Summer Cleaning

Everyone in the GrimmWitch clan is getting ready for L. Mom has been cleaning out the attic and found some pretty interesting stuff. She has a lot of pics on her blog along with a new belly pic of me.

First pic...some Ewoks ca 1983.
These poor guys were in good condition but smell so bad from a poor storage environment in the attic. I'm going to try to clean them up.

Poor Rainbow Brite! She just looked terrible and smelled not so fresh:( We chucked her:..(
I used to have a big one too, Mom just found her in great condition.

These wall hangings are I believe faux retro, but a bit too not me, and I assume, not L.

I loved these guys when I was young. I know the albums are around somewhere.

Knitwise, I frogged the Kanoko pants as I said last post. I started again in Bobcat by Wool in the Woods. This is a CTH colorway, wild cherry. This is the same yarn Id been using for my mother in law's shawl, also mentioned in my last post.

Here is the pretty much finished Baby Surprise in chunky Zauberball. I need help with button selection.

Nesting

So as I type this, only 54 more days until L's due date. I'm starting to have trouble sleeping. I'm also beginning to get tired more often. And the pelvic pain is getting more noticeable. This week I went to the mall and had two instances of people being shocked at my size. L is due in late September and I look like this...
So am I too big? I for certain don't know. I'll ask the Dr. next week what he thinks. All I know is that I feel fine other than those little nuisances listed above.

Getting ready for L to come has been my top priority. We were living with the construction for quite a long time for such small projects...over a month. Well over the estimated time the contractor originally gave Mr. G and myself. He seemed to not really be paying attention to the project, and mistakes and carelessness lengthened the work. The tile and fixture installer, however, was great, and did a wonderful job. We are currently waiting for the last inspections.




If you live in Jersey I recommend looking up Fuda tile if you're looking to renovate. The tiles are beautiful and the employees are great. One employee, thankfully, actually caught one of the mistakes my contractor had made involving the tile and was able to help us solve it before it was too late. Not to worry; he had plenty more mistakes up his sleeve to make up for it....




One of many mistakes...that is not my sink. I mean, it's my sink now, but I didn't pick it. I had a period looking sink picked out. I asked the contractor numerous times to measure and check the sizes of the fixtures. He apparently did not, and my sink didn't fit. Had he checked it as soon as it was delivered we could have ordered a smaller, but still Victoriany sink. He never checked, so the day of the installation the sink didn't fit. He went out to Joe Shmow hardware and bought some sink. He also had the nerve to blame the ill fit on Mr. G not measuring. He did this in front of Mom...Mommy don't play that. She knew that the only reason we'd hired a contractor and not handled hiring each individual on our own was b/c I'm pregnant and didn't want to over burden myself...she interjected, "Aren't you the contractor! Aren't you supposed to do that." Apparently he opted not to blame my husband any more after that...again...only one of many mistakes.

Sorry to go on and on, I could keep going too, it was just not a nice way for him to handle a gig, especially for a pregnant lady. The work went on for so long it bled into Mr. G's vacation...we couldn't go on our babymoon to Lancaster, and spent our 5th anniversary with all the construction going on around us. This was Mr. G's gift for me...



He got me dyed and dried black roses for a Valentine's day before we were married. The flowers were damaged during the construction and have to be thrown out. Here are my replacements drying in the closet. They are beautiful!!

Mom kept me company when Mr. G was at work all the other days of construction. She brought me, or rather, brought L a butterfly cupcake to help us manage:)



It was delicious!!:)


While the work was getting done Mom and I opted to do some nesting and reorganize my sloppy yarn stash so it would be out of L's way. We frogged some stuff I barely remembered knitting, like a thick winter hoodie with pocket done in Lionsbrand done in Chunky WoolEase and Homespun. I'm using the Homespun to make a blanket for Mom.



I also frogged the shawl I'd been making for my mother in law when she passed away. This was knitted in Wool in the Woods Bobcat.




I had to think for a minute a while back about what my mother in law would want me to do with this yarn. I hope to knit a hat and scarf for all three of her granddaughters...my two nieces and L.

