Sunday, September 18, 2011

snugly bugly rugly

Ok baby, I'm ready!

Well, I've actually been ready for a while, however, I have happily completed both a girl sweater and a boy sweater, meaning that my knitting is in order and you can be born anytime now. Please!


In all honesty, I finished the little boy sweater a week or so ago, but have had no energy for photographing it, and so it waited. But Costco had sheepskin rugs on sale (I've wanted one forever) and I magically found inspiration for a few snugly photos. In other news, Bugaboo approves of the sheepskin for snuggle purposes. We'll have to find a nice central spot in the new house where it can be readily available for snuggles whenever.





Back to the sweater. I found it on Ravelry; 'Knitted Jacket with Raglan Sleeves and Cables' by DROPS design. The pattern is fabulous, but the way it's written is horrendous. Literally, I had to decode it every step of the way. I'm honestly thinking of organizing all my notes and posting a user friendly version. The biggest issue I had, was most of the pattern seemed to be nonsense until you tried it, failed, realized what they had meant, and then did it again. For example, the cables are all from charts. The key to the charts are on a separate page. I was within an inch of the end when I realized that I had been doing them upside down all along (no big deal though). The decrease pattern at the end was similar, however I did do it right. I think if I try this one again (which I think I will now that I have it deciphered) I'll decrease a lot more though, because the neck is really big. We'll see how it looks on the baby (if he's a boy).






Anyhow, it's lovely and soft and warm and I'm really pleased with how it came out, mistakes and all.







Oh, and for the record, Mom did all they tying in of the loose ends for me. :)

Saturday, September 17, 2011

summer sweater knit along - finally finished

...ish.


I never did tie in all the annoying little loose ends.



However, for all intensive purposes this baby (referring to the sweater here, still waiting on the other one) is DONE!


It was for the wonderful fun Summer Sweater Knit Along hosted by luvinthemommyhood. I had already been planning on making this, and actually had all the materials just awaiting my knitting pleasure! It's called the 'One Button Wonder' from Sirdar's 'Big Softie Knits for Beginners' book. Super easy and fast to knit up, which is just perfect for a busy mommy who doesn't have hours a day to spend knitting.




I do have to apologise for the photos though. Our house has no clear spot with ok lighting, and so by the time we made out it into the yard I had been wearing the sweater for about 10 minutes and it was really very hot (and it doesn't take much to make a pregnant woman cranky).

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

bun in the oven

...well, bread to be precise. You see, during my previous pregnancy I had no cravings whatsoever. From time to time a specific food would be rather appealing, but nothing out of the ordinary and nothing I couldn't do without. This time has been similar, nothing I couldn't live without, but there have been a few occasions where something a little odd would pop into my head. Now, I am a rather picky eater, preferring bland and simple foods, so any sort of food combination automatically counts as unusual for my tastes, safe though they may seem.


The first was early in my pregnancy, where the idea of apple pizza was simply awesome. Just think of a nice thin crust dough with an apple bbq sauce (like they do at Montana's) some yummy pulled pork and mozza to top it off. No wait actually with a few very thinly sliced pieces of apple to top it off; perfect! Still waiting on this one.


Then, for a while I decided that fried plantain coins would be the perfect place for some pulled pork in bbq sauce. Turns out they are! Hopefully this one is still as appealing after the baby because it really is a very lovely snack.


Finally, a friend of mine mentioned a bakery by her house a few weeks ago and instantly I could see the perfect loaf of bread. Blueberry Cinnamon Bread. Yum. It has to be bread, not like a cake loaf, but it should be sweet. I eventually came around to realizing that a cinnamon raisin loaf (raisins substituted for blueberries, obviously) would suffice.


Anyhow, with my little one due in just a few days, my mom has been visiting and pretty much taking care of us. And it just so happens that she is a fabulous bread baker. Sure enough, even with the help of my little chef-Bugaboo, in no time she had a few loaves of bread, a loaf of pumpkin-spice bread, and a blueberry-cinnamon loaf baking merrily in the oven. So they now sit on the cooling racks, the scent wafting through the house, making it a beautiful relaxing afternoon.


It turned out perfectly!

Friday, September 9, 2011

feeling good about growing

So I'm due in two weeks. I'm sad that I haven't had it in me to post anything and have no solace in knowing that it will get worse before it gets better. However, life is exciting and it's becoming even more so as the few remaining days pass before I get to meet my new little darling.


And if a new baby isn't exciting enough, we've finally been offered a bigger house so a move will be in the works over the next month too. Whew.


The end of September and our new baby has been something I've been excited about for such a long time, that as it approaches I'm reminded of all the other things I love about fall! All the beautiful leaves (which we don't actually get here, but I think of them and I'm happy), the cool weather, the harvest and all the fun celebrations that go with it.


Now, with a new baby, and a move on Thanksgiving weekend (who thought that was a good idea?), it will be a meek and mild harvest-time party round these parts, but one little feature will make it more special than ever. This year at our big dinner, my little man and I will be able to share the literal fruits of our labour; food from our garden! The snow peas have been saved and the squash has been picked and will be ready to join the feast. I haven't quite worked in how to incorporate the tiny tomatoes, but they're coming out of the garden by the bowlful and will make an appearance somehow. So yeah, the onions and watermelon, although they didn't exactly die, didn't work for us this time, but I am thrilled that we were able to share this whole experience and that our hard work rewarded us with treats to share and a deep satisfaction of growing a garden. A simple thing, but it connects us with a simpler time, with anyone else who's gardened for a lively hood or just for the love of it, and it is something I'm finding to be profound.




My two year old probably doesn't get the depth I've found in this little garden of ours, but it's an experience we can share year after year (and I intend to), and a passion I hope he will find on his own. And to make me feel even better about myself, I stumbled on a little project encouraging people to garden for the benefit of themselves and the environment, which made me say "yay! I did that!" So as I grow (and grow and grow) I'm also feeling pretty darn pleased about the growing my little Bugaboo and I have done this summer too!