Viking Tea Party

{Babies & Dolls}

Whew, I have fallen so far behind that I wouldn't even know how to begin to catch up. Most of you either know me in real life or in "real life" so nothing would be all that new.

The biggest news, the news that's making me knit again, though, is that we're going to be welcoming a baby girl into our family in April. A girl! When I first found out I was pregnant I thought I wanted a boy. I know boys, have all boy stuff and a little brother for Emmett would be wonderful. Then I had my first scan and I decided I kind of wanted a girl. I wanted girly stuff, all shades of pink and lots of daisies. Tea parties, dolls and crafty time where I try my hardest to let her make her own thing and not interfere. And after seeing her I kind of thought she was a she...and I was right!

Anyway, a blanket is already on the needles and while I was in the states for Christmas (too much to catch up there but it was wonderful) I bought yarn for a couple of cardigans and Matt bought me What to Knit When You're Expecting by Nikki Van De Car. Before I found out the baby was a girl I swore I wasn't going to knit for this one. But how can you not knit for a girl?! Now that I have the sewing machine I want to do a bit of sewing, too. I bought Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby when I first found out I was pregnant and can't wait to make the snuggler (which can also be found here for free) as well as a few other things.

My first finished sewing project with the new machine was the doll in the (kind of lousy) photo. It's the Poppy Doll pattern from Hop Skip Jump and I cannot BEGIN to tell you how well this pattern is designed! I have loads of trouble with dolls when you have to squash the arms and legs inside and stitch around the body and you don't have to do that at all with this pattern (insert sigh of relief). I will tell you, though, that she's wearing a scarf because I'm pretty rubbish as sewing the head to the body. And I tried SEVERAL times. Ah well. And I'm a terrible blogger as I've totally forgotten what pattern I used to knit the little blue sweater.

The flower buttons were free with an issue of Mollie Makes which is a another thing I'd like to catch up on eventually. I LOVE that magazine and really think everyone should at least have a little browse the next time they're at a bookstore (it's available in the US as well). Oddly, though, I haven't subscribed to it but did subscribe to another one made by the same people called The Simple Things which is a monthly little mix of loveliness: craft, food, gardening, life. One of my favorite features is the list of simple pleasures one the back cover. A few from this this month: seeing my breath on the air - the smell of baking filling the house - the eerie silence of a snowy day - warm hands. Love, love, LOVE.

Anyway, the doll went to my mom for Christmas and there was a flurry of Christmas knitting as well after we booked our tickets. As soon as I get photos, I'll have to do a little post.

All right, time for a little nap. We just got back on Sunday and our schedules are all kinds of screwed up. We've been up until anywhere from one a.m. to four and sleeping until  anywhere from eleven in the morning to two in the afternoon! Ridiculous. It's really up to Emmett, though. I could adjust but he has no idea what time it is so we're struggling a bit.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Coming Home Cardigan

Thanks for the Emmett love! He's unbelievable and we are so unbelievably lucky. We get almost no sleep, feeding has been harder to learn than I'd expected and recovering from both an episiotomy and a c-section is challenging but I'd do it all over again in a nonsecond. In fact, I think I was already talking about having another one before I'd even reached the recovery room. He's so freaking cute I think we owe it to the world.  :)

I know I said I wasn't going to post photos of him but I can't resist! 

Coming home from the hospital was not the pleasant, sunny experience that I expected. By the time we did leave Saturday night it was after ten and I was emotionally drained and exhausted and couldn't bother changing his clothes so he went home in a cute little sleeper. I did try the matching hat on him but it didn't fit his little noggin since it had been mishapen by the ventouse and forceps. Thankfully, the pumpkin hat did fit so he had something homemade to come home in.

He had his first visitors the other day so I made sure he was wearing the cardigan.

I never ever thought I could, instantly and with all my heart, love something that I didn't pick if that makes any sense at all.  He was given to me - made by us - and I am so lucky!

Symmetry

This morning we leisurely hopped out of bed at 9:30, got ready and went into town for a nice, quiet breakfast at a new cafe that opened this week (and we've already been two three times in as many days).  Just the two of us with no pushchair, diaper bag or even Moby Wrap in sight.

Since the baby ball started rolling last night, we're really trying to enjoy these last moments.  It's rolling a bit slower than we thought it would - we were sure we wouldn't get to sleep through the night, let alone get through most of today - but signs are definitely pointing in the direction of "You Could Be Parents By the End of the Weekend!" and I feel really good about it now. Much calmer. I woke up feeling cheerier and happier than I have in days and that mood has managed to stick with me which is really saying something considering how crazy my hormones have been. 

