Snow in April?!

Last weekend sun and near-record highs, this weekend snow. I can't think of any explanation other than global warming, honestly.

But this morning I woke up to the most beautiful sight: snow falling in the lilac outside our bedroom window! So I had to go out and take pictures before doing anything else.



Here are those same tulips that were so glorious in the sun last Sunday:


And this is I think a peony? Anyway, see the falling snow?


Sadly, as I post, the snow has turned to a light rain that's melting everything, so I'm glad I got out and got these pictures when I did.

And there has been knitting! I finished the knitting on my Mommy Snug early last week (finally!), and then in the middle of the week I heard this cold snap was coming, so I decided that was the best encouragement I could have for seaming the darn thing instanter. I'm not entirely sure about the strength of the underarm seams; I did the whole thing in half the plies of the base yarn (KnitPicks Wool of the Andes), and I think the underarms might need more reinforcement than that. Well, I don't expect this sweater to get very heavy use, at least any time soon... I do think it looks good, though, even though the front shot is really blurry!


I will say I didn't expect it to be so long, even on me; if I ever make it again, I'll save myself some trouble and only work one set of short rows! (this one has two)

Pictures!

I done borked my intarnetz posting these pics. They're being stubborn about being reordered and such, probably because I'm putting them in an edit (long story), so here are they are, as I promised, but in no particular order.

First up are a few garden pics. In the first, you can see the lovely show of bulbs that has popped up in the last weeks. I claim credit for none of them.

Here you may see some of the highly ambitious grape hyacinths (they're trying to take over the yard!!!!) as well as the partial hoeing job I did on the one bed the other day. Note also the incipient raspberry canes that I need a shovel-like thing to cope with; I think I can borrow one from a neighbor until we can get our own.


This is a BSJ I have all but finished. I still need to join the shoulder seams and weave in the ends, but I really like how it's turning out. I'm making it (and a few other things when my queue is clearer) out of two pairs of Koigu socks I loved dearly, and so they got holes in the heels, and since I hate the way darns feel under my feet, I'm recycling the yarn for the next generation. :)


Speaking of the next generation... here's mah belleh at 32 and a half (or so) weeks. Igor has been making her/his presence most emphatically known lately, and although nothing *hurts* yet, I would not be at all surprised if I came out of this with a cracked rib or two.

Below is a shot purely for the cute of it. When Peppar is just-woken-up sleepy, she puts up with the most remarkable array of nonsense. In this case, Josh arranged my teddy bear on her. I should submit the shot to http://www.stuffonmycat.com/



I'm not sure why this shot got doubled. It's my rose, the one I've been nursing for two whole years now(!!!!!!), being very happy in today's sunshine.


This is a nearly finished (needs buttons) BSJ my mom made for Igor; it's probably 6 month or so sized, which is good, because the ones I make all turn out 0-3 month sized. :/ It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted (I forget the exact name, so sue me!); we both love how the varigations pooled in deliberate-seeming sections in the over-the-bum section.




This doubled, too, but I think that one was a user error. Yet another BSJ, this time in Dalegarn Baby Ull. I'm very fond of how the rainbow striping turned out. Again, I need to weave in the ends and seam the shoulders. Sense a pattern? I sure do!

Aaaand the Igor belleh, this time from the front. I really need to apply the nice lotion more often to my poor appendix scar down the bottom front there. :/

Has it really been a month?!

...I guess it has. sheesh.

I'd love to post some up-to-date pics of the house and my 32-week belly, but honestly, I don't have any. I was out in the yard a little bit ago, doing a bit of work on one of the raised beds that was already in place, and exhausted my (feeble) store pulling the top layer of greens off the bed and then hoeing about half of it before my body declared me done. This is the smaller of the beds, mind you, at about 4' x 5'. I was going to take my camera out with my lunch for digital proof of my efforts... but I forgot, and now I'm too limp to want to go back out. Soon, my friends... I promise. Probably.



This is not me this week. This is me two weeks ago, at my brother's wedding, where I was a witness - if it had been larger and/or less casual, I would have been Best Woman, but meh. It was still lovely. I would post more pictures, but I don't have the permission of the people involved, so I won't. This is as close to a belly shot as I've taken in the last month!

