Nesting my ass

Nesting....

This word offends me. It offends me so much that I almost feel it's wrong to be offended by it.

What exactly does this mean??

According to dictionary.com it has nothing to do with being pregnant:
verb (used with object)

8. to settle or place (something) in or as if in a nest: to nest dishes in straw. 

9. to fit or place one within another: to nest boxes for more compact storage.

According to articles about pregnancy nesting is: "Reorganizing the closets, alphabetizing the spice rack, and thwarting dust-bunny breeding efforts under the bed? Welcome to a pre-labor ritual that helps get your home ready for the baby, and helps you pass the time."

Here's my problem: that definition above is me....all the time. I always alaphabetize spice racks and cds and dvds and worry about dust bunnies under the bed. And lets not even get me started on closets....closets are my favorite rooms in a house and they deserve LOTS of attention.

So why, just because I'm pregnant do these household chores become a label?

I read another article (that I cannot find right now) that said nesting "was preparing a place for your baby to sleep". Who doesn't prepare a place for their baby to sleep? Better yet, who wouldn't? If I wasn't thinking about providing a place for the little thing to sleep, wouldn't I be unfit? So, how is a logical thought process for preparing for something as life changing as adding another human being into your household labelled as 'nesting'??

Have you ever watched a bird build a nest? I have. They carry it out with devotion and it happens rather quickly.

Perhaps I'm offended by this term because I am constantly trying to improve our house in everyway - organization, cleanliness, asthetically - and think it is completely outrageous that all that hard work to improve our household should not be watered down to one measly word: 'nesting'.

I'm not nesting. I'm preparing for a child. When you buy a dog, do you make sure it has a water bowl, food bowl, a place to sleep, and somewhere to be safe (like a kennel)? Yes, so why isn't that called nesting?

More irritating to me is when people apply the 'nesting' term to my knitting. No, I am not knitting because I am 'nesting'. I'm knitting because I like to knit gosh darn it. I've been knitting for almost three years and let me tell you, I have NOT been nesting for that long!

Anyway, I think this is why I haven't knitted the poor new little girl anything yet.

I hope she knows I love her anyway.

I still have a month.

Non-Knitting Things

This weekend was filled with non-knitting things.

I won my facebook contest for free LASIK surgery from Focal Point Vision Correction! I'm in disbelief that it's true, but I went Friday for the consultation and it's true. It's going to happen next year. If you're thinking about LASIK and you're in the San Antonio area, you should definitely go check them out. I'm not just saying that because I won either - a very dear friend of mine, Kat, had her lens implants done through them (much more serious than plain old LASIK). The professionalism and friendliness of the staff at the office and at the surgery center was the best I'd ever experienced (I was her driver). After she had her surgery, I looked up the doctors online because it struck me as odd that they were MDs. Difference between an optometrist and ophthalmologist - OD and MD. Look it up - very interesting stuff. Anyway - Focal Point Vision Correction - top notch ophthalmologist and staff. I'll keep you posted on all the goings on when we get down to the surgery time. It'll be good stuff - promise!

I am working on Christmas knitting but haven't finished anything yet, so gimme time on the knitting stuff. I'll get back to it!

We nailed up baseboards in the master bedroom, cut the cove trim, and painted it as well. We still need two pieces of corner trim. Then we'll have to cut, paint, and hang those plus fill the nail holes, caulk the seams, and finish up with a quick touch-up paint job. The main bedroom part of the room will have the trim completed!

Before we move in there we'll just need to replace outlet plugs and light switches and put on face plates! That is rather exciting!

Of course the bathroom will still be mostly unfinished, but we are sort of coming into a time crunch here. You see, we are pregnant. Six months, one week, to be exact. So this master bedroom push is in an effort to be out of our room so the baby can live there. Plus, what good is a master bedroom if the 'parental units' don't live in it?! Some things are supposed to be a certain way. Being a parental unit and occupying the master bedroom of a house is how it's supposed to be.

Whew! Now that that's out in the open - let's discuss this parental unit thing. I was never someone who envisioned myself being a 'parental unit' - meaning I wasn't one of those girls who wanted to grow up and start a family. I wanted to grow up and get a job. Strange - I know - I was a weird kid. I never really remember processing 'having kids' as part of the growing up scenario in my head. Here's the deal though, it's extremely strange to find yourself meeting the expectations of 'growing up'. It creeps up on you and you wake up one day thinking 'Holy crap, I just became a grown up.'
And you just sort of chew on it for a bit.
Because it didn't happen overnight... you don't just become a grown up. You grew up.
I still feel the same inside as I did as a little girl dreaming of what I'd become one day. Deal is - today is one day. And today, I'm on my way to becoming a mom. Weirds me out that I haven't reached my job goal but I'm going to be a part of a parental unit which is definitely a 'grown up' status marker.

