Best Electric Bill Ever! May 30, 2008

I got our Duke Power bill today, and it’s the lowest one EVER.  We’ve been trying to save energy, partly because we’re working on being more environmentally friendly and partly because gas prices are killing us.  We’ve switched most of our light bulbs to compact floresents, and most of the ones that are still incandescent don’t get used much.  Then we turned off the ac and started opening windows.  We won’t be able to do that forever, but over the past month, we’ve only turned it on once for a few hours.  6 months ago, our average electric bill was $160 a month.  This month it was $78.  I got the bill today and couldn’t believe it.  Now I’m wondering what else we can do to cut our energy use.  I might get a power strip for the entertainment center so nothing’s drawing energy when it’s all turned off, but that’s about the only place we can use one.  The only other things that stay plugged in when we’re not using them are the stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer.

This month I used my some of my precious scrimpings to buy books for the kids.  Most of them were for Norrie, but I got baby-on-the-way a baby book and a book called The Always Prayer Shawl.  I’d seen it on Reading Rainbow a long time ago, but it seemed more like a book for a boy than Norrie.  I know lots of women wear them now, but I always felt funny putting one on.  The characters in the book were all men too.  I feel like I need to start getting him things and getting Norrie’s new room set up, so he’ll have a nursery waiting.  I keep telling myself I have plenty of time, but when I was pregnant with Norrie we already had a nursery partly set up with a full bookshelf by now.  I feel a little guilty that all of baby-on-they-way’s possessions right now fit in one box and are all hand-me-downs.  Apparently I’m alone in this, because when I told Kelly I was planning to spend our gas card rebate on Chanukah presents for the children, he said, “You mean Norrie, right?  The baby will only be 3 months old.  He doesn’t need presents.”  Norrie was only 2 months old on her first Chanukah, but we gave her presents.  Not many, but she still got stuff.  If you can’t tell, this is my new parenting fear.  When I was pregnant with Norrie I worried that I wouldn’t know what to do with her, now I worry that one of our kids is going to get short-changed.  Oh, and that Norrie won’t be potty-trained by the time her brother is born.  Of course, we haven’t been working on that as hard as we should.

Popcorn and flip-flops May 26, 2008

Our daughter is in constant motion. She literally runs circles through the house from the time she gets up until the time she goes to sleep. It seems our unborn son isn’t going to be any different. Almost any time I pay attention, and sometimes when I’m not, I can feel him moving. For weeks now there’s been an almost constant sensation of popcorn popping in my belly alternating with the feeling of my insides turning over. Last night I looked down and I can actually see my belly moving through my shirt. If you’ve never watched a pregnant woman’s belly moving around, it’s pretty weird.  It reminds me of some horror movie in the moment before some alien or monster comes tearing through from someone’s insides.  I’ll be 24 weeks pregnant tomorrow. I can’t remember how far I was with Norrie before I could see her moving through my clothes. I’ve got my 24 week checkup on Wednesday, and I’m not looking forward to the weigh-in. I gained way too much weight with Norrie, and I was hoping that after this pregnancy I might get comfortably back into my old clothes. I did pretty well for the first 20 weeks, gaining only 6 pounds. I had to go back at 22 weeks for tests, and they weighed me again. I actually gained as much weight in those 2 weeks as I’d gained during the first 20. Yet another reason I’m ready to quit after this baby. I, like most women, probably, have always had to really watch my weight to keep it in check, and pregnancy doesn’t allow you to do much if it starts getting out of hand.

I cast on late Saturday night for Sweaterbabe’s Cables and Lace Kimono using Elann’s Superwash Bamboo in green tea.  (Which, by the way, is exactly the same color in real life as it is on my computer screen.  That never happens.)

I thought since it opens up in the front, it might be a good sweater for a nursing mom and also a good fall sweater since Baby’s due in September.  For months now I’ve been knitting on needles between US sizes 3-6, and this takes 8s. I can’t believe how quickly it’s knitting up! I started after midnight on Saturday night and only knitted the swatch and a couple of rows, didn’t pick it up until after lunch on Sunday, and I’m already to the bust increases on the back. This is a good thing considering how ridiculously long my Ravelry queue is getting. I’ve also got yarn for 4 projects waiting in my closet. That’s pretty unusual for me. Usually I have the yarn I’m working with and yarn for my next project out. Anything more is just oddballs.

Ready for Gifting May 25, 2008

I finished the bris gown, stayed up late last night and made a little kippah and booties to match. Too bad I saw Beverly Friday, and don’t know when I’ll see her next. I’m ready to hand it over. I just hope it fits!

