This is just as fantastic as you would expect.



And speaking of awesome performers, I'd never really heard of Diosa Costello until I read an interview she did with Smithsonian magazine. She sounds like a hoot.

You all know I love Bea Arthur. This dude takes it to the next level. Love it!

Whoa, this is awesome.

Two days after my last post, I started working from home, two hours a day. That is pretty much all the time I spend on the computer nowadays. Rosina is an extremely good-natured baby, but there's only so much time her beloved activity mat will keep her occupied! (She is doing great, by the way--six months old today, and extremely active and happy. I'll know better tomorrow, when she goes back to the hospital for an in-depth preemie checkup, but I don't think she's even delayed...though she is only about 12 pounds. Tiny and mighty.) Anyway, that's the main reason the blog has been neglected; I use one of Rosina's long naps to work for the day, and the other to try to get things done around the house, or actually relax...

Speaking of which, I also have quite a bit less time for knitting than I used to have. When she was smaller I could just prop her on my shoulder and have my hands free, but she's about 25 inches now (will know better tomorrow) and wiggly, so it's no longer an option! I did manage to get this shawlette done in time for the fair--and I ended up getting an Honorable Mention ribbon for it, so I guess I still got it:

Gotta love a Zauberball--I just wish I could use them for socks. But considering how rough I've been on my socks lately (I keep wearing through the heels--a combination of ceramic tile floors and, I suppose, a change in weight distribution with the pregnancy), I'm not knitting any socks out of 100% wool--and certainly not a single--for the foreseeable future. I have two more lovely balls, which I suppose will also end up being shawlettes.

So I would like to start blogging more regularly--and I just realized that last Monday was the TENTH ANNIVERSARY of this blog, whoa--particularly because I really am not using Facebook anymore, other than to check on my friend who is officially post-due date. I do need a place to deposit my random thoughts and links, even if it is mainly an exercise in ego. :) Speaking of which, links:

OMG. Definitely making those.

I just put myself on the library wait list for this book. I really no longer have the time for much hard literature, sad to say--however, I am about to start watching the penultimate season of DS9.

So this happened:



That was fun. It was a sick tree anyway, but the winds from Irene and a thunderstorm a few days later put the final nail in its coffin. It fell at about 11 A.M., while Rosina was napping. It sounded like somebody had just dragged something heavy up to the front door, so I opened it--hello, tree! Thankfully it fell right in the four-foot space between my car (which was slightly scratched) and the side of the house. Also thankfully, while it was about a foot in diameter, it was easily one of our smaller trees... Unfortunately it took several days to have a tree service come out, since there were so many downed trees due to the storms, and it was blocking our front path. Not much to complain about, truly, considering all the devastation in the past two weeks...

Other items of note:

This article about one woman's experience with her preemie is pretty powerful. It obviously doesn't mirror our experience, but some of the details are close enough. The "distancing" thing is common enough with preemie parents that it was mentioned in a bunch of the things they gave us in the NICU. I'm really glad it didn't happen to us. This was a brave article to write--I think people need to be more aware that it's a relatively common reaction.

Recipe for chai-flavored simple syrup: YUM.

Another recipe, from one of the knitting ladies: I think these will kill you dead...

I really want to do one of these! But paying money for a venue...ugh.

It's Red Scarf Project time again! I already have a stash yarn in mind (remember my awesome orange yarn from many years back??), and a few patterns that might work.

And look! An FO!!


I'm about as excited as she is about them. Ah, but at they are at least finally done. Continuing in a masochistic vein, my newest project is an uncharted shawl. Sigh...

Am I the only person that remembers this show? There was a really smarmy song about turning a frown upside down, I remember.

I am currently mired in a ridiculously slow cross-stitch project (why did I pick something that only uses two colors? ugh), but when I finish it my next project will involve this and this.

On that note, somebody should beam me up to bed. Why I am blogging at 1 A.M. instead of in bed is no mystery, I suppose...Mark put Rosina to sleep a while ago, but my internal clock is all messed up. To sleep!!

There isn't too much going on here--baby eats and grows, the house is sort of messy, missed the earthquake because I was in the car--but here are a series of links I thought were cool...

Foundling swatches--these are kind of heartbreaking, but also really cool.