#1 question from random people about being pregnant - 'how is it?' Well, it's happening... And I don't mean that to be a snot. But.... it's just happening. I don't really have anything to do with it. There's a living growth inside of me that going to become a human being - it's weird.
I'm not a fan of being limited by what I can do - and not in the 'I'm pregnant and can't clean' - I mean I can't clean every room in the house non-stop top-to-bottom from Friday night to Sunday evening (while cooking, baking, bathing the dogs, and doing some yard work that involves a chainsaw) and not pay for it somehow the next day. I can't go run three miles (as someone who doesn't workout regularly at ALL) and not hurt myself or feel like I'm going to pass out.
I never really thought of myself as 'extreme' but the biggest answer to 'how is it?' would be it's showing me I operate on extremes. I want to finish what I start without stopping and being pregnant has limited the ability to finish things without stopping. I'm not sure I'm explaining this properly, but hopefully you get the gist.

So, you may think - wow this chick is not digging this being pregnant thing - well, I'm not. I'm also not excited about how the pregnancy thing ends - childbirth. The logistics get me all hung up.
But I am digging the fact that there is about to be a small person in the world that is going to be a mix of the person I love the most in this world and myself. I am digging the potential of this little person to become whatever they wish and hoping they become a good person. I am digging that my husband is going to be a really great dad and that I'll be able to watch firsthand.

I know I've said this before - every life event is bitter sweet for me. I always get excited and the reality that my mom and dad are not here to share in it knocks me back down. This life event has been EXTREMELY hard on the knocking back down side. Questions about family medical history, complications your mom had during her pregnancy, people asking if your parents are excited, not having anyone to ask some questions about being pregnant who has the same gene pool as you - it's been heavy on the knocking down side.
Don't get me wrong - our extended family is excited and happy for us. My 'adopted' family have been AMAZING! Tears come to my eyes just thinking about the kindness, helpfulness, and happiness that has poured out of this family toward us. I cannot thank them enough.
But I still miss my mom. :P

Christmas is fast approaching!

Howdy!

The Christmas stockings were delivered to a very happy customer! They came out a little different than her original stocking, but they are similar enough she seemed happy with them!

I'm in complete disbelief that is it December already. I think mostly because it was 85 degrees F here in Texas...makes it hard to get into the Christmas mood/listen to Christmas music/even think about putting up a Christmas tree when it's practically summer outside still.
Good thing I am realistic enough to recognize that regardless of the heat, December is here and that means Christmas is right around the corner!

I've been working on Christmas project for that very reason. I've almost got four items completed.
This Holiday Lights Tam and scarf (the title has something to do with rain drops) both from different Interweave Knits magazines.

I'm trying to work on my lace knitting skills. The scarf was the main attempt and came out rather well. The tam was chosen because I've never worked with beaded knitting plus I've never knitted a hat. I really enjoyed the beaded knitting and the pattern was fairly simple.

 

In my typical style - I had to look up 'tam'. Apparently, tam is short for tam o'shanter and is a nickname for the traditional Scottish bonnet worn my men. This tam is obvious a very femine styled hat. How interesting is that word!

This beret and mitts are both from Crochet Today! magazines. The beret is in the 2010 holiday gifts issue - which seems to be a really good issue because I've used several patterns out of it for holiday gifts!

 



 The mitts are my first time doing crochet cables. A very intriguing concept and easy enough to work.The fact that these mitt work up quickly helps. I was super surprised how fast they worked up!

My goal for this weekend was originally to get the baseboard trim hung in the master bedroom, but Jamie worked this weekend so we didn't get around to it. So, I changed my goals and decided the goal would be to reupholster my mother's rocking chair.
I forgot to take a 'before' picture until after I had already removed the cushion, but you get the idea.

Before:

After:

 A close up of the fabric.

 Heather went with me to try to find fabric. This fabric was the original stuff we both liked, but I didn't buy it that day because we thought it wouldn't be big enough (didn't bring the cushion dementions with me). I ended up coming home with a reddish/orangish retro styled fabric that is super fun. Even though I like the first fabric we picked out - I couldn't stop thinking about this fabric. So I went back to the store and picked it up. I really do like it. The lightness of it really makes the darkness of the chair pop. It's really gorgeous! This was our first go at upholstering somthing. There are mistakes, but it came out okay. I'm sure this fabric won't last the 30 years the original fabric lasted, but I'm okay with that.

In non-crafty news, we took our annual trip out to Mitre in November. We had lots of fun hiking and hanging out at Artwalk. We didn't purchase any artwork this year, but I always enjoy looking at all the shops!
Erica and Loren joined us this year as well. I was so happy they had a good time and seemed to appreciate the less populated area of Alpine and the great outdoor opportunities camp provides.

