You've Got to be Shitting Me

I really didn't think I'd be pregnant this long. Patience is waning. Here's the latest meme to keep me from going ape-shit.

*************

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
No.
Explanations.

1. Yourself: expectant
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): patient
3. Your hair: clean
4. Your mother: waiting
5. Your Father: hunting
6. Your Favorite Item: wheel
7. Your dream last night: labor
8. Your Favorite drink: coffee
9. Your Dream Car: whatever
10. The room you are in: dining
11. Your Ex: forgotten
12. Your fear: loss
13. What you want to be in 10 years? myself
14. Who you hung out with last night? husband
15. What You're Not? extroverted
16. Muffins: cranberry
17. One of Your Wish List Items:Lendrum
18. Time: expanding
19. The Last Thing You Did: showered
20. What You Are Wearing: red
21. Your Favorite Weather: sunshine
22. Your Favorite Book: Hulme
23. The Last Thing You Ate: ice cream
24. Your Life: enjoyable
25. Your Mood: bored
26. Your best friend: husband
27. What are you thinking about right now? breakfast
28. Your car: blue
29. What are you doing at the moment? bloglines
30. Your summer: creative
31. Your relationship status: content
32. What is on your TV? darkness
33. What is the weather like? gray
34. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday

Still Waiting....

Perhaps she's decided to be a December baby?

Can You Spare a Square?

I can spare three (awful photo, but I just do not have any light):


These are for Project Warming Kaitlyn, which Ariane kicked off this week. While I am not officially Knitting Unto Others this year, this will be my non-official contribution. I cannot imagine going through something like this family is going through. Spending an afternoon knitting squares is the least I could do. Grab your pink yarn (you know you have some) and crank out a quick square - it'll help keep you warm too, I promise.

Handspun Socks and Thank You

Thanks for all the wonderful tips on teaching youngsters to knit. Sadly, we were awoken to PumpkinBoy crying in the wee hours this morning and found him feverish and vomiting, which has continued into this morning, so our weekend knitting plans have been put on hold. Also put on hold are my internal admonitions to the baby to come anytime - I would much prefer to leave a happy and healthy boy at home than a sad and sick one.

In happier news, we have some sunshine this morning, so here's a nice photo of my handspun socks:
Project Specs:
Pattern: None, basic stockinette, 60 stitches around, 2x2 ribbed cuff.
Yarn: handspun sport weight from HelloYarn "Gestures" merino roving
Needles: Addi Turbo #1
Notes: My new favorite socks, although with some ankle/foot swelling going on from the pregnancy they are a little snug right now. I will look forward to sporting them on slimmer feet after I deliver! These make me wish badly that I had another hank of suitable handspun to immediately cast on for another pair.

Bestill My Heart

Characters: PumpkinMama and PumpkinBoy (PumpkinDad already off to work)
Scene: my bedroom, 5:45am this morning, PBS show featuring some orchestra on TV, as PumpkinBoy watches intently and PumpkinMama remains buried under the covers trying to snatch 15 more minutes of dozing.

PumpkinBoy: I'm a conductor (holds hands up in conducting gesture). This is my baton (waves right hand as if holding a baton) and I move my arms like this (makes very good imitation of conducting an orchestra)

PumpkinMama: (groggily) You make an excellent conductor.

PumpkinBoy: Will you teach me how to knit? (perhaps the conductors baton made him think of knitting needles? The mind of a 3 year old remains a mysterious place)

PumpkinMama: I would love to teach you how to knit - we can try it out this weekend.

Anybody know any tips for teaching a 3 year old to knit? It seems a little too soon, but we'll give it a try.

************

No baby yet. Handspun socks are done (my fastest ever - 6 days) but no good light to photograph them. Maybe later this week.

Sock Spurt

First, I want to say how encouraging it is that more than 80% of you think I will deliver before my due date - I can only hope that you're right. The uterus is playing dumb and won't give up a word on the subject.

I've found some knitting energy of late after all. I think having my handspun sock yarn waiting gave me the spur I needed to complete my Experimental Dye Job socks:

Very simple 72st, picot cuff, shortrow heel on Size 0's. Yarn is superwash something or other that I picked up for the Dye-O-Rama swap, and the dye job was experimental in that I just slapped the hank in a roasting pan and randomly splashed on dye as I do with roving - i.e. not painting on sections, etc. It surprised me, as it looked like utter garbage in the hank and wound up, but I ended up really liking how it knit up. Very autumnal colors, and I think these are destined to be popped in the mail to someone I know who badly needs a pair of handknit socks.

And my reward for finsihing:
The Gestures 2-ply thatI spoke of last post, now knit up in sock form. I am smitten. I only have the mental capacity for simple stockinette right now, and this stuff is perfect for that. 60 stitches on size 1s, around and around as I space out. I love the colors in here.

Spinning and a Contest

These days I seem to be able to focus better on spinning than on knitting. Below is a mediocre photo of some rather lovely merino 2-ply sportweight, spun from Adrian's top in a colorway called "Gestures". I love these colors - mostly blues with some pinks and browns thrown in, overall effect of faded denim. Destined for a pair of socks if I can ever finish the ones on the needles now.

Below is my first spinning project on MaryJane. Kim's simply stunning merino/angora/silk combo called "Victorian Lace". Spinning on a double drive wheel is so much different than on my bobbin-led Louet. During my practice rounds with some more rustic fiber, I was able to long-draw like I was born to do it - a skill I had yet to even come close to accomplishing on the Louet. This blend from Kim still has me inching along, but the combo of the fiber and the wheel make spinning this just heaven.


There is also something special to me about spinning fibers that have been produced by someone I've met in real life, and both of these fit the bill. Thanks ladies.

**********************
Contest: Guess When the Pumpkin Pops, (a.k.a. a pool to guess this babe's birthday/time)
Prize: Winners choice:

• 4oz (1260yds) of Zephyr wool/silk laceweight in Ebony
• 6oz Lorna's Laces wool top in "Purple Iris" and 2 hand-dyed silk hankies from The Spinners Hill Shop

Rules: Leave a comment or send me an email (addy in sidebar) with the date and time of day (hour and minutes) that you think the PumpkinBaby will make her arrival. Closest guesser chooses from the above prizes. Entries accepted until this Thursday 11/9/06 at 11:59pm EST.

Some Info to Help your Guess:

• My due date is Tuesday Novemeber 21st, which marks 40 weeks of pregnancy. Delivery occurs most often between week 38 and week 42. Tuesday this week marks the beginning of Week 38 for me.
• I delivered PumpkinBoy 12 minutes into the 39th week of pregnancy, but I was medically induced (i.e didn't start labor naturally) due to pre-ecclampsia. I have no idea what my body does when left to its own devices in terms of going "early" or "late".
  
• By this time in my pregnancy with PumpkinBoy, I was already developing early signs of pre-ecclampsia and was being watched closely by my doctors - I have no such symptoms to date (yee-haw!)
• I am totally "nesting" - scrubbing tubs, cleaning every square inch of inside the fridge, MagicSponging painted woodwork, glaring at dust collecting in crevices, having uncontrollable urges to clean places that I never would dream to clean under normal circumstances. (Edited to add: I am *not* a housecleaner type - I typically quite happily live with dust bunnies and moderately grimy sinks/tubs/fixtures. I told my almost OCD-ish husband of my cleaning desires and he said "welcome to my world". I can't imagine feeling this way on a regular basis - how exhausting!)