There has been knitting, but again, I'm too limp at the moment to want to fish it out and have it meet the camera. So I'll post it another time.

For now, this is proof I'm alive! As if my novel-length comments on everyone's blogs aren't enough. ;P

Updates in the Life

First, I give you belly pics, because I know you all are just panting to see them:



And now, what's really exciting:


This is our house! Ok, technically the bank owns it... but don't banks technically own most people's houses? This one's ours; we got the keys on Friday, and we've been taking several trips a day since, moving smaller pieces. This is why I'm late posting belly pics this time. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

It's not a big house - barely bigger than our apartment - and the brown isn't all that great, and the astroturf on the front porch has GOT to go asap... but it's ours! It was built in 1915, and for all its age and oddities, it's really lovely inside, with tons of cabinets in the kitchen and gorgeous moldings around every conceivable doorway and other opening, and a wood stove, and quite a nicely large back yard. It needs some love (read: elbow grease) here and there, but truly, it was an amazing house to find in our price range and time frame, not to mention the very nice neighborhood it's in! We're very happy to be moving in and having it be OURS!!! Apartment living is the pits.

We plan to be living in the house by this weekend (especially if we can get the gas line put in by then... for the stove :) ), so my next set of belly pics will be in a different bathroom!

Yes, there has been knitting. Just not much, because even though I can't do any lifting in this move, there still isn't very much time for knitting right now.

Cherry-Poppin' Momma!

I got to go to my first birth last night! It was a very fast, intense labor - I left home at about 5 in the afternoon and was home at about 2:30 am, with 4 hours of active labor between the mom's water breaking and the delivery of her bouncing baby boy. If I wasn't hooked on birth before, I am now!

There were times I felt a bit at a loss for how to help, but I'm sure experience will help fill in those gaps. And boy do I want more! (Experience, that is.) I did feel, however, like all my training for the moment did, in fact, adequately prepare me, which I'd been anxious about beforehand. But actually, it was easy for me - just follow my instincts, as honed by my training and reading and discussions with other doulas. And honestly, I think the mom's labor was so fast and intense that maybe even a much more experienced doula might have been a bit at a loss at points (I hope my mom doesn't have an issue with that comment if/when she reads this!). All in all, though, I think it was a very positive experience all around, which makes me happy. :)

Feeling a bit blue

This has been a pretty hard week for me, emotionally. I ran out of brain meds last weekend, and of course the pharmacy was closed on Saturday, so I couldn't get my new supply until Monday. Well, Monday night my WoW guild ran smack into a humongous pile of drama, and I lost it. I think I would have been ok without all this; just sailed on until the meds kicked in again, no muss, no fuss. But the drama, which would probably have made me upset anyway, took my unbalanced brain chemistry and threw me off the Grand Canyon. I'm still trying to pick myself up.

And then today I hear that one of my oldest friends had her baby last night. Now, this friend (more like an acquaintance these days, but friend is shorter to say, and we did used to be quite close) is notorious for avoiding all possible discussion of emotional topics. I was hurt, but not very surprised, when she barely acknowledged to the email list we're both on (all my contact with her these days) that she was pregnant at all, and of course didn't mention a due date or anything like it. I had to get a few bare scrapes of info by making my brother (who saw her about three weeks ago) screw it out of her; all he could say was that she was due this month. And then he told me this noon that she popped last night; turns out he found out from another friend, who had just the most basic birth announcement information. Well, I can see not having the brainspace to make announcements yet, but to send it to some friends and not others makes me grumpy. It's like being annoyed at water for being wet, but there it is.

Personally, I can't imagine not wanting to shout the news to the whole world, much less to my general acquaintance - having a baby is exciting! And then, of course, I personally am obsessed about birth stories these days, one way and another. ;P

Anyway, I got a little mild revenge (which satisfies my super-sensitive, rather petty-this-week self) by posting gushing congratulations and such to the list we're all on. Snarky? Guilty! Petty? Damn straight! Exactly what I would have said for real? Definitely! What made it snarky and petty was posting it before they made any kind of announcement at all. ;P But I don't feel at all bad - they might never have done so anyway.