Chatterbox May 24, 2008

Norrie is picking up words like crazy.  Yesterday when I was slicing off some cheese to go with her breakfast, she looked up from her plate and said, “cheese”.  She repeated the word “challah” at dinner last night.  She’s learned to grab her nose and the noses of others and say “noooose” in a very mischievous sounding baby voice.  She’s been singing a lot too.  She even has 3 or 4 songs I can recognize.  They’re not real songs, they’re mostly baby babble with a real word or two mixed in, but she sings the same baby babble words to the same tunes.  She woke up at 6 this morning, but neither of us was ready yet, so I brought her back to bed with us.  She laid between us for an hour and a half babbling constantly.

I’ve almost finished Beverly’s bris gown.

Only the collar is left.  (That picture was taken prior to the sleeves being added.)  I really hope it fits.  It makes me nervous making something without a pattern for a child who can’t try it on.  Not to mention he could come out being 6 pounds and 18 inches long or 12 pounds and 22 inches long.  Both his parents are pretty tall, large built people, but Kelly and I are fairly small and we had a huge baby.  At least at birth anyway.  I have enough yarn leftover from the third skein to probably make a matching kippah and booties.  I wish now that I hadn’t gone ahead and wound all 4 skeins at once so I could have returned the last one.  I don’t know what I’ll do with a single skein of this yarn, but I love playing with my swift and ball winder so much I wound them all up as soon as I got home.

Just in time for summer May 20, 2008

I finally finished Kelly’s alpaca sweater.

I had almost 6 balls of yarn leftover too.  I don’t know how I managed that, but I’m thinking I might knit something for the baby.  I couldn’t find any little boy patterns for that weight yarn that I like, so maybe I’ll try making something up.  Maybe I can send it to Knitty.  I’ve always wanted to send them something.  The only problem is when I looked up their deadlines, I probably wouldn’t make the fall deadline and I’m not sure if they’d take a baby pullover for winter or not.  Their submission guidelines said something about patterns for last minute gifts were best for winter.  I’ll probably try anyway.

I spent yesterday going through bags of baby clothes.  Kelly’s still thinking he might want 3 children, but I think I’m sick of being pregnant.  We’ll have a girl and a boy.  I haven’t met the boy yet, but Norrie deserves to be the only girl.  I don’t know how to explain that any better.  I can’t really see her sharing the limelight with another little girl.  Besides, I’ll be 28 having this baby.  If we start when he’s a year old, I’ll be 30 having the next.  I know lots of women have babies over 30 now, but I don’t know if I’m up to being one of them.  I saved a few things to give Norrie when she becomes a mother, 1 box of unisex baby clothes, and had 4 boxes of stuff left over.  I’m going to try taking all that to Once Upon a Child tomorrow, because I can use whatever store credit they’ll give me.  Anything they won’t take, I’m taking over to Kelly’s cousin who has a 4 month old daughter.  Today I’m getting rid of my old clothes.  For a couple years now, I’ve been going through my closet, bagging up clothes that don’t fit or I just don’t wear anymore, and then piling them up in my garage.  I’m not sure what I was saving them for, but I’ve got to stop being such a packrat.  My house is way too cluttered, and I’m sick of it.  All the bags are in my trunk awaiting the Goodwill dropoff box.  We’ve also got to clean out the 3rd bedroom for Norrie, so her little brother can have the nursery.

Next comes that old Jetta in the garage.  The clutch went out, and Kelly was going to put the new one in himself.  He started it 2 years ago and never finished.  I told him I want to call one of those places that comes and hauls away old cars for free, but it’s a diesel, so now he wants to convert it to a vegetable oil car.  I’m not against that if he actually does it.  As it stands now, the thing’s been in the garage not running with a clutch half out for 2 years already.  He’s determined to stop using so much gas.  We’re driving pretty fuel efficient cars as it is, no SUVs or anything, but now that gas is almost $4 a gallon it’s just ridiculous.  His last brilliant plan involved getting a motorcycle.  I just can’t let him do that.  He has to take the interstate to work, and I think it’s way to dangerous for the father of two to be on the interstate traveling 60-70 mph completely unprotected.  I’m just afraid his vegetable oil plot will take more work than he’s willing to do.

Morning at the horse farm May 18, 2008

A friend of ours invited us to the therapeutic riding center where he volunteers, so Norrie could see some real horses. My parents gave her this furry rocking horse for Chanukah last year, and she loves it. When you squeeze his ear, he sings a song. Norrie loves him so much that wherever we are, if we sing the song, she dances. When we got there and started walking toward the barn, there was a horse grazing in the field beside us, so we took her up to the fence to see her. She squealed and pointed. We sang the pony song, and she danced. Once we actually got to the horses she could see up close, she got nervous. Kyle lifted her up to pet one, and she reached for me. When he handed her over, I petted the horse and put her hand on his head. She finally petted him a little bit, but she still wasn’t sure about it. They also have chickens there, so we took her to see them. Here she is, surrounded by chickens and horses, and she sees a kid playing with a ball, screams, “Ball!”, and takes off toward the little boy with the ball. We did get her to sit on a horse, but she mostly looked worried and reached for me.