After breakfast, as we walked back through the close, picking up leaves for reasons that will become clear in a few seconds, we talked about how amazing it is that we met in person two Novembers ago, were married with me living in a new country by the following November and that by this November we'll have had our first child.  It's absolutely amazing. What in the world could happen by November 2011?!

Matt also pointed out another funny little bit of symmetry.  Last night, after the signs started and as we were getting ready to go to bed at a crazy early hour in case it was a long night, the phone rang.  I heard Matt ask who it was and then say, "Okay, I'll keep that under my hat," before handing me the phone.  It was my friend Maggie!  I haven't talked to her, literally, since the day I moved here.  I ran into her at the airport when I was leaving the US as she was coming back from England where she had been visiting her brother.  She's also the reason I signed up with the penpal site where I met Matt.  It only seemed natural that she call out of blue just as we start to think our little acorn might arrive soon but I didn't even think about it until he brought it up.  It's such a funny little world!

And here's the reason we were gathering leaves...

I had actually brought it with me to take a picture of under a tree or something but I completely forgot to put my camera in my purse.  It's currently with several things that need to go in the hopsital bag at the last minute.  :)

Anyway, once we found out he would be here before Halloween I knew I needed to make him a little pumpkin hat. This might become his coming home hat if it's not too big - we'll see. I sewed in the ends and, like magic, the signs started appearing.  I think I need to come up with something else "magical" to knit on tonight while watching one of the last few episodes of Dexter Season 4 (which is so freaking, amazingly good). 

Time for a little tea and biscuits - keep your fingers crossed for me that tonight's the night!

A Little Acorn Update and Letterbox Love

If cats could sense impending labor like animals sense storms I would say our little acorn's arrival wasn't far off.  Lucy, my older, less affectionate (with me anyway) cat would not leave me alone this morning until she had a little cuddle while lying on my bump.  She eventually slid off, though, since there's not much room left in my lap and went upstairs to curl up in bed with her real favorite: Matt. 

Another reason his arrival could be on the horizon is that I had a sweep this morning and she said the results were "favorable".  I'm not banking on it but we'll see.  I go back Tuesday for another if this one doesn't work and if that one doesn't work I'm being induced on...wait for it...Wednesday!  Eight days!  Why in the world they're inducing me one day after a sweep, I have no idea.  I'm tempted to cancel the second sweep if this one doesn't work.  I would have preferred to wait another week to be induced but, honestly, at this point I'm ready for it to be over and meet our little man.

A few minutes after we got home, some letterbox love arrived!  I participated in a little hat swap over on the November 2010 Parents group on Ravelry and here are my goodies from JenInProgress (who also calls her little one her acorn!):

How cute!  Just last night I was looking at the Aviatrix Hat pattern and thinking that I'd eventually like to make one - think briefly and you shall receive!  And note the maple leaf - Jen is Candadian.  :)

And I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention the package my Dayton friend, Chris sent recently!  We had arranged to do a little swap for a magazine I can't easily get here (Interweave Knits, Weekend - speciafically for this uber cute Mariner Pullover pattern) and she went crazy overboard and sent along lots of fun things I miss: Kraft Mac & Cheese, Junior Mints, taco seasoning, candy corn (which Matt has never ever had!) and Goldfish crackers.  The crackers are so going in my hospital bag!  Thanks again, Chris!

I'm off to take a little walk and then pack the aforementioned hospital bag I meant to pack yesterday.  Better safe than scrambling - especially after the nightmares I had last night. 

[Probably] The Last of the Baby Knitting

Thanks so much for all of the kind and supportive comments on Tuesday's "We're Having a Baby" freak out post. Two days later and it's sunk in enough that I'm not only feeling somewhat better but I'm also large and uncomfortable enough to look at the bright side of delivering a bit early. 

HIs crib/cradle arrived yesterday and we bought sheets for it today so, other than doing a bit of rearranging in our bedroom to fit the crib/cradle, we're physically ready for him to arrive.

And I've finished what will probably be the last of the baby knitting for awhile.  

I finally finished the Bitty Cable Cardigan that we're beinging him home in. I had ridiculous amounts of trouble with this for ridiculous reasons.  I found my notes last week, though, frogged the entire thing, started over and finished it off in two days.  Then I paired it with the little trousers I thought it would go well with and it didn't go as well as I thought it would so we today started a mad scramble to find something and happened upon a really tiny pair of jeans that look perfect.  I knitted it with Debbie Bliss Rialto which I would defintely recommend for baby sweaters - after blocking it's fantastically soft. 

