I want to win!

From one of my new favorite blogs, Oh My Stinkin' Heck, I found out about a Pink Dyson Vacuum Cleaner Give-away Contest at The Domestic Diva. Our current vacuum does not currently do as well as it should - in short, it doesn't suck enough... hahaha... So I want to win the Pink Dyson they are giving away. Note the button on my sidebar, as requested, and if you want to win it, go to the site - but if I hear you win it after hearing about it from me, I only ask that you come over weekly to my house with your new Dyson and vacuum my floors. Does that sound fair?

I'd buy one if I could - Dyson donates $40 to help Breast Cancer Research for each Pink Dyson that is purchased! I just don't have $400 for a new vacuum. Sigh....

In other (knitting) news - I have some FOs, but I can't show them until later in November - because they are for a SWAP! One whipped up real fast, and it's so cool - I'm so happy that I knit it! And I think my swap-pal will really like it!

In other (non-knitting) news, I joined the NaBloPoMo - but not here.... at my other blog, My Adventures in Mother-land. I started that blog a couple of months ago, so I could write about my kid(s) and their development and eventually have it published in a book for them down the road (whoa! I went searching for the link that I thought I had saved with the website from which you could order a book from your blog - but I can't find it!!!! Does anyone know what I"m talking about?!?). I haven't done well with my blogging there... So hopefully I will be able to get a whole bunch of thoughts and feelings down as I blog every day in November over there! Wish me luck!

Half-way there!

I finished baby's sweater! See?
It's so soft... I love the Rowan All-Season's cotton! I'm so glad I'm doing the cargo pants in the same yarn. mmmmm..... Notice I'm not showing you up-close pictures of any of the seams. No, that would be silly of me. Because then you'd doubt my judgement in even calling it complete. What is it with me and seams? I can't get the Kitchener's stitch or the mattress stitch - I don't even know what to call what I did at the shoulders... And the pattern was still weird. If I followed it to the letter, I wouldn't have had to (apparently) sew the arms together at the bottom or the front and back together at the sides. The only seam mentioned in the pattern in the shoulder seam. Also, I did not complete the bottom hem or the collar hem as mentioned in the pattern. I did finish the sleeves with the extra rows that you fold up and sew on the inside. I didn't want to pick up anymore stitches at the waist or the collar to create more work for me - and I'm sure in an adult sweater it would make sense, since you would want to wear it for years. This will be lucky to be worn once. And the number of stitches she said to pick up seemed... odd... Anyways... I muddled through it - and I LOVE it!!!

It's so tiny... and I love love love the collar!!!! It's so... cute! and boyishly manly. Is that appropriate to say for an infant's sweater?

I got my swapbox from my first-ever dishcloth swap this week! I was so excited... and I managed to remember to take pictures as I opened up the box, instead of ripping into it and not being able to share the joy!

There were some yummy bath-stuffs, fun knitting notions, delicious choclate truffles (yum! they were gone in a heart beat!), and some fun yarn! I've never worked with any KnitPicks yarn, and she included some beautiful gray Essential Solid yarn in Ash... I'm going to poke around on their website to find some sock patterns I can whip up!

Then, as I peeled away the first layer, I got to the dishcloth:

I love it! So bright and sunny! The pattern was included below the dishcloth, and I'm now inspired to start a notebook for all the patterns I'm using/have used. Right now, they are all folded up and crammed into my craft cabinet.

Hubby is confused that we would use something so nice for dishes! Here's a better picture of the pattern (forgive the window pane shadows - I was attempting to get it into sunlight on the only sunny day we had this week!):

Thank you so much, my sweet swap pal!!!

Unfortunately, I found out that the swap package I sent has not yet reached its recipient. The delivery confirmation that I bought for it says it was delivered, but she hasn't gotten it. I don't think there is much the post office can do - I hope I had the right address on the box... I'm so sad about that!

I have signed up to do another swap, though - and I'm very excited! See details for the Color Me Happy Swaparooni at its Flickr group page...

A quick diversion...

I have a commitment problem right now. I am so flighty, and no knitting project is keeping my attention for long at all. I put down the Kipling Sweater, and picked up a ribbon yarn that's been sitting in my teeny-weeny stash for a while. I think the ribbon yarn is beautiful - I just had no idea what to make with it. Then I thought about the Dream Swatch Head Wrap. The pattern looked intimidating to me at first, but once I dove in, it was such a fun knit. See the results?

I love it! I had only half of the yarn she called for, so I modified the pattern to stretch the yarn a bit - and I think it's still about a foot short. But it fits around my head, and it's beautiful! The yarn is Knit One Crochet Too's Tartlette in Spring Meadow. I'm going to knit up another one in a plain color, to see how it works.

I also have some sewing I need to do. Oh yeah, and I need to finish up the baby sweater. I need sleep first...

mmmmm.... nice!

Rowan All-Seasons Cotton. mmmmmm - yummy! It's so soft, and so nice - Hubby declared it "Shexy," which is not what I'd call the yarn being used for a baby sweater, but, um, yes - it is shexy. Hubby thinks the pattern I'm using looks girly... what?!? I picked this one because it is one of the least girly ones out there. He just has no idea. Looking at the pattern initially, there were several parts that confused me. They still confused me as I knit through them, and I know it's not the prettiest knit sweater ever, as far as seaming and shoulders and arms and etc. But it's my first sweater ever (is the Coachella a sweater? hmmm - it didn't have arms, though). And I've decided that it's the process and the enjoyment I get out of the knitting that's important. The finished product is a plus, but I'm not going to knit-pick (bwa-hahahahahahaha!).

