Back in the saddle

Definitely getting back into the knitting over here. The enthusiasm is still lower than B.G. (before gestation), but is still, I think, climbing. My parents have been enabling me in this - it was my birthday on Thursday and we had a celebratory dinner at their place on Monday. My dad cooked food to my specifications. (Stuffed pepper meatballs, cauliflower au gratin and - the pièce de résistance - lemon meringue pie. And when I speak of lemon meringue pie as made by my father, you must understand that I am referring to the BEST LEMON MERINGUE PIE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. It is my step-grandmother's recipe and it is absolutely to die for. Moreover, the lemons he used happened to be deliciously tart and the zing was not to be believed. I got to take the leftovers home. I fully intend to go down to the kitchen and carve myself a generous slice once I finish this entry.)

(Please bear with me and my chronic penchant for digression, I'm getting to the knitting-enabling part, I swear.)

After dessert there were, unfortunately, no presents. The gift my parents had ordered had, alas, not yet arrived in the Monday mail delivery, and so I was merely told what it would be. This was sufficient to send me into a tizzy of knitterly delight. They have gotten me...Sweater Wizard software. I am very, very excited. Now, admittedly, I'm not sure whether they got me the 'Sweater Wizard' or the 'Stitch & Motif Maker', but either would be terrific and I can't wait to take it out for a spin. Computers and knitting. The perfect marriage of interests for a total geek like me.

In other knitting news, I am planning (at last!) to haul myself out to a Lettuce Knit SnB tomorrow night, so hopefully there will be lots of people there that I know. (Any Toronto-area knitters want to reassure me on this point?)

Leggings for baby 'Eleven'

Yes, I have ignored the importunings of The Schedule and the knowledge that I must finish my Christmas knitting, and I've started knitting for the new baby. (Its nickname around here is 'Eleven'. There is a perfectly logical explanation for this which I might get into at a later date.)



This ridiculous-looking thing - which curls like crazy if you look at it sideways - is almost half of a pair of baby leggings. It is simple, cute, and, despite being done in fingering weight on 3.25mms, is fairly quick.

Garden Shawl for MIL

Edging continues. Slowly. Painfully. Endlessly. Kill me now.

And now...a great many heartfelt thank-yous to all the people who have been leaving comments. Particularly all the wonderful congratulatory messages regarding our impending new arrival. Even my second cousin Glyn in Australia discovered the blog and found the news! (My apologies for not emailing you directly, Glyn - my brain has really gone out the window with the announcements this time and I even have some very close friends that I haven't called with the news yet, to my shame.) The question everyone was asking was (duh on me for not remembering to mention this), when is the baby due? Answer: April 10th. (Of course, I am aware that that date is just the middle of a 4-week window during which the kid is likeliest to show up, but it's nice to have a general idea.)

Another question was from Mel (of whose recent Rhinebeck trip I am super-envious), who asked me how I was feeling. Answer: I was feeling like utter crap (more nauseous this time around, although thankfully less completely exhausted). But things have definitely picked up in the last few weeks.

Carrie K (who is still on my back about the Stornaway sweater, don't worry, I swear I'll start doing more work on it soon!)...I was sorely tempted after reading your comment to do a little creative Photoshopping with the ultrasound photo and make it look like the kid had some needles and yarn in there with him/her. Oh, and Gill...you may or may not have noticed this, but babies are notoriously skeptical creatures. :)

I also got some great responses to my list of search keywords that people have used to find my blog. I must admit that I haven't had the guts yet to reproduce Purl Needlemeyer's experiment with "best facial". It sounds rather like it would be along the same lines as the "dirty sheep" search that the Yarn Harlot warned against. And Wannietta's "squatting to pee" story gave me a real giggle.

Carrie K and Kelpkim were also very enthusiastic about my Wheelie project - but of course, this has been postponed since it is hardly steering wheel-melting weather at the moment. (Pooey on colder temperatures.)

And finally, to Kelpkim - I have never tried fun fur yarn. I'm sure there is a good use for it...but I haven't figured out what that might be yet.

Knit on, everyone! I will try to make my updates much more frequent from hereon in.