Funny column about yoga and the people/smells you encounter. Which reminds me that I need to sign up for my class next month!

Self-explanatory video:



Article about apiaries at O'Hare--love this.

Interweave Knits Accessories 2009 is currently on sale for 10 cents! A bunch of cute patterns here. I really like the Sideways Grande Cloche (that's a Rav link...but I think it may be publically available).

And here's a picture of the sock I'm working on. This is actually the first sock, but it's about how far I am on the second sock. I just want to get them done at this point. The yarn (Online Supersocke Hiking) is kind of rough, and I don't love the colorway, and the pattern (#1 Husband) doesn't really set me on fire.



I am just not a fan of blue and orange together (bad Met fan!). Mark doesn't seem to mind. I got the yarn from his sister when she was destashing--it is certainly not something I would've picked out... But I am powering through! I've had to remove some ratty/felted socks from his drawer lately, so he actually could use a pair. I may be done by the end of the weekend...

Sorry, I couldn't resist.  (Speaking of Doctor Who, I finally had the chance to get caught up with the last few episodes on Monday...and my head asploded.  Whoa.)  

I finally finished my scarf--and it is lying on the futon, unblocked, ends not woven in.  I have a bit of time before the fair, I suppose.  I've started working on a little cardigan for myself, but I'm not sure if it's going to work out yet.

In other crafts, I really like this!  It could work well for Christmas cards...

Rosina came home four weeks ago today!  It's hard to believe it's been so long.  They actually let us know it was coming up the day I last posted, but it wasn't really sure until the next day...and then it happened really quickly.  The first few days were as challenging as expected, and I was a little concerned about how I would handle having here here all day by myself, but it's going well.  (Though now I have a cold, and am trying really hard not to pass it along to her...I'm starting to feel better, and so far, so good.)  She only wakes up once to eat between midnight and sunrise--and that feeding is mine, since I don't have anywhere to be in the morning--which is great considering that she's still small.  The cloth diapering is going well so far, too. Preemies are developmentally hybrids, apparently, with the eating, sleeping and some immune functions usually following their actual age, and most of the other stuff (vision, motor coordination) corresponding to their corrected age (i.e. due date) for a year or more.  She's really not bad to have around, honestly!  The car seat picture is from her car seat test at the hospital, and this other one is from earlier today:

Huge, I know...  ;)  She's gained about two pounds in the last month!  (Unfortunately the milk factory is closed... I just couldn't keep it going, despite everything we tried.  Preemie formula is expensive, but it seems to be working, LOL.)  Anyway, lest you think this is becoming a baby blog, I created a photo site for Rosina here, if you're interested.  One of the things that's changed in the past month (like my sleep patterns!) is that I have learned to knit while holding a baby!  It's amazing what we can accomplish out of necessity.  I'm not sure I would try it with dpns or straight needles, but circs seem to work just fine.  Look, I even finished a pair of socks!

I started these the day we got back from the baby shower, worked a few rounds while I was in the hospital, and carried them with me as my purse project the whole time Rosina was in the NICU.  I was usually so intent on her that I didn't work on them at the hospital, but by the end I spent a little time on them by her crib.  The majority was done over the past month, during which I learned how to wield an Addi Turbo Lace circ while holding a newborn!  The basic construction is from Hat Heel, with the lace pattern from Kai-Mei on the leg.  I think I've gotten the Hat Heel construction out of my system now...  I started a more boring pair of socks for Mark out of some deep stash, and am nearly done with the blue cabled scarf--pictures when it's done.

And now, to feed a tiny ogre... But here are some links I've been holding onto for a while.

*I have been watching a LOT of Star Trek: The Next Generation since it went onto NetFlix Watch Instantly. You learn a lot watching the series in order.  For one thing, they sure do have a lot of sex up in there.  It's like The Love Boat sometimes.  Also, Wesley Crusher doesn't bother me so much anymore.  Speaking of which, this blog (and this post in particular) has rocked my world.

* This is a cute shirt.

* This video is pretty awesome.  Speaking of which, AF has now come back (boo!), so I should call my doctor about that.

