One more thing

Since this seems to be a popular question, I'll answer it for anyone who hasn't asked yet.

We won't be sharing our daughter's name until she's born. :-)

I basically made it

So let's see. When we set off for Ohio, I had one project 90% done, one project 75% done, one projects started and two projects not started.

On the ride, I managed to get a pair of cabled mittens beyond 50% complete. Knitting once it got dark was challenging and required the occasional use of the overhead light, but it was easier than I expected. I was working with Koigu KPPM, which was a good choice because it is tightly wound and not at all splitty. The slowest part was the cabled rows, but the progress I was able to make was good.

Since the cabled mittens were my grandmother's present, when we arrived I finished up the fingerless gloves that were almost done and I cast on for the bengal striped felted slippers and got through the heel before bed. During the day Saturday I continued on the cabled mittens while we drove around town and I finished the slippers so that they could be felted Sunday morning.

Despite not feeling well overnight (and not sleeping well) I managed to finish the cabled mittens in the morning and the 75% complete fair isle mittens in the evening. The last pair of fetching gloves for Christmas night didn't get started until we finished opening presents on Christmas morning. If I would have been feeling better on Christmas Eve, I would have started them sooner and wouldn't have cut things so close...

As it was, I spent the entire drive from Dayton to Johnstown knitting, and I was slowed down considerably when it got dark. By the time we got there, I had finished all but the thumbs. After my sister-in-law opened them (and loved them), I finished the thumbs. So, by the time Christmas came to an end, the Christmas knitting was done. :-)

I even managed to wash and block everything and photograph everything but SIL's gloves. Although a few things were still wet when they were opened. ;-)

Photos soon. I have things to paint and clean-up around here.

Merry Christmas!

I'm posting early because I don't really know how often I'll be online between now and Tuesday. I will have my laptop with me at my grandparents' house, but as my only option there is dialing in and tying up the phone line, I try to limit the time I spend logged on.

On the knitting front, I'm not done yet. Two projects are nearly done, two are not started and one is about 30% complete. The two not started are FuzzyFeet and Fetching (both from knitty). Both are patterns I've made before and both are for people that I won't see until it is time to gift them. So even though it is more stressful that I would like, I think I will make it. :-) I hope.

A very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you and your families!

Baby Stuff

Let's see:

My back hurts. Not constantly all day, but enough that it was hard to stay focused this morning. This afternoon has been better, but I've had more things to do up and about.

Must take photos of the baby's room tonight to show family this weekend. It's not done, but it is far enough along to show our progress.

Next week I hope to make more progress - finish the painting (including the "mural"), get the doors installed (with help from R) and probably buy some of the things that we haven't received yet.

We had our hospital tour on Tuesday night. Fewer unknowns are a good thing. The Labor and Delivery Rooms are pretty big and aren't too far from the main waiting room for when R needs to visit anyone who is waiting. The post-partum rooms seem nice, too, though they are not large. But I guess that keeps us from being overwhelmed with too many visitors at once.

Last night we took a private childbirth class. I'm confident that this was the right decision for us. Though I admit at being intrigued at the contents of a "regular" lamaze class and how it might differ, especially since it wouldn't have been tailored to our needs. The woman we took the class from has been a doula for over 20 years and was a wealth of knowledge. Even though I know there will be much of the process that is unexpected and unpredictable, having an understanding of an "average" labor is comforting. So is understanding out options and choices that we can make.

She had a very quiet day on Monday which was kind of freaky. There hasn't been a day when I've felt her moving all the time, but there have always been "active" periods. Monday, I had to sit with my hand pressed against my belly in order to have the reassurance of feeling her move. It was an unpleasant day and I'm glad she's back to her "normal" now.

We're taking an infant care class the first week of January and I have a book on the shelf to read about breastfeeding. I'm hoping that those two things will help us feel "ready". (I don't think we'll ever really be prepared for how things are going to happen or change, but a little understanding of the parameters should make us both feel better.)

I'm totally in maternity clothes now, with the exception of a few shirts I can wear under longer things. I'm happy that all of the maternity stuff still fits for the time being.

