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.