Here are some of the things I liked best about this Easter.
Little girls in Easter dresses.
The first sandal wearing of 2008.
I’ve been painting my toenails for a week in preparation.
Dinah in Michael’s sandals.
Hates the boy, loves his shoes.
Easter baskets.
Joining the legs of Ellie’s Romper.
Not as exciting as armholes, but progress nonetheless.
The awesomest thing of all: 182 participants in Wee Tiny Sock Swap 2008. You’ve got ’til Thursday to sign-up!
How to Make a Bunny in One Short Week
Step one: Wait for Ellie to take a nap.
(Repeat as necessary.)
Step Two: Only do housework halfway. (i.e. Wash and dry clothes but do not fold and put away.)
Step Three: Knit all Bunny pieces over the course of several days.
I know you’re sick of this link, but the pattern is here.
Step Four: Seam and stuff bunny pieces.
The ideal stuffing is a blend of fiberfill and cat fur.
Step Five: Take a break to pet Betty and express appropriate gratitude to Michael for the Cranberry slush!
Happy Hour is the best time of day.
Step Six: Assemble Bunny.
It’s easier if you line him up first.
Step Seven: Don’t forget the tail!
Note: Do not make pompoms on the bed. They make a fuzzy mess.
Step Eight: Forget to take pictures finished bunny. Dang. Well, he doesn’t have a sweater yet anyway.
For the first time in my personal history of sock knitting, I am making a sock that will actually require blocking to look good. Weird.
You know it’s lace because it looks like someone has chewed on it.
I love the Shi Bui – it is bouncy almost to the point of smooshiness and I am really happy with the interest that the color variations bring. I’m going to have to order some extra (hmmm, it looks like Simply Socks has more colors in stock)!
I’ve got the dress for Ellie that I mentioned in the last post on hold for a little while (I’ve got plenty of yarn so I can afford the delay). I’ve got another project in mind for the more immediate itty bitty knitty future: a little cabled romper thing from Baby Knits. I ordered some Rowan RYC Cashcotton in Sugar (it’s machine washable!) in the wee hours of the morning.* I also want to make a Fuzzy Mitten rabbit for her Easter basket. More deadline knitting. Sigh.
I am right on track with the CounterPain quota for 2008, with two squares completed for both January and February.
On to March!
There is something to be said for keeping one’s expectations low.
*Ellie likes to eat at 3am. Since that takes about an hour from start to finish, and my body likes to wake up at 5am anyway, there isn’t any point in going back to sleep. I use that time to read email, catch up on blogs, attempt to write thank you notes and (starting again this morning) walk. It’s kind of nice to have that time all to myself – even though Daylight Savings Time has really messed up how much of that happens in the actual daylight. The early morning quiet would be even better if I could convince the kid that bedtime is best when it happens at 8:30pm.
I like a lot of different sock yarns (a lot of different sock yarns), and I like to knit most any kind of sock. But if I just want to knit a pair of socks for the pure pleasure of it, I will reach for the medium weight Socks that Rock every time. I don’t know what their base yarn is, but I could knit with the stuff for the rest of my life. I like it so much that I only have one hank in my stash for emergencies – I use it as fast as I order it. Every time I pick up the Doc Socs (as I have taken to calling them), I say out loud how much I love this yarn. Michael is probably sick of hearing it. Lucky for him, his ordeal is half over: one sock is finished.
Need a closer look?
I was originally going to make these in 1870Pearl’s Tuscany pattern (which itself is a variation of Scar), but I got nervous about making socks for an Unknown Foot without some sort of ribbing to compensate for fit issues. I added garter ribbing between the slips for safety’s sake. I’ve really got to work on these this weekend if I want them for my appointment on Monday. I’ve got one more appointment before the Baby Saga is over and I can take them then, but I really want to get them finished.
The next socks will be for the May Day Swap, I am pretty sure that I am going to use the blue Shi Bui. I’ve also become infatuated with the Baby Dress from Blue Sky Alpacas.
It’s so sweet!
