Do you love Franklin, or what?

OK. . .

Have you all seen this?

I’ve gotta say, Franklin has a good hold on the straight male population for a gay man. I personally found this exceedingly funny because these days, my breasts are not my own, and a good portion of my day seems to be using them for another’s benefit (namely, the squeaker man). When it comes to seeing them as the objects of glory they once were, well, frankly, I’m just not there. As in, hands off! (If you told me I’d have this attitude say, a year ago, I’d have laughed in your face.) Poor husband. I don’t think he’d be interested if yarn started coming out either.
Well, I’ve got packing to do, but before I go, since the computer is behaving, I’ll leave you with two happy FO’s. . .one completed Jaywalker and a lovely ruffled scarf. Both projects are in my Ravelry notebook, but for those who aren’t on ravelry, i’ll be more than happy to provide yarn details as needed.

Hope those pictures came through. I really don’t care for wordpress, the formatting drives me nutty. Oh, and last but not least, I want to thank you guys for comments. It’s so nice to know you’re still out there after my long absence 🙂 Lotsa love.

Goodness Gracious. . .

I can’t even tell you how many posts I’ve started. . .and then had to throw away, because they were already outdated.

Does that mean:

1. I was just waiting for my ravelry invite?

No. For some reason, it really irked me that the page where you can look up your invite says www. ravelry.com/antsy. I’m antsy, didn’t you know? I was #14,043. No more waiting for me!! I’m antsy!!

• You signed up on July 5, 2007
• You are #14043 on the list.
• 1862 people are ahead of you in line.
• 18273 people are behind you in line.
• 37% of the list has been invited so far

 

2. I’ve been knitting like a maniac?

 

Um, not really. I’ve completed one Jaywalker and a happy ruffled scarf, but have tons of christmas knitting left. Why do i start these things when I know i can’t finish?

 

 

 

3. I’ve moved blogs and just didn’t tell you?

 

No. Wouldn’t do that. Although wordpress is so fussy to post to, I’m really considering just switching to Blogger.

 

 

4. I’ve been busy, say, taking care of my kid and buying a house?

 

 

Bingo. finally, we hit the nail on the head. Life is crazy. I’m not even singing anymore (which is sad.) But I am now a proud houseowner, and my kid is 4 1/2 months old already!! He’s a good squeaker. Still keeping me up at night though.

Speaking of which. . .goodnight. I will try to be more regular about my posts!!

For the record, I’m really, really enjoying ravelry. In fact, you could call me obsessed. It’s well done. Sign up people!!

Zal Collins Richardson born 5/15/2007 @ 7:46 AM

Lord help us, he came early. 🙂

Well, apparently my wee small boy was ready to see the world before I figured he’d be ready, he showed up nearly 2 1/2 weeks early to find mom and dad a bit surprised (but obviously totally pleased) and grandparents ridiculously thrilled.  He weighed in at 5 lbs 11 oz, 19 inches long. Yep, tiny. As knitmongrel enjoyed pointing out before he arrived, he’s chihuaha-sized. (I actually think he might be smaller than some).  His eyes are still that indeterminate slate-blue color that could mean they’ll end up brown or blue (I’m hoping for blue like his daddy), and he came with a FULL head of hair on him, all of which is ridiculously soft and tends to end up all spiky and funny.

He’s sleeping sweetly in a sling on my chest right now which is the only reason I can post to you all. As for all my lovely knit goodies. . .someday darlings, some day!! At this point I’ll almost have to wait until they all fit him and have him model. Of course nothing fits him at the moment in any case. . .all our “newborn” and “0-3 month” onesies are too big! Whoevah woulda thunk it?

 Not much to say except to leave you with another couple of pictures, these from yesterday (his one-week birthday). . .he makes the BEST faces.

Oh where, oh where has our knitdds been?

(yes, you could sing that to the right tune)

Believe it or not kids, I have actually been out of town, but for no more than a week and a half, and it’s been a shamefully long time since I’ve posted anything. Lemme fill you in quickly, and I’ll make a proper post with pictures soon. . .

