and wonking out my own stitches because it's so close to the seam, and because I'm anxious about it.
High Energy Contractions.
I will try to thank each of you personally, but we had a little High Energy Baby scare so it might not happen... and if so I'm sorry.
The bottom line of the story is that everything appears to be okay.
Wednesday I woke up with weird low abdomen/groin pain. I was having some Braxton Hicks type contractions but wasn't worried about them. But the pain bothered me all day and I wasn't sure what to make of it. Being a medical type I tend to not get too bent out of shape about these things.
I had a massage, a dentist appointment (I blame my dentist - ha!), and knitted with the girls after a short nap. After knitting I went to the grocery store, but while walking around I had more and more discomfort. Since the Kroger is next to the hospital I work at I stopped in, and called my OB.
She wanted me to get checked, so we then went to Labor and Delivery where I got IV fluids, drank more fluids, and was on the fetal and uterine monitors.
They did a test new to me since I finished training, a fetal fibronectin test, which when negative is a pretty good predictor that a person will not go into labor for the next two weeks. Mine was fortunately negative.
This is good, because I was definitely having contractions on the monitor, and my cervix is 1 cm dilated which is a little unusual. (Sorry, High Energy Dad, for too much information). Anyway, even though those things are so, my OB felt confident I could go home. But, they think I was dehydrated, so I have to really keep up with my fluids. I had been doing well with them, but I do know I hadn't had tons of water the last few days. (Dehydration often causes preterm contractions.)
And, I have to keep my feet up when I'm not at work. But at least I can go to work.
So, let's all say a collective little prayer the High Energy Baby will stay put for at least 5 - 6 more weeks. Stay baby stay!
Poor HE John had to hang out with me until about 2:30am. I was fine, but I'm sure he's exhausted. Poor guy.
And of course there was knitting.
So while HE John and I hung out in the hospital, I knit on his Phildar sweater. He said, "You can't knit with that IV in your wrist! Can you?" I just gave him the look we'd all give him, and commenced knitting. Pul-lease.
The phildar sweater has reached monstrous proportions - because I decided to seam one side before finishing the front.
So THIS:
...is what I'm lugging around. At least it's warm in my lap...
Here' s a close-up of the seam. No wonkiness here!
Thanks again, you all, for the pep talk. Especially my kid sister, who rocks.
C'mon now, whodoyou whodoyou whodoyou whodoyou think you are?
Ha Ha Ha Bless your soul...
I can't stop digging that song. Even if it's overplayed.
Are you having a baby?
That is SO WEIRD. People now ask me that all the time.
My guess would be that they ALREADY know the answer to that question. My guess is, if they weren't sure, they wouldn't ask. What would they do if I said, "No"? "It's an 8 pound tumor"?
I mean really. Sometimes I should say "no" just for fun, to screw with people.
Dejection. And despair.
So lately, as mentioned in my last post, I'm not feeling the knitting love. I'm just, frankly, disinterested in it. Part of it is reading blogs - I get frustrated with how fast other people knit, or how beautifully or evenly they knit, and I get disgusted that I have been doing this for 20 some years and still have uneven or crappy work to show for it. Why is this so?
The smart hubby suggested maybe I need to go back to basics. Maybe I need to just knit scarves or something, to practice garter stitch over and over to get better at it. My tension issues make me so frustrated.
So, with Bridie, I was fairly happy so fair and have seamed the whole thing, but in knitting the buttonbands I have been VERY unhappy. So much so, that I don't want to finish it now. I don't even want to show it.
But I will:
You have to sew the band on as you go, to be sure it will fit:
And here's another view so far:
I know. Not the end of the world, but to me it's just, well, wonky.
Elizabeth Zimmerman says it's far better to knit loosely and a little wonky than too tightly. That the wonkiness will work itself out. And, admittedly, after I wear something awhile I seem to stop noticing it. But I just want, well, perfection, I guess. What do you all think? Do you have these issues???
Maybe the HE Hubby is on to something. Maybe I need to sell a bunch of stash and just knit with yarn that truly pleases me, that feels great on the needles, with simple stitches for practice. I'm open to it. Tell me what you all think.
When the devil came... he was not red...
He was chrome... and he said, "Commmmee with me..."
A true Wilco fan is my husband. So much so, that here was his Halloween costume:
I unfortunately had to work the 2pm - 11pm shift. I met up with Carrie and Jacob and crew after for a bit, but didn't have the energy, high or otherwise, to dress up.
Speaking of High Energy - Carrie had a funny story. She helped her bandmates make these awesome Alice in Wonderland costumes. When she brought her sewing machine to help, she realized that typical of most boys they had waited till the last minute to get them done. When she said, "You guys, this might be a lot of work," the guys threatened to call "ELECTRIC JENNY."
Hahahhahaha! Electric. Jenny.
Why aren't you blogging?
I'm been so busy! I know, I know, we're all busy, but others of us find time to blog. Somehow I'm not finding the time!
And then, see, I let it all build up, then I have so much to say that I'm overwhelmed, then I just don't. Stupid, I guess. I need to be better about blogging shorter posts more often. Hmmmm.
Some things I should tell you:
1) I've really been enjoying old episodes of Cast On. I think Brenda Dayne is a genius. I love listening to that show while I knit.
2) I've been watching too much TV. Damn you Directv!
3) I finally got all our crazy house stuff done. Mostly. The baby's room is still in progress, of course, but all the other shelves, etc. are done. I just have a few hooks to hang and curtains to make for downstairs. Otherwise, whew!
So that's all good.
Knitting-wise, I wish I had more to report. I am about 1/3 done with the front of HE John's Phildar sweater. It looks the same as the back, so a picture really doesn't tell you much.
Bridie is almost done, but I am having issues with the neckband.
Also I don't think I can wear it, even though I tried to size it for me now - I hoped the belly part could hang open with the top closed but it doesn't look promising. I am a little sad. And I really was hoping I could make the neck/button band look more professional. Sigh. I will show you more of it soon.
Lastly, HE John has made his first batch of beer!
He loves beer, of all types, and he has a lot of opinions about good beers, what types of beer is good for what weather, etc. So it doesn't surprise me he wanted to make some.
I got to cap the bottles. That was fun! In about two weeks they'll be ready!
I hope he likes what it tastes like when they are done.
Take one down, pass it around...