9/16 and 9/17

I remember that we had quite a few visitors on Wednesday, though I can’t be sure exactly who. I know my mom came again, probably Dad too. My brother and sister-in-law came, and got in trouble for bringing their youngest with them (no non-sibling kids under 12 are allowed on that floor). Grandma came up either Wednesday or Thursday morning. My cousin came on Thursday, I think – I know she was there when we filled out the birth certificate.

Starting Tuesday night, we basically lost all sense of time. We lived in approximately two hour cycles, feeding and changing Ben when he needed it, and either cuddling him or trying to sleep the rest of the time. Nurses were in and out at all hours. I know there were some tears, and some troubling with the early feedings, as well as some successes. I remember being completely exhausted, and very sore. Mostly I remember being so grateful that Dan was there with me, helping me get in and out of bed, and changing all of the diapers.

Thursday, though. Oh, Thursday. On Thursday, we found out that Ben was too jaundiced.

He was so jaundiced that he had to be in a light box for eight hours. It was torture on all of us. All he wanted in the world was to be held, or at least wrapped up tight in his blanket. But instead, he was totally exposed and alone inside that box, with his eyes covered (to protect them, of course) so that he couldn’t even see what was happening to him.

We tried to soothe him with a pacifier, and by putting our hands into the box to hold his hand or rub his belly or stroke his hair. None of it helped, though. He cried and cried. I cried and cried. He couldn’t settle down enough to nurse, so I had to pump what I could, then give him some formula as well. It was devastating. We were breaking all of the rules for establishing breastfeeding, of course, which was very difficult to handle, but mostly I just couldn’t stand that he was so upset and I had no way of telling him that it was going to be okay. It was only his second day out in the world, and it was miserable for him. I am grateful, though, that he was allowed to stay in our room with us. He didn’t have to go to the NICU or anything like that.

Again, a lot of details are blurry, and I have no good sense of the actual timeline, but we made it through the day somehow and were discharged sometime after 10:00 on Thursday night. Even though the jaundice was far from gone, he was allowed to leave. We had an appointment scheduled for Saturday.

We scrambled around, gathering up all of our belongings. We also ended up calling my mom and asking her to help us get home. I needed a little bit of extra support, plus I figured an extra pair of hands couldn’t hurt.

By the time we got home it was after 11. But we were home!

9/15/09

On Monday the 14th, I went in for a final ultrasound. He was squished in there so tightly that the tech had a hard time getting accurate measurements, and could only say that he was probably between 7 and 9 pounds. My doctor decided that that was big enough, and he was late enough, that she wanted to induce. She prefers to have her patients deliver no more than a week beyond their due dates.

I was kind of uncomfortable with that decision, but I decided to accept it because the stress of waiting was starting to drive me pretty crazy. So, before leaving the office, I had an appointment for 8:00 am on 9/15.

I called Dan and had him come home to spend the rest of the day with me. I needed the moral support. We got the last few things packed and had sushi for dinner to celebrate our last night as a family of two.

On Tuesday morning Dan made me a light breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, and we headed to the hospital (with a quick stop at the grocery store so he could pick up a couple of snacks).

We checked in at about 8:15 and were set up in a room on the labor and delivery floor. By 9:30 I was hooked up to the pitocin and the fetal monitor, and we settled in. I was ready for a long, long wait, based on my sister-in-law’s experience and stories I’d heard from other friends about induced deliveries. I had some knitting with me, a book, and even had my mom go out to get me a copy of Scribblenauts, which came out that day, so I could play it while we waited.

At about 11:30, after two dosage increases, I was told that the baby wasn’t tolerating the pitocin very well and they were going to shut it off. Later, we’d see where my contractions were and reassess the situation then.

Dan went for lunch a little after noon. While he was gone, the doctor came in to say that my contractions weren’t progressing and she wanted to break my water. I asked if I should call my husband. She said, “no, it’s quick, no big deal.” Five seconds later, it was done, and holy crap. Yeah. I was not prepared for what exactly was involved. There is a lot of fluid in the amniotic sac. A lot. Seriously.

