Saisquoi?

This post is L-O-N-G overdue, and I apologize to Annika both for the crappy quality of my cellphone pictures and for the fact that it's taken me so long to post about Emmett. I promise I will take better pictures once I can find my actual camera.



I loved knitting this sweater. The yarn was a YarnPirate teal I bought many moons ago. The pattern was straightforward and the finished product is practical. Unless you're really particular regarding the placement of buttons for boys and girls, this is one of very few items I've knit that could totally be used by a male sibling, should such a thing come to pass. Of course, this sweater doesn't actually have buttons, because C finds them to be offensive.

Toddlers. They are weird.



Speaking of toddlers...I'm not going to have one for much longer. Someone is coming right up on three. MY BABY! WHAT HAPPENED?! C is getting so big. She talks all. The. Time. She loves mermaids and princesses and skulls and dolls and her family and rubber chickens and OMGgiraffes. She was a giraffe for Halloween and is still talking about it.



We have had a very difficult few months Chez Saisquoi, but things seem like they might be mending. I'm debating on how much to air via blog post because some of the stories are not entirely mine to tell. And the ones that are mine to tell are not happy and cheerful and I don't like how they present me as being, you know, human and all. But, at the same time, maybe it's helpful to post the difficult alongside the easy...the awful alongside the awesome. I don't know.

What I do know is that US Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I have a whole heck of a lot to be thankful for--starting with my big girl who makes turkey pictures with handprints and wants to sing Puff the Magic Dragon every night at bedtime, snuggled up with her Mama and Daddy.

PS: I do have buttons for the sweater. But since my child won't wear the sweater if it has buttons? I'll sew them on when she outgrows it. Oy.

So, my due date has come and gone. While I know that it's pretty normal for babies to ignore their due dates and come when they damned well please...and they frequently please to come late...it's really the one thing I wasn't prepared for.

Mostly because between my age and the gestational diabetes, the smart money had her coming early. Particularly if you add genetics into the picture--she's seriously the first baby in three generations of my family to go past-due.

I can't even tell you if she's thinking about coming out. I spent three hours at the Birth Center on Friday hooked up to monitors because my blood pressure has decided to spike. It turns out, though, that it's worse in the doctor's office than it is over, say, three hours of testing it every 15 minutes. Also, since my bloodwork is fine and the baby is fine, they decided to let her stay put for a little while longer. The other interesting thing I found out? While I was there, I was having contractions every 6-8 minutes. But since they didn't hurt, they sent me home. The other interesting thing? They haven't stopped. So, I've been having contractions every 6-10 minutes or so since then (yes, that would be going on three days now), but they aren't exceptionally painful. They get uncomfortable--particularly in the evenings--but I don't have to stop what I'm doing to focus on them. The Beloved is beside himself, because this is not what the video they showed us in childbirth class was like, so he really doesn't know what to do or expect. Poor guy.

The other thing I found out is that I now get to be on modified bed rest indefinitely. Meaning, until the little bugger decides to come out or is evicted. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment where hopefully they will tell me how long she's got to make up her mind to come out before they choose for her. I hate to say that I hope they don't make me wait until 42 weeks, but bedrest sucks. I don't want to watch TV, read, or knit. I'd like to go for a walk or clean the disaster that is my house. But these have been declared off-limits for the time being. Plus, The Beloved is still working, so it's me and daytime TV. Yuck.

So, what have I done with all of my free time? I've finished stuff! The Cobblestone Sweater is finally finished. I have no excuses for taking so long with this--grafting the underarms and weaving in the ends seriously took about 30-45 minutes. I finished it while The Beloved watched The Mission on Netflix. Then he put it on. I don't know if he'll let me photograph him in the sweater--he's goofy like that. But it's a very nice sweater. It wasn't difficult at all and it's not girly or anything. Now he wants something with cables. But he's going to have to wait.

I also finished the round baby blanket I started in October.



I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and I think it will be nice and warm and an appropriate size for covering The Tadpole when she's in her carseat or when we're out and about this winter (assuming she ever decides to, you know, be born). I knit until I had 650 stitches on the needles and then used a picot bindoff. The end result is pretty cute, but the edges tend to curl a bit and it seriously took me three days to bind off all the stitches. The blanket is done in Cascade 220 superwash paints. I can't remember the name of the colorway, but it's mostly pinks and yellows and oranges. It's definitely girly, but not pastel. The Tadpole has way more pastels than I intended--mostly because that's what there is for tiny babies, and particularly for baby girls. So I'm making a concerted effort to knit things in brighter and bolder colors.

She's got a purple bonnet made of Mission Falls 1824 Superwash Merino Wool--it's sooooo soft.



And a little kimono-sweater made from Colinette Cadenza. Instead of making ties, I'm going to sew snaps on it and add buttons.



I also finished off the Child's French Socks I started knitting for myself shortly before I found out I was pregnant.





