Waiting on the little one

So, I'm 36 weeks now. We're in final countdown / on edge mode. We keep joking about that "I Love Lucy" episode where they rehearse and rehears what everyone will do when Lucy comes out and announces "Ricky, the time has come." Which of course, doesn't happen at all like they planned / practiced. The baby's room is just about done. I need to order a glider / rocker but the ones I've seen online haven't gotten very good reviews, so I'm kinda putting it off.
Here's what the room looks like:
(From the door / entrance)


(From the far end of the room near the window / crib end)


(Crib shot)


We'd like to put something up over the crib - I couldn't find a mobile that I liked... (I have the itty bitty nursery book, and knitted toys I should just make one!) maybe a stencil of the baby's name? but since we don't know if it's a boy or girl that will have to wait. I still really like the idea of wallwords but we'll see.

Oddest Project Ever

A few weeks ago my grandmother requested a doorknob cover / cozy. After a little hunting online, I did find a pattern. I dug into my stash, found some cotton yarn (in a navy blue color) and got to work. I finally finished it today and then wanted to try it out before sending it along to Gram. Well, all the doors in my house have handles, not knobs!

I did find one in the basement leading to our garage. And thankfully, the cover fit.

I really think this takes the cake as the strangest thing I have ever knit. I feel like it is so 70s, when everything had a cozy - at least that's how I think of it.

Funny thing is I really want to make both of these mug cozies. I spotted the second one at ravelry and loved it. Not days later, in the latest issue of Blueprint Magazine in a shopping guide section (page 41) they show Snug Mugs from Ruth Cross - $48!!!!!! Ok, it is a "hand thrown porcelain mug....with a handmade Ruth Cross cosy in lambs wool with an ox horn button fastening" Still.

Halloweenie-fest ready!

Even though the astronaut costume didn't work out, I did manage to finish the zebra sweater for Jackson. Apologies to Steven Pastis - author of my current favorite comic, Pearls Before Swine. I especially love the crocodiles - the males speak in this "barely articulate" manner, and greet their zebra neighbors with a great "Hullooo Zeeeba Nay-bah!". (Hey it's almost Rhode Island (see the culture entry)) That gets said a lot around this house. So, Jackson's Halloween Costume for 2008 is dubbed the "Zeeba Sweatah".





The design came from the "Dashing Dogwear" booklet "Created for Leisure Arts by House of White Birches". I used Red Heart and Caron Simply Soft. Jackson has a chest measurement of 18.5 inches, so modifications were needed. I worked between the chest sizes 16 inches and 24 inches. I cast on 71 stitches, worked 18 rows before the leg openings, worked to row 30 before casting on the other side of the legs, worked to row 42 and placed markers. Then I followed the chart for the back shaping for the small size. Didn't add ribbing at the leg openings. I'm quite pleased on the whole.

We're off to the town dog parade and dachshund rescue Halloweenie festival... more later!

Failed Halloween Costume (Dogs On Thursday)

I put a lot of items on my dog - a lot of them homemade knitted objects. He's a good sport, though you can tell by his face that he is doing it only because he loves me. Currently I am working on knitting his Halloween costume - it was an ambitious project and I should have focused on it more previously - not just this past week. It should be ok though, so I'm not worried too much.

At target today I did find the astronaut costume! I was so excited - a back-up costume, just in case. I bought the small size (for dogs with 10in - 13in neck to tail length) - there weren't any mediums. I cut it off the hang tag board and pop it on the dog. It's a disaster.





There's no way his back legs can fit into those leg sleeves. Now that I look at the corgi model closer it doesn't look like his legs are in there either - they are not velcroed shut. I could live with that, but being a dachshund he's endowed in the chest area and it barely stays velcroed there. Anyone interested in buying it from me? $9.99. I'll trade for yarn or books (check out my amazon wishlist even)....

Now the pressure is on and I really need to bust out the original idea!