I took my boards on March 7 in Dallas.

Mid March, we went traipsing off to London to have tea with the queen and visit some dear, dear friends (the hubby’s spring break)

I’ve been knitting a sweet ribbed baby hat and that multidirectional scarf, but frankly, haven’t had time for much else, because since then . . .

I’ve been researching and receiving baby stuff, and my house (er, my teeny 1 1/2 bedroom apartment) looks like it’s been assimilated by a giant baby. AND, I’ve been inundated by stunning hand-knitted and hand made baby gifts and MUST post pictures of all of them so you can see how supremely crafty and genius-like my friends are.

BTW, baby stuff is so cute, sometimes it actually causes me physical pain. But the little guy inside me is still doing just fine. The bump continues to grow, to my wonderment. And I continue to be mostly comfortable 8-). Seeing as how I’m at 36 weeks starting next wednesday (yes, that’s the beginning of month 9. . .the truth is that pregnancy goes 40 weeks which means he’s in there until the beginning of month 10), I’m grateful for that.

 And, I PASSED MY BOARDS!!!  Which means that officially, it’s the last test I’ll ever have to take. (I will re-certify every 10 years, which is ok by me. . .never hurts to stay up on your stuff, y’know).

So, I promise, I’m working on pictures of all the tantalizing things I’ve received, but you’ll just have to wait a bit for them, because as this kid grows, he tires me out, and I have a lot of stuff to do over here. . .my thank you note list is extraordinary! 

Oh, it’s early. . .

Kids, it’s 7:14 on a Saturday morning. Not so early, you say? Well, actually, I’ve been up since 4 AM. Nobody else is up in the house, why me? At least it’s quiet at the moment.

It’s funny, they say your body prepares you to be a mother. (I don’t understand what increasing the size of my ass has to do with that, but hey, I can accept that).  I’ve been consistently waking up at 4 am or so (kicked awake by the baby, most of the time), wide, wide awake. Me, who can sleep till 10AM easy on an off day. Me, the girl who needs her coffee so desperately in the morning that her husband makes it first priority and wakes up to make it even on the days she’s up at 5am.  W-I-D-E awake. As in, the rest of the people in my apartment are still asleep and I don’t need coffee to be coherent. OK, you get the point.

In any case, apparently I’m preparing to be woken up in the middle of the night. Or so says my prenatal yoga teacher (who’s a bit granola-y but nice). Because once this kiddo comes out he’s going to want to nurse every couple of hours, and he’ll be waking up at 4am for at least another 9-12 months.

Which probably means, I need to do some useful blogging during these early morning hours, because, hey, nobody wants the computer!

With that, I’d like to present you with some pr0n yumminess, so you can see what I’ve got in store:

 Here I present to you Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted in the Lakeview colorway. Yum!!

What are my plans for this lovely, gorgeous, fabulous yarn?

I’m going to make an Odessa (by Grumperina) and a Noro silk garden scarf (by Karen Baumer, who put together that brilliant sock pattern).

Look again. . .it’s so pretty, isn’t it?

I’m frankly, a little nervous about making the Odessa in such a variegated yarn, I’ve only ever seen solid Odessas. But these are the patterns my best friend picked for her Christmas hat and scarf, hence these are the patterns she’s getting!

 Frankly, after my boards are done, I’m going to be very busy knitting. I did end up buying yarn for BOTH the pig (for whom I’ll need a nice name, any suggestions?) and Norberta. . .and I’m frankly really excited to be making both. Knitmongrel, bless her heart, offered to make me a pig but I’ve ALREADY been so spoiled by her and by Knitmasala (you remember Mortimer, Sheldon, and the wee blue hoodie?), and I really do want to make that pig!