Shortly after these pictures, I left her with Kelly and went to put the camera back in our diaper bag. I turned just in time to see her trip and fall as she was running across the grass. Not a big deal, except that when she stood up and turned around she was covered in mud and crying. Even her face was muddy. I should have gotten a picture of that too, but she was crying, so all I could think about was getting to her. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a change of clothes. I thought she’d get dirty, but not that dirty. We had to strip her down to her diaper, put her jacket on her, and take her home with bare legs and feet. By that time, she’d completely forgotten to be upset. All in all, still a good morning.

I finally finished the second sleeve on Kelly’s sweater. Once it’s finished blocking, I can sew it on, knit the neck, and be finished. Just in time for an alpaca sweater to spend the summer in the closet. I’ve also gotten a few inches done on the bris gown.

It’s turning out pretty well, so far, although it is a little thicker than I’d originally wanted. Kelly said that’ll be okay, because newborns get cold. I guess he’s right. I just don’t like when my knitting doesn’t come out as planned. Not to mention, I paid $11.75 a skein for this yarn at the LYS, and then yesterday saw the exact same yarn online for $5.00 a skein. Not happy about that. Not happy at all. I’m trying to find the right yarn to knit Cozy from Knitty.com to use as a nursing wrap. I had an actual nursing shawl before Norrie was weaned, but I found that I preferred using a blanket. I could get more coverage that way. I think Cozy will work just as well as the blanket. I think I want a multicolored yarn for it. The problem is, there aren’t many yarns like that available in aran weight, which is what the pattern calls for. I want to stick with a thick yarn, so it won’t be too holey and see-through. Originally the pattern calls for silk, which would feel great against our skin, but I’m wondering if something machine washable wouldn’t be more practical. Add in that I don’t want wool because I’ll be using this during the summer, and I’ve pretty much ruled out every yarn I can find. I’m not going to buy any more yarn until I get something off my needles, but I think Kelly’s sweater will be done in another day, two at the most.

The search for yarn May 14, 2008

Normally I order yarn online. Usually I can’t find what I’m looking for in a yarn shop, and when I can, it’s way too expensive. The problem with ordering yarn online is that you can’t feel it first, and the colors are never quite what you expect. I can almost always make do with a color that’s not what I expected, but I had something pretty specific in mind for the bris gown I’m knitting my friend’s son, due in late July. After spending several hours browsing yarns online, I settled on Knit Picks Cotlin in Desert Turquoise. Now, I understand why the colors on my monitor aren’t reliable, but I also get their catalog. I spent 5 years in graphic design at various printing companies before becoming a stay-at-home mom, so I know that catalogs can be color corrected. Sadly, Knit Picks doesn’t color correct theirs. I thought Desert Turquoise would be the pale blue color of the stones in Native American jewelry, like pictured in the catalog. It wasn’t. It was a very pretty color, but completely wrong for the project I had in mind.

I thought about sending it back, and even boxed it up. But after I thought about it, I think I’ll keep it and knit something for my daughter with it. My husband thinks it’s too feminine a blue for a boy. I spent $17 on it, but I also ordered enough Shimmer that I got free shipping. Once I spend $3-4 to ship it back and if they revoke my free shipping because the order without this isn’t $5o, then I’m only getting about $9-10 back. So I might as well keep it.

I decided that since color was so important to me this time, I should probably just go ahead to the yarn shop. I took Norrie to 2 yarn shops last week, and neither one had anything close to what I wanted. She yelled and screamed so much at one of them, I was sure they were going to throw us out. Tonight after dinner, Kelly came with us to the third, where I finally found something suitable. So here it is, King Tut in a lovely ice blue. It’s all cotton, which I’d wanted, but it is worsted weight, and I’d really wanted a dk. I was tired of looking though. The color was perfect, and I think it’ll work.

Kelly’s actually a lot of fun to take to a yarn shop. No, really. He doesn’t knit, but he really appreciates my knitting and yarn. Often he likes the same colors I do, and he always finds something really soft. Tonight he found this merino/silk blend that was amazingly wonderful. Fortunately for our debit card, I’d already paid by then. Still, a project that started out at $17 ended up being $50. I wouldn’t normally spend that much on a baby-knit, but this is a very special occasion, and it is a huge honor to be knitting this for someone else’s child, so I think it’s justified.