Heh

Sorry for the false alarm for anyone who gets notified when I make a new post. I was just checking to see if I could still post by email even though I switched to the Beta version of blogger. Apparently I still can. Cool.

I finished the knitting on the big Christmas surprise last night. Tonight will be blocking and continued knitting on the 5 projects left. They're all small. It's going to be tight, but I should be able to knit most of Saturday and some of Sunday, the only trick will be not working on projects in front of people who are receiving them. :-) I was correct, I feel much better now that the big project is done. Despite the number of items not finished, I'm still convinced that I'm in better shape than last year. Also, except for one December birthday present (that I wasn't going to send until next week anyway), all of the shopping is done as of lunchtime today. The amazon.com items won't be here until tomorrow or Thursday, so wrapping will commence on Thursday night concurrent with packing.

An additional apology to those of you who don't care about my knitting, but except for our hospital tour this evening and childbirth class tomorrow night, all of my non-work time will be spent knitting and wrapping presents until all the presents are handed out. If you want something to look forward to, I have an idea for a long holiday-related post for next week as well as some nursery pictures. For the knitters, I'll try to post some pictures of finished knitted objects next week, too.

This is a test

This is a test.

Weekend Excitement

1) My Christmas Laptop arrived on Friday. After some finagaling with the wireless router several hours of copying files from both the windows back-up and my old hard drive, R had it up and running for me on Sunday. (I should add that we were barely home on Saturday, so it really just took Friday evening and Sunday morning to get it set-up.) It's lighter, has a bigger screen with better resolution and much more hard drive space and memory. I'm sure that there are other ways that it is superior, too. I am just happy that I no longer have to go to the basement to check my email, and I "inaugurated" it last night by spending several hours doing last minute online christmas shopping.

2) Saturday we became a 2-car family. We bought a 2006 Jetta in platinum. Tonight I'm taking it back to the dealer to have an iPod adaptor installed, so at least in the new car we won't have to suffer through the unpredictability of the FM transmitter anymore. Should make for pleasant holiday driving. The car also came with 3 free months of XM satellite radio, so we have options. Don't know yet if we will continue the subscription.

3) Saturday night R's aunt hosted a family holiday get together. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to join us, but those of us who attended had a very nice time. We haven't seen enough of R's family since his grandmother passed away a year ago August, and I'm very appreciative that his aunt and her partner have hosted two family get togethers this year for us all.

4) With all of this activity, I didn't have quite the extent of knitting time that I had been expecting. I had all evening Friday, a couple of hours in the middle of Saturday and a few hours in between laundry, errands and online shopping on Sunday. I made good progress, but the christmas knitting is still a little scary. But, I have all but three presents now purchased, and I picked up wrapping paper this morning, so I have faith I can pull through without losing too much sleep. I think once I get the big, secret project finished I will feel much more confident.

Trying to avoid IT*

A non-reader of the blog is getting these (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTcorazon.html) mittens from me for christmas in teal and brown cascade superwash. So far, I am loving them and think there will be a pair for me in the future. I really need to work more fair isle into my life.

I have an orange variegated and a black yarn for another non-reader that was going to become another pair of fetching gloves...but now I think they might become some sort of fair-isle fingerless gloves. We'll have to see if I can find a pattern or if I'll have to quickly make something up myself.

In addition to finishing the secret christmas knitting, I also have a variegated worsted yarn that was going to be fingerless gloves but might become mittens. The color repeat is pretty short, and I think it looks best in plain stockinette, which I don't think lends itself to something like fingerless gloves that wants to be stretchy and form-fitting. I also have a sport weight hand-painted yarn that also is destined for gloves. I have a cabled vogue pattern in mind, but I might need something simpler with the variegation. I'm tempted by the lace fingerless mitts in the most recent IK, but I fear that they won't be warm enough for the recipient.

Lastly, there are the bengals slippers. I've been putting these off because they need to be designed. I realize this is not the best strategy. And then there is the finding of presents for all of the people I'm not knitting for.

Lots to do with less than 2 weeks to go. The knitting is totally doable, especially since I've been weaving in ends and blocking as I finish projects instead of saving it all for the end as usual. It's the buying and wrapping I'm having concerns about. I think it's clear that no decorating of the house is going to occur this year.

