"Blogging? Do we Still do That?" or "Misleading Images of my Summer Torture."

I have now been back for five days. I said I would return to the blogging world when I had recovered from the month away from home. It has become apparent that I will not recover any time soon, as sleep is a main requirement for recovery, and this baby has decided that I will not sleep any time soon. . . so as women are wont to do. . . I have decided that moving forward is the only option.

Now that you have had a few days to absorb the adorable pictures of my new nephew, it is time for pictures of yarn and what might pass for typical vacation photos.

Several of you said that I must not miss School Products, the oldest yarn store in Manhattan. It is difficult to find, but well worth the search. The owners are the creators and distributors of Karablla Yarns, and while I did not meet the wife, the husband was very very nice. I agree, if you can only visit one yarn store in NYC, make it this one. What, you might ask, makes a this yarn store, with no store front, on the third floor of a plain looking office building so special? The owner's relationship with the mills who produce Karabella Yarns for them. You can find there any Karabella Yarn in any color, along with many other lovely comerically available yarns, however, that alone is not enough to make it so special. The mills who create the yarns for them also produce yarns for high end clothing companies such as Armani. They sell their mill ends from these yarns to School Products at a highly discounted rate and they graciously pass these one of a kind and offerings onto their customers at great prices. You can get a sampling of them on their website.



These four are: first, the light brown is several thousand yards of merino lace weight; the multi color at the top is a cashmere, merino, silk blend that has been hand painted; the camel color in the middle is in fact baby camel; and the blue is a lovely cotton and silk that told me that it had to go home to live with Tzarina.



This was my main purchase, about 2.5 lbs of a 70/30 Merino/Cashmere blend. It is an aran weight and is destined to be a long cabled sweater. I can hardly wait!



I did also visit Purl Soho, but didn't buy anything. It is a cute little yarn store with a friendly staff, but didn't offer anything that I can't get here in Seattle, and after School Products, my yarn budget for the entire year is pretty much shot.

I did make a purchase of fabric at their fabric store a few doors down, two adorable bundle of fat quarters, one each for the Princess and the Queen.

Our day spent in Soho was hard on my feet, but relaxing and fun. I also acquired something for the Alien, of course.


Isn't it hysterically adorable. I love it!


We ate here in Soho, and of course we had to have a picture.

A few other New Yorkish pictures. . .


The Duke inside the Stature of Liberty


St. Patrick's Cathedral


View from our hotel room in Midtown near Central Park.




And an amazingly beautiful window display in, of all places, the front windows of a Chocolatier.

OK, that's all for now. Washington DC and Tooele to follow.

A Dresser and a Sweater to go in it

The dresser is done, well except that missing pull, but that will be easily fixed (and yes, I will fix it and soon.) I must say I am just pleased as punch with it. The color in this photo is pretty accurate, it's perhaps a tad brighter. It looks perfect with the alien's bedding.



And the alien also has a sweater to go in his new dresser. This is yet again the Easy Baby Cardigan from Knitting Pure and Simple. Of course you can see that I didn't make it a cardigan. I also changed the hood, knitting it from the bottom up instead of from the top down as the pattern calls for. I like a more gradually increasing hood. I used a provisional cast on for the hood, so there was no picking up for the sweater. I also gave it a bit of a V-neck collar.


The yarn is Plymoth's Suri Merino (55% alpaca, 45% merino.) I used nearly all of 2 balls of color # 402 and about a third of a ball of color # 1654. I knit it on size US 7 (4.5 mm) needles. In the newborn size, which is barely smaller than the 6 month size (so it's not itty bitty Mom!) The Duke chose the yarn and made all of the design decisions. I think the little boy will love wearing the sweater his Daddy designed!



And last but not least, as promised, The Beach Bib pattern has been posted to Yarrnation Patterns. You'll notice that I'm making some changes,I'm not sure I'm happy with them. The PDF's are not of the quality that I would like, but they are usable. Enjoy the pattern, and be sure to send me links to photos if you knit one (or if you're like me, six, working on seven.)

