My Pattern in the Wild- or Link-a-Thon.

Ms. Knitting in Mind has knit up my Rhapsody in Lace and Ruffles (ravelry) in ShibuiKnits Baby Alpaca DK from Knit/Purl in Portland.

She blogged about it HERE- go an see her beautiful photographs of it. (Which are beautiful both because she did an amazing job knitting it (that color is perfect) and also because she did a great job photographing it.)

Then

She went into Knit/Purl to show them her beautiful creation and they blogged about it HERE.

I love it!

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.)

Be Honost

Go ahead, raise your hands, who thought I would never actually sew this thing together. *Duchess is raising her hand.* I know, I don't know what has come over me, but I was determined!



I have had an excellent couple of days. I haven't been very sick at all (quick, knock on wood.) I am still tired and a little nauseated, but not anything like what I've been going through the last three months and nothing that I can't "push" through. Although yesterday, I found that pushing a little too hard, as I am wont to do, leads to exhaustion such as I have never known. However, better that than sick.


I called my mom to thank her for the very sweet Mother's Day package she sent me, which, in addition to candy (including Smarties, my favorite, and the giant ones at that!) included

Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave

and and wonderful book by Jane Clayson Johnson

I Am a Mother

I read most of I am a Mother today. It is a charming treatise on the value and importance of Motherhood. There are also several socks I will likely knit from the Interweave book.

Don't I have the best Mom, well she is a queen, after all, what do you expect?

Anyway, she and the Queen Mother (my grandmother) were sewing. Well, actually they were making themselves crazy, but it involved a little sewing and that made me want to sew. The Duke and I are going to NYC later in the summer, and I have determined that the only way I will be comforatable is if I wear skirts the entire time. I have purchased some fabric for new skirts, but I had a skirt that had been languishing unfinished for months, so I decided to finish that before I started a new one.



Isn't it lovely, and I can't even wear it. Oh well.

I also started a new knitting project, or at least swatched for it. I don't know if I will actually cast on for it until the blanket is done. I also have to cast on for the second half of the Marcellina Vest, but that isn't' appealing to me at the moment.


-unblocked, but more true colors


-blocked, but bad light.

It will be a rectangular shawl. I haven't decided on an edging for it yet, and I probably won't until it's well on its way to being finished.

So here's the math:

I want it to be 60 inches long without its boarder. The swatch is 7 inches, and is two repeats of the pattern. So 17 repeats of the pattern gets me 59.5 inches- close enough. There are 20 stitches, plus five to the pattern, so I will need to cast on 345 stitches, that sounds dreadful, doesn't it.

Now I would like it to be about 12 inches without its boarder and one repeat of the pattern is about 3.5 inches tall, so I will need to do 3.5 repeats, which actually works out fine, as the the half way point in the pattern works as a stopping point as well as end.

So, CO 345 sts, repeat pattern 3.5 times. The only question that remains is. . . will I have enough yarn?

So, the swatch is sacrificed, and we find that our swatch, which is 24.5 square inces (7 in width x 3.5 inch height) took 9 yards to knit

The shawl which is 12.25 inches high and 59.5 inches wide, has an area of 728.8 square inches. Let's round that too 729. So if 24.5 sq in takes 9 yards, 729 sq in takes [(729 x 9)/24.5] = 267.8 yds. I have 440 yards, so even if I am off by a bit, I should be fine, and still have plenty for a boarder.

YIPPEE, wasn't that fun?

Oh, and in case you were wondering the yarn is 50/50 Merino/Silk hand painted and purched from Merlin the Cat.

She has lovely stuff at very very reasonable prices. Yarn, fiber, and darling stitch markers. THANKS MERLIN!

Desperate Duchess and Dashing Doggie

I want to say thank you again for all the comments, suggestions, emails and general love and good vibes that so many of you have sent since I announced my impending alien arrival. I have tried everything that any of you have suggested, and anything that anyone else has suggested. Some of the suggestions worked a little bit. Some of them made me more sick. Some of them concerned my darling Duke (but I did them anyway- desperation is KING.) Please, be patient with me in answering your comments and emails. My energy level is very limited.

Thank you for the encouragement to start selling the onesies out of my etsy shop. I don't think I will any time soon, as my business brain ruins all creativity when it takes over (ie- You CAN NOT spend more than 20 min on a single onesie, or your cost of labor will go above the point where you can cover that cost and still sell the onesie at a reasonable price point.) However, there will be some fun new baby and shower gifts to come out of this new found activity. If you really want one, you may also be able to bribe me with yarn or other fibery goodness to paint one for you. Email me and we'll talk.

Now, if you want to skip my continued whining about how much I hate being pregnant (and really who could blame you,) scroll down to where the pictures start.

The Saga Continues. . .