Now I'm trying to decide what to do next. I've jumped on the Noro scarf bandwagon and have started one of those, but really intended for that to be hospital knitting. However, it may end up being done before the kid decides to come out. Right now, I'm trying to decide whether or not to start sock 2 of an unfinished pair, start another pair of socks, or knit something else for my stubborn child. I have enough Cascade 220 left from The Beloved's sweater to knit her a little tunic and probably a pair of longies. Not to mention the Malabrigo I bought intending to knit longies that's been out sitting in the car. But, as I said, I'm actually so out of sorts that I no longer feel like knitting. I had two false starts on a new pair of socks last night and ended up ripping both out because the yarn just wasn't speaking to me. I don't know whether to give it another go or throw in the towel...Perhaps I'll see if a nap improves my outlook at all.

Dear God, it looks like knitting.


Baby Surprise Jacket in "Sweet Lime" Yarn Pirate Sock Yarn

This is the first object I have completed for the Tadpole. OK--she's got a couple of pairs of socks, but those don't really count as at least one of them was knit before I knew I was pregnant. It's also my first venture with the oh-so-popular Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman.



This was a huge leap of faith for me. The knitting itself is not difficult, but EZ did not write in step-by-step instructions. Following a very conversational pattern was not standard operating procedure for my very type-A brain. But I made it--and the next time I knit this pattern (because it was fun and easy and makes an excessively cute little jacket), it should be easier since I know that the amorphous bit of garter stitch really does fold into a garment.

I love the buttons.



I wish I could tell you they were handmade or came from a cute shop, but that would be a lie. I found them at Joann's and I just thought they were perfect.

The sweater is knit in sock yarn on US size 4 needles. I think it will fit a newborn. I'm hoping to use it as Tadpole's coming home sweater. I don't anticipate her being small enough to wear the sweater for very long, but I think it will be very sweet for the time she does get to wear it. It may be a little spring-y for a January baby, but I don't care. I'm happy with it.

I've started another little sweater for her--a kimono sweater--that's sized Newborn to 6 months. The other garments I have planned will be in the 3-6 month size as I don't expect her to stay tiny for long. Eventually, I'll knit even bigger clothes, but I'm reluctant to knit things that will likely fit her this summer as it can get really hot and uncomfortable up here and I'm not sure where the Tadpole will be. The Beloved and I are mostly sure that I will go back to work, but we have begun to seriously consider whether it's worth it for me to go back full-time. Child care is very expensive, and the places where she's wait-listed have told me that March and April are difficult times to place kids. So...we'll see. I think it will depend on what happens with the economy and with fuel prices. If it looks like my entire paycheck is going to be spent on day care and gas to get to work, it doesn't make a lot of sense for me to go back. The prospect is moderately terrifying, but all we can do is wait and see.

The Tadpole appears to be doing just fine. She's a very busy baby--the doctor had a hard time getting a heart rate at our last appointment because she kept squirming away. We go for another ultrasound at the end of the month to check her growth. I believe this is probably to make sure that the gestational diabetes diet and exercise plan is working as well as the weekly bloodwork suggests and that she's not getting too big too fast.

Other than that, life progresses here at Chez Saisquoi. I had a cold last week, which was not the most fun I've ever had. The Beloved has it now. He's decided that he only wants to live so that he can get even someday. But aside from that, life here is pretty good.

So little time...

I've decided to mostly put the Dublin Bay sock aside. It's still in my purse for waiting room and lunch break knitting because it's mindless at this point. I'll continue until I run out of yarn and then decide what I want to do.

In the meantime, I've started Cobblestone sleeve number one. Have any of you knit this sweater? I've seen hundreds online, but don't actually know anyone who's completed one. The sleeve seems really long. The size I'm knitting calls for a 20-inch sleeve, which just seems long, particularly for my husband who has short, stubby little arms. But with the yoke, I'm not sure where I should be measuring from to find The Beloved's actual arm length. Any thoughts? Otherwise, I'll continue knitting according to the instructions and if it doesn't fit my special guy, I'll see if it fits my brother or my dad (who are also special guys in their own right).

Since my socks have failed me (or perhaps I've failed the socks), it's time to move on and start something new. So I started going through my stash of sock yarns and this is what I found:


Mind you, that isn't all of the sock yarn I have, but my camera battery was running low. And the light today isn't all that good. Anyway.

So, I've got all of this yarn and no idea where to start. That's not true--I have some ideas, but I'm not sure which to chose first. Here's what I'm thinking:

I bought some KnitPicks Gloss in Burgundy with the intention of knitting a pair of Cleissidra Socks. Cute, eh? I think they would be very nice. Although, I might need to buy a skirt to show them off.

I've also been perusing my books of sock patterns. There are several that look good and I've narrowed down some choices. I've got some more Gloss in Parsley for the Anniversary Socks in Favorite Socks. Then, there's the Child's French Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. I've earmarked some fuscia Lang Jawoll for those. Not photographed, but somewhere in my stash is some light blue sportweight mystery yarn (I think it may have bought it on e-bay from Dye Studio, but I can't remember) that is intended to become Whitby from Knitting on the Road.

That's not even mentioning the several skeins of Yarn Pirate sock yarn I could work with. And four balls of KnitPicks Essential in Cocoa purchased for my husband who then decided he wanted something else that is currently available for playtime.

It seems all that's left is to decide. However, I've not been much very good at deciding lately, and so they all sit...waiting...

