I woke up earlier than I would have liked this morning and drove D to his exam through several inches of slippery, slushy snow. No such thing as a snow day for a medical student!
Part of the blame for this morning being earlier than I wanted it to be was the fact that I didn't get to bed until much later than I had intended. The reason for that is best shown, not explained. See:
I finally got the body of my sweater done! Mind you, it was 12:30 AM when I finished it. I intended to go to bed closer to, oh, maybe 11:30, and when 11:30 came I decided that I would knit until midnight and then stop, but when midnight came and I was only a very short section away from being completely done with it, well...
I finished.
All that I have left to do now is knit two sleeves, block the pieces, seam them together, and finish it off with a brown i-cord edging and I'm done! The body is going to get soaked and put on my nifty blocking pads from Sam's club (Heavy-duty interlocking safety mats... :D ) today. I'm going to give a sleeve my best shot today as well, and hopefully I can get one done. Personally, I'd like to be wearing this on Thursday when I go to SSK (South-side knitters- a little group of us that meet at a coffee shop Thursday mornings). But... that might just be wishful thinking.
Last Thursday at SSK I was just starting to pick up stitches off of the cable braid across the bottom of the sweater. I needed help from some of my expert knitting friends to finish my calculations about where to make the decreases on the sides. ( I love the cable on this pattern, but I wasn't too excited about wearing a rectangle...) In the hour and a half or so that I worked on it that morning, I picked up my stitches and did about 2 rows beyond that. Not much at all. And yet my goal is to have it finished a week later at our next meeting? A knitter can dream, can't she?
A little note about the decreases I did- I made the braid according to the directions for a L sized sweater, picked up the # of stitches for a L size sweater, (216) and proceeded to make decreases on either side of where the M sized back would be, (center 96 stitches) until I had reached the # of stitches for the M size. (192) I did the decreases fairly evenly spread over the 74 rows it took me to get 15" of fabric. Then I proceeded to work the arm shaping according to the instructions for a M sized sweater. It seems to have worked quite nicely! I will be making two M sized sleeves to match the arm-hole shaping.
Enough taking about it! I must get to work! The time is slipping away from me, and I have plenty of hours to put in, both on the knitting, and a few other things around the house that need to be done. I leave you with a quote that seems fitting in light of my lofty sweater project goals: "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars"
Our baby!
I had our "20 week" ultrasound done today. I'm supposedly only 19 weeks 2 days today, but so long as the ultrasound is done within a week or two, it serves its purpose. The doctor and ultrasound tech checked all of the major anatomical features of the baby, (spine, kidneys, stomach, bladder, brain, heart, etc) making sure they were on track for what they were supposed to, and that there were no visible defects. (And there were none, thank the Lord! Everything is developing properly.)
Seeing how this is my first post about our baby, let me fill you in on what is going on. The doctors have my due date set as July 11th, 2010. God couldn't have planned it better- it's in the middle of the 5-6 week summer break that D has. Today's ultrasound had Baby Goo (our nickname for the child) measuring a little bit bigger than average, but still within the target growth. I was a big baby, (10lb 6 oz,) so I wouldn't be surprised if I also have a big baby. This is our first child, and we are waiting until it is born to find out the gender. (P.S. we're keeping records of the "guesses" of our friends, so if you want to be added to the official list, just include your guess in your comment!) We do have names picked out for both genders, one of which we had decided on before we were married! We'll keep those secret for now. ;)
I was a little disappointed in some of the ultrasound pictures today. Baby Goo wasn't lined up very well for the profile shot, so I'm not even going to post one of it... you can hardly tell it's a baby, let alone the profile of one! My favorite picture by far is the one of Baby Goo's feet:
You can even see the toes on the end of the top foot!
Baby Goo is lying sideways, with the head on my right side, and the feet towards my left. I also found out today that the placenta is between me and the baby, which would explain why I haven't really felt any distinct movement yet. I'm sure I'll be thankful for the cushioning later, once the baby really starts kicking!
We are so excited about this blessing the Lord is entrusting to us. I wouldn't be surprised if Baby Goo becomes the subject matter of many more blog posts! For right now though, I've had a very long and exciting day and am about to grab my knitting and sit out in the other room with D to wind down for the night.
Keeping everyone up-to-date on my Ravelympics projects:
I have finished the BSJ, and I absolutely love the finished product. The colors worked out beautifully. I ended up switching out some of the brighter colorway for one that was a little more earthy. (I would have ended up with too much purple and blue on the front of the sweater, and they are definitely not my favorite colors-- as it is, I love the colors that ended up on the front from the other colorway!) I have about a skein of left over yarn that I'm going to use for a super-secret project. (something small and simple that I can have on hand for birthday and other special occasion gifts...)
Here is the finished sweater:
Buttons will be added once the baby is born, since we are not finding out the gender! :)
The second project on the list also got finished up tonight. It only took me about two hours or less to add the ribbing on the arms, and do the collar, and of course, weave in all the ends. :D
I present: The Mini-Mangyle:
This is for a little guy, (he's almost two I think... I 'd have to check on that!) but it might already be too small on him. Luckly, he now has an infant brother who can grow into it if it doesn't fit him at all, I'll just have to make him a special sweater for his next birthday...
I did start working on my next project, and I hope to have it done by Tuesday night at the latest. I'd be super happy if it were done tomorrow night, (there is a chance I'll be able to swing it) but I'm not going to count on it. If I finish by Tuesday, that will leave me with 12 days for my last two projects: the colorwork mittens, and my Samus sweater... which I will be making in a size L instead of the M size I had planned... so it fits over my baby bump! :P
Goodnight world!