Well, I have an exciting day ahead of me. A birthday party for Knitmasala’s lovely girl, who turns a big 3 today (I bought her fun pop-up books), and then dinner and the opera with the parents and the inlaws. Cosi Fan Tutte, by Mozart, if anyone cares. So maybe I’ll venture out and see if anyone’s stirring. If not, maybe I’ll bang some pots together 😉

Bad, BAD knitpicks!!

Help, y’all.

I was all set to make Norberta. Y’know, the sweet baby dragon in this winter’s Knitty? I was going to make her with green scales and blue or purple accents. . .

Then, I go on Knitpicks to pick up the yarn, and lo and behold:

All together now: Awwwwwwwwwww. 

So, this is the year of the Pig, I’m told. And my mother-in-law has a thing for pigs. . .she grew up on a pig farm and had a mom that collected pigs. Hence, I have a stinky suspicion that this pig must be made for the Boy.

He’s awfully sweet, this pig. But I was so ready to make Norberta. And I don’t like the checks on his nose and feet. . .which is not to say I have to make them. . .ARGH!!

Alright, already! I’m going to order the yarn!

Yet another long promised FO. . .

. . .well at this rate, I’m going to have everything I promised you!! The last thing to show is my  momma’s cutie pie potato chip scarf, which frankly, I haven’t actually seen on her (she’s all excited and claims she has the perfect outfit to wear it with).

 Here I’d like to present the lovely knitmongrel, modelling the calorimetry I made for her:

First of all, I’m really pleased with how this looks on her. . .her hair really sets off the colors of the yarn. What is it? Actually, her favorite, her love, yes, malabrigo. I was so pleased to find this yarn that I didn’t really care if I made gauge or not 😎 which is lucky for me because it turned out quite large and fits her well. You’ll notice that at the moment she’s wearing it wrapped a bit more than it’s supposed to be, she says it has stretched out a bit since she’s been wearing it so much! I did use my #8’s to knit it as called for in the pattern, so beware those of you who want to make one, it might come out a bit larger. But as this was my first experience knitting with malabrigo, I do have to say. . .yummy. It was so wonderful and smooth to knit with, worked like a dream, and super, duper fast. . .I probably started and finished it within a week (and I’m a busy girl)

Here’s another picture from the front:

Aw, she’s so cute. If you’re a knitmongrel fan, you’ll notice she’s also wearing her knit-over-christmas-week raglan which turned out so beautifully.

So that’s the news from this front. . .only one more un-photographed FO to go!! Right now I’m working on my Jaywalker socks for my mother-in-law again. . .they’re so gorgeous but they’re taking forever and frankly, my studying is more important. So they’re progressing slowly. 

This kid (and his mom) are SO spoiled. . .

alright, you guys remember my secret pal, Jen from MedicKnits?

Well, first, she sent me THIS:

Then, she sent me THIS:

 THEN, she sent me THIS (once she heard I was pregnant):

And, as she was revealing herself this month, she promised yet ANOTHER package. . .and she sent. . .are you ready for this. . .THIS

Then she sends a note with it saying, I hope you don’t mind (don’t MIND?!?!) that I crocheted something for your baby. . .as in, since I’m a knitter (who can’t crochet to save her life), hopefully I don’t mind that this is crocheted instead of knitted! Um, hello, you MADE this. . .with your HANDS. . .and your TIME. . .for me and my baby, and I’m supposed to quibble about whether it’s knitted or crocheted?!

Hee hee. Jen, you’re amazing. The sweater and hat are GORGEOUS. . . .gorgeous, gorgeous. And more yarn!! You have done more for my stash than my husband would like!! (He’s always making noise about how much yarn I have and how we’re going to have tribbles overtaking the corner where my yarn is stored) AND you sent me all that gorgeous green yarn. . .I am humbled and so, so grateful. And totally spoiled. Thank you so much.

For those of you who are crocheters, here’s a closeup on the sweater detail. Innit fantastic?

So then, I show up to choir on monday, all excited to see knitmongrel back from her East coast trip (she learned to needle felt, went to Grumperina’s LYS, generally had a ball, go read all about it). Well, apparently she also had some extra time on her hands to knit THIS.

