Feet swollen.  Drinking inhuman amounts of water.  Yeah, that's my riveting life.  Mark is in meetings tonight and tomorrow, so I decided to surprise him by putting some begonias in the windowboxes and planting cucumbers and squash in the vegetable patch.  I got the windowboxes done.  Damn, I have no endurance.  (The worst problem was dealing with the stupid hose, honestly.)  Hopefully I won't be too beat tomorrow to at least get started with the vegetables, but I'll have to turn the soil and add compost... Ugh, that's a hard enough job for two people, plus our wheelbarrow has a flat tire... Maybe I will leave it until Sunday.

Next in the finished project picture parade:  the baby blanket!

Another item that's been done for two months, but I'm only now taking pictures.  I was so happy with the blanket, but then just today I noticed the mistake.  You can see it in the picture if you look hard enough.  I am kind of pissed about it, but there's nothing I can do.  Well, I suppose I could duplicate stitch over it.  Maybe I will.  I'll see how much it bothers me...  My current travel project is a plain sock out of leftovers, but my main project is this scarf, which I've been wanting to make for years.  How cool is this concept?!  Oh wait, there aren't any pictures in that PDF.  Here's what it actually looks like:

If I like the final product, I may enter it in the fair.  I certainly don't plan on wearing a wool scarf between now and October...  The pattern requires wrong-side cabling, which took me a bit to wrap my brain around, but now that I'm in the rhythm it's not too nuts.

In random notes, I kind of want this, partly because it looks like an isolation booth.  Also, this is 1960s pop from Singapore, which I am enjoying...

Busy weekend!  Still recovering... The childbirth class was great.  It confirmed the thoughts I already had about wanting to be able to move around during labor, and we learned a lot about the hospital process (good because they unfortunately don't offer tours of the birthing center at the moment).  As a bonus, Mark got some pointers on massage.  If there were one thing I could change about my husband, it would be his lackluster massage skills.  (Worse, he's in complete denial about them.)  Anyway, it was very helpful.  We also got a huge haul of adorable infant clothes from our friends.  The baby probably won't be in 0-3 month size for more than a few weeks (or less), and now we really don't need anything in that size.

Hooray for pictures!  And since it's way too hot here, already, here are pictures of things I made in January that haven't been worn in two months.  Two super-easy projects that were quick to finish, showed off awesome yarn, and are really warm and soft...

Camelot Hat, adapted for Noro Silk Garden (birthday present from Cathy, last year?)--CO 84, and did quicker decreases at the top to make it more snub-nosed.  I changed colors every two rows.

Toast, adapted again for gauge and man-hands (CO 36, I think)--same two colorways.

Doctor Who premiere:  whoa.  That is all I will say.  And on a related (and Easter-y) note, the skill involved in making these is just mind-boggling...

Earth Day!  I celebrated last weekend by going to the Burt's Bees tent sale at the city Planet Earth Celebration... Yeah, I don't think that counts, either.  Today I got my prefold diapers and Snappis in the mail, though--that should count for something.  And tomorrow we're picking up some hand-me-downs from friends who have two daughters.  Hopefully we won't need clothes for a while!

But on a related note, this is worth it, even just for the rock T-shirts...



More music-related snarkiness here.  Oh, and here, too, sort of.

Since we finally have this camera thing straightened out, I downloaded a bunch of photos this afternoon.  In honor of tomorrow's Doctor Who premiere, here are my finished Rainbow socks.  (I'm actually wearing them today, since we have one random day in the fifties before it goes back into the eighties...)



I tried really hard to get the colors to line up, but I think I did something different in the first sock while I was working out the pattern mods.  They're close, but not identical.

In other preggo news, we have our childbirth class this weekend.  The reality is setting in here.  I got my oil changed yesterday, and the date on my sticker is September...at which point I will have a two-month-old.  Whoa...

Happy news:  I passed my glucose test!  Yay!  I believe I'm going to get some froyo tonight.