But being petty and then dwelling on it makes my soul all sticky, so here's a kyoooote kitteh picture to leave you with!

Bleh.

Igor has been apparently trying out for gymnastics and karate championships simultaneously today. I can't blame the little bugger, it won't have the space for it too much longer... but still. It's not painful at all, but it's not precisely comfortable, either.

I have been wondering, on and off, whether I'll miss the feeling of the little one moving around inside me. I'm sure that by the time Igor's born I'll be glad to be done gestating, but... Just one of those random pregnancy wonderings, I guess.

For Br. Vincent

This takes you back, doesn't it?

(for everyone else, this is supposed to be a .gif that's a LoTR parody... but Blogger apparently doesn't like animated gifs. :( )

Has it really been two weeks?

Astonishingly, it has. I have been terribly distracted with house stuff, game stuff, knitting, and even baby! I'm still knitting furiously on the kilt hose; I'm about halfway done with #2, with ambitious plans to have it finished this week. I don't have any current in-progress pictures of that; if you really want some, scroll down to the pix for #1, and assume they're identical. House stuff is progressing; I still don't want to post much until everything is definite (like, we have the keys in hand), which will be about two weeks, depending.

This will be a picture heavy post, though! I took a few minutes this morning to slightly alter a lovely smocked maternity blouse my mom sent me, that could so easily roll over into being a nursing top, too, with just a few modifications... first on the list, however, was eliminating the silly band across the front neck which severely restricted the neckline size:


First step was cutting the silly thing across the middle.


Second step was folding the ends over and stitching them down (ignore my unmanicured hands). Converting this to a nursing top will involve gently ripping the seam down the middle front and adding buttons - I'd love to raid my mom's collection of tiny antique pearl buttons for this, but failing that, I'll use commercial plastic baby buttons. Upon examining the inside of the center seam, I find it's not even solidly French seamed or anything, just one side lapped over the other and sewn down. This will be cake to alter.

While getting to my sewing things to perform this minor adjustment, I was struck once again by the question of the ages: how did my sewing basket


become a knitting basket?


Visible are my nearly-finished BSJ made from favorite old socks and two skeins of KnitPicks Gloss, one green, one purple, both mates to to socks in-progress. I'll finish the BSJ when the wedding knitting is done.

Last but not least, I have my bi-weekly belly pics. The more observant among you will recognize the shirt I'm wearing as the afore-mentioned smocked blouse, post surgery. What's really astonishing to me is that I still have a waist, even at 26 weeks and with my baby belly getting more obvious!




I do wish the maternity jeans would stop falling down, though. :( This may be endemic to the design, however, and I'll gladly put up with it, anyway, just to wear jeans again!

V-Day

I'm shocked, shocked I say - posting for the third day in a row!

Anyway, it's V-Day, and I feel the urge to get a bit political. Not political like presidential elections, but birth politics, which I'm up to my ears in these days. V-Day is about countering violence towards women... and if a doctor playing the "bad mommy" card to get a laboring woman to do something she doesn't want to do isn't violent and abusive, I don't know what is.

I say this coming from a background of abuse - not physical, thankfully, "merely" verbal and emotional. I feel lucky, because I feel like of all the members of my family, I probably got off with the least exposure to the situation... but that doesn't mean I am not still deeply scarred and affected by it. It also means I know abuses when I see them, and am angered on a deep, frustrated level. However it makes me extremely happy to know I got myself into a profession where I can help mitigate some of the birth abuse I encounter - and I didn't even realize it when I signed on!

I finally got to see "The Business Of Being Born" last night. This is Ricki Lake's documentary about hospital birth vs. home birth, and it is very powerful. I really want to own it, when I can afford such things. I've heard it criticized for being skewed, or "fringy", or just in bad taste for showing video from Ms Lake's own home birth where she happens to be naked because she's in her tub giving birth. Hello, most birthing women end up naked! Now, you could accuse me of having a skewed perspective on this issue that's so near to my heart, but honestly, I don't think it's possible not to be skewed to one side or the other. To me, either you actually look at the evidence, and say, oh yeah, huh, home birth really is safer for most pregnancies, and then decide what's best for you and your situation, or you shut your eyes to the evidence and fall in line with "doctor knows best".