So there I was, trying not to panic, praying for Dan to get back quickly. He finally did, and was able to calm me down.

At 2:30, I was having contractions regularly every minute or two. I was dilated to 4 cm. It wasn’t terrible, but had moved a bit beyond uncomfortable.

At 3:00 or so I asked for the pain medication. It helped.

At 4:50 I was dilated to 5 cm.

At 5:03 I was dilated to 8 cm. I think it was at this point that I asked for more pain meds, because things had gotten really painful. I was told that even though it had in fact been two hours and my first dose had worn off, I couldn’t have any more because I was too close to delivery. I was not pleased with that answer, as you can imagine.

At this point, then nurse stepped out into the hall to have the doctor come in. By the time the doctor made it into the room (5:05?) I was at 10 cm and it was time to push!

I have to admit, I yelled. I swore. I had a hard time focusing, because everything was happening really quickly. All I could really do was grab onto Dan’s hand on one side and the bedrail on the other, and try to follow instructions. The doctor had to tell me to stop yelling and put that energy into pushing instead. I managed to do it after a couple of tries.

After a few minutes, the monitor showed that the baby’s heartrate was fluctuating. He wasn’t handling the contractions as well as the doctor wanted. She decided to help him out by using the vacuum extraction. I agreed right away, because of course I wanted him to be safe, even though I had really wanted to do it by myself.

Two more pushes, I think, and he was out. It was 5:18, barely 10 minutes since the doctor had stepped into the room. I don’t remember hearing his first cry, but Dan does.

They put him on my chest right away, after just a quick wipe. I remember it, but not well. It’s sort of a blur. After a few minutes they took him across the room to be cleaned up and examined, and weighed, I think.

Pretty soon, he was in Dan’s arms and they were both right next to me. The doctor and nurses left us alone for a little while, which was such a relief. We looked at him, and at each other, and talked a little I think, but I don’t know what we said. I do know, though, that we had to decide on a name. We’d each arrived at the hospital that morning with a different first choice, and Dan had talked me into waiting until we met him to decide. I didn’t think for a minute that it would make a bit of difference, but it really did. When I saw my little boy, I knew that Benjamin was the name that fit him best.

A while later, they took Benjamin to have his full exam and a bath. In the meantime, I was moved to a recovery room. We made a ton of phone calls, and my parents came up to visit us and meet Benjamin. My dad also brought dinner for Dan, who’d not made it to the cafeteria before it closed at 6:30. Everyone stayed long enough to hold Ben and hear about our day, then left so we could get a little rest and start adjusting to our new little family.

And that’s how Benjamin David was born at 5:18 pm on September 15, 2009. He weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and measured 20 inches.

09/09/09 has come and gone…

[Just a warning before you start reading: this is long and disorganized, but I needed to get some thoughts out of my head.]

So, as most of you already know, I missed my due date. Yesterday was really, really stressful for me, for a lot of reasons, and I want to try to talk about why, as a way of processing all of these emotions.

On some level, I’d been utterly convinced that he was going to be born on Sept. 9, even though I knew, intellectually, how statistically unlikely that was. But everything else about this pregnancy (okay, except for the crash, but even that turned out just fine) has been charmed, and it was the most beautiful due date I could possibly have asked for, so of course he would be born then.

I felt pretty panicked when I woke up yesterday, and the panic never quite went away all day. It got stronger or weaker, and I was scared of different things at different times, but I never did manage to relax.

At first, of course, I was afraid I’d go into labor at any moment. Mostly, as far as that goes, I’m afraid that Dan won’t make it home in time. I know that’s probably silly, that I’ll likely have much more than an hour and a half between starting labor and delivering the baby, but it scares me anyway to have him so far away. That’s why I’d been hoping to wake up with contractions in the middle of the night. When that hadn’t happened, I got worried.