Guess it's back to the sleeve for me!

Hey, remember this?



This pair of socks is the bane of my existence. The Roman Catholic church may have done away with Purgatory, but I tell you these socks make me wonder if we don't, in fact, have it here on earth.

So, when last I spoke of these blasted socks, I was unhappy with the striping pattern and wondering if I shouldn't rip them out and try again on larger needles. Instead, I started the second sock on larger needles to see how it looked. And, frankly, I liked the sock on 0s better. The stitches are so tidy and small. And the sock fits really nice. And maybe the pooling isn't that bad and the striping isn't horribly obnoxious:





But, look where I am on the sock:



As you can see, there's still a fair amount of foot and toe left before sock #1 is finished. And I don't know if I have enough freakin' yarn. Yeah.

Now. I may have plenty of yarn because apparently I was on crack when I wound the skein into balls and one ball is larger than the other. And I started with the smaller ball. So, I'm wondering if I shouldn't put this sock aside and knit the second one and then finish up when I know I have leftover yarn?

To tell you the truth, though, this sock is no longer making me happy. In fact, the sock has seemed to work against me every step of the way. I've a mind to stick the sock and the other ball of yarn in a bag and shove the bag to the back of my stash until my mental state has improved somewhat.

It's a shame, though, because the yarn has been wonderful to work with (striping aside)--it's really soft and I bet finished socks would be a divine wearing experience.

Sigh.

On a happier note (hopefully), I finished the body of the Beloved's Cobblestone Sweater yesterday and will start the sleeves today. No pictures, though. Honestly, it looks just like the other pictures--only longer.

This has been part of my problem in regularly maintaining what seems to be mostly a knitting blog...I'm slow and so there's not much to report. Still knitting the sock. Still knitting the sweater. Doesn't look much different. Meh.

Add that to my general to severe sense of malaise of late and...well...bad blogger.

On the malaise front--I thank everyone who commented and/or e-mailed regarding my last couple of posts. I truly appreciate the warm thoughts. Things here are...maybe not better, but not quite so grim. The Beloved and I had a...discussion...about how things are, how I feel, and how I can't have this be my problem. I mean, I treat it like my problem. I very much see it as my problem and feel like it's my problem--largely because I don't get a sense from him that he sees any sort of problem at all. Which mostly leaves me feeling....like I'm not enough. Or like there's something wrong with me that makes me as bothered and upset as I've been. Part of me thinks it may be time to dig my therapist's business card out of my wallet. And then another part thinks, well, what the hell is he going to do about it? He can't fix anything or make it better. I don't know. It all just seems to require more effort or energy than I can muster right now.

Polly knows how I feel. Well, on the energy front.



It's hard work being that cute. Seriously.

I've started in on a sweater for my beloved spouse. This is about 12 inches of the Cobblestone Sweater from the Fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. It makes for excellent TV knitting.

I wish I could tell you I've been doing really productive things in my month of silence, but no. I've been watching a lot of TV. Netflix on demand, mostly, but TV nonetheless. I've also been playing Rock Band. We're planning on making family members play on Easter Sunday to determine who gets to sit at the dining room table and who gets shunted off to the satellite locations. I hope they've all been practising their cowbell.

I also started these, which I may or may not finish:



Cute, eh? They're just a bit too small for the babies I know. And since it appears I'm never going to have one of my own, looking at the wee sockie just makes me miserable. I did start a second sock, but I just don't have it in me right now to work on it. Maybe in a couple of weeks. I seem to do this in fits and starts.

I also started a bunny intended for Backwoods, but that's been lingering in the unfinished pile for a while, too. It seems to elicit a similar emotional response to the wee socks, and so I just haven't been able to bring myself to complete it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to bring myself to rip it out, either, so it sits there unfinished and mocks me in the dead of night.

I should probably elaborate a little: I haven't written because I've been...well...miserable lately. And it's generally better if I don't inflict myself on others when I hit this sort of mood. In brief, anything I would have written over the past several weeks would have earned me a well-deserved vacation at my local psychiatric ward. And, while I could probably use the rest, I don't think they'd let me take my knitting, and that just wouldn't do at all.

The Beloved and I have been trying to start a family for over a year. Well, we've been trying in earnest for over a year--I took my last birth control pill about four years ago for what that's worth. Our family still consists of four cats. If I am honest with myself, I realise that this is not likely to change--until the number of cats shrinks due to attrition. And this is basically intolerable to me. My husband, being a man, does not see what the problem is.

Maybe that's unfair. He keeps telling me he wants me to be happy; maybe it's only a problem to me and I need to "chill out and not worry so much." I don't know. What I do know is that I'm very tired. And exceptionally cranky. And very bitter. I don't particularly enjoy myself right now which basically means I've retreated into a dark, dank little den of self-pity. Which really doesn't help matters at all, but since I'm fresh out of ideas....

Anyhow. There's more light in the evening. It's getting warm enough to walk again. I'm sure the dark, nasty mood will come and go until I come to terms with what is and figure out how to go on from here.

Until then, there's Rock Band and the sweater. I should start the arm by the end of the week. I'll keep y'all posted.