The time since I last posted has probably been the most traumatic and the most difficult in my life, but I think it was worth it:

Rosina Jane was born May 14, 2011 at 1:34 P.M. At 31 weeks gestation, she weighed 2 pounds 6 ounces and was 15 inches long. (tl;dr: non-gory birth story follows; everyone is fine.)

It all happened very, very quickly. After the swollen-foot post of April 30, I woke up the following Tuesday (May 4) with a face so puffy I didn't recognize myself. I got a doctor's appointment for that afternoon, and I had gained 13 pounds since my last appointment the previous Tuesday, plus my blood pressure was a bit high. There was some question about us going to the baby shower, but the baby did fine on the non-stress test, and after an appointment that Thursday (5/6) with similar results I was allowed to go, but had to do a 24-hour urine collection (fun) the following Tuesday (5/10), the same day as my next appointment. We did make it up there, but the trip was absolutely crazy and I was a complete zombie most of the time (which should've been a clue). My blood pressure was higher at the next appointment, and the doctor was rather worried, but sent me away asking me to keep an eye on it, and said we'd know more when the urine test results came in at the next appointment (Thursday 5/12). The next day (5/11) I checked my blood pressure while out running a bunch of errands, and it was really high (cue the first freakout of too many to count--I packed a bag for the hospital, but ended up partially unpacking it), so the doctor on call told me to go on bed rest. It wasn't for long, though, because the next day at my appointment the scary results of my urine test were in, and my blood pressure was still high--so I was on my way to the hospital. Cue Freakout #2, and repack that bag... Thank goodness Mark was able to make it to that appointment. There were some logistical issues regarding getting my car home, but he was able to figure it out--and off we were to the birthing center.

The next 48 hours or so are a blur of bad news and Ativan and overnight fetal monitoring... In a blindingly short time we went from bed rest of indeterminate length (but you will be in that bed until the baby's born) to the baby's small and needs to be born this weekend (but we'll see if she can tolerate labor) to you're having a C-section, like in the next hour. Each time a doctor came in, they had progressively more frightening things to say. But in hindsight, even though nothing went the way we wanted or planned, it went as well as it could have. The operation was so, so scary, and the spinal block insertion (yes, I did want a natural childbirth) hurt more than anything I'd ever experienced... but it worked, with no after effects. And my scar is weird--I've never had surgery before--but it's not too bad, and I recuperated pretty quickly. (I still have some numb spots, which may never come back, and it's a bit sore if I touch the area or attempt to exercise much, but I'm in better shape than most, apparently.) My mother came down for my first full week out of the hospital to help out, but I was managing pretty well so she had my father come pick her up after four days. (My father already had a golf trip planned for the weekend of May 14, so my mother was actually in the hospital with us when I delivered. She was on her best behavior, happily, though since then that has not always been the case!)  I checked out of the hospital on May 17, but checked back in on the 19th. I was feeling really, really tired, and I had heard about people for whom delivery did not cure preeclampsia...so I checked my blood pressure, and it was super high.  Off we went to the ER in our city, where the shit totally hit the fan--at one point my blood pressure was 215 over 100+, I was really scared, and there was what I will refer to as a "vigorous catheterization" (I do not recommend it)--and I went back over to the birthing center in an ambulance.  As they were wheeling me through the ward, I actually waved to the nurses and said, "I'm back!", since I knew like, two-thirds of them.  I spent 24 hours on a magnesium sulfate drip (aka HELL), then took my trusty wheelchair down the hall to visit the baby.  I was discharged that Saturday, but I'm still on blood pressure medication; I'll need to get checked out again by my regular doctor in another month or so.

