I'm back to working on my mother's special sweater. It looks positively lovely! I think, when she gets it, she'll understand why it took me so long and why I couldn't work on it all at once.
I'm rewatching Lost. I never saw the last 2 seasons, so I plan on starting over again and watching it all straight through. While I watch Lost, I will work exclusively on the Mom Sweater.
I thought about publishing a pattern for it when it's done, but I don't think I even want to think about the effort my poor test knitters would have to go through. I'm sure I'd end up having to pay someone to knit this thing. It's mroe complicated than a handknit sweater has any business being! Still...it's lovely! It will be very pretty when it's done.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Rules for dealing with a Pregnant Lady
This is not a knitting related post, and I apologize for that. But at a mere (almost) 10 weeks, please indulge me. These really ought to be self-evident, but apparently they are not.
1 - Don't make fun of the pregnant lady, for she is hormonal and you taste good with ketchup. Honestly, I'm really new to this whole pregnancy thing and there's a lot of stuff that I just don't know. So just please be nice and don't make fun of me.
2 - On that note, yes, I am in maternity clothes. My hips sort of widened and went psychotic on me and now even my "fat pants" don't fit me. I'm getting tired of yoga pants and track pants. I'm feeling really crummy about my size right now, so please don't laugh at me when you notice I'm wearing maternity clothes. Besides, I worked hard at getting pregnant. I'm entitled to be comfortable in my own wardrobe.
3 - Seriously, don't make fun of the pregnant lady. Or you'll have a CRYING pregnant lady to deal with, and won't that be a barrel of laughs. Just...be nice!
4 - I've lost weight. Regardless, I still feel kinda fat. Deal with it. This doesn't mean I'm dieting, it just means my baby is eating all my fat stores. When I stop losing weight, I plan to stop weighing myself. My midwife will weigh me monthly, and will not tell me my weight except to make a note if I'm gaining more than what she deems to be a healthy amount. I was pretty sensitive about my size before getting pregnant. I don't plan on contributing to my own self-loathing over my fat.
5 - If you want to touch the belly, just ask. When it's an actual baby belly, I'll let you know. But don't just randomly grope and squeeze me. It gives me license to grope and squeeze back, and you might not like that so much.
6 - Remember, I'm a big old pile of hormones and fun right now. Everything pisses me off and my mood changes at the drop of the hat, so for crying out loud, DON'T MAKE FUN OF THE PREGNANT LADY!!!
1 - Don't make fun of the pregnant lady, for she is hormonal and you taste good with ketchup. Honestly, I'm really new to this whole pregnancy thing and there's a lot of stuff that I just don't know. So just please be nice and don't make fun of me.
2 - On that note, yes, I am in maternity clothes. My hips sort of widened and went psychotic on me and now even my "fat pants" don't fit me. I'm getting tired of yoga pants and track pants. I'm feeling really crummy about my size right now, so please don't laugh at me when you notice I'm wearing maternity clothes. Besides, I worked hard at getting pregnant. I'm entitled to be comfortable in my own wardrobe.
3 - Seriously, don't make fun of the pregnant lady. Or you'll have a CRYING pregnant lady to deal with, and won't that be a barrel of laughs. Just...be nice!
4 - I've lost weight. Regardless, I still feel kinda fat. Deal with it. This doesn't mean I'm dieting, it just means my baby is eating all my fat stores. When I stop losing weight, I plan to stop weighing myself. My midwife will weigh me monthly, and will not tell me my weight except to make a note if I'm gaining more than what she deems to be a healthy amount. I was pretty sensitive about my size before getting pregnant. I don't plan on contributing to my own self-loathing over my fat.
5 - If you want to touch the belly, just ask. When it's an actual baby belly, I'll let you know. But don't just randomly grope and squeeze me. It gives me license to grope and squeeze back, and you might not like that so much.
6 - Remember, I'm a big old pile of hormones and fun right now. Everything pisses me off and my mood changes at the drop of the hat, so for crying out loud, DON'T MAKE FUN OF THE PREGNANT LADY!!!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
On maternity pants, weight gain, and a need for test knitters
First, I started my official Mousewife Knits fan group over on Ravelry. If you're a member, check it out. If you're not a member, but you're a knitter, you should become a member and totally check it out!
Second, I am placing a call for test knitters for two fairly simple patterns. When I say simple, I mean they are really very easy knits. One of them is literally a 2 hour project. It's super cute, too. I'm providing yarn support to one knitter who can help me tech edit. But if I can find a knitter who will tech edit for free (ie, no yarn support), that would be even better. Still, I feel just a tad guilty asking for that, since it's quite a lot of work to tech-edit.