This post has been brewing in my head since early last week when the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a formal statement decrying homebirth, in which they not only play the "bad mommy" card, but use untruths in so doing. I'm not very good at being articulate with this kind of thing; I mostly tend to froth at the mouth incoherently, and then fall into a frustrated silence because I can't clearly speak about the things I know intuitively are just wrong. Fortunately, not everyone out there is as bad about this as I am. Rixa, an excellently articulate researcher and unassisted homebirth advocate (although she also recognizes that that's not for everyone), has a lovely response to the statement here, and a list of other people's responses here.

One thing that strikes me very deeply about the research and who knows it is that midwives and doulas all know the research, and can generally render it into easily understood language, while OB/Gyns, even those in favor of more "mother friendly" procedures tend to hem and haw and say not much of anything while trying to obfuscate clearly spoken facts. There are a number of beautiful examples of this in Ms. Lake's documentary, but it's even more striking when you get to listen to midwives and OBs together, answering the same questions. I had the chance to do so after the showing last night, and I was just blown away at the differences. I came away feeling that I would not want to be in the primary care of the OB who spoke on the panel, despite feeling that she's probably pretty good at her job. I'd much rather have the homebirth midwife who spoke for my primary care, and go to the OB if (and only if) things went sideways.

So where do I fall into this for my prenatal care and birthing plans? Well, I'm lucky. Although my insurance won't cover a home birth (and actually very few insurance companies do, although possibly more in this area than most others, the Pacific Northwest is pretty awesome that way), it does allow me to go to the only Mother Friendly hospital in the state, a mere 45 or so (depending on traffic) minute drive away. I have a wonderful CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife - RNs who go on to complete a Master's program in midwifery) who not only knows what doulas are, but loves them, and respects that I am a doula myself and want to birth as naturally as possible. I haven't toured the birth center yet, but I understand that Barbara Harper had a hand in its design and construction.

I just wish all moms had it so lucky.

I'm Shocked!

Ok, I hadn't meant to post again today, but I went and picked the mail (a weeks or so's worth... finally..) and found the new Interweave Knits. I just spent a good portion of the last hour reading it, and holy moly! I actually want to make a whole lot of the patterns!

I still had trouble distinguishing the start of the garment descriptions from the ads that came before them, but at least that only took me about a half a second to figure out, as opposed to the minute or so it took for last year's spring issue. I wish the designers would use more yarns I can get easily (read: afford as much as have physical access to) - hello, KnitPicks, anyone? - but I suppose the ones that work for yarn companies have to use their employers' products.

Anyway. Go back to whatever you were doing.

A Plethora of Pictures

Here are the pix I promised yesterday.


For Norma, our first generation microwave (not a very great picture, I admit), and those Dutch Letter cookies I made back at Christmas (finally!):



This is actual knitting!!!! The Monkeys I made for my fellow doula Amy and the first of the kilt hose I'm making for my brother - the Monkeys are finished, the hose is only to the heel. Guess which I've been having more fun with (don't hurt me, Tom!):



And finally, baby belly pics for those fascinated, taken just minutes before posting:



Yes, I am having fun with alliteration today, why do you ask?

Life keeps rolling..

I took a couple of pictures today of current knitting; I'll try to publish them later tonight. I"m kind of under a time crunch right now, and don't feel like going through all the steps to get them on here. But I did feel like posting to fill some time; go figure, right?

What's going on in my world: the biggest thing right now is that we're house hunting. Running around with our very sweet realtor, finding that the houses we can afford all look like crap (well, almost all), all that fun stuff. I'm learning that offers get made and withdrawn pretty often when you're at this stage, so I'll post more definite news when I have something solid; I don't right now.

Igor is doing fine, by the evidence; I'm just shy of 24 weeks and feeling movement pretty often now. I'm suspecting something of a growth spurt, because I've been hungry a lot recently; on the other hand, that could also be that I've fallen out of my good eating habits. Still. The baby belly grows, the pelvis turns to rubber, you know, dead boring. Except that it's me, right? :) I have evidently hit the part of pregnancy where one is too hot all the time, because I have been for the last several days. Funny how your fingers and toes can be cold while you're sweating under a light shirt... Maybe I'll take some fresh pics before I post the lot tonight. I know you're all champing at the bit to see!