But that's me; you want to hear about the baby! That Friday, while we were in between visits from the ultrasound tech and the doctor, we decided to pick out a name. I'd had this particular name in mind for a while--my great-grandmother's name, with Mark's mother's name for the middle name--and Mark agreed right away. For obvious reasons, it was important to me that she not have a common name. ;) The first time I saw her was in the OR, just before they took her out of the room. All I had time to say was, "She's so tiny!", and she was gone. And she really was tiny. I'd never seen a baby so tiny. Well, truthfully, I'd never seen a baby that skinny.  Indescribably skinny.  (She's about two weeks old in that top picture--she looked way more like Mr. Bigglesworth when she was born...)  Mark was able to go see her when I went to recovery (he was with me the whole time, except for the initial prep time in the OR; of course, I could've used him right then...), and he actually had pretty positive news from the doctors. She was really small, but didn't seem to have any other problems. And that's been the case the whole time. She was on a CPAP on room air (so no oxygen) for less than two days, and had two rounds of photo-treatment for jaundice (and man, did she hate wearing those bili-goggles!), and that has been IT. Minimal dips in her breathing and heart rate, no trouble holding her temperature, no problems sucking or tolerating her feeds, no big reflux issues, no eye issues so far... She did rip out her IV quite a few times in the nine or ten days she had one, and she rips out her feeding tube about every other day, but otherwise she is very low-maintenance. One nurse called her "the most boring baby in the NICU"--which is what you want to be in the NICU.  Since the beginning all she has needed to do is gain weight, and she's done quite well at that... It hasn't been easy, and it still isn't.  All we want to do is bring her home, so we can get our lives started!  The only step she still has to pass is to be able to take all her feedings by mouth; then the feeding tube can come out for good, we room in with her at the hospital overnight, and we're literally home free.  It will be a few more days, but the end is in sight.

The whole experience has been so opposite what we expected and wanted (of course), but I think we're going to make it after all. (The other day I sang The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Rosina.)  The main thing right now is that neither of us are getting enough sleep.  I am pumping around the clock, which unfortunately is not going that well, and I take it way too personally (and yes, I've tried all the usual things--it's just not normal to use a machine all the time instead of a baby, so I'm hoping my supply will perk up once she comes home).  I also tried to start working from home a few hours a day, only three weeks after the C-section--a bad idea that only lasted a few weeks.  That along with the general hospital hassle and the stress of the situation, and well, it's sometimes a day-by-day thing for me.  But it does get better every day.  And Mark has been his usual fantastic, reliable self--I'd never have been able to make it through without him.  (Without him there wouldn't be a baby, of course.)

All this is to say that, while in some ways I feel like a completely different person than I was two months ago, I'm really the same... I just spend my time in different ways, I guess.  (It's already been taking me so long to get simple things done, I can't imagine what it will be like once she's home...)  I certainly have a lot less time on the computer at the moment, which in some ways is a good thing, but I do hope to keep blogging on a relatively regular basis.  Obviously I'm not doing any singing, and the crafting is going extremely slowly, but I'm sure I'll think of things to write about!

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.

If I had actually finished this post last week, I was going to talk about how lovely my neighborhood looks with the azaleas beginning to bloom and stuff...and then it got seriously bitch cold.  I scraped ice off my rear window this morning.  This weather is insane.  As I'm sure it is throughout the country, but whatever...

My lack of posts are mostly related to the fact that I am exhausted.  I've rarely gotten more than six hours of sleep a night total in the past two weeks, and it is beginning to wear on me.  I've been experimenting with afternoon naps, which have been antithetical to my nature since I can remember (ask my mother--it was not fun to have a two-year-old who refused to nap because she might miss something).  It does help, but I'm still a bit resistant... Also, I have been really hungry.  The baby is about a pound-and-a-half now, and I've still only gained three pounds.  Yay pregnancy diet, but jeez, I am feeling the need to consume mass quantities.  I bought a whole lot of cheese last week, so between that and cereal and oranges I am still trying to snack healthy...

Much finishing going on here!  The blanket is completely finished, finally, and the sweater just needs buttons.  (I will have pictures once Mark locates the camera.  This is an epidemic here.)  I'm also on the second sock of this pair:



I think I mentioned that I frogged the cowl I made with Felici Time Traveler (since it wasn't warm enough) and decided to make another pair of Rainbow socks...  It's working out quite well.  I had to futz with the pattern for my gauge, but so far so good.  I'm halfway through the leg of the second sock now.  I'm also working on a lace shawl made from a frogged sweater--and am almost done already.  I need a bigger project! :)