Now, neatened up, my stash looks like this.



Mom and I organized it by gage. Yes, there is a lot of it. There is one shelf that has novels on it, another that has knitting and crochet books, and a third with supply containers...everything else is yarn.

Directly adjacent to this new knitting storage is what will be L's playroom/guest room. It was our bedroom and will be again when L and whomever else we end up raising are old enough to be upstairs alone. Today we got the sleeper sofa and glider we'd ordered.



On the knitting front...

I frogged this bugger!

I really like this pattern so far, it's called Kanoko. An earlier pic is on a previous post. I may also be using the Wool in the Woods Bobcat to complete this project. And the Trendsetters Merino VI seen in the pic can be used for something else. It just wasn't coming out right. it was too stretchy in some places, and had no give in others.

I finished these lacy socks. The pattern is something I came up with using two others...

Taken from a previous post...

"Aussie Sock in hot pepper purchased at Yarn Diva. Pattern Step by Step Cheat Sheet for Socks by Yarn Harlot and I added the diamonds using Interweave's Lace & Eyelets book."

If anyone wants to know how I meshed the two patterns let me know; I wrote it all down. These will go to my Titi Fina (Titi is aunt in Spanish) in Puerto Rico. I think she'll get a kick out of them:)

Finally, a picture of a lazy lay about:)

Almost ready for Little L

Poncho is done, and I didn't post the Whirligig.

The pattern is from the book Knit Baby Blankets by Bev Galeskas. Here's the Ravelry LINK.

For mine I changed the color scheme, used a size 5 needle and Vintage by Berroco.

The yarn for the Whirligig by Stephanie Japel is called Let's Twist by Ellyn Cooper. Later this summer Mom, Dad, Sis, and I are hopefully going to take a drive to Mystic Conn. pretty much for me just to pig out on this woman's yarn. It is amazing. I wish she'd sell online b/c I love her yarns.

Here's the Ravelry LINK to the pattern info (pattern for in Interweave Weekend 2009) and the LINK for the yarn info.

So...the belly...

Once upon a time, when L was as tiny as a grape in there I looked like this. This shot is from a trip to the Martha Stewart show. Mom has more pics here. I included the bottom of my face so you can see what it looks like when I'm semi normal.

Now she's bigger than a ruler and tumbling most likely over three pounds and I look a bit different. The first pic is from our quick trip to the Met Museum in NYC last weekend.

And you can see the difference in my face here. My kid is huge. And I really do look different. It's very startling b/c I feel like just yesterday I took the pregnancy test.

Finally, if you need a movie night I highly recommend Inception.

IMDB LINK.

The Knitting Bag

So, I've been knitting a BSJ in stockinette. It's turning out nice. Here it is, in Araucania Ulmo with my many pictures of my kid. I keep thinking how weird it seems that I'm so proud of this person. She's done nothing but grow, probably sleep, absorb nutrients, that's it. But I think she's super amazing. I'm saying/typing she for two reasons a. I hate that he is the default pronoun to this day, and b. I really think it's gonna be a girl. If she is really a he I'll apologize:)



After taking that shot I went to go pull out the Dax sweater from my knitting bag to take a pic of that and found that one of my survival banana's had remained in the bag since Friday and had expired into a frothy, sticky mess. Thankfully, there were few casualties, but I found that there was an enormous amount of crap in the bag.



I have to carry around survival supplies now because the legendary morning sickness that comes with pregnancy is translated in my body to all-times-of-day sickness. I am not complaining, but like the honorary boy scout that all tom boys are, I do like to be prepared. So I always have Canada Dry, crackers (not in pick - sadly they were a casualty of the banana incident), oranges, breakfast bars (not in pic because they've all been eaten), and the dreaded banana. The pic also features an advert for the upcoming gem show in NYC...I'm super excited!



Also in the bag, my pretty new Anne Taintor knitting bag from Yarn Diva!