Royally Spoiled

The alien may not have officially been "styled" yet, but he is now riding around in serious style. His royal coach was delivered yesterday and he is very excited about it.
Now the alien can hear, and supposedly he can even make noise, but seeing as you and I can't hear him, Princess P. sent a proxy for him so that he could still show you his new coach.
This is Trip-Trap - Trap for short. He arrived with a message for the alien from his cousin "W". It said "My dad is cooler than your dad." The alien promptly erased it. He hasn't met his uncle Prince Bertram the Bad yet, but he's a smart little guy and isn't buying that anyone with the title "Bad" is better than his Daddy Duke.
So, here is Trap, standing in for the alien, to show off his new coach in a series of short clips.
Please keep in mind that I am no cinematographer, nor to I even have a video camera, just my simple digital with highly limited video capability.



"Check out my new ride!"





"I'm the coolest fetus ever!"







"Suh-weeet!"

__________________

The royal coach is a Hyundai Veracruz. If you've never heard of it, you're not alone, my insurance agent didn't even have it in her database yet. It was just released in June. You can get a better look at it here or read the buzz about it here.

Maya in Summer

Maya had been waiting patiently for her summer outfit.



Me being pregnant is hard on her as a creative muse.



It's hard for even the most powerful of creative energies to overcome physical weakness in their bestowee.



She's a darling of a muse, though, and said she would wait a little longer than usually for her outfit, as she wanted it to be either pink or blue(ish) in celebration of the little alien. Isn't it sweet of her to want to help greet the little heathen that is making her job so difficult. Well, that's the sort of muse she is.



We will have a better photo shoot in a week or so, but she didn't want to wait any longer to show off her new knits. She was so happy to get out of her hot winter alpaca and wool!

Also, she has declared that we must get creative about what we will call the baby on the blog here, before the Yarn Queen bestows upon him something we don't like. I (being actually clueless about true royal titles and peerage in general) took a trip to Wikipedia (what did we do before this site existed?) and learnd that what we are doing here (evidently) is determining how the baby should "be styled." Well, naturally there are all sorts of rules about how to address who and what title is bestowed on whose children, and of course, here in Yarnnation we are in no way what so ever concerned with all those rules, so here are some options, please let me know what you think
So there are true ranks whose titles are (other than Duke)

-Marquess
-Earl
-Viscount
-Baron
-Lord

I think I could add a few of my own, seeing as I have no concern for what is real and what is not.

-Knight
-Master (or Young Master)
-Sir

And of course all of these can and probably will be combined with "baby" or "boy" or his initials (JH)

Here are some that I have considered

-Baby Baron
-Baron Baby Boy (maybe BBB for short)
-Knit Knight (it is a knitting blog!)
-Lord JH
-Master Baby
-Little Sir

So cast your vote, and please, don't feel limited by what I've listed here, give me ideas!

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

That's what little BOYS are made of!

Pink or Blue?

I have one of each. Tomorrow we will know which one gets it's mate!!!

A Magical Day for the Royal Family

98 Days

Today I have been pregnant for 98 days and Princess P., my lil' sister, has 98 days left in her pregnancy.

A Riddle

It's Monday night, late, very late. You are in your PJ's but sleep is far from your mind. Knitting, instead seems to be on the agenda. And then it hits you. . .

You have, in your weakened state, left your knitting bag in your car. Your car which is parked out on the street.

You begin to get frantic as you realize your dilemma, and your instincts point you to the yarn closet.

Two skeins of Koigu?

Size US 3 needles?

A little bit of obsession?



And two days later you end up with WHAT?



SURPRISE! It's a Baby Surprise Jacket by the knitting genius Elizabeth Zimmermann. Who, by-the-way, is the only designer people trust enough to actually make it through this origami of a pattern. Isn't it fun?

I think the colors are pretty gender neutral, when I know if the alien is a boy or a girl I will add a brown edging for a boy or a cream edging for a girl, and maybe some embroidery.

The alien's first hand knit!

Oh yes, and there is plenty of yarn left for a matching hat and/or booties!

Royal Preparations. . .

So, the Queen is multi-talented. In addition to her knitting she also quilts. Upon arrival in Yarnnation,as is tradition when royal family members visit one another, she presented the Duke with a gift for the royal little alien.



My heavens, is it legal for things to be this cute? For those of you who know our royal pup, Maggie, yes that fabric holds a very good likeness of her. Any little alien, boy or girl, will be pleased as punch to be cuddled up in such cuteness. This is the quilt that I have snuggled up with for naps a few times in the last couple of weeks.



WE LOVE THE QUEEN! LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!

We also did a little fabric shopping at our favorite fabric store, Ester's.
(And I heard for a little bird there that they might be launching an e-commerce site soon!)



