So, Jamie and I finally finished a project that we started 9 months ago. Or, maybe we've just started the biggest project of our lives that will forever be a WIP.
Say hello to Andrew Chang Jien (張健) Wells. Born at 5:09am on April 29 after a long early labour (over 24 hours), but fast active labour (just under 4 hours). He came just in time for me to avoid an induction; even avoided taking castor oil. He cost Daddy $5 in a bet based around his due date, but maybe that's just his way of punishing Dad for making a bet on him.
This is gonna be the best project ever.
Well, in answer to the lovely Alice's question that she left me in the last post, no baby yet but we're still waiting patiently. Sorta. Going for an ultrasound tomorrow, which will be officially 1 week overdue, just to make sure things are still okay. If things are starting to look risky, I could very well be induced right there. Yikes! While I've got my bag packed, I think I'm going to have to pack another bag of things to help pass the time, just in case. Also need to pack a variety of snacks; hubby's only got one type of granola bar packed, and I think I might want more of a variety. Guess we're coming down to the wire.
To pass the time this weekend, I made my first non-knit, non-crochet plushie since grade 7/8 sewing class.
In a conversation with Jamie, we thought it would be nice idea to make one of those for Baby. After all, what parent wouldn't want their kid to have an extra life stashed away somewhere just in case? I made it out of felt and sewed the whole thing by hand. No real pattern - just sketched out a 1-up mushroom, cut out pieces accordingly, and just gave it a go. I have to say that making these little guys is kinda addictive. Here are some photos so you can get a sense of scale, and see the front and back.
I've got some red felt as well, so Jamie and I were debating the merits of making a red mushroom too. I wasn't so sure about it; after all, wouldn't that be like wanting Baby to grow up in an instant? But Jamie pointed out that it would also mean that if Baby got dinged by anything, it wouldn't be an instant Game Over. Haha! What silly discussions we have. What do you all think?
In addition to making plushies, I did some baking this weekend too.
Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Loaf, as suggested to me by my good friend Becky. I froze the whole lot of it so that I can eat it after Baby is born. Yum!
I've been really wanting to put in some serious time on that baby blanket for my friend Carolyn, but have hit an unfortunate road block. I'm finding that crocheting is seriously aggravating the usually mild, pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome that I've developed. Argh! I can get a border on about half a square before my right wrist feels like it's on fire. Somehow, knitting doesn't produce the same effects. Must be the way I hold my crochet hook. Sigh. I've only got about 7 squares done, there's still a whole whack to go, and the clock is a-ticking.
Baby is now officially 2 days overdue, which means that I am in need of things to do to pass the time while we wait. I know it sounds like I should be getting lots of knitting and crocheting done, but that hasn't been the case. For one thing, Jamie and I have been going on walks to see if we can get labour going. And these aren't just little walks either; they're 4 hour epics which render me quite tired by the end of it. Still, I'm not going to complain because I do get some nice contractions while we're walking. I'm happy that he's accompanying me on these treks since it can't be a picnic for him to do that much walking either. Sure, he's not carrying a watermelon around with him 24/7, but he rarely does that much walking in a day.
On one of these walks, we decided to go to High Park, which is not too far from where we live. It was a good thing we decided to do that because we were able to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom.
We'd been by that same way about 3 weeks prior, and there was nothing on the trees at all. I called my parents to let them know about it. They had recently gone to Japan in the hopes of catching some cherry blossoms there, but didn't have much luck. So, they were quite happy to see these ones.
Seeing these reminded me of cotton candy. Mmm...cotton candy...
And this is me playing with the macro mode on my camera. The flowers are quite pretty though.
Still with the idea of trying to keep the contractions coming, I decided that the more time I spend standing at home, the better. It's been the case that as long as I'm on my feet, I get more contractions. Since it's not that convenient to knit/crochet while standing, I've been baking. That might seem weird since I was diagnosed with impaired glucose tolerance in my third trimester (which basically means I eat like a diabetic, but don't take insulin), but I enjoy it, so I decided to do it anyway.