I'm pretty low energy right now. I didn't sleep at all well last night, mainly because I was anticipating our realtor coming over at 6:30 this morning (!!!) to sign some urgent paperwork; however, I also have a dental appointment this afternoon.. such fun. At least I"ll have knitting to do during the parts where I'm waiting around.

More later!

Carcassone

We acquired a really nifty board game a few weeks ago that we've been playing a fair amount. It's called Carcassonne, after the French city, and while it's competitive, it's not highly so; it often pays quite a bit to cooperate, which I like. You can read more about it here. We only have a couple of the expansions so far, but we're really enjoying every bit of even the basic game!

Anyway, that handsome devil I post pictures of now and then, my husband, has decided that he likes the nifty patterns you can come up with as you play the game, and will be documenting them at http://carcassonneworld.blogspot.com/. Maybe it will inspire one of you to start playing as well!

Because I promised Ann...

Here's a couple of belly pics taken this afternoon. Yes, you silly people, of course I'm wearing clothes for them, I'm not posting semi-nude pics on my blog! Please note that I'm actually wearing preggo clothes in these pics - I have jeans that fit again! Even if they do keep sliding down because they're still just a tad big around.

A meme that's going around the knitblogosphere right now is the Make My Day award. I have been put up for it by both Ann and Peggy. Thanks, guys! You rock. If I were going to do this meme (which I'm not, because I don't feel like it ;P), you guys would be at the top of my list. You have both, in your very different and yet strikingly similar ways, become very dear to me. Ann is a brilliant dressmaker (who also knits quite well) with a deliciously biting wit (oh, the snarktastic emails we exchange...) and three lovely daughters who shine from every entry they appear in. Peggy is an absolutely brilliant knitter who happily tackles complex projects I set aside as too much trouble, as well as making up and/or unventing random projects (like her BSJ snowsuit! that's for the bump in my belly!!) as she goes. What's more astonishing is that she hasn't been knitting that long - less than two years! I count you two as some of my closest friends, especially in the knitblogosphere, and I look forward to your posts, as well as your comments and emails.

No pics this time.

Why is that I impelled to post when it's snowing? It's coming down pretty good right now; I get the feeling we're not going to be able to get together with Peggy this weekend. :( Oh, well, there'll be other times...

The back of the bump sweater is done up to the armholes - yay for being done with miles of 2x2 rib with no shaping! Now to keep on with it up to the neck, and then do the sleeves - *with* buttonholes, thankyouverymuch. I started a sleeve about a week ago, and when I got home from my meeting, I found I'd forgotten them. Oh well, I'll just call it practice!

I have one Monkey finished, and am waiting to start the next one until I have finished one of my brother's kilt hose - I'm not confident I have enough yarn for the pair, so I need to find that out asap!

moar funny pictures

I just woke up from a nap where the Fat Cat had, about the time I was passing out, curled up with her butt to roughly the area of my bladder. The warmth felt good to me, so I didn't protest at all... but having found this on my Google Reader as I sat down to check it while waking up, now I understand everything. I have no questions now why she sat just so. ;P

nom nom nom

Blueberry waffles from scratch and a strawberry-raspberry smoothie.

I didn't get a picture of the Fat Cat begging for waffles.

ZOMG, another post!

This time with illustration!

This is the sock I'm knitting for my doula colleague.
Pattern: Monkey
Yarn: STR Mediumweight, unnamed colorway, but I think of it as Rainbow Sherbet.
Needles: US 2

This pattern knits up so darn fast... You may not be able to tell from the photo, but as of this writing, I'm much of the way through the gusset decreases, and I really haven't spent all that long working on it.

Still Not Dead.

Just being bad about posting.

I don't have any pix ready for posting right now, one big reason I haven't posted lately. Yes, Tiennie, the mittens were striped, and their recipient LOVES them. I like them a lot, too, and will probably make some for myself at some point.