I have some khaki-colored All-Season Cotton to make these cargo pants with - and I think I'm going to have enough of the blue left from the sweater to make a hat - maybe I can put some khaki stripes in the hat to make it a set. Yay!

On another note - I feel like a new person. I got a new pair of glasses! Isn't it funny how the littlest things make the biggest difference? Big Boy had effectively ruined my other "new" pair, so I was relegated to wearing old old glasses for the longest time. I felt frumpy and unattractive. The littlest things....

We also signed up for a membership at our local YMCA. I am so excited - they have some water aerobics classes that are supposed to be really good for pre-natal workouts. And our family membership includes a Child Watch program, so I can drop Big Boy off and have some mommy-time. Ahhh.... I cannot wait! I might go in tomorrow to walk on the treadmill for a bit, just to get some time to myself. The water classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I'll be doing those until the baby comes.

Big Boy wants to show you my new glasses, which he has promised not to break or ruin in anyway.

My first pair - ever!

I've finished Baby's socks.... I knocked out the last one tonight while Hubby and I were watching The Italian Job (I love that movie!). See?

The second one turned out better than the first one. The pattern is actually a variation on one that looked too girly to me, so when it said "turn the heel according to xxxx pattern", and "complete the toe as written in xxxx pattern", it actually did not leave me at the right place either time, stitch-wise. Did that make sense? So I did what I thought needed to be done. And on the first sock.... look:

I didn't pay close attention to where I started knitting the side cables. It's not bad, but look at the second sock:

The cable continues down the side from one of the top cables. I think I'm only a stitch or two off on the socks from making them identical - and it's so hard to see the cables with the variegated yarn anyway - so I'm happy.

Sorry for the fuzzy photos! On to knitting sweaters!

One done.

From Interweave Knits - a free pattern called Better-Than-Booties Baby Socks.


The first sock is done. The second sock is nearly finished. The only thing getting me through this pair is that they're so small. Aren't they cute? I'm amazed that I'll have a little one that will fit into these soon...

Anyway - I'm so afraid I'm not a sock person. At least, I'm not enjoying the short-row heel, and then I basically have to turn the same short-row heel for the toe to finish it off. I liked knitting the heel flap for the Breeze Sock - it's the foot of the sock that's stopped me there. I need to find a pattern that will keep me interested - or not knit socks while I'm pregnant. I need instant results right now... the nine-month baking period is the only long project I can work on right now.

So I'm going to make this sweater next, with these cargo pants. Then some booties, and then the Yoda sweater. That's my list right now. Let's see how I do....

I feel like I am stuck right now. Kind of in a rut, but not one I can change. It's so weird - it's like I'm in a holding pattern until Baby #2 makes his entrance. I'm glad that the holidays are coming up - that will be a nice distraction. But until then, I am just stuck. Same thing, everyday - no new things, no new ideas... I feel so bad for Big Boy, being stuck inside in 90+ degree weather (what is up with that? It's so wrong!!!!!) with a mom who can't get down on the floor with him right now - with a mom who only wants to sit and sleep. All he wants to do is run. Poor guy.

Swap spoiler alert...

April, if you're reading this and you want your package to be a surprise, stop reading now!

So... through Ravelry, I signed up for a Christian Knitters group, and they set up a dish cloth swap right away. I've been looking at dish cloth patterns for a little while and have found many I'd like to try, so I signed up!!! We were to knit a dish cloth and send it with something encouraging for our swap pal, and we are to do it by October 5. Um, I'm mailing it tomorrow.

BUT - I didn't just make one dish cloth. I made a pair! See?

I modified this pattern, as my pal asked for dish cloths no larger than 5 inches square. I actually think these are 5.5 inches, but I hope that's OK. I think she told the moderator that set up the swap that her hands are small, and she likes smaller cloths. Sounds good! Her favorite colors are lime green and chocolate. I love those colors together, and I really wanted to put them together in the same dish cloth. The yarn is Sugar 'n Cream, and I'm so glad I found the colors she likes!

I then poked around looking for fun things to put in the box... I didn't find any fun knitting things - I forgot the one time I went into a LYS while I was doing this - and the larger craft stores just didn't have anything fun. So I found a devotional book of Beth Moore's that I hope will bless my pal's socks off... and I added 2 new skeins of the Sugar 'n Cream yarn, plus the leftover yarn I had from making the dish cloths.

I also had purchased some chocolates to go into the box, but then I re-read what was sent to me, and since it's still hot out here in RVA, I agreed with my swap pal that chocolates may not be the best thing to send, especially if the box has to sit in her mailbox all day. So I'll be eating the chocolates. But I topped off her box with other yummy stuff, so I hope she won't be disappointed.

This was fun! I'll have to sign up for more swaps after the baby comes. I'm concentrating on my baby knits right now. I still am working on the Petal Sweater - I am such a slow knitter on this one! I've timed it, and it takes me a full hour to do 2 rows - knit and increase across, then purl back. I'm afraid I'm not going to finish it by the time I have the baby! But to give me confidence, I started a quick knit - a pair of baby socks. So much fun...