I recently attempted a new recipe for double chocolate cookies that starts with cake mix. I usually don't use cake mix for anything, but it was sitting in the cupboard, so I just felt I should use it up. Plus it saved me from having to make a trip out to the grocery store to pick up missing ingredients. Having no experience with making cookies from cake mix, I wasn't sure how they'd turn out.
I'm guessing this is what I should have ended up with.
However, thanks to my idiocy, this is what I ended up with.
I really should have taken a picture when they'd just come out of the oven, before I separated them all. It was a solid sheet of cookie, and seriously looked pretty ridiculous. I fail, really I do. Still, I sent Jamie to work with the lot of them, and from the sounds of it, they were quite popular. Lesson learned. Next time, I will make the cookies smaller, or put more space between them. Sigh.
After the litany of posts about random things that weren't related to yarn, it's about time I posted something that WAS yarn-related.
Way back in 2007, I started a crochet ripple blanket, and even blogged about it (here's the entry). Well, that blanket never got done. I made more progress on it, but it was just turning out to be...well...really wonky. Being an inexperienced crocheter, I kept adding stitches, losing stitches, miscounting stitches; you get the idea. The blanket was misshapen and malformed. So, I decided to frog it, and try my hand at something that should eventually net me a blanket.
Granny squares.
I have to say, those little squares have been pretty fun to make. Kinda addictive. I think they'd be even more addictive if the yarn I was using didn't split so easily. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino is wonderful to the touch though, so I really can't say I dislike it.
However, that project is currently on hold for a bit. A while back, my friend Elaine and I embarked on a mission to design and make our friend Carolyn a blanket for her baby. We scoured through Stichonaries, and yarn samples to work things out - I gotta say that it was a pretty fun process. Being a joint effort, we each got an assortment of squares we were to knit. Here's an example of one of mine.
Recently, Elaine and I met up to discuss how we were going to piece the whole sucker together.
There's all the squares laid out on my dining table. We decided to border each square with single crochet in white, and then join the squares using a reverse single crochet that will create a bit of a bump that would resemble an i-cord (also in white). In addition to that, the whole thing is going to get a seed stitch border in navy blue.
Sounds great and all, except we're kinda late on this project. Carolyn had her baby back in November. Heh heh. Oh well. The blanket is big enough that they'll still get use out of it when we do finish it. I'm hoping I make good headway on it before my own baby comes. I've finished putting the border on 4 squares, but as you can tell, there's a whole whack more to go.
Speaking of babies, someone has to tell my cat that he's not going to be the baby of the household for much longer.
Kitty, just 'cuz you're in the portable crib, that doesn't make you the baby. Sigh. We're really going to have to watch him. At 18lbs, he's going to outweigh Baby for a while to come.
You know that phrase, "No rest for the weary"? As I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy, I get the feeling that phrase will take on more and more meaning. I just finished my last day of work on Friday, and what do I do on my first day off? I do my taxes. Hahahahahaha....ahh....yeah. Taxes. It hasn't been a fun process, but I think I'm just about there. Just need to decide if it's better to transfer some tax credits to the hubby or if I should keep them on my return.
As a reward for all the slogging through T4's, capital losses, and other tax credits, I thought I'd post about fun things.
For those of you who have been following this blog, you'll know that I have a weakness for bags. A BIG one.
Yup, it's another Lexie Barnes bag - it's the Darling in Kiri. I got it off this amazing site called Mamabargains. It was 53% off retail, and since I needed a diaper bag anyway, I figured, "Why not?". It's got these neat clips on them that will allow me to attach it to my stroller. Came with a diaper change pad too. I think it's going to be great for toting all the baby gear that inevitably will have to be carted around.
In the very same photo of the Darling is something else that is fun. Kitties! So let's see some more of them!
Lounging in the sun is great.
"Huh? Wake up? What do you mean?"
"Meh. I don't care if I'm starting to look like a turkey."
Nothing beats a comfy chair.
Bags and cats. I feel better already.