So this is machine washable. And so SOFT. . .and I forget the yarn that it’s made of. Bad me. But I promised her she could have a pic to post, so I’ll get it to her, she’ll post up the pic and tell you all about it, because it’s a great little FO. . .but as for me, being the recipient of so much goodness in just a weekend. . .I feel like I have to sit down, I’m so overwhelmed by the love.

I love having knitters as friends, they have the most generous hearts, and I feel so incredibly loved. And you can bet that the little booger is going to hear long stories about how his Aunt Mongrel and his mom’s secret pal were the best knitters and crocheters ever and they made the clothes on his little back with so much love. Thank you Jen and Aunt Mongrel!!

A long promised FO:

Here’s a shot of my cutie-patootie baby bro, Z,  in the hat I made him for Christmas. He’s a computer-type worker bee in Mad-town, WI, and he bought a motorcycle last year. Well, he wears his hair about as short as possible, and complained this fall that his head was always cold and he needed a tiny hat to wear under the helmet and to wear everyday in the wintertime. Well, what could I do?

So, for his christmas present, I went out and bought some wickedly soft Karabella cashmere (50% cashmere, 50% merino) and knit him up a little beanie with a 2×2 rib at the bottom and some easy decreases on the top. I wanted to make him a Marsan watchcap , but he wasn’t into the idea of the cuff at the bottom, wanted his hat as plain as he could get it. Ever since he was a baby, Z has been into everything “soft”. . .so we never consider buying him anything that might be the tiniest bit scratchy because he just won’t wear it.

 And yes, ladies, he’s taken. When knitmongrel met him and realized they were both Tom Waits fans, she was apparently sorely tempted to leave her wonderful husband. We haven’t met the girl to tie him down all the way yet, so we’ll see (I like this girlfriend, though). The husband is not one to request things, but when the other day I offered to make him another with the other skein I bought (hey, at $25 a pop, I’m not wasting THIS yarn), he seemed to be into the idea.

 I just heard on the radio: It’s actually warmer in Anchorage, AK today than it is here in Chicago. It’s absolutely frigid here. It’s Superbowl Sunday, and I’ll tell you what: as much as I love this city and I love living in it, I will forever continue to be absolutely anti-Bears. Hey, I’m a Packer fan. My father claims an actual headline on today’s Milwaukee Journal was along the lines of: “How to enjoy the Superbowl despite the fact that the Bears are playing” So, since it’s superbowl Sunday and the Bears are in the superbowl, I will be rooting for the Indianapolis Colts. I’ve been following the Colts all season, mostly because knitmasala is a devoted fan, and so I’ll be watching the game at her house (I do believe there’s actually a moratorium on Bears fans at her house), accompanied by some homemade pizza, soup, and ice cream.

Yes, the ice cream is homemade by yours truly, thanks to the wonderful husband who gave me a much-desired ice-cream maker for my birthday. Chocolate, of course, for the first venture. I’ll let you know whether or not the reviews are positive. Go Colts!!!

Wow!!

Secret pal revealed, kids, here she is. . .

drumroll please for the greatest secret pal EVER. . .

 JEN from Medicknits !!!!!

So, if you’ve been following the saga, you know I’ve received not one, not two, but THREE secret pal packages from her. . .and apparently since I wasn’t spoiled enough with those lovely things, you’ll note on her site that she’s sending me yet something else. . .8-)

Jen, thank you so very much for all the wonderful, wonderful yarn and chocolate and books and everything you sent. I can’t wait to put it all to good use (and I’m determined to use it for MYSELF for a change, I swear). And I got a sneak peek at that lovely crocheted sweater and hat, and can’t wait to adorn my wee boy with them when he comes popping out!! I’ll let you know when it arrives on my doorstep, it should be any day now.

Alright, off to feed the wee man, he must be growing these days, he keeps me so hungry and tired. . .