On a completely non-knitting-related note, I let out a deep sigh and eased my way into maternity pants this week. It was so very nice to wear something other than yoga pants. A dear friend of mine gave me a basket full of maternity wear that she was given, which never fit her (she's a LOT smaller than I am). It fit me nicely, so I've taken to wearing it a bit. I felt all awkward and elephant-ish when my little sister started making fun of me for it. :( But my mom reassured me that she was always in maternity clothes early. It's just a factor of my general shape and size. I've got a cute little 9-week bump that kinda just looks like fat, but is kinda firm and not fat.
I would have felt worse, but I've actually lost 5 pounds since getting pregnant. That's most likely due to the food aversions and nausea that have led me to a diet of fruit and veggies for the last few weeks. Still...at this rate, I'll be back down to my pre-wedding weight by the time the baby comes. ;)
No...I won't. I know I'll start gaining eventually. But maybe it won't be very much, and maybe I'll end up slimmer after giving birth. It happens, you know. It's happened to at least one friend. She gave birth and then went down to a lower weight than she was pre-pregnancy.
Second, I am placing a call for test knitters for two fairly simple patterns. When I say simple, I mean they are really very easy knits. One of them is literally a 2 hour project. It's super cute, too. I'm providing yarn support to one knitter who can help me tech edit. But if I can find a knitter who will tech edit for free (ie, no yarn support), that would be even better. Still, I feel just a tad guilty asking for that, since it's quite a lot of work to tech-edit.
On a completely non-knitting-related note, I let out a deep sigh and eased my way into maternity pants this week. It was so very nice to wear something other than yoga pants. A dear friend of mine gave me a basket full of maternity wear that she was given, which never fit her (she's a LOT smaller than I am). It fit me nicely, so I've taken to wearing it a bit. I felt all awkward and elephant-ish when my little sister started making fun of me for it. :( But my mom reassured me that she was always in maternity clothes early. It's just a factor of my general shape and size. I've got a cute little 9-week bump that kinda just looks like fat, but is kinda firm and not fat.
I would have felt worse, but I've actually lost 5 pounds since getting pregnant. That's most likely due to the food aversions and nausea that have led me to a diet of fruit and veggies for the last few weeks. Still...at this rate, I'll be back down to my pre-wedding weight by the time the baby comes. ;)
No...I won't. I know I'll start gaining eventually. But maybe it won't be very much, and maybe I'll end up slimmer after giving birth. It happens, you know. It's happened to at least one friend. She gave birth and then went down to a lower weight than she was pre-pregnancy.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Busy life, awesome projects
I've made some references recently to a project I'm working on with Teresa over at Canary Knits. It's been a lot of hard work, editing, testing, editing some more. But we're finished part one of the project.
It's a book. Part one is the first of four parts. It will be 16 patterns in total, 4 for every season. The book is available now for download on Lulu.com.
Feel free to mosy on over and check it out!
The blog post that's a follow-up...
...to the blog post I nearly didn't write.
You may have noticed I've been avoiding my blog just lately. The truth is, life has had a rather limited scope that I haven't been able to talk about for the last few weeks. Also, I've been rather unwell for the last 2.5 weeks. If you'd just walked in on my life, you'd think I had the flu. I don't. And I'm not contagious.
On January 12, my husband and I had our intake appointment at the fertility clinic. We were interviewed and I was examined, then we were given a rather large folder of bloodwork requisitions (mostly for me), to begin on the 3rd day of my new cycle. We went home and waited to start the tests.
Only, my new cycle was delayed. I waited and waited, and then that little sliver of hope showed up again. I tried to squash it, but it got louder and louder, until I made H pick up a pregnancy test on his way home from work. I had two expensive tests under the sink, but I didn't want to waste them on what I was fairly certain was going to be another negative test. So we got a cheapy test from the dollarstore. I took it first thing the following morning. He wouldn't even get out of bed, and I realized then how much the negative tests affect him, too.
But ...
...this time it wasn't negative! This time, a second pink line showed up. It was faint, but then it got darker. There were two lines on the test!! TWO pink lines!!
I might have accidentally jumped on poor H's head in the process of telling him. I was definitely crying, it was so unexpected and wonderful! The timing was pretty ironic.
I called the fertility clinic. It had just been a week since our appointment, so I hardly knew what to do. They had me come in the following morning for a blood test to check my hormone levels. Then I went back two days later to make sure the pregnancy is, indeed, viable. My pregnancy hormones had doubled nicely.