I tried my best to relax. I skipped out on work, took a hot shower, and decided I would feel better if I was outside, so I went for a walk. I also figured that couldn’t hurt my goal of getting labor started. I pushed myself too far, though, and all I ended up with was a blister and sore hips. I have to admit, I felt calmer afterwards, though.

In the afternoon I had to deal with more fears about labor itself. Those aren’t going to go away until this is all over, but they’re usually at the back of my mind.

Anyway, as it got later and later, I started to realize that this baby was probably not going to be born before midnight, especially since the closest contractions I’d had all day were 20 minutes apart, and that was only about three of them. The rest were almost entirely random, and not very strong at all.

So all of a sudden I’m hugely conflicted about what I want. First, I’m incredibly anxious to meet this little boy, and I was so sure that this was going to be the day. And I’m physically very tired from hauling this unbalanced weight around. My joints hurt, I can’t sleep well, there are so many things I can’t do for myself. Besides, I’m really, really looking forward to being a mom. I’m so excited about having a new baby in the house and watching him grow. I’m excited to teach him, and play with him, and see who he becomes. I want to take him places, show him things, sing to him, read to him, watch him play games with his dad. I’m ready to start this new part of my life.

But I’m afraid of the actual process of labor, I’m afraid Dan won’t be there yet when I need him, I’m afraid something could go wrong. I’m afraid I won’t know what to do with him once he’s here. I’m afraid I’ll forget something important, or do something wrong, or that he’ll cry all the time, or that I will, and any number of other things.

And then there’s the fact that I am loving being pregnant. Like I mentioned earlier, this has been an utterly charmed pregnancy. A Christmas conception, no morning sickness to speak of, no extra weight gain (as a matter of fact, I’m slimmer everywhere except in the belly and the bust), no heartburn or breathing problems or blood pressure issues or sugar issues or anything at all. I’ve napped nearly every day for the past nine months, but beyond the fatigue and some joint and back pain, I’ve had almost none of the standard pregnancy complaints. I’ve loved watching my belly grow, I’ve loved feeling him wiggle around, I’ve loved the attention, I’ve loved all of the preparations. I’m going to be very sad for this time to be over.

I’ve always loved periods of preparation. Lent and Advent are my very favorite seasons of the church year, just as autumn and spring are my favorite seasons of the calendar year. Sure, I enjoy Easter and Christmas, but I enjoy the anticipation and reflection even more. I enjoy marking off the progress towards a special event. Instead of four weeks of Advent, or 40 days of Lent, I got to have 40 weeks – 40 weeks! – of pregnancy to count down. And sure, some of the appeal of these things are the fact that they’re temporary. Every moment needs to be enjoyed, because before you know it, they’ll be gone.

But those other things – Lent, Advent, fall, spring – they come back again every year. I may well never be pregnant again. And even if we do decide to have a second child – and it really is an if – that will certainly be the last time.

So here I am, anxious to move on with the next stage, and hesitant to leave this one behind. Swinging wildly between these two places, and feeling completely helpless and out of control. (The crazy hormones aren’t helping anything, either.) I know that it’s only a matter of days, but I don’t know how many days. All I can do is wait, but I’m not even sure exactly what it is I’m waiting for. I feel like I’m treading water, and I have no other options. Should I be going to work? Am I wasting my precious time off for nothing? Or am I right to take these last couple of days for myself? I’ve been concerned, since my wreck on Aug. 10, that he would come early, but now all of a sudden I’m concerned he’ll be so late that I have to be induced. I don’t want that! But on the other hand, at least then I’d have a date set and wouldn’t feel quite so adrift.

