Trains and Sweater Vests

Here's a video we shot of Adrian a couple of days ago.



It features the train table that Michael and I built (okay, he built, and I painted).

It also features Adrian in an argyle sweater vest that Mimi (my momma) bought for him. I'm IN LOVE with sweater vests on my kid.

That's my next pattern--a basic, quick-knit, little-boy sweater vest pattern. I'm going to call it "Roy" or something like that.

Here's why:



We love us some Roy 'round here.

Mohair Frenzy

I love mohair yarn. Love love love.

Whenever I hit a LYS, I always check the odd-balls basket for skeins of mohair. I don't care about color, weight, or anything--I just buy it. It is the ultimate stash yarn because it's so versatile.

Mohair? Versatile?

Yes.

Here's what I've made with mohair over the last few months. Oh crap, I think I mean "over the last year," not months, at this point. Whatever:



From left to right [links are to my Ravelry project pages]:

Pythagoras.
Nimbostratus.
Wisp [modified with Victorian lace trim].
Oread [a version of the Pi Shawl -- instructions here].

And that's just the shawls.

What's your favorite yarn/fiber type? (Don't say Cascade 220. Snore.)

--Katie Rose

Just when I thought...

...that I couldn't get any bigger...

[this is a picture from about a month ago]



...I realize that I'm wrong.

[this is a picture from this morning]



What's amazing is that, from the front, you just don't have an inkling that I'm the circumference of a mid-sized hippopotamus.



Oh, maybe you do.

2.5 weeks to go.

--Katie Rose

Quilts by Mimi

Mimi is what my mother's grandkids call her. Sometimes Adrian gets mixed up and says "Mimimommy" or "Momimimi."

My mom quilts. A lot. My favorites are the ones that tend to not follow rigid patterns, like this one with butterflies on it:



The butterflies came from a print fabric that she cut into pieces. You can't see the quilt stitchery in this photograph, unfortunately, but it's really amazing. This one is about 7" by 5" in size.

But she also made this hilarious quilt using photo-print-fabric (!). These are all pictures from Adrian's first year:



The one in the middle with him in yellow was taken in the NICU while we were packing him up to come home. This one is hanging on the wall in Adrian's room now (soon to be the "boys' room" since they're going to share a bedroom).

4.5 weeks to go!

--Katie Rose

A Small Milestone

Long-time readers may remember that I had some trouble getting pregnant with my son, Adrian.

That was no fun.

Slightly less long-time readers may remember that Adrian then decided to come 6 weeks early and had to spend a week in the NICU.

That was hell, by the way.

Here's me, still IV'd up from delivery, visiting my baby despite the wires and tubes and my achey body.



I don't want to go through that again.

Today, Thursday, I'm 34 weeks and 5 days pregnant, and I'm officially past the day when Adrian was born (on 34 weeks, 4 days). I feel like I've passed a major milestone.

Of course, Adrian turned out fine, but having my water break so early when I just stood up from my desk and everything that followed after was so traumatic that I'm grateful to have even one more day being pregnant with Edward.

(I'm due in just over 5 weeks. My mother says that it'll serve me right to have Edward come a week late.)

-Katie Rose

Here's Another One

Some context: I live in the south.

I was walking through Duke Hospital on my way to my OB appointment today, and a man stepped in front of me and stopped me with this amazed expression on his face, and said:

"Wow. You're all baby!"

[Sounds like: Wow! Yur awl bay-bee.]

Then he said, "Keep it up, girl!" And walked on down the hall.

His joy was hard to argue with. Plus that's a great compliment--because I think he was meaning that I'm not a fat tub (like I was with my first baby).

However, his flagrant study of my body kind of creeped me out. I mean, can you imagine if this sort of thing happened if I weren't pregnant? Like, "Wow, you're all legs!"??

(Oh wait, that would mean his was talking to my sister.)

Quick Observation

When you ask a pregnant woman, "When are you due?" and she answers, "Seven weeks from now," do NOT reply with this:

"Are you sure?"

Yes. I'm sure. I'm also aware that I'm completely enormous, so you don't need to point that out, even if only by implication.