Then it was time for an ultrasound. We saw, but of course couldn't hear yet, a little 6-week old heartbeat flickering at 110bpm. During all this, I had to keep quiet. Every fiber of my being wanted to scream it from the rooftops!! I'm finally pregnant!
We've slowly let our friends and family know. Enough people know now that it can be considered general knowledge.
Yesterday, we went in for a second ultrasound. It wasn't strictly necessary, but they offered and it doesn't cost anything, so of course I went in. I am, as of today, 8 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I'm measuring a bit ahead of that at 8 weeks 5 days. The heartrate is an ecstatic 177bpm.
The best part?
The baby is due on my birthday! I'll be 32 this year. I know that babies don't usually come on their exact dues dates, but it will be within a few short days of it. Happy Birthday, me!
Now, on to the knitting of booties and hats.
You may have noticed I've been avoiding my blog just lately. The truth is, life has had a rather limited scope that I haven't been able to talk about for the last few weeks. Also, I've been rather unwell for the last 2.5 weeks. If you'd just walked in on my life, you'd think I had the flu. I don't. And I'm not contagious.
On January 12, my husband and I had our intake appointment at the fertility clinic. We were interviewed and I was examined, then we were given a rather large folder of bloodwork requisitions (mostly for me), to begin on the 3rd day of my new cycle. We went home and waited to start the tests.
Only, my new cycle was delayed. I waited and waited, and then that little sliver of hope showed up again. I tried to squash it, but it got louder and louder, until I made H pick up a pregnancy test on his way home from work. I had two expensive tests under the sink, but I didn't want to waste them on what I was fairly certain was going to be another negative test. So we got a cheapy test from the dollarstore. I took it first thing the following morning. He wouldn't even get out of bed, and I realized then how much the negative tests affect him, too.
But ...
...this time it wasn't negative! This time, a second pink line showed up. It was faint, but then it got darker. There were two lines on the test!! TWO pink lines!! I might have accidentally jumped on poor H's head in the process of telling him. I was definitely crying, it was so unexpected and wonderful! The timing was pretty ironic.
I called the fertility clinic. It had just been a week since our appointment, so I hardly knew what to do. They had me come in the following morning for a blood test to check my hormone levels. Then I went back two days later to make sure the pregnancy is, indeed, viable. My pregnancy hormones had doubled nicely.
Then it was time for an ultrasound. We saw, but of course couldn't hear yet, a little 6-week old heartbeat flickering at 110bpm. During all this, I had to keep quiet. Every fiber of my being wanted to scream it from the rooftops!! I'm finally pregnant!
We've slowly let our friends and family know. Enough people know now that it can be considered general knowledge.
The best part?
The baby is due on my birthday! I'll be 32 this year. I know that babies don't usually come on their exact dues dates, but it will be within a few short days of it. Happy Birthday, me!
Now, on to the knitting of booties and hats.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
New Mice
Where all my mice have been white thus far, the new boy has a beautiful, sleek coat of brown with white spots. He's quite stunning.
He's curious and fast and interested in everything around him. Especially Greedy. He's much more interested in Greedy than she is in him. At least right now, anyway.
He doesn't have a name yet. I'm still working on one for him. Right now, I'm thinking Tramp or Bambi. In a few days, when I clean all the cages again, I will move New mouse and Greedy into the big cage and put Frankie in the smaller one. But for now, all three cages are out and are being used again.
Also, I am soliciting name suggestions for New mouse. I may go with Neo. Since he's new...
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Funny little happenstances
I'm working on the second part of my joint project with Canary Knits.
We're designing something together, but had only talked about the what, not the how. We each went our separate ways after our last design meeting and set about to design our complementary projects. Then we got together again on Tuesday evening at our knitting group to show each other what we'd come up with.
In a week, on our own, without any communication, we picked the exact same stitch to feature on our projects. I suppose you could say "great minds think alike."
The colours coordinate beautifully, and of course the general theme works together, since we'd discussed that. But I love when the littlest details work out by chance.
We're designing something together, but had only talked about the what, not the how. We each went our separate ways after our last design meeting and set about to design our complementary projects. Then we got together again on Tuesday evening at our knitting group to show each other what we'd come up with.
In a week, on our own, without any communication, we picked the exact same stitch to feature on our projects. I suppose you could say "great minds think alike."
The colours coordinate beautifully, and of course the general theme works together, since we'd discussed that. But I love when the littlest details work out by chance.
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