The inlaws came and went, and...well, it was awful, and I don't feel like rehashing it again. I've had enough opportunity to vent in real life, so will spare you the details. The situation was not improved by the complete lack of discipline in the children (to be expected from a father who lets his two very young sons watch Family Guy, I suppose), and the fact that we were SNOWED IN. The only reason casualties were averted is that my sisters-in-law live in very small towns, and will take any opportunity to go to the mall--from which I happily excused myself on all but one occasion (when I bought shoes, so yay me). I was extremely happy when everyone was gone. It had been four years since the whole family had convened, and by the next time I will have my own child to distract me. Good deal. If it takes another four years, you won't hear any protest from this corner...

Within 36 hours of their leaving I got a cold, and was pretty much a waste for my whole four-day New Year's weekend. I slept until 10 or 11 each day, and I totally needed it. I am finally out of the woods with it, and will get to catch up on my sleep again tomorrow (my day off). On Friday I will be officially in my second trimester, and other than the spotting (which did freak me out for a few weeks there) and having trouble sleeping it really hasn't been too rough. I know how lucky I am! I actually have my first prenatal yoga class tonight. I'll probably be the least pregnant woman in the class, but I had to give up my regular yoga class and I've been missing it. With the back problems I've already been having, this should be very helpful! It will also be nice to be able to talk to other preggos, since I know most of my childfree friends don't need to hear everything. :)

Since presents have been given and received, check out these mittens I made for Cathy:



The pattern is Snowfall Mittens, and I used some recycled red wool blend from an Old Navy sweater and cream Patons Classic Wool. I made a number of modifications to adjust the size, but it's pretty much as written. It wasn't too hard a pattern--I do love repetition in my colorwork charts!

Speaking of colorwork, my Knitpicks Andean Chullo (Ravelry link--has KP discontinued this?!) is finished and blocked except for the tassels. I was grumpy with the applied I-cord trim for a while--it just didn't look right--but I decided to pick up a row of stitches around beforehand instead of picking them up as I did the I-cord, and it looked so much better. It was a lot of I-cord, but I managed to finish last Thursday at knit night. Pictures next time! It is awesome. Other than this, I am currently working on several things that should be finished in the next week...then it's on to the baby blanket. The yarn is en route, and it's a slip-stitch pattern so I may as well get started now!