And this is a last minute knit - the Baby Sophisticate.  I still had two skeins of Rowan Wool Aran leftover from my One Skein Scarf that I crocheted for myself last week and couldn't help but use most of it to knit up something for the acorn. 

We did a lot of running around today - a bit of shopping, a midwife appointment, meeting Matt's mum and stepdad for tea - and took a two hour nap when we got home but here it is eleven o'clock and I could defintely sleep like I hadn't had a nap at all.  I can't believe how tired I've been this past week and know I should enjoy the ability to sleep as much as I can.  So off to bed for me.  

The Acorn's Oak & A Finished Object Catch Up

As if the baby shower on Sunday wasn't enough to turn a frustrating day around, I was in for another surprise when I got home. Matt had finished clearing out the baby's room, mopped the floor and had the changing table and half the chest of drawers put together!

After showing him the shower goodies, I decked out the changing table and started filling the chest of drawers with all of the clothes we brought back from Ohio. I'd forgotten how tiny and cute some of those little outfits were! Then we put together the crib, did a little "staging" and had a Skype chat with my parents to show them around since they so kindly bought the furniture for us. 

So now that the room is mostly finished - we have a lot of little finishing touches to add, of course - I can reveal the tree! I haven't even started on the leaves but I can add those little by little. I have visions of Mom and I making leaves while we're waiting for the baby to arrive....

It's huge! It goes from floor to ceiling and nearly takes up one entire wall. We're also adding a little birdhouse nightlight and I'm going to "carve" our initials into the tree as well.  

The room really already looks fantastic but I'll wait until we've done some decorating before I post any more photos. My granny has made us a little woodland themed quilt that Mom is bringing, too - I can't wait to see it!

In the mean time I do have some - sigh - finished baby knitting to talk about. I keep saying I'm going to knit something for myself but nothing really appeals. I have a blue and a purple skein of Rowan Pure Wool Aran, and I'm determined to knit myself a cowl with one of them before the acorn gets here. In fact I may add that to my (should be long but is really short) to do list for tomorrow.

This Seamless Baby Kimono and I go way back..back before Matt and I even got married. We were getting married, though, and we'd talked about having babies and we knew we were eventually going to try so I didn't feel like I was really jinxing anything. Technically, this was my first sweater - not the Shalom or the February Lady Sweater - although I didn't block this and sew on the buttons until this week. I did make a few changes to the pattern: I used buttons rather than a tie, sewed in a popper on the inside of the side opposite the buttons and did a seed stitch along the bottom rather a few rows of garter. I love it but am a little worried about the cuffs. They didn't actually show up in any of the photos I took but they're kind of tiny.  

This is another pair of the Garter Stripe Baby Socks and I call them Alan's Socks. And why is that? This yarn was actually part of the prize package I received from Kim when Alan Rickman won the first Knitter's Hunk back in 2007. I knitted my very first sock with it right away but that's when I discovered I was one of those with Second Sock Syndrome so the rest of it languished in my stash, waiting to maybe be made into a second sock someday. Alan was in the running again this year and doing really well so I decided to knit a pair baby socks in his honor. I finished them just a few days before he was crowned Knitter's Hunk again this year!  So, yes, Alan's Socks - very appropriate.  I'm also quite proud that I almost got the pooling to match.  :)

This BItty Cabled Hat is part of our little acorn's coming home outfit.  I've mentioned the cardigan that goes with it before because, even though it's very simple, I'm having trouble with it.  I had the body finished but ended up with gaping holes under the arms that I just couldn't fix so I ripped it back to the arm holes but then somehow managed to flub up one of the cables and into time out it went.  Unfortunately, the pattern for it is one of the ones I can't find and I had already made some very helpful notes which are now also who knows where. I think rewriting them is also on the list of things to do tomorrow since I'm beginning to feel like having his coming home outfit complete is pretty important.  That and finally settling on a car seat since that's really the most important part of his coming home outfit!

I took a photo of this with a quarter and a 10p coin to show just how bitty it is. Very, very bitty.

I had an antenatal appointment today to check the progress of my gestational diabetes. It was a miserable appointment in that we waited for two hours only to talk to a consultant and the GD doctor for about twenty minutes but, thankfully, things are good and I'm still able to control it with diet rather than medication. The consultant also seemed fairly open minded to the fact that I'm really against induction if there's no medical reason for it. I'm also open minded to whatever needs to happen but, of course, would like things to happen as naturally as possible. I don't want to be in labor for 48 hours and I really love the idea of using a birthing pool for pain relief (not for the actual birth, though) and an induction means being hooked up to a machine which means no birthing pool and a possible long labor with interference.  