I’m also looking forward to a break from Kelly’s sweater. I’m on the last sleeve, but for some reason, this project has been going really slowly. It’s a beautiful pattern, Ultimate Gift by Michelle Rose Orne, and I love the yarn I’m using, but I just haven’t been into it. I had to make lots of changes because the original pattern was sized for men much larger than my husband, but I don’t really think that’s the problem. I’ll be glad when it’s finished. Gladder if he likes the finished sweater. He actually picked that pattern out of my pile a long time ago, so he should like it.

Anyone else getting tired of waiting? May 7, 2008

The North Carolina and Indiana primaries were both yesterday, and I’d heard that if either Obama or Clinton took both, the other would be pressured to quit.  I went and and cast my vote for Obama, while holding a kicking, squirming, intermittently screaming toddler.  I was pretty sure they were going to tell me she was disruptive and I had to go, but when I turned my ballot in, the lady just smiled and said, “I remember those days.”  We were glued to the television last night hoping that Obama would take both states, and this thing would be settled.  But alas, no such luck.  I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to see someone win the presidency so very much.  I know the election is supposed to be historic because he’s black and she’s a woman, but I couldn’t care less about that.  It’s historic for me, because this is the first time there’s ever in my life been a candidate that has actually said things that make sense.  Take the gas tax commercials.  I guess they air those everywhere?  Hillary says she wants a gas tax holiday and she’ll make the gas companies pay for it.  If that happens, I think the gas companies will just raise their prices to cover it, and then when the holiday is over, gas will be higher than ever.  It sounds to me like an excuse to make a candidate popular without solving anything.  Then Obama says investigate price gouging, research alternative fuels, end dependence on foreign oil, and I think that might really work.  I think he could really change things for the better, and he’s the only one of the three I feel that way about.  I actually wonder if she’s still in the running just because she’s part of the old boys’ club.  I don’t think she’d beat McCain anyway, but Obama could.  Apparently Rush Limbaugh agrees with me there, too.  I’d like to see this whole thing over, anyway.  I think it’s divisive.

Next we’ll be wanting sheep… May 4, 2008

So, I talked Kelly into trying spinning. I’ve never spun myself, and I haven’t really been interested in spending the money on spinning equipment, but he said something about needing a hobby. I figured having a husband who spins would be good for a knitter, and I was surprised when he seemed interested. Tonight we bought the book “Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning”. It was recommended by someone on ravelry.com. We came home and ordered a drop spindle and a couple ounces of fiber off of ebay, and now I’m getting excited about it. I think I might learn with him. We’re talking about investing in a wheel if the drop spindle goes well. We’ve actually looked at some charkas, since they’re on the less expensive end. If that goes well, we might get a more traditional wheel too. I’ve read charkas are good for cotton, but I don’t know how they do for animal fibers. Then of course, we’ll have to learn to dye the yarn we’ve made, and after that…well, we’ll just have to get sheep, so we can shear our own wool. We’d better be good at this. I might have to start selling handspun to support my habits.

It’s a boy! May 1, 2008

Which means, we’ll have one of each. We can stop now, and I think we will. We’d talked about 3 children, but we’ve also talked about private school, dropping our crappy health insurance, and gas is $3.50 a gallon. I think 2 will be enough, especially since we’ll have a daughter and a son now. Most of our nursery stuff, except for some toys and Norrie’s clothes, is unisex, so we can reuse it. We’ll have to get her a new bedroom suit, and turn the third bedroom into a bedroom for her. If we can just find the money for that!

Also, a friend of ours who’s having a boy a couple months before us, has asked me to knit her son’s bris gown. I feel so honored! There are actually no bris gown patterns out there; at least not that I could find. There were “christening” gowns, but those looked a little too formal. All of the other infant gowns were too girly or just ugly. Some of the ones with names like “burial gown” or “gown for baby born asleep” were pretty, but I’m way to superstitious to make something like that for a healthy baby. I’ve decided to design a gown, and hopefully, I’ll post a pattern here. I found a stitch pattern that looks like Stars of David that I think will look really nice.  I’m really excited about it. We’re going together tomorrow to pick out a yarn. My son will be wearing his grandfather’s bris gown. It’s got a couple of tiny holes in it, but I think it’s fitting, especially since I want to name him for my father. I know it’s not the thing normally done, but for some reason, my family has always named babies after living relatives. Or at least, my father’s side does that. My sister and I were both named after living relatives, and I kept that tradition with my daughter.

I finally got to the sleeve on Kelly’s sweater. It’s going very slowly for some reason. It’s not a hard pattern, I just haven’t felt like working on it much. Prior to it, I was in a knitting frenzy, so maybe it’s time to slow down some.