Here is the other fabric I picked out for the alien. A little bit vintage and fun. (This went home with the queen to make it's transformation into a quilt. I am NOT picking up another hobby- at least not right now.)



The print is a depiction of Jack and the Beanstalk. Supper cute!


Here is what the queen picked up. No baby in mind, but whoever he or she is will be lucky! Isn't that print so cute!


I have been working on this,



which will be come this. It's Jamison, which I never thought I would like to knit with, but I do. Out of Jamieson's Simply Sheltland 3, which I never would have guessed I liked so well, and I do.



I tried it on at Churchmouse, and it is going to make a supper cute maternity top, that will easily convert to a non-maternity top.



I've also been working on these (as if knitting were not addictive enough.) The yarn is Lamb's Pride's Cotton Fleece. I like this yarn, but it blocks in a strange way, which may just be that I am not used to blocking cotton. The baby blanket (the only one I plan on knitting for ANY of my kids, they will have to share) will be made of a total of 16 miters, making up four blocks, each 14" by 14" (35cm by 35cm) with a border. It will be a "car seat" blanket. It's good to keep knit blankies small.


OK, that's all for now. . . more to come!

Things the Made me Happy Today

A red Freedom Rose



My finished "Uptown Bag" pattern by Amy Butler



Y'all didn't know I knew how to sew did you?



The first of many hand painted onesies that will be coming out of my kitchen. I had so much fun doing this. I've finished three more, but the camera was too much for the sickie to handle.

Maraming Salamat (much thanks)

Thank you all for all your well wishes and helpful tips.

A few of you asked when my est. due date is, well I haven't been to the DR yet, but by my calculations it's about Nov. 8 or 9.

That puts me at a measly 6 weeks and a bit (please don't forget the bit, every day behind me is one less day of potential blech.) This is the week that all the pregnancy books tell you "morning" sickness will likely begin. They lie, they all lie! This has been going on for WEEKS all ready. Either that or I am further along than I think I am, but I doubt that.

Anywhoo, again, thanks for all your suggestions. I have all ready tried the ginger, along with anise, fennel, and mint. None of them much help. I called my Dr. and he prescribed Prevacid, again, with few results. I have tried to eat small meals, which does help, the biggest problem here, is that when I fell like I can eat, I am so hungry there is no way I could keep from eating until I feel at least partially full, but then this makes me feel very sick again in about 15 min., so I'm trying. Peanut Butter was making me sick a few days ago, but I tried it again (a bit on soda crackers) and that went pretty well. Finally, yesterday I went and bought some Unisom and some vit. B-6. The Duke figured out how much I should take and a half an hour later, at long last, I had a little relief. It was enough to sleep soundly for several hours at least. The other thing that really helps is riding my scooter. Doesn't that sound strange, but the cold air blowing in my face trumps the sickie, even if for just while I'm riding. I love it!
The Duke came home with a dozen red "Freedom" roses and a pair of Sea Band bracelets. He's such a good man. I don't know if the bracelets are helping yet, but I haven't taken them off. Pictures of the beautiful roses tomorrow or the next day.
Glynis also said she had to take Phenergan during her pregnancies. I happen to have a bottle of that from when I had nausea brought on by migraines. The Duke insists that I can my DR before taking any of it, and I suppose that is reasonable.

Well, we'll try to get back to our regularly scheduled fiber fun here in a day or so. I have a new Yarn of Yarnnation nearly ready to go up. Keep on the look out.

Major Life Change Explaination: part 1

Hurry, run, look out your window for the flying pigs!
That's right, we're expecting a little alien baby. We know it must be an alien because no human child would dare make his mother feel this crappy. Prepare yourself now for future postings detailing the gag-a-thon/sleep-a-thon that my life has been reduced too.

Oh and yes, when I can rub two brain cells together long enough to think about it, I am very very excited, as is the Duke.

For those of you who go to church with me, I'd like to keep this under wraps for a few more weeks (yes I know posting it on the internet may not be the best way to do this) I just want to be the one to announce it (this has been recorded as too much to ask in the past, as you may know) and I want to wait until after I've had my first Doctor's appointment.

Oh yes, and all you mothers out there (besides mine, who has told me that it must be the Duke's family's fault I am so sick, as this doesn't happen in our family) Any advise on taming the nausea dragon would be appreciated. I'm ready to try nearly anything.