I'll settle for a healthy baby, though - no matter what it takes.  :)

Baby Shower, American-Style

Things have been a little stressful around here and last week more days than not were spent riding an emotional roller coaster that one had two speeds: sad and mad. Yesterday started out that way. I didn't even consider putting together my bag for knit group until it was nearly time to walk about the door which was Not a Good Idea since everything here as we make the spare bedroom a nursery, the third floor attic/office a storage room/spare bedroom and the conservatory a conservatory/office, is 100% topsy-turvy. Things you thought were there are actually who knows where and yesterday that proved especially true for the patterns of a couple of projects I'd wanted to finish.  So I threw what I could find in my bag and hit the pavement, running a little late. 

Imagine my surprise when I rounded the corner of our newly found quiet little alcove at Cafe Nero and heard, "Welcome to your surprise baby shower!"  

Baby showers aren't as popular here as they are in the US but Libby said they wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything just because I lived here - how nice is that?  They even researched baby games!  You just don't realize how often you say the words "baby" and "knitting" at a baby shower put on by knitters until it's part of a game where you can't say them at all.  

Besides our little acorn's very first piggy bank (we've already started collecting 5p coins in a wooden acorn for him and have been looking for a proper bank for months) and his first "oh my goodness, push that button one more time and that''s going up on the shelf where you can't reach it" toy with lights and music (just kidding - it's very sweet and not loud at all) there were, of course, some beautiful hand knits!

What little boy wouldn't look handsome in this little cabled sweater? This was knitted (in my favorite color, no less) by fellow ex-pat Phoe who also kindly took photos and made the gorgeous flower arrangements.  This is going to be so cute with the little pair of jeans we bought last month and I'm already sad that, eventually, he'll grow out of it!

I've had this pattern in my Ravelry queue but I know it would have never turned out as cute as this one made by Alice (that's her on the right in the above photo)!  Again, he's going to look so handsome!  Matt and I are, no doubt, going to have the best dressed baby in Salisbury.

 

I've been looking at tag blankets for awhile now and am so glad I never actually bought one because this one that's handmade by Libby is so much nicer!  The bright color ribbons have so many different textures that I even found myself absentmindedly playing with the tags and the back is lined with a sweet, soft, blue Peter Rabbit fabric.  I already know it's going to be a Little Acorn favorite.  

Thanks so much to Libby, Stephanie and Phoe for putting it all together and to everyone else for coming - I had a really wonderful time!  It's hard to believe that the next time I meet up with the Poultry Cross Knitters, our little boy will probably be asleep in his pushchair or cuddled up in his Moby wrap!

 

Phoe also posted about the shower so to see more photos (especially more of a very pregnant me), hop over to her blog, A Life of a Photographoe. :)

Emily & The Acorn's First Socks

If you've known me for any amount of time you probably know that, as much as I love sock yarn, looking at sock patterns and even knitting them, I've never actually finished a second sock.*

Until today.

Who knew that getting pregnant was all I had to do to cure myself of Second Sock Syndrome?  

 

I really had no business taking photos of these today since it's so gloomy and rainy but I was too excited to wait! 

These are the Garter Stripe Baby Socks knit in some Socks That Rock that my friend Bertha sent ages ago (I knew it would become socks eventually!).  

 
They knit up in no time at all and are super cute.  

I've also knitted a tiny, adorable cabled hat but it's a dark brown and really has no business being photographed today.  It has a matching sweater that should be simple but I've been struggling with it so it's tucked away for a bit.   I'm going to embroider an acorn on a newborn onesie and it, the sweater and the cap are going to be his coming home outfit (with a pair of trousers we've already bought, of course).   I can't believe that, as of today, I'm 33 weeks and 3 days and he could arrive in about seven weeks!

We have a home visit with our midwife tomorrow to go over my birth plan and I've been putting off the housework all day so I should get to it.  Knitting a tiny sock is so much more fun....

*In my defense, I only have about two inches left on the leg of the second of an actual pair of socks.  Getting pregnant, loosing my knitting mojo and then finding that the only things I want to knit are baby things kind of got in the way!

Feed Me, Seymour!

Want to see the blood glucose meter the NHS gives you if you have gestational diabetes?  Here you go:

 

I'm only kind of kidding.  I used it last night for the first time and got an error message seven times: not enough blood/use a new strip.  After I burst into extra drippy hormonal tears, Matt convinced me to stop trying until we could buy a "real" meter in the morning.  This morning I tried Audrey II one last time and got another error so it was off to Boots for a new meter.  We bought an Accu-Chek Aviva Nano because his dad recommended it and it worked great.  Not only did I get a healthy reading but it worked the very first time and it didn't hurt, thank goodness! 