Igor (that's Eye-gor, like in Young Frankenstein, just a use-name until the weevil arrives), also known as MendyBaby to any Knitty types, is now twenty weeks and moving more than the San Andreas Fault. The genetic testing came up completely clean (yay!), so I'm just waiting for the ultrasound on Monday to completely confirm my assumptions of perfection. :) I am now indisputably showing, even if it's not obvious to anyone who doesn't know me (my favorite ginormous green sweater that I wear all the time is probably a good muffler, even if I don't intend it that way). I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to get very big at all, given my proportions - tall, relatively long-bodied (in absolute terms, if not in proportion to myself), with wide hips for Igor to nestle into when I'm upright... I'm definitely in need of proper maternity clothes now, though, from the skin out! The only things that even come close to fitting properly right now (besides the assorted comfy pants I'm living in most of the time) are the new bras I insisted we get me last weekend - and even they're a little off, because I bought bras with room to grow!

Knitting! I've actually been knitting a lot more the last few weeks. Part of that is that I want to get my bump sweater finished before I don't need it anymore (although the miles of straight 2x2 rib I'm working on at the moment aren't very enticing), and part of it is that I want to get my brother's kilt hose done in good time for his wedding at the end of March. It's also that I just plain have energy for it now... some of the time, anyway. :) I'm also working on a pair of Monkeys for a doula colleague - she's also expecting, about a week ahead of me, and is making me a sling. I'm making the Monkeys partly in exchange, partly just to make her something. And it's finally the perfect project for the STR that I bought at OFFF last September, because it's just in her all-time favorite colors. So that project is win on all sides. :)

That's probably enough of a book for now. I should go make food and get dressed and stuff like that... More posts soon! I promise! (maybe)

Merry Christmas!

I looked up about half an hour ago to see it just beginning to snow - and it's getting heavier! And it's cold and dry enough to stick! So, looks like this will be a white one for us!

I am about to stop apologizing for not posting very often... if you're still with me, you know I'm terribly irregular. Maybe I need some blog fiber? I promise to post knitting and baby updates soon!

Storms and a Book Review

I had a rotten morning. Every once in a while I remember how very lonely I am here; I'm not good at making close friends, and that's when I'm regularly participating in activities that put me in frequent, nay, daily contact with other people. In my current life, I don't see many other people at all, and the few I do see, I only see once a month or so, if that. My geographically nearest best friend is hundreds of miles away, and while we're in frequent email contact, it's not the same as when we used to sit at the coffee shop on campus and talk about classes, instructors, and life in general. Combine this loneliness with pregnancy hormones and morning sickness that currently feels like it's not going to go away for six or seven months, not to mention throw me new and surprising curve balls each of those months to come (last month I exchanged constant nausea for vomiting, this month it's rotten headaches that are almost worse than the vomiting, who knows what next month will bring), and you have a recipe for breakdown. Which I did. I'm not usually one to cry a lot, but this morning I pretty well soaked my favorite hanky. I would have soaked Josh's shoulder, too (he was home for lunch), but he was wearing his jacket. I'm still feeling pretty damp around the edges, but I'm at least presentable. I tried to nap while watching a movie, a favorite "lullaby" technique; while I didn't actually sleep, I did rest and collect myself somewhat. When it was over, the sun was actually shining, so I decided to throw some clothes on and get out of the house for a bit by walking the whole block and a half to our local Borders to drink a beverage and stare at knitting books I can't buy today.

Which was not a mistake! Staring at the (somewhat limited) knitting shelves, I actually found a copy of Stephanie Japel's Fitted Knits, a book I had not previously had a chance to meet in the flesh. I want this book! (I wishlisted it. ;P ) I'm not entirely sure what I think about all of Japel's knitting philosophy, and as a pregnant mama planning to be breastfeeding this time next year the extreme fittedness of most of the designs felt a touch lacking (although in previous stages of my life I would have been swooning - those parts of me still were :) ). Still, there were aspects at least in every design that I liked and want to adapt for my own work - I'm not really into bulky knits, but hers at least have intriguing details I want to borrow. There were several designs I want to make as written (well, almost!), such as the coat with lace lapels, or the pretty summery dress, or Elizabeth Bennet's Cardigan, which seemed more 1950s than 1810s to me, but was gorgeous and covet-worthy nonetheless. I don't often find designs in knitting books that I want to make as written!