And somehow I need to prevent myself from working on the baby's room or cleaning up my office until after christmas...

* IT stolen with love from the yarn harlot.

Shower

I feel like I don't have the time or the writing stamina at the moment to do the post that the weekend deserves.

Let me just say that my shower on Saturday was awesome. It was everything I wanted it to be and everyone who came was exceedingly generous. I feel a little more confident now that we have some of the things we need to have for Miss M's arrival, and more and more it is sinking in that this is really happening.

It was also fabulous to get to spend time with two of my friends that I have known the longest (it seems wrong to say oldest friends, since they are both younger than me). Rebecca (sadly blogless) came in on Friday night and Katie (Shades of K) drove in on Saturday a couple of hours before the shower. We do a reasonable job of keeping in touch via email, phone and blogs, but there is nothing like an in-person visit. I'm very grateful that they could come. The only thing that would have made the weekend better would have been more time to spend together, but R and I were so pooped yesterday that I don't know that we could have enjoyed their presence if they would have stayed longer. :-)

Now, the question is where do we put the things that don't belong in her room? Shall we just leave the car seat in the foyer until February...?

Confessions

1 - My iPod has been playing holiday music all week. Love those Carols for a Cure CDs. (www.broadwaycares.org)

2 - I'm fighting a very strong urge to peek at the baby registries. I know I shouldn't, and I haven't really wanted to...until I thought about it yesterday. Maybe I could just delete internet explorer from my computer for the day to diffuse temptation. :-)

3 - I frogged the fetching gloves and started over on the bus this morning. The cables in pattern aren't the right size and length for what I was going for. I started again and I'm getting the look I want now. I expect I will make more cable changes on future pairs.

4 - I have stopped caring about disturbing the cats when they are sleeping in the bed at night. When I'm feeling generous, I pet them before turning over. But it is hard enough for me to turn myself over without worrying about the comfort of two furry creatures that can fall asleep anywhere, anytime.

5 - I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend and I'm ready for the workday to be over now.

Hi

I have a desire to post, but I can't think of much to say, really. Felt the same way yesterday. That should probably be my clue not to post, but I can't help myself.

I really want to write about the great progress I've made this week on the secret christmas knitting. But, alas, I can't.

Let me just say that the i-cord bind off is very attractive, but very time consuming. Also, I've surprised myself. I always thought I would want to poke my eyes out if I tried to duplicate the same pattern too many times for christmas presents. Turns out I just need to provide a variation for each one in order to keep myself entertained and I'm fine. Variegated yarn, 2-color knitting, add beads, change the cable pattern, change the length. One simple change each time seems to be enough to keep me happily knitting.

So far, at least.

It's Tuesday (aka I can't think of a good post title)

Not a very exciting weekend to report on, overall, though it wasn't bad. It wasn't as relaxing as I had expected because I had to work on the hours I needed to make up from taking Monday off (I was out of sick days).

Friday night I started sketching on the wall area I plan to paint in the baby's room. Although when the furniture was delivered on Saturday, I discovered that the crib was wider than I had remembered...so my sketch needs some revision before I start painting. I'm now thinking that the painting won't occur until my week off between christmas and new years, because I need to spend the next few weeks getting ready for christmas without running myself ragged.

Saturday, after the furniture delivery, I reluctantly did a few hours of work. Then a friend picked me up for a knitterly meet-up. We met a new knitter at Jo-ann and helped her choose yarn for a log cabin blanket. Normally, I would think this would be too big of a project for someone who's only been knitting 3 weeks...but given her enthusiasm for the project and for knitting, I'm not concerned. She has until June to finish, and her practice knitting went on so long that she literally made three scarves...the woman clearly has stamina.

After yarn purchase, we had dinner, and then settled in at a coffee shop for the log cabin lesson and some knitting. I knitted some more when I got home, so good progress was made on the secret christmas knitting.

