Finished Knit: Green Socks

I love this color. It's so Spring-y and bright. I think socks was a perfect fit for the colorway. You can see them in action over at Millie's Mats - Kim is modeling them beautifully!

Pattern: Just a pair of lovely ankle socks

Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in "Springtime Tonal" - 45 grams / 208 yards

Needles: US 2/2.75mm Harmony wood DPNS

Knitline: January 13th - January 17th

YTD Mileage:  .74 miles

Happy Knitting,

Meg

The Monday Update

They aren't up yet. I wait (un)patiently for the return of the violas.

 Since apparently I only update once a week now.

How about a baby update? We had an appointment this morning and all is fine - blood pressure is fine, I'm fine, baby's heart beat is perfect, everything is fine. Which makes me so incredibly happy. Even though #3 went perfectly in every way, I still get nervous since our first time into parenthood was so scary.

The doctor said that as of tomorrow (at which point I will be 35 weeks) if baby decides to come then they will just let me go and he should be fine. Obviously, they want me to get to at least 38 weeks, but if he were to come tomorrow he should be just fine and probably without the need for NICU or any help. Which also made me happy because, again, I get nervous.

Baby blankets are washed, I am starting to pull out clothes (oh gosh I forgot how tiny and adorable they are), and I will probably be setting up the bassinet soon even though I keep telling myself I still have time. It claws at my heart to put it up. I am pre-registered and pre co-payed with the hospital so we are pretty much ready to go.

We had such a nice day yesterday, complete with a new water heater that is appropriately sized for our household (yay for showers longer than 5 minutes!), and 60 pounds of ground beef.

Yes.

60.

It was on sale and I had money set aside from knitting that I had been holding onto to see what we needed it for and I haven't bought beef in so long because it's so stinking expensive so... Well, wouldn't you have bought 60 pounds too? One package became hamburgers for dinner and a mess of meatballs for the future, and the rest went into freezer bags in one pound measurements.

I wish I had taken a picture of our dining room table after we were done packing it in bags. It was a beautiful (albeit odd) site. Ben said that based on a 1200 pound steer, we just bought 5% of a cow, which made me laugh. And now my freezers are absolutely jam packed full of meat (because I bought on-sale chicken breasts two weeks ago), and meals I have been prepping, that we really cannot buy anything else that requires freezing until we eat some of this stuff up. It makes my little heart happy.
 

For knitting I am working on a pair of socks for myself and

A new design. This color is no where near what it is in real life. The colorway is called "Port", so imagine more burgundy-red than purply-magenta. Even though at first I didn't like the color of the socks, the color changes are starting to grow on me now and I think they will turn out nicely.

I want to make a baby sweater but am having a hard time finding one that I like. So either I will pick one, or design one. Not sure which yet.

I have a few finished projects to show you now that I know the recipients have received them.  But with my recent track record, you might not see them until Monday!

And now I must go, because this post is way longer than I meant it to be. If you made it this far, thank you!

Today is Monday and that means laundry with the addition of banana muffin baking (oh they smell so good), Downton Abby watching, and of course - knitting!!

Have a wonderful week,
Meg

Drizzly Monday

Last year's rain picture, but it looks the same outside today.

Ah, what a beautiful, wonderful, grey, wet morning. I'm finally seeing some rain!

How was your weekend? Ours was very nice and productive.

It rained a bit Friday night and early Saturday morning, but by the time it was light enough to appreciate it, the rain had stopped and the clouds went away. I was so disappointed. But today looks like it will be a better day for rain.

Thank you all so much for the meal suggestions! You've reminded me of quite a few I used to make, and given me some new ideas as well. Between those suggestions and some cookbooks I got at the library I think I will get out of my slump and be nicely prepped for baby.

I had a baking binge on Saturday that produce 2 loaves of toast bread, two big batches of rolls (one for the freezer), 2 loaves of french bread, a double batch of pizza dough that became pizza for dinner and calzones for the freezer, and a triple batch of pancakes (which disappeared by Sunday morning. So much for lasting all week.) My kitchen is covered in bread products and it's wonderful.

And today I think I will make some sweet thing. Cookies, or brownies or something.

Sunday was a lazy day for me. I think I wore myself out on Saturday. But Ben took advantage of the sunny weather and mowed the lawn and cleaned flower beds. Everything looks so nice now, and we are dreaming of the plants to come. I am so excited to be cooking from my backyard again. Too bad I still have to wait quite a long time for that.