I guess, in the end, after all my talk of loving transition seasons and anticipation, I have to admit that it is at least in part because I’m not a big fan of surprises. I want to know what’s going to happen next and when – and with this, I don’t know either of those things. That’s a lot of why I’m so stressed, and why I’m so disappointed that my due date was not my delivery date. So to cope, I’m just trying to take it one day – sometimes, one hour – at a time. I can’t make any real plans, but the few, tentative ones I have made have helped. I had lunch with Mom today after my OB appointment, and we decided that tomorrow either I’ll have the baby or we’ll go to the movies. And on Saturday, either I’ll have the baby or we’ll go to her house and help her with some computer stuff. It’s not ideal, as far as I’m concerned, but it’s better than nothing.

And in the mean time, I’ll wait.

Closer and Closer, but Still Waiting

I’m pretty sure that every single piece of baby clothing, blanket, sheet, washcloth, whatever that is in the house has been through the laundry in the last week.

The nursery is painted and has a crib, a changing table, and a diaper pail in it. There is a bassinet in our bedroom. There is a Pack-n-Play in our office.

There are car seat bases in each of our cars (Dan had the actual car seat, since I’m not planning to drive myself to the hospital). We have a packed hospital bag, and a list of last-minute additions (pillows, laptop, contact solution, that kind of thing).

We’re ready.

I’m ready, or as ready as I can be.

All we can do now is wait for Sprout to be ready!

It must be getting close.

The nesting urge has hit full force. The timing is excellent, though, because I’m home alone today and tomorrow and will have lots of time to get things done. Poor Dan has to work overtime today (though, I’m not complaining about the extra on his paycheck!) and the museum is closed tomorrow because the construction requires that the electricity be shut off.

So far this morning I’ve already folded and put away all but the last of the grown-up laundry, given Lira a good brushing, and even managed to shave in the shower this morning! I also ran a vinegar cycle through my coffee pot. Now I’m working on baby laundry.

At the moment, though, I’m finishing up some lunch and uploading some photos.

I’ve got a long list of tasks I want to have done by the time Dan gets home from work tomorrow, but for once I’m feeling like I might actually have the energy to get it all done. And, I’ve got some excellent inspiration to keep me going:

Take a look at the beautiful paint job in the nursery!

The tape is still up, but in this photo you can see all three colors: a forest green, a light blue, and a dark brown for the trim. It worked out great!

Oh, and here’s the floor, now that the carpet is up and it’s been sealed.

It’s a small, narrow room. Here’s the right side.

And here’s the left, including the closet door!

The inside of the entry door is also brown now, instead of the awful pink that all of the woodwork was when we started.

Everything looks so much better now! Dan wants to put one more coat on the walls, then we’ll get the furniture moved in. I’m so excited!

Alright, back to work! There’s lots more laundry to do!

Car Crash Story

I was involved in a hit-and-run crash today on my way to work. It was fairly minor – at first, I thought I had run over an exposed man hole cover (there is ongoing construction on this particular road, which has been stripped and not fully repaved yet). Then I realized that there’s no way I was going fast enough to have caused that size of a bump from just a man hole cover. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that a large white van had decided to pull out of a parking spot on the side of the road, right where I’d felt the jolt. He’d hit me! By that time I was in an intersection, and feeling pretty shocked, so I pulled through and slowed down, ready to pull over and talk to the van driver. But when I looked into my mirror again, he was gone – he must have turned onto the cross road.

I was horrified, kind of confused, and more than a little shocked, but I was also within several feet of the parking lot at work, so I pulled in. When I checked the damage, I found that my side view mirror was damaged, there was a dent just in front of my passenger door, and there was a big black mark all along both doors on the passenger side.

I started bawling and called Dan. He advised me to call the police to tell them what happened. I went inside, did just that, and was told I’d have to go to the Public Safety Building to file a report, but that I could wait until after work if I wanted to. After talking to Dan again, I called my OB’s office and was told to go to the hospital immediately to be checked out, even though it had been a small, low-speed impact.

I started crying again, but went and told my boss what had happened. She refused to let me drive myself to the hospital, so our accountant brought me in and waited with me for almost two hours. First they checked me out in the ER, then they moved me up to the Labor and Delivery floor and put me on a fetal monitor.