Yesterday morning I had to open the refrigerator, a task that requires me holding my breath, as there is a smell emanating from within (despite the fact that the Duke has thrown nearly everything away out if- bad or not,) that sends me into dry heaves. The Duke can't smell it- at all, but I can't even be in the room when it is open, and have to evacuate the area for about 2 min. each time the accursed appliance is opened. You can imagine this is a problem for someone who 1. is pregnant and 2. doesn't want to eat anything as it is.
So, yesterday as I was following a dear friend's advise to eat something bland when I felt sick, that for her, the sick feeling was her body's way of telling her she was hungry. Rice Checks were on the menu and after an uneventful meal I summoned the courage to replace the rice milk. I prepared for the event, took a deep breath, opened the door, and somehow instantly ran out of air. As I replaced the rice milk I also inhaled. This sent me immediately into dry heave convulsions. Normally this would only last a couple of seconds, but not this time. They continued as I frantically made my way to the porcelain recepticle (I was in NO SHAPE to be cleaning vomit off the floor.)
Up to this point in my pregnancy I have only thrown up once, brought on by an extremely upsetting conversation (watch for major life change #2 coming soon.) Yesterday was to be my second. I have no idea what it is like to have a seizure, but if I were to imagine it, this is what I would now imagine. Naturally, this can only go on for so long before any body would relent. I lost my Rice Checks. I crawled to my bed and began to alternately wonder why God suddenly decided to hate me, and if my lifelong defence of Eve's decision was warranted.
Now, I know that God doesn't hate me, and I know that Eve did what she did for a noble and great purpose, and I am thankful for both of those things, but my brain had been short circuited to feel nothing but pain, there was no hope.
I have known for several days now that salvation from this malady lie in my medicine cabinet. A friend and my cousin had both told me that Promethazine (Phenergan) was the only thing that made their pregnancies tolerable. I had talked to the Duke (who, for those of you who don't know will be a pharmacist in about a month) and my father (who is also pharmacist,) about taking this *scary music starts here* DRUG! The Duke wanted me to wait until after my first doctor's appointment and my father, who showed no real concern about me taking this drug, thought that I probably should as well, but knew of many women who had taken it during pregnancy and had healthy happy babies. For those of you who are medically minded, it is rated category C for pregnant women.
I wasn't comfortable calling my doctor, as I had all ready done this once and he had told me that he wasn't very comfortable prescribing me something until after he had seen me, but would make an exception just this once. (So I all ready used that card) and I can't really go see him until the 1st of April when my insurance kicks in. Now, all of this would be moot, as it is a prescription drug, except that I HAVE A BOTTLE OF PROMETHAZINE IN MY MEDICINE CABINET. My PCP had prescribed it a couple of years back when I was having nausea brought on by migraines. I didn't need it for long, as I soon afterward quit the job that was causing me to have migraines, thus treating the problem in a more proactive way.
I fought the "temptation" for a few hours longer and finally, at the end of what I consider a very long rope, I looked up the appropriate dose for pregnant women. I took the lowest possible first dose and was in the most profound sleep I have had in weeks within a half an hour. I took the second dose several hours later and, although I was not miraculously better, I finally felt well enough to wash my hair for the first time in 7 days (I have showered once in that period of time, but couldn't bring myself to wash my hair, which is kind of a lot of work.) I normally shower daily or every other day, and I only rarely shower without washing my hair. After a bit of a rest I was also able to leave my house, and run some errands.

I was able to go to the bank, boring buy long overdue.

I was able to go the Baskin and Robbins and get (and EAT!) a scoop of the only one of the 31 flavors I am permitted- Daiquiri Ice- YUM

I was able to go to the fabric store where I bought these



to make this.



BTW- Princess, if you like this well enough after I'm done, I will make one for you, but I didn't realize until I got there just how much fabric it requires, and the personal accountant balked at two right now (plus I didn't find any fabric I really LOVED for you.)

I also got these for Princess, who fell in love with this fabric line after seeing what JoJo at Stardust Shoes did with them. Thanks to Chef Messy for introducing both of us to this super cute blog.



I was able to go to a baby store and bought my first real baby puchase. It was on sale for "only" $30.00 and the ones that I've admired like this before (with a "big" name attached to them) were over $100.00. It felt so real to be buying something for the alien.



I also have some knitting content to share (oh yes, that reminds me, I also felt well enough to get a little - a very little- knitting done.) Here are a couple of patterns that together make up Dashing Doggie. You will find them, free of charge, on my patterns page.



UPDATE: While I was writing this post I was also eating a green apple. I went upstairs as the Duke's alarm went off, but he didn't get up. I was feeling OK, still a little nausea, but I didn't expect to feel 100%, after all I am pregnant. I got the Duke up and laid back down myself. 10 seconds later I found myself violently puking up my green apple and crackers. I relent! I give up! I surrender. I called my Dr. this morning and said I would come in and pay for the appointment, what ever he wanted, just PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make it stop! He told me I could take a higher dose of the Promethazine for today, and then called in a prescription for Zophran (aka one of the most expensive drugs on the market- these people know that a vomitous pregnant woman will pay nearly anything for relief, and so I will.) God bless this good man. He understands pregnancy related deperation.

Here's hoping that the sun will come out tomorrow.