I have been hyper-productive today... You may notice that I changed the blog template. I was getting extremely tired of having to change all the default settings for every photo or video I posted because my years-old template was too narrow.  And now I'm orange.  Eh, it's spring.  The template change only took a few minutes, though.  After work I stopped by the new Whole Foods near my house--there were many senior citizens there, and I bought a basil plant for the windowbox.  Then I vacuumed out my car (which I'd been avoiding for way too long) and washed it myself.  When I got home I planted the basil, and noticed that somehow some of the mint from last year survived, so I moved it to a more advantageous location in the box. Then I took care of the compost (which I'd been avoiding as well).  Then I hemmed a pair of pants, and put the machine away.  Then I packed my bag for this weekend--Mark has a meeting in Charlotte tomorrow afternoon and Saturday morning (unluckily concurrent with the NCAA basketball tournament...), and I'm tagging along so we can go to IKEA and buy the crib, and also eat Swedish meatballs. :)  Anyway. Then I filed my nails, since I broke a few during the car washing.  Then I created a spreadsheet for my singing income and expenses (again, avoiding!), so we can finally do our taxes!  (I almost actually made money this year, if you don't count mileage.  Which I don't even bother with, since I need to show a profit.  Especially because this year I probably will have no singing income at all.  Oh well...)

And now I am vegging out for a few minutes before I leave for my lovely knitting group.  I only have one repeat left in my baby blanket, blessedly.  I haven't decided on a border yet, but I may just pick up stitches along the long sides and bind them off, so they'll match the top and bottom border.  I could also do applied I-cord, but the first option will be MUCH faster. I'm willing to experiment.  I just want to be done with it!  I don't like it when projects take more than two months.  I am ready to move on to a shawl!

Speaking of projects, here's one I was pretty happy with in the beginning, but not so much at the moment:

This is the Felted Clogs pattern by the greatly-missed Bev Galeskas.  The construction is pretty weird at first, but it all makes sense in the end, and comes out really cool.  I did have to felt the hell out of them (I used the last of my Noro Big Kureyon for the upper, and KnitPicks WOTA Bulky for the sole).  I really loved these, and wore them around the house every day for more than a month (we have ceramic tile in the bathrooms, kitchen and dining room--brr!), but then the other day I noticed I had already worn a hole through one of the heels.  What the heck?!  So I'm kind of mad at them right now.  (I suppose I should be mad at KnitPicks...)  I'll probably just darn up the hole and buy some soles for them, but in the meantime I've switched to my lighter slippers.  It's going to be 80 degrees or more for five of the next seven days, so I'm not too concerned.

I leave you with the extreme awesomeness of this video.  I literally caught the last word of this on the radio this afternoon, sadness.  Neil Diamond is my Seventies boyfriend.  I have this long-range plan to sing this with Mark at karaoke someday, but he will need some coaching vocally with the higher parts.  Maybe if I just told him to do a Neil Diamond impression...

CIMG5183 a photo by doctorgirlfriend on Flickr.

I started this crocheted ripple afghan in January of 2010. Did I ever blog about it? I don't remember. I made it mainly to use up my nicer leftovers. When I got to 90 rows this past January, I finally decided it was done. (Partially because I was running out of leftovers, and partially because I wanted to start the baby blanket.) It's almost entirely wool and wool blends, from doubled sock yarn to cashmere to bulky Noro. It is very, very warm. I decided to make the ends fringe so I wouldn't have to sew them in, and added some extra cream yarn to bulk them up a bit. There are a few ends to sew in within the rows, but I'm not overly concerned. Overall, this was a great project to work on when I needed something relatively mindless, and is currently very practical since we keep our house at 64 degrees or less during the winter. (Winter's over here, but our house does run chilly.)

Doctor's appointment yesterday: uneventful. I got to pick up my Glucola for my next appointment, oh joy. I've still only gained two pounds (which I gather means I've sort of lost about twelve, in a way--who knew pregnancy would be an effective diet?!), and am hoping that means that I won't have to worry about gestational diabetes. The last things I want are 1. an enormous baby and 2. doctors hovering over me and judging my every choice, in that order. I think the main thing I'm doing is, well, not doing much differently. I just try to snack on dairy or protein instead of carbs. I did decide to take it easy on white sugar for Lent, but that's just lip service anyway--I'm really doing it so I can pass my glucose test, so I'll be left the hell alone! :) My birthday is between now and then, and our anniversary is the day after the test, but I'm not going to be a grinch about that.

Must run to a makeup yoga class, but here's a very bizarre link: crazy bra ads (the nipple one is particularly strange...ah, the '70s).