Sprout’s heartbeat was fine, but I was having some contractions. Not strong enough for me to feel – or, at least, to really distinguish from baby movements – but regular enough that the doctor decided I needed to stay on the monitor for six hours.

At that point I sent my coworker back to work and received a cervical exam. I was dilated to 1 cm, and my cervix was still very long. The nurse did not give me an effacement percentage.

After a few phone calls, Dan decided to come back to town to be with me, and in the meantime, my Mom decided to come up to the hospital to sit with me while I waited for him to get there.

I enjoyed chatting with Mom, and then was very grateful to have Dan with me. And I did in fact do some knitting. But it was basically six hours of reclining in an uncomfortable hospital bed, listening to the baby’s heartbeat, and being surprised when Mom or Dan would tell me the monitor said I was having a contraction. I eventually started to figure out what they felt like, though.

At the end of the six hours I had another exam. I’m still at 1 cm, but 50% effaced. The doctor agreed to discharge me, and didn’t put me on any restrictions, but the nurse and I agreed that it wasn’t a good idea for me to work the booth at the fair tomorrow, so she wrote a note for me to that effect.

I’m to keep drinking plenty of fluids, rest when I need to, and keep an eye on myself to see if my labor progresses. I’m still preterm – not quite 36 weeks – but she said that they wouldn’t do anything to stop full labor should it come on at this point. However, they are also not going to do anything to encourage it at this point.

Hopefully I won’t have anything new to report until after my regularly scheduled appointment on Thursday afternoon. I’ve had a few (noticeable) contractions since I left the hospital about four hours ago, but only one strong one.

They didn’t let me eat while I was on the monitor, so Dan took me out to dinner before taking me to the Public Safety Building to fill out my report. Now I’m home, safe, and will be going to bed early.

I just wanted to let everyone know what had happened and how I am doing. We’d appreciate any good thoughts, prayers, or love you would like to send our way. I’d really prefer that Sprout stay put for at least a couple more weeks!

08/09/09

My baby is due to arrive one month from today. One month. 31 days.

I can’t decide if I feel ready or not. I really just don’t know quite what to expect. I mean, I’ve taken classes, I’ve read books, I’ve talked with some new moms, but I still just don’t know.

I’m nervous, and kind of scared, but I’m also pretty excited about starting this new part of our lives. I know it’s going to be hard, but I have no doubt that it will be completely worth it.

Ready for the Weekend

Well, as close as I’m going to get for now.

I had to give up my nap to do it, but all of the dishes are washed, dried, and put away. The first floor is vacuumed. The last load of laundry is in the washing machine.

When Dan gets home, he’ll have to haul the vacuum upstairs – I’m hoping he’ll offer to vacuum the guest room for me. He will also have to take care of the kitchen floor and probably the counters. I might be able to manage the counters, but not yet. And I haven’t cleaned the coffee pot yet because the vinegar is in the laundry room in the basement. It’ll just have to wait until I go down there again.

I’m sure that was an extremely boring read for anyone who bothered, but at this point I feel the need to chronicle and celebrate even the smallest of victories.

Speaking of which, I won a second $5 gift card for Barnes and Noble for selling the most museum memberships again last week. So, that’s fun! Now I just have to pick out a book to buy. Fiction? Knitting patterns? Parenting? What would you choose?

Braxton Hicks!

Today I had my very first Braxton Hicks contractions. Pretty exciting! I had two, maybe three of them at work this morning between 9 and 10 am. I’m not sure if that middle one really counted, though.

Only five weeks to go until my due date! And, I’ve got baby showers coming up the next two Saturdays. Those should be fun. I’m really looking forward to them. Some of my friends are coming in from out of town, which will be lovely!

Major things that aren’t done yet – painting the nursery, finding a changing table, assembling the crib (not that big I guess!).

Wow, that’s a shorter list than I thought! Maybe we’ll make it after all.