Consider yourself warned.
Ravelympics is off to a good start for me. Last night we took an average of two clocks (one said 9:01 and the other said 8:59) and we started on our projects. A friend of mine cast on her very first lace shawl, and I got out my BSJ WIP project, figured out where I was ( I don't know why I didn't get that done earlier) and let the needles fly!
Time seemed to fly as well, because before I knew it, it was 11:30, and I still had a couple more rows to do to reach my goal for the night. At about 12:05 (right around three hours of knitting) I had finished 20 rows. I hope to have this sweater finished by Sunday night so I can work on the next project in line. Of course I had to average my "time per row", figure out how many rows I had left, add in extra time because each row is getting longer, and then calculate how long the rest of the project should take me. (all of this at midnight with a very tired brain!) Now I know I should be able to complete this in about 10 more hours of work, and that I probably will have put at least 25 hours into knitting this sweater for my little one-to-be.
Oh yes, the reason I wanted to make this post this morning:
Before I started last night:
Picture taken this morning to show how far I've come. Note that I was starting at the red stripe located near the "armpit" of the sleeve last night. I'm quite happy with how far I've come, and I can't wait to see where it will be tonight!
I knit and crochet, and have discovered that Ravelry.com is a very handy website for such crafters. This website issued a challenge to its members: Over the Olympics (17 days) challenge yourself to start and finish a project (no matter how big or small) or finish up projects that have been siting around unfinished (WIP=work in progress) You are allowed to start working on the projects during the opening ceremonies (but not before) and they must be finished by the end of the Olympics for it to get a "medal"
I wanted to do a quick photo preview of the projects that I have planned for the next 17 days. I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but they said to challenge yourself right?
First up:
Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ)
This is a sweater I started for Baby Goo (the nickname for our baby, due in July). It is a WIP, and the first project that I will work on. I'm hoping to have it finished over the weekend... we'll see how long it will actually take me.
Mini-Mangyle
This is a sweater-vest that is (still) a Christmas gift (09) for a friend's toddler. (those are doublepoint needles on it) I obviously don't have much to do... just weaving in ends and ribbing the shoulders and adding a neckline... shouldn't be too bad... less then a day's work I hope.
Entrelac Gloves
Once again, not too hard of a job, just the fingers on the left hand to finish up. Hoping for not much longer than a day or two for this one...
Samus sweater
I have only just started this sweater for myself. It will be this beautiful brown for the bottom of the sweater, and for the bottoms of the cuffs, and then the gorgeous red for the body of the sweater. This will be my biggest challenge, and will probably take most of the 17 days.
Rainbow Delphine Gloves
This will be my only non-WIP project. I'm looking forward to doing the color work on this pattern... I don't have much to say about this I guess, until I start working on them a little more. :)
That's all I have for now! I'm just waiting for 9:00 tonight when I can get out my BSJ and start working on it! :D I am so excited! :D
I tried to think of a title first. What a silly idea. I thought I learned that back when I first watched "Anne of Green Gables, the continuing story"...
My body is tired, my mind is tired (pardon me if I don't make sense.), yet as exhausted as I feel physically, I also feel refreshed. I had a great time enjoying two events that I haven't attended in a long time, enjoying the company of friends that I haven't seen since Christmastime.
I didn't have the energy to get all of the tasks done today that I had intended to. (i.e. washing dishes, organizing the "office" room, etc.) Instead, I chose to enjoy my Thursday as a knitting day. I could choose to feel that I "wasted" my day, or that I failed... I didn't get all of my list done! Instead, I've focused on what I have done at the end of the day.
This is a principle I've been trying to adopt lately... in the past I've struggled to motivate myself to accomplish the things I need to in this castle of mine. I don't have any external motivators, other than the days that I need to drive D (my husband) to school. It's easy to waste my time and then beat myself up afterward for not getting anything done in a day, yet not change anything the following day. It's also easy to set aside one big task for one day... such as organizing a room, cleaning "the whole house" and then not be able to accomplish it all in one day... the key is to look at what you have done. My mentor has been encouraging me to "make small acts out of big plays" (or something like that... I'll have to check that quote) Instead of organizing the office, perhaps tomorrow my goal will be to "start" organizing the office. That way, so long as I get a tiny bite off that job, I am able to feel accomlished.
At the end of your day, what HAVE you done? Not what did you want to accomplish, not what should you have accomplished. Even if it wasn't something on your "list"- if it needed to be done, be glad you got it done! Be encouraged as you think about what you have done, and be determined to do just as well tomorrow.
I officially have a blog.
This raises a few questions in my mind, such as:
What should be the purpose of a blog? Is it to benefit you, the reader, or me, the author? Perhaps both? A place to publicly voice opinions? Simply a journal to document what has happened in my life? To amuse people? Do I want this blog to develop a following, or am I content to let my words, however they are directed in the end, simply float around in silent cyberspace?
I have friends who have knitting blogs, keeping track of their projects, and putting them on display. I have friends who have blogs where they update home churches on the events of their missions trips. I have seen blogs focused on food, on electronics, on green living. Any object or subject which that person finds interesting becomes the content of their blog.
What am I interested in? A short list would contain:
Cooking
Frugal living
Gardening
Knitting
Music
Painting
Photography
Science
This just scratches the surface of what I love doing. This obviously is too much for one blog to focus on. Which brings me back again to why I have this blog.
I want this blog to be an encouragement to those who read it. Whatever I post, be, what I've done that day, or a tip I've learned for frugal living, or my newest crafting project, I want it to be uplifting to those who read it. I want them to walk away with a smile.
:)