Yet another WIP

Yes, Peggy, they are striped. :)

I mentioned a month or so back that I had something distracting me that I couldn't post about yet. Well, the time has come that it looks like I can finally come clean and public about it, so I am!

As of today, I am thirteen weeks pregnant. I'm due more or less the first half of June, assuming everything goes well. Other than as-yet unpredictable morning sickness (will I be functional today or not? let's spin the wheel and see!), I'm doing ok. I think I'm out of things to say about it right now! Nothing exciting, other than the fact itself, which is as it should be.

I LOL'd.

Image via icanhascheezburgr.com

So Josh came home to this pic today, on his regular post-work cruise of assorted intarweb stuff (I get it all day on Google Reader). His first comment? "Block your cat!"

After I finished hooting, I had to explain that most "muggles" don't call it blocking...

Baaaa!

I feel like a sheep. So many people (who all live in colder climes than I do) are making and posting about gorgeous mittens; ok, mostly just Stephanie and Norma. But I've been bitten by the bug nevertheless... too bad I own one pair of mittens, which I only use about 3 days a year! However, it occurred to me that my Dutch sister-in-law, who just moved up this summer from California and suffers from chill and damp pretty fiercely, might want a pair. Happily, she does!


Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style in Cornflower and Iris
Needles: US 3 dpns (these are the largest dpns I own - I really need more sizes!)
Pattern: EZ's Mitered Mittens from Knitter's Almanac

Yay, I'll have something new to finally post to Zimmermania!

eta: I still want to make some fancy colorwork mittens.. but those will have to wait on money and shipping..

Not much going on..

..so I haven't had much to say. Been feeling ucky a lot, and not really doing much knitting in consequence.

I did reactivate my FFXI character, so I've been playing that happily.. and knitting here and there in the inevitable stretches of waiting.. but I've also been not playing a fair amount. Reading, reading is good, and leads easily to napping...

So yeah. The title pretty much says it all - not much going on chez moi.

But I thought I'd leave you all with a cute kitteh picture, courtesy of icanhascheezburger.

FFXI, how I miss thee...

I've spent large portions of the last 3 1/2 years playing a little MMORPG called Final Fantasy XI. We decided to cancel our accounts for this last month for a number of sound reasons, but I shortly began to really miss it. Not only do I still thoroughly enjoy the game itself, but a large portion of my social life is involved in it. So this afternoon I've spent several hours cruising Youtube, jumping from video to video, trying to satisfy my thirst for this long-standing activity of mine, and to pass the time until a few days from now when I can reactivate my account.

The above video is in no way representative of actual gameplay, and I wouldn't ordinarily listen to the song for more than a few seconds, but it does give a bit of a feel for the sense of community, as well as showing pretty well the gorgeous graphics of the game. Besides, I really like the video as a whole, and have for years. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Hrmm.

You spin me right round, baby, right round...

But first, another sewing installment. Not the most flattering picture ever, and the dress needs a good pressing, but meh. I'd started refurbishing this gown - one of my earliest renditions of a cotehardie - back in June, when I didn't have a camera to record the "before". Basically, after ten years of adoring this gown, the long sleeves were shredding, and I was tired of the neckline treatment. So I pulled the sleeves off and made new ones, then picked the black linen border off the neckline and cut the front down two inches in the middle. Aaaaaaand then I got distracted and didn't finish the neckline until today when I had some ENERGY!!! I could probably stand to go over the seams and check for popped stitches, but again, meh. The skirt is actually quite full, more so than it appears in this picture - it stands out better with the correct undergarments (in this pic it's just a bra and yoga pants). Properly I should be wearing a chemise and kirtle underneath, and possibly false sleeves pinned on at the shoulder. The gown itself is a lovely handkerchief weight linen that has survived the wear and tear of ten years of abuse astonishingly well. The seams at the shoulders and armscyes are wearing; when I stitched the new sleeves in, I had to sew the new seam a couple of millimeters in so the it wouldn't simply tear out again instantly. All in all, it's great for the kind of summer weather you don't see much of here in Oregon. :/ However, given enough correct under- and overgarments, it should do all right here, as well.