On Sunday, R and I went for our usual brunch and both reluctantly attempted the tasks we needed to accomplish. He ran errands. I did a few more hours of work and ran a little laundry. We went to the store and did other obligatory sunday tasks. I didn't get to work on cleaning my office at all and there is some cleaning that needs to be done before company comes this weekend. Not a deep cleaning, but the kitchen floor still hasn't been cleaned since Thanksgiving and the dusty shelves in the dining room were eyeing me while I was trying to work. :-)

Trying to get through the week is difficult when I'm so excited about saturday. I don't know if I'm more excited about seeing my OOT friends, having so many of my friends in one place or getting stuff for the baby! The presence of the nursery furniture is making it all feel more real, but the room is still pretty cold without any "stuff" sitting around (other than paint cans...), so I'm excited about beginning to fill it.

3 weeks and 3 days until Christmas

It seems like I've thought of a lot of things to post since Wednesday, but there isn't much coming to mind at the moment, other than knitting-related things. Maybe more will pop into my head as I write.

There was much knitting progress over the Thanksgiving weekend. Another pair of fetching gloves was started and completed. This time, I used two colors to accent the purl columns. I'm very happy with the results and might make one or two more pairs in the same style. Though it was a pain at first to change colors and change from knit to purl at the same time and so often, but after a bit I got the hang of it. It's still slower than just change color or just changing stitches, but not too bad.

I also wove in the ends and sewed together the maternity sweater. It now fits, thanks to my shortening operation. It just needs to be washed and blocked, and I need to put on the buttons. I will either wear it next week to work, or to my shower...or both. :-) The sleeves are a little long, but I prefer that over them being too short. (This will likely be the last thing I work on for me until December 26th...on second thought, I'll probably start knitting in earnest for the baby then, so this could be the last thing I knit for me until March. :-)

So this week I've returned to the secret christmas knitting. I got a lot of work done last night, and then found a critical error 2 long rows back. I managed to fix it without taking out those two rows...only to discover that the correct stitch pattern required more yarn than the incorrect one and with 10 stitches left to fix I was out of yarn. So I had to undo those two rows anyway. Between this morning's bus ride and a little lunchtime knitting, I'm now done with the row I was on when I found the error. When I see that we're leaving town for Christmas in 3 weeks, I get a little itchy about this project getting done...but I'm trying to have faith that it will all work out.

And I still have no idea what I'm buying for the people that I'm not knitting for...

In pregnancy news, the pain from Sunday has not returned, the doctor is not concerned since my tests were normal and the baby is fine, and I passed my 1-hour glucose test. Good news on all counts! I will be 29 weeks along tomorrow (aka 6 1/2 months or 11 weeks from the estimated due date) - crazy!

Relish, Lounge Green and Garden Grove

My intention is not to become a Wednesday-only poster, it is just how things have worked out for the past couple of weeks. I probably would have posted over the weekend, but I have a power issue with my laptop. Meaning that the only computer I can use at home is R's desktop in the basement, and while it is available, it is not ideal for my usual purposes, which involves watching TV while using the computer. Either an AC adaptor fix or a new christmas laptop strategy will be put into action soon.

Where to begin?

Overall, we had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend. My parents arrived on Wednesday afternoon, soon after I got home from work. We did the necessary grocery shopping while R finished some work from home, went out for dinner and had a generally quiet evening. Thanksgiving turned out to be pretty quiet, too. My MIL was making quite a few side dishes and several desserts, so there wasn't a ton to do. My dad made the turkey, stuffing and gravy. I made wassail, broccoli and corn, and my mom helped me set the table and cut the cranberry sauce. We had the pumpkin pie and sweet potato casserole later in the weekend, and the mashed potatoes never did get made. :-( (They're on tap for this weekend)

Friday we got a slow start, but eventually got going. Mom and I went for my 1-hour glucose test while R and Dad emptied the baby's room. Afterward we all met up to have lunch and buy the paint and a few supplies. (The name of the post are the three names of the green colors on the wall) Then Mom and I went yarn shopping and Dad spackled the cracks in the walls and ceiling. We just hung out the rest of the evening - watching TV, knitting and chatting.