When I wasn't baking, I spent the weekend working on some Valentine's ornaments and I have half of one left. They are so stinkin' cute. Once I'm done with these I think I will take a knitting break (gasp) to get some reading done (my hands are starting to hurt a bit), and then it's time for baby things! Seeing as how I don't have very long left and I can't bring him home naked. ;)

Mmmm, it's started raining nicely now. Time for laundry and then sitting in my rocking chair with a big cup of tea and enjoying this weather while it's here.

Have a great Monday!
Meg

We're Alive!

For the most part.

Man, this one knocked us on our butts. We're still all coughy and germy and runny, but on the mend. In fact, the kids must be feeling better because they are all wrestling on the floor behind me right now.

I am so thankful that Ben was not sick while we were. He had it first, but by the time we got it he was pretty much over it and he's been taking very good care of us by fixing and/or getting dinner, cleaning up, and being my drug runner (aka he went to Rite Aid and got the pregnancy-approved drugs that I called the nurse about in a moment of "I'm going to die" desperation. I usually abhor taking medication of any sort, especially while pregnant, but I was very desperate.)

Life has been pretty boring around here since we've been out of commission. I started a pair of socks on Monday, but illness apparently affects my ability to count and figure out gauge (and speed) and by the time Thursday got here I realized that it really was just too small and more knitting was not going to fix it so just rip it out and start over for heaven's sake.

Which I did. And now that one is done, and the second one is cast on and moving along nicely.

Yesterday was grocery shopping day and I picked up ingredients for quite a few different recipes I will be trying in the next two weeks. I'm so excited to have new things to cook. Hopefully I will have good things to share for What's Cooking!

After a few weeks of balmy, warm, spring like weather we are finally getting cold! In fact, we might even get rain next weekend! We haven't had rain since November, and even then it wasn't a lot. We take full responsibility for that - we got a new roof, therefore it doesn't rain. I told Ben I'm tempted to just stick a hose up there just to test it out. But it has been cloudy off and on for three days now and it's just wonderful.

I must be starting to nest because I am making lists of things that need to be done before baby gets here (you know, besides make ridiculous amounts of bread). Only seven weeks left! Baby things need to be washed, bassinet needs to be set up,  diapers and things need to be bought, and I am hoping to get a few meals made up to put in the freezer. Does anyone have some good freezer meals  or resources that you'd suggest (that do not involved Cream of Sodium-Overload Soup)?


Happy Monday,
Meg

Finished Knit: Babylove in Blue

First finished knit of the year! I'll make this short and sweet because we are all sick and I feel like crawling in a hole and dieing.

This blanket turned out lovely. For the last one (the yellow one) I used a cotton blend. This time I used a Superwash merino wool and nylon blend (machine washable for mama's sanity). This yarn bloomed beautifully after a good wash. It was so soft it made me want to find a baby right then to wrap it in. I just love this little pattern.

Pattern: Babylove Blanket

Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Sport in "Wave Heather" - 8 balls / 400 grams / 1096 yards

Needles: US 4/3.5 mm Susan Bates circulars

Knitline: January 1st - January 10th

YTD Mileage: .62 miles. First project and already over half way to a mile!

Now it's time to find some very hot tea.

Happy Friday everyone!
Meg

Doings

Currently blooming

Ah, what a lovely spring day!

Hmm?

What's that you say?

It's still January? Not even the middle of January yet? Oh. Well, someone might want to tell the weather that.

We've had wonderfully warm weather for the past 2 weeks and while it has been nice to sit outside and sun bathe... I'm not looking forward to the summer this is probably going to bring. Although it should mean a better year for the garden.

How have you all been? I feel I've been so boring lately. I have nothing interesting or saucy to write about.

Umm... We had to have a plumber come out and fix our shower! We had a lovely continuous leak from the handle (not the shower head) which was a little worrisome and when Ben turned the shower off the other night and it started not just leaking but spewing... Well I finally broke down and called someone. It's now fixed and a bonus is the handle is so much easier to turn now!

Oh, that's not exciting? Sorry. Told you I've been boring.

The baby blanket is nearly done and I'm so over this project. Don't get me wrong, I love babies, and baby knitting and I have enjoyed knitting this blanket. But it's a large project, and all I've had over the past few weeks is large projects and I'm so very ready to start the few small, little instant-gratification projects that I have lined up. (Well, you know, as instant as 4 or 5 days can be.)