Speaking of hormones and good news...one stress I've had recently has had to do with deciding when my parents were going to visit in November.  Obviously, babies rarely ever come on time- especially first babies - so it's been really difficult.  Too soon and they might miss the baby all together - too late and Mom would explode with anxiousness.  The other day, though, they announced during a Skype chat that Mom was taking a short leave of absence for the month of November and, if it was okay with us, she's going to come on the first and stay about three weeks and Dad will come a week later.  Some women, I'm sure, wouldn't look forward to that at all but it makes me insanely happy. 

I'm due on October 30th so we could spend two weeks twiddling our thumbs but...hopefully not!  I really like the idea of having her here before our little acorn arrives.  I could use a little help with the, ahem, nesting.  I also have this feeling that he won't hide out for too long but that could just be my own anxious hopefulness.  My intuition was right about him being a boy but I had a fifty-fifty chance with that one after all!

And now for a little knitting! 

I heart baby hats.  Tiny, quick and the cutest little things ever.

This is the Greenleaf Baby Hat knit with some leftover Stitch Nation Alpaca Love which, besides being hand wash only, is perfect for baby hats because it's so soft.   

And this is Emmett's Apple Hat knitted with Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmere which is one of my favorite yarns to knit with.  The stitch definition is gorgeous and the colors are really vibrant.  As cute as this pattern is, it was the "Emmett" part that really drew me in because that's been one of our top name choices for the little acorn.  Matt came up with it because he likes my name so much.  I know that, thanks to Twilight (which I'm, ironically, watching right now), it's not going to be as uncommon as it used to be but I like it.  It actually reminds me more of Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas and it reminds Matt of Back to the Future.  We've been referring to him as Emmett instead of Ola recently but we're still undecided.  Some of the women from my mom's office voted and, of the three names we like, they liked Emmett best which I thought was kind of funny.  I like that my mom finally has a future grandchild to talk about. 

Whew, I think this post is long enough - hope everyone is having a great day!

Froggy Friday

You've heard of WIP Wednesday and FO Friday, right?  Yeah, well, Froggy Friday is the usually unseen and less popular fourth cousin

First off, the one you might have already guessed...remember this little crochet sweater that I asked your opinion on a couple of weeks ago?  It's fate has been decided.

 

There were lots of fantastic suggestions and I thank you for each and every one.  I really contemplated finishing it and putting it aside so that I'd have a gift for a someone having a girl.  I even got momentarily excited because Ginny had just had a baby girl but by the time it was cool enough for her to wear it, it definitely wouldn't fit.  That thing was tiny. 

Then, as I was searching for buttons for my latest Pebble Vest, I found these...

 

Sorry for the lousy photos - it's incredibly overcast and rainy today

I did a little research and they could possibly be French buttons from as early as WWI or WWII but one site also said they're also still being made.  These, obviously, aren't new but I can't really imagine they're from the early 1900's. They either came from a tin that Mom bought for me in an antique shop or a giant tub that my granny found at a garage sale so who knows?

Then I thought about Chris' suggestion of adding buttons and patches to the original crocheted sweater to give it a military feel.  So, as strange as it may seem to use buttons that could potentially be from WWI on a baby sweater...I might use buttons that could potentially be from WWI on a baby sweater.  Maybe.  I could have added them all the way down the crocheted sweater but I still wasn't happy with the crocheted look so I frogged it.  Done and done.

And I'm not even going to think twice about the fact that a Pebble Vest takes exactly seven buttons!  :)

And then there's the Easy Baby Cardigan.  My original idea was to add crocheted loops and buttons after it was finished but I liked that idea less and less with every monotonous stockinette row.  When I got about an inch away from starting on the garter stitch bottom band I decided it's big enough for him to wear more than once or twice which warranted frogging it back and adding button holes.  So, in a matter of minutes, this...

...became this!

Ack! 

I had another reason for frogging it - not a great reason but a second reason none the less.  There was a medium sized pool of purple on the back (you can kind of see in the first photo) that bothered me a little bit and now I can fix that, too.  

All is not lost - I do have a finished project!  Granted, that finished project is a third Pebble...

I'm not really footloose and fancy free when it comes to color (even though that's my word for 2010) .  I'm not good at matching things at all.  That said, the buttons are all the same...just different, muted colors.  I also picked out several shades of orange buttons that looked good but I forced myself to put them back because I was leaning toward all the same shade rather than mixing them up.  These buttons are better than brown buttons on a brown sweater but they're still safe.  Thankfully, I still have a few months to work on that color thing....