Saturday was the big work day. We finished the prep work, primed the walls and all of the trim that was going to be painted, and then got one coat of paint on all of the walls. We collapsed into our chairs with chinese takeout, knitting and the TV. On Sunday, we managed to get a second coat on almost all of the walls before heading over to our neighborhood coffee shop for brunch. We had a nice brunch, and after a quick visit to the baby store we planned to finished the walls and get a coat of paint on the trim and closet door while R worked on the outside christmas lights...well that plan went out the window.

Soon after arriving home, I started to feel poorly...then I started to feel bad and couldn't find any relief. It felt like my ribcage was being squeezed and I had pain in my upper back. The short version of the story is that the baby is fine, and after a few hours at the hospital my pain dissipated. The blood and urine tests came back normal and they don't know what happened.

I didn't sleep well that night, so I decided to take Monday off. I was able to nap on the couch (with Nora) in the morning and generally relax all day. I did my best not to think about the mess or the painting that needed to be done upstairs. :-) The funniest thing about the day was how much the cats slept. Nora was on the couch nearly all day and Stewart was sleeping almost every time I looked for him. I realize that cats sleep a lot...but this was marathon sleeping. This was "you wore us out this weekend with all the activity and company you had" sleeping and "totally dead to the world" sleeping. :-)

That's enough for one post. I'll talk about the knitting that has been accomplished soon.

Happy Day

There is much good news to report, and with 10 minutes to go until Thanksgiving vacation, I'm in a pleasant mood for a number of reasons.

Last Wednesday's post was from my phone in Denver. I never wrote again because the amount of text I could send was so limited. I didn't take a laptop, and there were 24 free internet-ready computers for the 13,000 people at the conference. I never had enough time or desire to stand in line to use one. But the conference was very good, and I will try to post more about it this weekend.

It was a busy trip, and didn't afford the study time I had expected. So much of Saturday, all of Sunday and Monday night were spent studying for the LEED AP exam (a certification for the LEED green building program). The process of getting to the exam on Tuesday evening was a difficult one (once again I'd like to say how happy I am that I take the bus and that we don't live in the suburbs!), but I made it and I passed the exam! It wasn't easy, but I had a good enough grasp on the concepts and credits to work my way through it.

I got more good news when I got home - my best friend from high school is going to be able to come to town for my shower. I'm excited to see her and to introduce her to my friends here...most of which I've made since the wedding, which was the last time she was here.

So when you add in the fact that I'm only working a half-day today, my parents are on their way here, I have 4 days off in a row and we have help to empty and paint the baby's room this weekend...life is pretty good. :-) And now that I am done studying, I can get back to my knitting. (I did get to do a little work on the secret Christmas project on the plane to and from Denver, but barely knitting all last weekend was not fun.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

This suite is ridiculously big for one person. The dining room table has six chairs and there is a kitchen.

Great weekend, traveling soon

Accomplishments for the weekend:

- Straightened up the house
- Cleaned the second floor and some of the first
- Finished baby registry and looked at items in person that had been added based on recommendations
- Made yummy Wassail
- Hosted knitting get together and had much fun
- Held the adorable and well-behaved child my friend just adopted from Guatemala
- Wove in ends and blocked 3 Christmas presents
- Wove in ends of first (of four) log cabin squares for our daughter
- Fixed mistake in secret Christmas present made during Friday's bus ride
- Noted that ribbed maternity sweater is definitely too long and developed strategy to fix it that involves cutting knitting
- Began implementing said strategy (without the aid of alcohol or caffeine, though there was plenty of chocolate on hand). I'm fairly sure that the results will provide a good looking piece of knitting and I'm 99% sure (I haven't tried it on yet) that the new length will not make my behind look enormous (like the previous length)

Tomorrow evening I'm headed to Denver for a conference for work. I'm very excited for the trip, the knitting I can do in transit, the contents of the conference and a chance to see a new city. (Incidentally, one that I briefly considered moving to after college graduation, but realized after little nervous breakdown that I don't have the constitution to move that far from my family, alone, to a place where I didn't know anyone. Going to Spain for 6 months was hard, but moving permanently was apparently too much.)

Ahem.

