Big Plans

Mini-Me
A rare picture of myself on the blog. Please excuse the unwashed hair and the tv in the background. Out of the five pictures Weston snapped of me, this was the only one that had me in focus instead of the tv.... I swear, he rarely takes a good picture of me. Weird. Today I am 24 weeks pregnant. That baby is growing!

In Sawyer news, we have been super busy. A lot of time has been spent at the zoo, the museum, and outside! Not many pictures, as he runs everywhere and is quick! It has been a really nice summer so far, and the few rainy days we have spent at the museum, which has been a life saver! Sawyer loves it there... it is so fun to watch him run around and play.

On Pins and Needles
I have decided to try my hand at sewing a few diapers for Baby.  I cut one out and added the snaps to it tonight. I hope to have it finished up by the end of the weekend.  I would work on it more tonight, but I feel like spinning.... I also have the supplies to sew Sawyer a new diaper. If these turn out, I might have a new addiction! I don't think they will take a lot of time to sew and man are there some cute diaper fabrics out there! Plus, adding the snaps is so fun. And since I will have two in diapers (hopefully not for too long) I can't have too many!

Right Around, Baby
I have been really into my spinning lately. It is so fun to take fluff and turn it into yarn.  I mailed my swap package with my latest yarn today, and I'm going to cheat and post a pic... hopefully my partner doesn't peek!

Random Chatter

Weston and I are taking the train to Seward on Saturday! I am very excited about it. Sawyer will be staying with Weston's mom, as it is an all day affair. We get on the train at 7 am (I think, it's early) and don't get back until 10pm. It will be nice to have a toddler-free day to just sit, knit, and watch the gorgeous AK scenery roll by. I am insanely excited. And I will remember to bring my camera! I am planning on bringing my hemlock ring blanket and my Ishbel shawl... it is possible that one or both of them get finished since I will have so much time. I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Growing

Sticks and String
It's funny the way we can tell we are growing and becoming more mature, different people.... Here is one way I can tell that I am "growing up" a bit.  I have been knitting my Hemlock Ring blanket, but was very anxious to see it blocked. I did some math and decided it was going to be big enough. I bound off and set to blocking.  I quickly noticed two things: one, it was not as big as I had wanted it. No amount of blocking was going to get it to grow as much as I wanted it to. And two: I hated the bind-off. Way too frilly and loopy. I continued on the blocking adventure as I wanted to see how it looked. And I secretly hoped maybe I could fix it....

(Sorry for the crappy iPhone pic, I knew I wasn't happy with it so didn't want to break out the camera) I couldn't. I don't love it. It's going back on the needles and I'm going to make it bigger and get rid of the loopy bind-off.  This is a big deal for me... I normally would just say, "oh, well" and live with it. But, I'm growing and becoming a more mature knitter who has decided that if I don't love it, I don't have to live with it. I know how to fix this, and I'm going to take the time to do so. Plus, I was enjoying knitting it anyway... it is a very fun knit. I could actually see myself knitting another one after this one is finished.... crazy....

Flowers

Random Chatter
Last fall I planted tulips and daffodils in the front of the house. I had wanted to do that for a while, but I never remembered that I needed to put the bulbs in at the end of the summer... I was excited to see them actually coming up recently... one of the tulips bloomed on Tuesday... so pretty! I only hope I get to see a few more before the moose find them.

Sticks and String

I'm still plugging away on my Hemlock Ring blanket. I am loving it and planning on doing some math to figure out how big it is before I wind the next skein of yarn... I don't want it to get too big since it is for Baby! I do worry this blanket has opened up the flood gates as far as knitting circular blankets... I've been searching Ravelry looking for the next one I want to knit up.

Finished Mitts!

Sticks and String
My may mittens are done! I am thinking of knitting an applied i-cord to the bottom, but the ends are woven in and they are ready to wear, so I am counting these finished! Whoo hoo. All done in a week. A quick picture round up of them....

Remember this skein of yarn? I spun it last summer... it was one of my favorites. And look at that little baby! 

It grew up and became mittens! Wonderful mitered mittens that are very warm and cozy...

See those thumbs? I CUT into my knitting and put them in after I finished the mitts. Crazy. 

And when I tried to get my BIG baby to pose with the mittens, he thought it was much funnier to throw them into the yard....

Well, with a face like that, I guess I agree....

May Mittens

Sticks and String
I have quite a few projects on the needles at the moment... a pair of handspun mittens, the Hemlock Ring blanket, and Sawyer's sweater. I did just finish a handspun project, but it is the top secret one (a test knit for an upcoming book) so I can't share. I will say that it is small and I hope that I can share pictures with the new baby in the coming months....

These are from the Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern May Mittens. I love them. They were a super quick knit (well, the finished one still needs a thumb) and they look awesome in my handspun. I really want to knit everything out of handspun after knitting these. 

Mini Me

Sawyer has been quite fun lately. He is loving being outside all the time, and being super cuddly. Here is a snap shot from one of our reading session today...

Look at that cuddly baby. He is getting close to needing another haircut.... 

You Spin Me Right Around, Baby

I have been spinning a new yarn his week... I can't show pictures until later because it is a swap gift, but it is amazing. Super bright, fun, and just the right amount of sparkle. I hope my partner loves it as much as I do! It has been great to be back at my wheel.  I took a spinning class last month and learned a lot about the technical aspects of spinning, which was cool.  Most of the stuff I learned, I probably won't use on a normal basis, as I don't spin for a particular project in mind... I just spin and the yarn becomes something later. BUT, it is good to know that if I want to do that, I can figure out how to do it. 

Alright, off to watch 30 Rock (oooh.... how I love this smart comedy) and spin more of my fun and funky yarn!

Summer!

Mini-Me
Sawyer and I have been spending almost every waking moment outside... once I wrangle him into clothes, that it. It has been an amazing summer so far and I have just been over the moon that I can take him outside and he will wonder around the yard entertaining himself. It is so great for both of us! Here he is outside in his Carharts, "drinking" a PBR (don't worry, it wasn't open...)... union break. :)

That baby....

And speaking of babies. I guess I never really announced here that I am pregnant! 20 weeks to be exact! We had our 20-week ultrasound yesterday and everything looks great. Baby is stubborn (no surprise there), but growing well, and seems to be staying out of trouble. My goal (besides a healthy baby and mama) this pregnancy is to stay off of bed rest.  We met with the high-risk dr to discuss ways to do that today.  Basically he said I look great and that unless anything changes, to keep on keeping on.... oh, Doctors... we talked about the hormone shots I'm on a little bit. It was funny because he basically made it sound like any science behind them was made up and it doesn't really matter. Have to love modern medicine. "Well, it's a crap shoot... these things don't do you any harm, so we are going to give them to you and maybe they will do you some good" 

And for the super curious, we do not know the gender, and do not plan on finding out.  We are planning a birth center birth again. Umm... planning on BFing this baby and CDing both my kiddos still. 

Alright, Sawyer is up from his nap, so back to the yard I go! I hope everyone is having a great week.