I picked up a mess of books at the library today, most of them being recipe books since I am in such a pathetic menu slump. Hopefully I can get at least a few new meals into our rotation.

I am starting to do the "I need to prep for baby" planning. 32 weeks today! Almost there!

For some reason I am completely terrified that we will run out of bread (of all things) in the first week or two while I'm doing nothing but feeding this new creature. And apparently I can't even comprehend the thought of buying store bread. The horrors! (It's really hard to go back after having homemade almost exclusively for the last 4 years.) So my plan is to make an extra loaf each time I make bread until March and stick it in the freezer. Why I don't seem to be concerned about any other food item, I don't know. I guess they can just eat peanut butter sandwiches for a week. ;) Why I also seem to ignore the fact that my husband is a completely capable adult and is always willing and able to jump in and take care of the kids and grocery shop when I'm down and out... I don't know that either. We'll blame it on hormones.

I am garden planning.

There, I said it. Admission is the first step, right? Planting season really doesn't start until at least April around here but the seed companies have been sending me their beautiful catalogs and I have started my list of things to plant this year. I am very, very excited.

I think I need to start a quilt.

We'll blame this on the hormones too.

Happy Tuesday everyone!
Meg

Wednesday

Babylove in blue

It's the first Wednesday of the new year! I don't really have a lot to talk about, but I felt like posting something.

How was everyone's weekend? We have a very nice two day weekend, filled with some grocery shopping, movie watching, brisket smoking and puttering around. Monday I scrubbed my house while Ben reorganized the garage and I feel lots better now with everything all clean.

I just barely made it to midnight. We were watching Bourne Identity and I had to make sure I was sitting all the way up. At one point I snuggled into Ben and almost went lights out. I'm so boring these days haha.

I have a new favorite thing. I have been hearing about this tea from a few podcasts I listen to and finally found it at Vons over Christmas weekend. It is Good Earth Original Sweet & Spicy Decaf (wow, that's a mouthful!) and it's quite delicious. They are right about the spicy part. I've been enjoying it with a splash of cream and a bit of sugar. It's just as good cold as it is hot. Although I'm realizing that my very favorite and go to tea is Earl Grey. But this is good if I'm in an frisky mood.

In case y'all were wondering - I did finish the shawl before 2012 hit! I cast it off around 7:30pm, but I did cheat a little. More on that in the finished post.

On Sunday I started the blue baby blanket in the first picture. It's whipping along quite nicely. I love having a list of orders - it's nice when someone else chooses what I knit instead of me trying to come up with something (like 5 billion Emilies....)

Happy Wednesday,
Meg

2012 Goals & Resolutions

Ah, I love the start of a new year, don't you? So many possibilities! And so much time to get things done.

Let's jump right in shall we?

This year is going to be a bit different than past resolution lists. While I have a few actual "To Dos", I feel like this year is going to be more of a theme.

I want this year to be a year of exploring, learning and creating. I want to learn new things this year - knitting techniques, more canning/preserving, business principles, etc.

I have a list of books I'd like to read this year regarding all those topics.

I have a ton of designs in my head I'd like to try out - not just for knitting!

I want to let myself go and see what comes about.

So I think this year my biggest resolution will be:

1. Learn & Create!

And then in addition to that

2. Have another small creature. This should be done in about two months. ;)

3. Work on organization! I'm already a fairly organized (read: ever-so-slightly anal) person. But with a new one coming and giving up our office in the next year, things will need to be even more organized than they are already. So, I will be working on ways to get that done. Ok so it mainly pertains to my voluptuous stash of yarn... 

4. Get out of my cooking slump. I have been making the same stupid, boring things over. And over. And over again for months. I need to try some new recipes and find some exciting things. I like casseroles and crock pot recipes for their ease and ability to feed 3 hungry boys and a hungry man, especially with a new babe in tow. If y'all have any suggestions, that would be appreciated.

5. Knit 10 miles. One of these years I will do it! I. WILL. DO. IT.

6. Make this sweater. I have been drooling over it for a year now. And with yarn gift cards for Christmas I think it might be a possibility this year!

Looks like a good list to me! I thought about adding gardening stuff, but since that all kind of depends on the weather and elements that are not of my control I'll leave that out and hope for the best.

So, what are your goals/resolutions/plans/hopes for the new year?

Happy New Year!
Meg