I haven't decided yet if I'm taking my laptop or not. I'm leaning toward not taking it. Along with my knitting, I need to study for an exam that I'm taking next Tuesday. (The topic of the exam is related to the topic of the conference, so I'm hoping it will all mesh well) I think that not taking my laptop will prevent me from wasting time that I could spend studying in my hotel room...so that I don't have to spend most of the coming weekend studying. So don't be surprised if things around here are quiet for as much as a week.

I think that hits all of the highlights. Maybe someday there will be pictures here again. :-)

Just for the record

I did not post to my blog at 2:43 this morning. I wrote and emailed the "Thursday" post on Thursday afternoon, during and after I ate my lunch. I have no idea why it took 12+ hours to post.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Tonight and tomorrow I have no specific plans. There is nothing on the calendar and no where I have to be in that period. VERY exciting. On Sunday, I am hosting a knitting get together. So this does imply that some part of tonight and tomorrow will be spent cleaning and preparing for Sunday. This is fine because I probably would have spent time this weekend cleaning anyway since we are hosting Thanksgiving this year. Also, I have been trying to do little things around the house this week in the hope that I can be fairly efficient in the cleaning process. There isn't too much straightening up that needs to be done before I can get out the cleaning supplies and the vacuum.

Tomorrow, I also plan to make a visit to Babyland, one of the stores where we are registered. Hopefully with R, if he can be persuaded. There are a few items that I can't add online and a few that are on our registry based on recommendations, but that we've never seen/tried in person. The shower invitations went out this week and I am getting excited! There are number of things to look forward to between now and then, but I am really looking forward to it. For a number of reasons, but mostly because I'm looking forward to having many of my favorite females all in one room together. :-) I realize that they won't all be able to make it...but I can dream, can't I?!

Thursday

I didn't post yesterday because I was whiny, and I didn't want to subject my few dedicated readers to that. :-) I felt crummy, had great difficulty finding a comfortable way to sit at work, and when I finally did it was not a good position for computer drawing. As a result, I had trouble focusing on my work all day, and by the end of the day felt guilty for not getting more done. I got home and watched Gilmore Girls in bed until I felt better. Both kitties came to visit and sit with me (after R turned the faucet on for them).

While we watched Jericho and LOST, I finished my second pair of Fetching gloves. After a little blocking that means I'll have two Christmas presents done! I added beads to the second pair between the cables, and I'm pretty happy with the results. I'm not sure if I have appropriate beads for the other two pairs I'm going to make, but there is a good bead shop between home and work if I want to expand my collection.

The good news is that I'm feeling much better today. Not perfect, but generally good and much less cranky. And, I can sit in more than one position and still be comfortable. All good things.

Also, it's definitely official that I made Blaze (sweater from knitty.com) too big. Because it fits me the best today that it ever has. :-) I will definitely be making another attempt at this pattern post-baby and probably with 3/4 length sleeves. There is just something contradictory about an alpaca sweater with short sleeves. It's plenty warm, it's just odd to go out in November with short sleeves on under my coat.

In architecture news, I'm signed up to take the LEED AP exam on November 21st. LEED is a green building certification program. I've been telling the officers of my firm for 3 years that I plan to take the exam. I went ahead and scheduled it so I wouldn't have a choice, and I wouldn't have to put it on my list of goals for 2007!

Other than my fetching gloves, my other major knitting project of the moment is a Christmas present for a reader of the blog, so there might not be a lot of knitting content for a bit. We'll see how soon I start another secondary project I can talk about...or maybe I'll finish something from the work-in-progress basket.

Check!

I was initially thinking that I had nothing exciting to post, but then I realized that I haven't written about our accomplishment from Friday night.

The store we went to had floor samples for sale of this crib in a dark wood finish, along with a 5 drawer dresser, a 3 drawer dresser, a changing table to sit on the 3 drawer dresser and rails to convert the crib into a twin bed. All the pieces seemed to be in great shape, just a few nicks, and the price for the whole set was a good deal. It also means that we have all the furniture we need for the room, except a hamper and a glider. Great progress.

We don't have to take delivery of the furniture immediately. It seems likely that we'll be using Thanksgiving weekend to empty the room and paint it, and probably schedule delivery in early December. There is certainly more that we need before our daughter comes, but it is nice to have such a big item checked off the list!