Finishing madness and insomniac dog

Cordova has taken to getting up at 4 am to go potty and then ask to eat breakfast.  It annoys me to no end but I've stopped fighting it.  I'd rather that than she have an accident in the house.  I am a light sleeper and once I'm up I usually can't get back to sleep.  I have just started accepting this on the weekend and once she is up I go brew some coffee and sit down for about five hours of knitting time before the rest of the family is stirring.  I watch podcasts, snuggle with Planck on my lap (who does not enjoy getting up that early), and knit away.  On the bright side I get to enjoy hot coffee and relative quiet and I can concentrate on charted or more complicated items.  So far this year I've finished the second sock of two pair that had been sitting mateless for about three years.

First up-Impressionnisme socks knit out of some lovely Patons Stretch Socks gifted to me by my friend Gwen back in 2011.  I promptly knit up the first sock and then I don't know what happened.  Maegwin became more mobile?  I got bored with the pattern?  Who knows, but I love them now.

Second-a test knit pair by my friend Gwen.  She dyed the yarn and I think it was meant to be a different color but turned out pastel blue, pink, and white.  I still have a skein and a half and might make something for the new baby with it.  Not sure yet.  I liked the socks, although I laid them down long enough that I think I worked the second heel differently.  I had lost my notes.  These are shorter socks, more like 3-4" cuff.

I'm now working on another pair of socks with some yarn I've had in my stash for a few years.  Sense a theme?  I'm part of a challenge on Ravelry to work on some of the beautiful stash yarn (nothing newer than 6 months old) and knit it up as well as clean out old works-in-progress that have been languishing.  I still have to knit some slippers for CA Mom (I didn't forget!) but they will only take a few hours and I need to felt them which I can't do until I go to my mom's house, probably in a few weeks.  I'm also doing a sweater, just a cardigan that buttons at the top and is short sleeved, using some bulky yarn.  I figure it can fit now with the belly sticking out and then after the baby comes also.

That's about it, just a quick update.  We are trying to stay warm.  Maegwin has been enjoying sledding down the little hill we have next to our house.  I will try to put up some video we took later this week.  Til then, here's a pic of when we gave her some flour to "bake with".  Ignore the Duplo mess in the background-we've given up trying to keep them put away but for those who gave some to her for Christmas, she LOVES them and plays with them everyday.

Happy Wooliversary to me!

So this year we are celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary and I am cranking out the knitting projects!  I just finished a hat with yarn that I bought the year that we got married.  It was a gorgeous skein of Blue Sky Alpacas suri merino in Cranberry and I loved and petted it but had no idea what it wanted to be.  Finally I found the pattern for Forest Floor calling for exactly this yarn and knew that is what it was destined for.  Now, I won't promise to look as sophisticated as the model in it but I think I do look nice in berets. (Yes, Josh, I think I do muhahaha).  I  started knitting it on Jan 9th and I cast off today and gave it a good soak.  It is now blocking on a soccer ball so hopefully it will be nice and slouchy.  I admit to being a bit worried when I was knitting it.  Pre-block it looked like it would fit Maegwin, but I had to keep reminding myself that alpaca stretches so it was going to be fine.

The other lately finished object was a set of fingerless mitts in some also old stash yarn, Madelinetosh sock in Tart.  I bought this in 2012, so not as old, but still happy to find the right thing for it.  I love the mitts and they are just the right amount of warmth.  The color is a bear to photograph properly but they are gorgeous.

Not sure what is going on with Blogger and Flickr but the html is not behaving so for now the pictures are kinda small and irritating.  Technical difficulties-I really hate the new Flickr.  I'm sure it was designed to work on a phone or tablet but that is not how I do my stuff so it is just too streamlined for me.  Anywho, I digress.

I also finished a fun little shawlette for Josh's grandma.  I got it done on Christmas eve but wanted to make sure it was dry before I bundled it off to California.  I did get a picture of it blocking though!

I also made a pair of super soft fingerless gloves for my youngest sister-in-law Laura with some yummy alpaca/merino blend yarn.  I had only one skein and again had been struggling to find a pattern.  I really love how they turned out.

The last Christmas knit I did was a striped cowl and hat in neon colors for my niece, Sarah.  I'm trying to just do knits for a select group of people for holidays.  Less stress that way and I think people will get better stuff.  Fear not, other family members, at some point you will be the alternate recipient!

The orange on that literally hurt my eyes to knit.  They were watering like crazy!  It was nice and warm though.  I think I didn't get a pic of the hat but it was a basic beanie with matching stripes.

Next up is the second of a pair of socks that have been a single plus a leg for a really long time.  I think the picture I have of the first is when Maegwin was two!

Things are going well with the pregnancy although I've had some very weird symptoms this time around.  The little guy doesn't make me break out like Maegwin did so I'm happy about that.  On the flip side I am way more tired, feel more crampy, and I had a really odd rash on my stomach for several days.  I'm ready to meet the little guy and be done having another human dependent on what is going on with my own body.  lol!

I leave you with Maegwin's "ghost hair".  Scary isn't it?

2013-the year in review

Whew, what a year it was!  We are now expecting baby 2, a boy!  Both of us are thrilled that we will have one of each, though Maegwin was holding out for a sister.  She seems to be warming to the idea though.  I also got my promotion at work in June and that has been going very well.  I now have a fully staffed team as of December and all the confidence in the world that they will be just fine while I am out on maternity leave.  Maegwin has grown like a little weed but is still petite (it is increasingly likely she will be small like me).  My sister graduated from nursing school and has her first job as an RN as of December.  Yay, Missy!

In sadder news, we lost our little Einstein in October.  He was 15 years old and we still talk about him a lot.  He was Maegwin's favorite but she took it well.  We miss you, Booboo.



So to start off, I thought I'd do a year of pictures in review because I always like seeing them.

January



February



March





April



May



June





July



August



September



October



November



December







Happy new year to all of you and may 2014 be more wonderful and filled with family, friends, and fun than 2013 was!