Sad news:  Elisabeth Sladen has died.  I don't think it was even publicly known that she was sick.  We just watched one of her last series with Tom Baker the other night.  Huge shock. :(

Despite golfball- and larger-sized hail, we managed to weather the tornadoes without even a loss of power Saturday.  That said, four miles from a tornado touchdown is way closer than I would prefer to be.  It also meant spending most of our wedding anniversary at home, though we did go out to the very romantic Carrabba's for dinner. snerk

I did promise pictures, didn't I. 



This is a sock blocker keychain kit I got years ago in a swap.  Was it Secret Pal 11?  I don't even remember.  But it's way cute and only took about an hour.  I wish I knew what this sock yarn was, because it was lovely to work with.

I made this pattern (Phineas) for Mark a few years ago, but used yarn that felted despite its claims to be superwash. :(  Anyway, since it was a pretty satisfying pattern I decided to make it again for him. 



I used Deborah Norville Serenity Sock, which works out really well at a tighter gauge (I get 8.5 sts/in on size 1s with it) and washes nicely.  Not bad for $7, you know?  I spent some time last week washing and blocking a bunch of stuff, new and old, so I should actually have some pictures, maybe tomorrow!  In the meantime, I've been working on various practical things--baby legwarmers, a water bottle cozy, socks with leftover yarn--and am putting together a baby blanket for a girl from Stitch & Bitch with squares I collected from the group.  I just have the border to crochet at this point, so it should move relatively smoothly from here on in.  I was planning to work on it during my long baby shower trip next month, but I see no need to wait.

Speaking of our own baby, I feel like I ought to have taken more pictures of my largeness by now.  Maybe I'll get Mark to take some today.  I am officially in my third trimester, and have still only gained 5-7 pounds! :)  I wish I could get through the night without waking up for ninety minutes at 5 A.M., and I wish my intestines would cooperate (hence the weight range! TMI?), but if these and some aches and pains are my only complaints, I'll take it. The kicking is mainly a pleasant reminder that she's still in there, and Braxton-Hicks don't really bother me.  I had my glucose challenge test on Friday (yuck), and I should have the results sometime today.  Major fingers crossed for me!  Considering how many times I've had a piece of cheese or a bowl of cereal instead of a bag of Mini-Eggs, I think I deserve to win this one. :)

Before I sign off, two pop-culture notes:
1.  For all the 30 Rock fans out there.  I love me some Liz Lemon...
2.  Happy 40th to sexy Scot and new dad David Tennant!  I may go home and watch some Doctor Who in his honor...

SciFi squee notes:

1.  I hope the baby likes Klingons, since this is what I'm planning to do while she eats.

2.  This.  Just this, over and over again.



Mark found the camera (this is what happens when you put your laundry away, boo), so I should have project pictures soon!

Birthday post! 



Um...not much going on here, actually.  Keeping busy, trying to take naps.  My life is so exciting... Oh, and still no camera. *&^%$&^#$#@$#^%

This is so crazy.  I can't imagine the skill it takes to do this!

I've made paper in the past, but I love the idea of including seeds. 

Next Tuesday is Drop Everything And Read Day, in honor of Beverly Cleary's birthday.  So do it! :)

I know this is supposed to be silly, but on my birthday it seems like a good idea.  I should totally scan some pictures...even though it would mean including a hideous one from 1989...

Observation:  If this evening is any indication, I will have to get Mark to help the next time I give myself a pedicure.  Or maybe I will leave it to the experts...

Another observation:  this is strangely cute but also disturbing.  Oh, I am so afraid that my baby will have no hair and people will think she's a boy... (sarcasm)  My niece is rocking a fauxhawk mullet right now, and nobody seems to mind.

I am in Wilmington right now, typing in a hotel room, waiting for Mark to finish up his meeting.  Oh, and I finished that shawl, in only ten days!  So I had to start another one...  Pictures as soon as somebody finds the camera.