I'm filled with "intrinsic incredible emotion"

Gotta love the Chum! Today's post was about Meryn Cadell and her song "The Sweater" - I remember being at the mall looking for that song (on cassette!!). My mom tried to be helpful by pointing out a Michael Jackson single, "In the Closet". Thanks mom, but not helpful. There's a youtube video - still wonderful!


And, since the talk today is about sweaters, I'm 2 rows away from being done with the skirt on the tilted duster. Looking into mods as I don't know if I want to be concerned with rolling / blocking etc. 2 Rows. So close to being done with that part. Then it's onto picking up for the collar and getting the sleeves in. The sun is out today (thank goodness) I need Jackson to take advantage of that - gotta get moving on his Halloween costume!

Candy Corn

This weekend we're going to a friend's "Ocktoberfest". They had a little boy back in May and I never got around to sending them anything that I did knit (tomato hat, mason dixon bib) - I am going to keep those items. Instead, I took the opportunity to knit up some more seasonal themed items. I'm working on a pumpkin hat from "Itty Bitty Hats" and last night I started and finished a Candy Corn Hat from Skeins and Beans. I made the small size (baby) as the little guy is 5 months old. The hat seems really tiny to me, but it's go stretch. His mom is a nurse who I think works in the NICU, so if it doesn't fit she can give it to the preemies. I used Plymouth Dreambaby DK for the yellow and orange and they are fantastic! It's a nice soft hat too. I would make this again.

Relief

The insurance apparently has been fixed - we've been added to Dan's insurance through work - I can leave the house again! :)

In all the digging I've been doing, I'm composing a rather nasty letter to send off to Connecticare, Blumenthal (the state AG), my former employer, the CT Dept. of Insurance and CT Dept. of Consumer affairs. Apparently dropping a pregnant woman from COBRA insurance due to an employer's nonpayment of premiums is quite ugly and unfair, but somehow still legal. Yes, we have insurance now, and I should probably stop the whining, but I'm sorry, that's just not right. There's something seriously wrong with healthcare in America.

Dogs on Thursday - Celebrity Edition

Yesterday's paper must have picked up this piece - Fergie, of the Black Eyed Peas, has 2 dachshunds! We're in good company with celebrities and their dachshunds, but first, my pupper, who has been the Met Pet of the Week, and a Halloweenie-fest costume winner two years in a row (We're working on this year's costume). Of course he's going to try out some of the new baby gear!


Dachshunds & Literature Shakespeare! Joyce! Faulkner!
Dachshunds & Theatre Brando! John Wayne! The original dog for the Wizard of Oz!
Dachshunds & Politics Patton! Napoleon!

Knitting. Seriously.

Playing catch-up here.

Aside from a wee bit of embroidery and possibly adding the edging, I'm calling this hat done - Football Hat from "Itty Bitty Knitting" (Just got "Itty Bitty Nursery" so cute!)Go Jets!

I had previously found on the web, but didn't bookmark, a tip / hint about knitting an edge instead of the single crochet edging. I think it had something to do with picking up stitches and knitting them on the wrong side? Anyone have any ideas about this?

I knit up Foliage for me using some truly yummy Malabrigo worsted - it's like a grey-green with bits of white-ish. I messed up on my stitch count somewhere - in the middle of the second repeat of the leaf pattern, I was off somewhere but couldn't find the mistake so I just continued onward. Bah! It still worked, and as it's a hat for me I'm willing to accept the mistakes. It looked really big on the needles, but as I've got a big head, all was fine. I'm thinking that this is an easier way to keep the hair out of my face instead of fighting with little clips.


My current Sock in progress in "Bartholomew's Tantalizing Sock" from the "New Pathways for Sock Knitters" book by Cat Bordhi. I'm using Seacoast Handpainted superwash sock yarn. The techniques (while wonderful) are not my usual for sock making, so between the pattern with slipping stitches with the yarn in front and flipping through the book (gotta get it spiral bound), this sock is taking a while. And it's only the first one!