I’ve had the pattern and yarn for months. I found the pattern with all my other patterns in their central location, but the yarn took a couple days to locate as my stash has expanded to several satellite offices. I’ve got almost 900 yards of this soft wool from Habu Textiles so I can make up to the second largest size. The problem is guessing what size Ellie will need when the weather is right for her to wear it. Then I worry if I don’t make it right away, next fall I won’t have enough yarn becuase she’ll need the largest size. Now that I have thought this through, the Baby Dress is not the next project on my list. Maybe I’ll make something for me (I saw this while I was looking up the Baby Dress link) as incentive to return to my former size and shape.
In other news…
The results of the Baby Pool are in! Four of you guessed that Ellie was a girl and the correct birthdate: Teyani, Jill (a blogless Jill I think), Bibby and Kaki. As per the Official Contest Rules, the names were written on slips of paper and put into a hat. Mom was visiting this week* so I had Ellie’s Gran draw the Grand Prize winner!
Mom and I have the same hands. Ellie has them too.
The winner is Bibby! She will receive a small project bag with a few surprises inside and the three runners-up will each receive a set of pink stitch markers. Our second runner-ups (the right day, but the wrong flavor of baby) are Kathy and Jennifer – they will receive a set of stitch markers in blue. I’ve ordered all the prizes (etsy, of course), and will re-rout them as they arrive. A big thank you to everyone who participated!
*Mom (who is going by “Gran” to match “Great Gran”) has really made up for lost time now that she knows Ellie is a girl! She brought her all kinds of sweet pink things to wear and keeps telling me how beautiful Ellie looks in pink and how perfect it is for her complexion (Mom really really really likes pink). I think this baby would look beautiful in a burlap sack but it is possible that I am slightly biased.
Thank you to everyone who left comments to welcome Ellie! I will answer each one personally as soon as I get brave enough to check my email – I have a fear of over filled in-boxes. Did you know that baby books don’t include special pages for blog comments? Luckily, I’ve got a book that has three rings so I can add all the scrap book pages I want. That is what we call Displaying Adaptability.
The cats have displayed a remarkable amount of adaptability of their own.
Cats love babies. It’s a fact.
Several people have asked for more details about Ellie’s arrival. Below is the short version of the events from Sunday, February 17 through Wednesday, February 20. If you aren’t interested (doesn’t hurt my feelings at all – there is hardly any knitting), just scroll right on through and look at the pictures. Before you go, I have one small piece of advice: a casual approach to preparedness is what the Universe calls a Gotcha Opportunity.
I fully expected to be sent home when we showed up at the hospital (as a precautionary measure), but it turns out that I was leaking amniotic fluid (ewewewewew) so I had to stay. Luckily, I had brought my intended hospital knitting with me (Michael had to go home for everything else – but we live right across the street so that isn’t as big of a deal as it sounds). The nurse was very understanding about running my IV way high up on my arm so that I could knit.
Socks for my doctor (this amuses me greatly).
Then came 18 hours of sitting around. More than half of those hours included pitocin and none of it included painkillers (don’t worry, I didn’t need them) with absolutely 0 progress and some weird baby heartbeat things that interfered with the knitting (oxygen and side-lying were called for at that point). The doctor came in to assess the situation and said to the nurse, “How long has Baby’s heart rate been tachy?” And that was that: abdominal surgery for me and a tee-tiny IV to fill Ellie with antibiotics.
Ellie resents being tethered to equipment as much as I do.
What followed that was a seemingly miraculous recovery on my part (according to every nurse there). The next morning I was functioning like an ordinary person (a person without a hole in her stomach) and the morning after that Ellie’s blood tests came back clean and we all got to go home.
We were both really happy to go.
That was Wednesday. Today is Saturday. Except for the obnoxiousness of a glued up incision, I feel better than I have in weeks and weeks.
I also seem to be suffering from some kind of Post-Partum Nesting Instinct. I feel compelled to finish up everything that I had planned for Monday and didn’t get to do. Not the least of which is finishing at least one of three blog posts (I’ve got to do the other two tomorrow) – I’ve been writing this one since yesterday morning. Turns out, babies are an enormous time-suck. Who knew?
PS She is named for my great grandfather’s sister. Aunt Eleanor was (and really still is) one of my most favorite people of all time. “Airey” is a very old family name that my mother and I also share. The Ivey is self-explanatory.
