The Long and Short of Things (Plus A Long-Term Project)

It's been a rough (but very interesting, as usual) couple of weeks here at Chez Spinneas. In my last post, I was slogging along on some lace projects, and since it's been so long (I've had my reasons) I thought an update might be due. For those non-knitters visiting today, I'm also trying to avoid "knitter-ese" or at least spelling out the abbreviations. Apparently my last post was pretty hard for those-without-sticks to comprehend.


The Long of It: I'm finally a mere 14 rows from finishing the edging on Parthenope and moving on. This shawl has taken me a long, long time. Pictures wouldn't show you much (it's LACE, after all), so I'm withholding until I can give you a good pic of Parthenope with Pins or a nice finished object (FO) picture. But the end is finally in sight, and that is making me happier than you'll ever truly know. This pattern has been wonderful, aside from the little nuances that make every designer different, it's been a joy to knit.


The Short of It: Remember in my last post how I said I was starting a pi shawl with that skein of Helen's Laces yarn? Well, it got frogged (non-knitters, that means that I "ripped it, ripped it") because the varigation was really muddying up the pattern. Since this particular shawl is being done for a silent auction taking place next month to raise funds for a very special school, the shawl needed to be done just right. So I shelved the pi in favor of Sivia Harding's Diamond Fantasy Shawl. I swatched it with a skein of Fleece Artist merino sock yarn, and loved the way the shawl was shaping up. The varigation worked, gauge worked, everything worked. Except the color (it's a varigated brown). On a high from reaching the edging on Parthenope, I bought some Anne (non-knitters, that's a yarn) and swatched it out. I hated it. The Anne is a nice pewter color, but it just didn't look right in this pattern. So I hit the Koigu in my stash and pulled the final two skeins of the colorway I used for Charlotte last year. It has beautiful greens, purples, blues and grays, and it's working out beautifully. I'm on the fourth of seven repeats of the second chart (non-knitters, that's fast and furious progress), and I'm on target to reach my deadline with it. The Yarn Harlot finished hers with the same amount of yarn, so I'm holding strong that the Koigu will hold out for me. I'm on the second ball, and since it's extremely difficult to match Koigu colorways, keep your fingers crossed for me. I have faith that things fall into place.


Long Term Project: Things fall into place for sure, and I've almost always tried to take things as they are dealt to me. One of the few times I didn't resulted in a huge karmic shift that forced life to bite me in the ass. So what is the long-term project?





Well...















Yup. The Yarn Sniffer is six (seven just after this one arrives) and his big brother is eight (nine later this year). So after years of having kids that can dress themselves, feed themselves and sleep through the night, I'm having a baby. Had my first doctor's appointment yesterday and it turns out I'm 11 weeks. It's a good thing I've been through this before -- I'm a week away from my second trimester. Nothing quite like a good old fashioned case of denial coupled with a doctor's busy schedule to put things in a holding pattern.


We're actually quite thrilled about it. Even the boys are happy. We won't know whether it's a boy or a girl for a few more weeks, but when we do, I'll be sure to share.


In the meantime, let me share a different version of the ultrasound picture -- cropped and rotated by my husband -- that seems to show that this little peanut is already on the move:






His original intent was to just zoom in and rotate so that the head, arms, belly and legs were clear for folks. But when he showed it to me, I started laughing my fool head off saying that it looked like the baby was standing up in full walking posture. We've dubbed this picture "Fetus Taking a Stroll." I apologize if it isn't funny to anyone else, but I think it's absolutely hilarious.


So, the 29-week countdown begins!