My other current obsessive WIP is the "Tilted Duster" from the cover of Interweave Knits, Fall 2007. This is a real stash-busting project - I'm using Berocco "Pleasure" that was originally intended for an afghan. So there's lots of it. I'm hoping this will work out as a decent maternity sort of sweater, especially since New England has finally gotten a bit cool and damp. I really don't want to have to purchase a maternity jacket to wear for all of a few weeks! Unless I find a great deal at the Stork Exchange or something like that... anyway, it looks very blobby, but both sleeves are done, and I'm maybe less than 10 rows away from being done with the skirt. This is great for the mindless knitting during tv.


Speaking of tv, there's not much going for me this fall. I miss the Gilmores and Veronica Mars! We've been watching "Kitchen Nightmares", "Pushing Daisies", "America's Next Top Model", "Survivor" and "CSI". "Lost" is still very far away. During the day I'm enjoying the "How Clean is your House" on BBC and the "You are what you eat" - we need to get those shows here in the states. They are so cool in how they tell it like it is! No nice nice there.

Supporting Maternal Justice

Think of the babies! While I'm not yet an active participant, I hope to be!



Support the League of Maternal Justice!

Check out this montage: Great Breast Fest.

Whirlwind

Photos of knitting are coming. Really. Life somehow keeps interferring. Here are the highlights of my weekend.
1) My brother had a comedy show this weekend. He was fantastic! And even better, this show was a contest and he was one of two winners that get to perform for an HBO booker for an HBO comedy show! I'm so proud! He's really got a gift for stand-up.

2) Met with a pediatrician for the baby-to-be. She knows about Gilmore Girls. Awesome.

3) Got a letter from my former place of employment that "due to nonpayment of premiums, Connecticare has terminated the health insurance plan" - even mine that I was COBRA-ing. This I don't need. 8 months pregnant. 3 doctor appointments between now and November 1st. One of which is this Friday. I hope (but have no idea) that on Monday I can call them, offer to pay, and get back insured with them immediately.

4) Talked with my grandmother this morning. Told her about how I won a ribbon at the town fair for the knitted socks. She replies with "Oh, that reminds me, I need you to make me something!" Sure, for Gram, anything. "I want you to make me a doorknob cover. Round. White or navy blue or whatever you have. Right now I've got a sock and an elastic on there. You're the only one who knits!" Any ideas? I'll use the powers of google-foo and ravelry...

5) On the way back from the trip to New York, on the train, a gal sat down next to me - I spotted her magazine - the latest Interweave Knits! A knitter!!!! So I asked her what she was working on (Tilted Duster gauge swatch, I'm impressed by her attention to the detail with that!) and she showed me a beautiful shawl she recently finished. And lucky gal, she's going to Rhinebeck!! Of course ravelry came up and we exchanged user names for that - I sent her a message. I hope I don't appear stalkerish but hey, you gotta keep the knitting community going, right?

Sum-up

It's been a while. Things are going really well, but I've been lazy when it comes to blogging. I'm still reading blogs and boards and stuff, but put off blogging for any number of reasons. The dog is barking. I haven't taken photos. Whatever.

Two of my best friends put together a baby shower for me - long distance for much of the planning, and then came up for the weekend of the actual event - yay! It was a lot of fun and they are amazing ladies for doing it! Here we are:

Betsy, (her pictures are here too), me and Jenny.

And Betsy apparently has been plotting with some of my fellow bloggers making squares for a baby stroller blanket!! She showed me and told me about it and I'm just all !!!!!!! And, as we are Gilmore Girls fans, they also put together "Onesie Painting" a la Lane's Baby Shower (episode: "Will you be my Lorelei Gilmore?") - that was a big hit!

Other baby related stuff: There's not too much to report. I'm feeling good (tired again, but good). Going to meet a pediatrician this week, went to childbirth class this past weekend. Now it seems like a lot of hurry up and wait, knitting as fast as I can. :)

I also have a "Yay for me!" topic. I entered several photos in the Guilford Fair and this one:

Won a second place ribbon!!
And I entered my "Go with the Flow" socks and they won a second place ribbon as well!!