I always carry around reading material. Right now in addition to the two night table books I'm reading at home I'm finishing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, just finished Blood + Water, and just got the new WeirdNJ special issue. In the center, surrounded by all this wicked dark stuff, a picture of my kid. She's going to either accept all this and become the most awesome darkling on the playground complete with Wednesday Adams braids, or she'll rebel and be a *GrimmWitch vomits in mouth a little bit* cheerleader.

I have friends who were cheerleaders and they've turned out okay, so even worst case scenario she'll be fine, but the poor thing will be the only one on the squad who's biggest fan sports an Ozzy halter, black long sleeve bolero, Betty Page bangs, and knitting accessories with prominent skull decorations.



The Dax sweater, in Bamboozle by Crystal Palace Yarns is turning out great. It feels wonderful, and the pic doesn't do the colors justice. The blue is a gentle gradient of light blue, sea foam, and all the good stuff in between.



Ah, the casualties of the famous banana explosion of 2010. You can see my Raymore and Flanagan envelope...we finally bought a bedroom set after five years of marriage.



Last night at the Lowes I went berserker with gift money from my parents and took care of the whole new room with curtains...



Paint (sea foam)



and curtain rods...it was a great day with only one hitch....



In moving up to the new room we discovered that the furniture would not fit up the stairs. So Dad and Mr. G removed the banister.



This was the room as the previous owners had it...


And this is what it looks like so far...




The chair surprisingly goes great with the furniture but it's my brother-in-law's, not ours. I don't know, however, when he'll be able to send for it to be shipped to Texas, so I guess it can stay:) I do wanna put a mini fridge in the spot where it is for baby stuff so I don't have to run downstairs at night.

I'm really happy with the set.

And last night, Mr. G and I, reveling in our last months of freedom, went to see Shutter Island. It was great and I highly recommend it. I dare you to guess the ending within the first ten minutes.

Surprise, surprise...

So...come with me "now on a journey through time and space"... January 17th I felt terrible, running a fever, tired, PMSie. I was preparing for invetro fertilization within the next few weeks. The grocery bag full to bulging with injectables and pills for the procedure glared out at me each morning from the dining room table like a lopsided snowman melting in the heat of my nervousness.

I woke up on the 18th and when opening the linen closet spotted the dreaded pregnancy tests. I can't tell you how many of these I've used in the past few years, but I know I can't count the number on my fingers and toes. I really try not to use them because they are expensive and I always knew what the result would be...negative.

The morning of the 18th however, something felt different almost from the moment I woke up. My friends words skipping though my head... "I had cramps, my boobs were sore, I was tired," she's said.

"Let me try," I thought. I grabbed the test and did my business, then walked off to brush my teeth. I came back to throw the stick in the garbage...and there it was...days before I was suppose to start my IVF medication injections...a positive result. The cold silence of the morning was pulverized by hoarse voice screaming as best I could for Mr. G to wake up and look at the stick. He was concerned it was wrong; how could we possibly have gotten pregnant the one month we'd used no drugs after three years of nothing.

I took another from a different box...the same outcome. By the end of the day my bathroom garbage was full of pluses and double lines and I was 99.9% sure I was going to be a mom.

Now I'm almost six weeks with a grain of rice sized kid growing inside me. At long last, after years of planning, making decisions about school, career, home with nothing but this new person in mind, I'm pregnant.

And back to knitting...so the Whirligig Sweater for my friends soon to be daughter, Nalani, is finished.

Front shot...

And back. I really like the way this came out.

I also finished the CLAPOTIS! Thank the gods. Pepper can finally get her scarf. I really feared that it would be too hot to use it by the time I gave it to her.

Thank the gods. Pepper can finally get her scarf. I really feared that it would be too hot to use it by the time I gave it to her.

I'm still working on a Spiderman blanket in crochet for my friend's grandson. It looks great but I am such a slow crocheter it's taking forever. I still have to finish the blue repeat, do a whole additional repeat of red, and the black lines shooting towards the middle.

I casted on this too ... the Dax Jacket from 2009 Interweave Knits Weekend. The pattern is by Katie Himmelberg and looks so squishy and soft. I'm just going to wing it with the colors (sea foam and white) b/c I have far more of the sea foam color. We'll see:)