Construction details: I adapted a commercial princess-line dress pattern to have a longer skirt, and originally a higher neckline - I think this refurb put the neck basically back where the original pattern had it. The seams were sewn by machine to begin with, and the original neckline serged (I had a friend who let me borrow hers occasionally), but all repairs and alterations since have been by hand. Because of the way I adapted the commercial pattern, the skirt was originally fairly narrow. I added the black gores (and the black neckline no longer extant) to honor my foster father, whose colors are yellow and black, as well as general decoration and skirt-widening. I was asked to march as a part of the procession (along with his other adopted daughters) when he was awarded his Pelican, the highest SCA award for service. Now, with the navy sleeves, the dress looks pretty Halloween-y; maybe I'll wear it for dress-up this year. I wouldn't make another "cotehardie" in this manner again; I've learned a great deal about patternmaking and construction in the decade or so since I made this, and all the gowns I've made or refurbished since show my improving knowledge. However, this remains a favorite gown because it's so incredibly comfortable and well-fitting - there's even room to let the bust and waist out a bit if I get any curvier!

On to the spinning!


This is 52 yards of the Icelandic/Red Mohair roving I bought at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Fest, spun and plied. Please note, this is my first plied yarn! I still need to set the twist, though. It came out a fairly dense sport-type weight - not too bad for having been aiming for fingering weight! I don't know wraps per inch, I didn't have a ruler handy. It's not the most even spinning ever, but although it's perceptibly thick and thin, I'm fairly pleased with it, and also pleased how the plying more or less evened it out. The color reads overall as a sort of oatmeal; the Icelandic wool is a pale gray-tan, and the mohair is reddish brown - so if you look close, it's oatmeal with cinnamon stirred in. :)

And Now for Something Completely Different.

I've spent entirely too much time today writing long emails back and forth with Ann, and she's got me going on a project I'd kinda been inspired to do, but the inertia... Anyway, I originally started this blog to talk about my costuming projects, which you may still see if you look at the nice list on the left and open up the very earliest entries. I have quite a number of finished medieval costumes in my closet (and others, but mostly medieval) because of my interest in the SCA. I also have a few garments half-finished or in the middle of modifications, but we won't go there today. It's not pretty.

Instead, I have for your delectation one of my favorite wool tunics, only recently restored to me. It's a true, brilliant red, something digital cameras have a hard time capturing. I fulled the fabric before cutting the pieces out, so it's quite warm and cozy, and entirely hand-stitched - although I'm pretty sure it needed a few... reinforcements? before I was quite done. It certainly needs them now! It also spent the last three years in a plastic bag on my mother's garage floor, with a few other garments, so it's pretty crumpled and even a bit motheaten. :( As you will see from the photos, it's technically a WiP, because I have never finished the embroidery, but I may never finish that during the life of the garment, and I have never let it stop me from wearing the tunic!


This tunic could have been worn anywhere from Roman times up to the sixteenth century or so; in the last couple of centuries, it would have been more of a working class garment than a fashionable one. The embroidery design is from a Dover book of Celtic knotwork transfer designs, possibly this one. The embroidery itself is executed in silk floss, in backstitch for the outlines and chainstitch for the fill. The neck is lined about four inches deep with linen, quilted to the surface for stability.


Yes, that is a needle poked through the work. I always figured that if I didn't give myself permission to wear it while I was embroidering, I'd never get to wear it! It does mean I have to be careful with my hugs while wearing the tunic. I'm not quite certain how I'm going to finish the colors... but that's the fun of it all! I've always thought it would be fun to fill in the eyes with some kind of semiprecious stone bead, like my favorite garnet, but that's a ways off.

A Rainbow of Socks!

I haven't posted recently because I'm pretty distracted with a big chunk of life right now. Maybe I can post about it soon.

In the mean time, I was putting my socks away after washing a couple of days ago, and realized that I can do the classic ROY G BIV with them - well, I wore the greenurple ones yesterday, so they're not in this picture... but you get the idea. :)