Anderson Japanese Gardens: A Photo Tour (pt. 1)

I’m a volunteer docent at Anderson Gardens, the top-rated Japanese garden in North America. My first shift of the season happened to fall on my birthday this year. And since a beautiful new Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS was my birthday gift from my husband (and mine to him), I took the camera out to the Gardens with me. Which means that you all get a photo tour!

I didn’t photograph the Garden of Reflection, because it’s not strictly a Japanese garden and doesn’t contain very much that you won’t have seen before. Perhaps I’ll do that next week. For today, we’ll tour the Pond Strolling Garden, the oldest of the three gardens both in actual age and in style.

This beautiful tree and boulder set are located just before the main bridge to the Pond Strolling Garden and the Tea Garden. There is a little path just beyond the largest boulder here that takes you to a couple of secluded chairs in the trees from which you can watch the creek flow.

Baby’s First FO

A couple of weeks ago I finished up my very first project for the baby. I’m only posting about it now, though, because I wanted to wait for our new camera to arrive before taking pictures! The light green color and general appearance of the hat led to the baby’s official nickname, as chosen by the ladies in my knitting group.

Here’s Sprout’s First Hat (Ravelry link)!

modeled by Piper

A closer view:

The pattern can be found here in both Finnish and English.

I have an excellent excuse, really.

I know. It’s been over four months since I last wrote anything here. I know. But there’s a really good reason for that.

Just days after the new year started, I found out that I’m having a baby!

I haven’t been sick, luckily, but I have been exhausted. Just completely exhausted. From mid-January until about two weeks ago I was taking a nap very nearly every day. Now I’m down to about three naps a week, which is a huge improvement, but I’m still not feeling particularly energetic.

So, here’s the short version:

We don’t know yet what we’re having, but will find out in May.
We have a couple of names that we like, but nothing’s picked yet, and I’m not willing to go public with any of our favorites yet.
My strangest craving so far has been for a blueberry doughnut – I’m not sure I’d ever had one before, to be honest.
My most recent craving has been for cream cheese.
I first felt the baby move on April 1st, but wasn’t 100% sure that’s what I was feeling until rehearsal on April 12, when he or she decided to dance along with the basses and cellos for nearly a minute straight.
I just felt him or her move right now!
I’ve only gained a couple of pounds, which is a relief, considering how many brownies I’ve eaten in the past two months.
I bought my first maternity outfit the week before Easter – a dress to wear to church (and throughout the summer).
Today mom took me out and bought me two tops, a pair of pants, and a pair of jeans!
Baby’s first present came from Dan’s mom: Goodnight Moon in board book form, an audiobook of The Velveteen Rabbit (Dan’s favorite when he was little), and a textured soft shapes book of dinosaurs.
The first present I bought for baby is a teddy bear.
Mom bought baby his or her first outfit set today: a green gown or coverall (depending on how you snap it) with polka dots on it, a matching hat and booties, and a matching bib with a little bear on it.
I’ve started but not yet completed a little knitted hat. I don’t have any baby pattern books yet, though.

Now that I’m feeling better in general, and I’ve finally gotten the word out to basically everyone I know, I intend to write about it a lot more often. And as soon as we get a new camera (probably next month), expect some pictures!

FOs: Owl Hat and a Cowl

I’ve already finished two projects this year! On New Year’s Day I finished a cowl for myself. I started it on Christmas, ripped it out to change needle size, a finished it in a week. Not bad!

Alchemist’s Cowl
Pattern: Darkside by Sarah Fama
Yarn: Alchemy Synchronicity

The next week I knit myself a hat. I’d tried to knit this hat before, and had a great deal of trouble with it. In the end, it went to my nephew because it was just too small and there was no way it was going to get any bigger without my finding some more yarn somewhere. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of that version before I handed it off on Christmas.

I was determined to have my very own owl hat, though, so I used the gift certificate I got for Christmas to buy the yarn for this beauty.

Tawny Owl Hat
Pattern: Owl Hat by Ruthie Nussbaum
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden

Look at those cute owl cables! I just love them.

So does Valentine.

Looking Ahead

Despite the chaos in the financial world at the end of 2008, I would have to say that for me, it was a good year. I’m also feeling optimistic about 2009. I’ve been moving forward on some of my larger, “life goals” I guess you’d call them, and I anticipate further progress in the year ahead. I’m not going to discuss them here, though.

As for smaller goals, I have a few of those for 2009 as well. Many, but not all, of them are craft-related. In the coming year,

I will teach myself to embroider.
I will learn how to crochet, probably by reading tutorials and asking the ladies in my knitting group for help.
I will knit at least one more sweater, this time for my husband. If I can save up enough money, I’ll knit myself another sweater, also.
I will continue to give handmade gifts, but not worry about timing them with birthdays and holidays.
I will attend more musical and theatrical performances.
I will resume oboe lessons, if it is financially feasible.
I will keep working toward the new position I want at my job.
I will keep working toward a simpler life.

All of these are practical, achievable goals. They’ll fit in with the direction I want my life to go. That last one will be the toughest, because it isn’t very specific, but I know what I mean and how to keep moving in that direction.

Happy New Year to all of you, and good luck with your own goals!

Unintended Break

Sorry about the lack of posts! You know how December can be. Thankfully, it’s almost over, and 2009 is about to begin!

First, an update on the sweater. In the end, it was too big. But with a little bit of careful felting, I was able to shrink it back down and it fits quite nicely now. It’s very cozy and pretty, and I’m quite happy with it. However, do I have an photos? No, of course not. Soon!

Next, other knitting! I’ve been knitting a lot since I finished the sweater, but I’ve been terrible about remembering to take pictures before giving things away. I made a neck wrap (Ravelry link) for my mom from the Linen Stitch Scarflet pattern at Bella Knitting. Here’s an “in progress” photo:

Haha – look at that. Turns out I actually knit that in October. I hadn’t blogged it yet, though, so here it is! Oh well.

Almost as soon as I finished the sweater, I started a hat for Grandma. At Thanksgiving she asked me to knit her a warm hat in a dark red color. No problem! I picked out some lovely Malabrigo in Burgundy

and cast on the Foliage pattern from Knitty. I’d been wanting to try it anyway. It came out really well! I’m going to need to make one for myself eventually. Possibly in the Olive Malabrigo I bought the same time I bought the Burgundy.

I just couldn’t help myself!

After knitting a hat for Grandma (which, of course, I have no photo of because I forgot to bring my camera over to her house, once I finally made it there), I decided I needed a hat for myself. I decided on this Owl Hat pattern. Aren’t those little owl cables adorable? It was a stash project, too – I used some alpaca I’d bought on National Alpaca Day or whatever when I visited an alpaca farm. Unfortunately, it was pretty much a disaster. For one thing, my yarn was too fine to get gauge, so I held it doubled. But I only had two balls, and the first time around I ran out before the end. So I ripped the whole thing back, took out several rounds near the beginning, and continued on my merry way. By the time the hat was finished, though, it was clear that it was going to be much too short for my head.

In the end, I gave it to my nephew, who is reading the Harry Potter books right now. I renamed it the Hedwig hat. I think he liked it, but since it was just one among many Christmas gifts that he received, it was a little hard to tell.

I have plans to try again with different yarn, but that will have to wait a little while. Because right now, aside from the two pairs of socks that still aren’t finished, I have two projects going. The first is a pair of mitts by SockPixie that I’m making out of the Blue Sky Alpaca I bought when I first started knitting. She used the same lace pattern as is in Elizabeth Zimmerman’s February Baby Sweater (Ravelry link). It’s lovely.

But because it’s slippery and fiddly and takes concentration, I also started a Darkside Cowl (Ravelry link) for myself. Out of a silk/wool blend. It won’t be the warmest thing ever, but it sure will be pretty!

So, that’s my knitting life right now. I’ll get some more pictures taken and posted soon, I really will. Especially of the sweater now that it fits correctly. And of the things I gifted away, eventually. I mean, it’s not like I never see these people! They’re my family!

Happy New Year to you all!

Day 30 – I Did It!

The sweater is complete! Just in time for the 3-6″ of snow they’re forecasting for tonight. I’m exhausted, but very excited. It’s a bit larger than I was going for, and the sleeves are shockingly long (esp. considering I tried them on before joining them, but whatever). Perhaps blocking will help with that, a little, but I don’t really care. I made a sweater!

Here are a couple of pictures! The lighting is bad because it’s well after dark. Sorry!

Trying it on before putting it in for a soak.

All wet, laid out on the floor.

Alright, time for dinner and a well-deserved break for my fingers and wrists.

Day 24

Coming right along on the NaKniSweMo sweater! As of last night I’m almost halfway up the second sleeve. And because of a scheduling snag at work, I’m home early today. That means I’m home when there is sunlight, so I took some pictures! They’re not that great, because the sweater just wasn’t showing up against the grey carpet in the guest room, so I had to put it on Lira’s red sleeping bag. That made the color look a little weird, but hey, you do what you have to do.

So, here we go!

This is a picture of the purl ridge texture on the body and the purl bump texture on the cuffs.

Here’s a (somewhat blurry) look at both textures on the body.

This is the main body of the sweater. Once the second sleeve is finished, I’ll join it all together to knit the yoke and the collar.

Here’s all of my progress as of 3:30 this afternoon. I’m hoping to finish that sleeve up before my knitting group meets on Wednesday!

So, there it is! My first sweater, three weeks after casting on. Bulky yarn is amazing!

Day 20

Oh dear.  I didn’t realize it had been so long since I’d posted.  I also didn’t realize my progress had slowed quite as much as it has.

As of right now, I’m half-way up the first sleeve.  Not very impressive, I know.  There have been several days when I haven’t knit at all, and the sleeve pattern itself is a bit more complex and requires a bit more attention.  So, of course, I’ve had to spend some time tinking back.  Also, because my gauge is off, I’ve had to make adjustments to the pattern.  If I’d been more clever, or read the pattern more carefully, I could have done it the easy way, but instead I did it the hard way.  Oh well, too late now!  I only hope I’ll be able to read my notes well enough to make the second sleeve match.

If there’s any sunshine at all this weekend, I’ll take some pictures.  It really is looking lovely, and I’m quite proud of it, even if it’s been slow going for a couple of weeks.

Day 9

Whoo-hoo!  I have the main body of the sweater done!  I can’t believe I’m at this point on November 9th.  Tomorrow, if I have time, I’ll start the first sleeve.  And I think Dan’s done with that game controller, now that Ed has gone home, so I should be able to get a picture or two.

Day 8

So much for knitting every day in November.  Wednesday, I not only skipped my knitting group because I was too tired to face the prospect of leaving the house again, but I also failed to knit a single stitch.  My poor sweater didn’t even make it down off of the shelf.  And Thursday, I had a couple of hours set aside after dinner for knitting, but instead had to help a friend with an emergency.  I didn’t even finish my dinner until about 10:00 that night.

Yesterday I knit a few rounds, then realized that I had knit one row twice, throwing off my ridge pattern.  I knit another round while attempting to convince myself that it didn’t really show.  Then I ripped back about six rounds.  I was scared – I’d only ever done that once, and it was on a non-patterned sock, so it didn’t matter too much if it ripped back too far, or if some stitches dropped.  But, I went slowly and then picked the stitches back up with my tapestry needle and some waste yarn.  It worked!  I was very proud of myself.  I’d have taken a picture, but the camera batteries are missing and I have no idea where they are.

I wasn’t able to catch back up to where I’d started ripping until today.  As of now, I have successfully knitted 55 rounds of my sweater.  I’m not sure if I’ll have the energy or focus or desire to knit any more than that, but I don’t have work tomorrow, so I expect I’ll make some good progress then as well.