Well, that's all for now. I'll keep you all posted on my crafty Christmas projects as they are completed!

Happy knitting!
-Em

Gettin' shit done!!

It is October and these puppies are completed!!! I doubted myself in July. I couldn't imagine ever getting them finished. But I stuck it out and completed they are!  I cannot even tell you all how excited I am these are finished! They came out pretty cute too!

I was so excited they were done. I did this:

IN THREE DAYS!
These are the Christmas socks that I sort of gave my sister - she only got one at Christmas, remember? Yep, finished those up too!

I think I've got my knitting bug back! I'm so freaking excited!

The only problem now is that I've run out of incomplete projects to finish so I need to start a new project.... So digging through patterns it is!

While I was downloading these pictures I found this (that I had forgotten I'd done this summer):

It's a door. A nice door. Our house currently has plain Jane doors and our goal is to eventually upgrade them to this style to add a little character. I hung this one on the master bedroom closet. First solo door hang (my dad walked me through the last one I hung). It went rather well. I did it on a Sataurday while the other half was working....he was impressed when he got home.

Ok, it's totally past my bedtime, but I wanted to share my excitement with the world.

Good night and happy knitting!

-E

Christmas....a little early!

Happy Tuesday!

This is me....blogging.

It's been super busy lately. There are multiple projects keeping me busy at work (big and small). Some are going to take months and some are less time consuming. We've been fighting Brisco getting old on us - he got an eye infection and now, a month later, he has a hot spot on his face that was/is festering - and shuffling him to the vet around work schedules.

 

We've been working on the master bedroom again. The floor is laid.





The sink area is primed and has thin plywood laid in preparation of the pressed tin ceiling tiles that are going on the ceiling. Copper is checking up on me!

That's what's been keeping us busy most weekends!

 

Plus all that, I've been working on the project I was hired to do for a very nice lady. Her mother had made her and her sister Christmas stockings from a Bernat pattern. She wants her children to have the same Christmas stockings! I love carrying on traditions! I was able to find a reproduced pattern on Ravelry that was published with Bernat's permission.

I was trying to not publish pictures of the work until I was finished, but it's taking me so long that I'm afraid it's going to appear that I've given up knitting completely!

This pattern has been a challenge in perfecting intarsia and adding the fact that a lot of the white doesn't allow you to carry a darker color yarn behind it. It's extremely important to work the pattern correctly or it doesn't come out looking very good. I got all the way to the candy cane in the middle on the first stocking and had to rip the entire thing out! I've since reknitted it and it looks way better. Check it out:

 



The second one is getting really really close to being complete.

 

The final product is slightly longer than the original stocking knitted for the mother of these children, but I checked and rechecked the pattern and I couldn't find anywhere that I added rows to the pattern. So hopefully, it's going to be okay.

 

Other than that, I took Kat to have a lense implanted behind her iris because she doesn't meet the qualificaitons for Lasik. The eye center she used is having a contest for free Lasik and I've entered! If you're reading this, please visit Focal Point Vision's facebook page and like the photo I posted here. I have never won anything in my life and this would be the best thing ever! I tried to get Lasik a couple of years back - qualified but couldn't swing the procedure financially. With the house project and everything else it's going to be a while before I'm able to justify Lasik. I would appreciate any likes from anyone and would also be in complete disbelief if I actually qualified and then were chosen! So help me out please!!

 

I also just finished another 'Painting with a Twist' class. Those are so fantastic! I love them. I'm not quite as crazy about the painting this time around, but it's still super fun! I can't wait for the next time!

 

Bedtime is sneaking up on me so that's all I have for tonight!

Happy knitting!!

 

-E

Back in the saddle again...

I got my very own horse when I was nine. She was a white faced, blue eyed, pinto horse. She was only 14.5 hands high, but I didn't let anyone tell me she was a pony. She loved to run and loved her for running.
We often got scolded for running on the far side of the house - 'so my parent's wouldn't know'. Come to find out, a galloping horse makes quite the ruckus that can be heard through the walls of a house if you happen to be feet from said wall - my parents were not fooled by our stealth.
I was allowed to walk Sarah around the house. But Sarah and I loved running so once we got past all the windows on the side of the house that contained the 'family rooms' (kitchen, living room, etc.) we would step it up a bit and always slow back down once we got around to the other side. One day, Sarah decided to make a break for it and took off at a dead run past the house. She came unnatrually close to a short tree that used to be in the center of the loop at the end of the driveway and in my head I looked like a trick rider hanging off the side of my saddle at a dead run. I made it past the tree without being swiped off and was rejoicing in my head at my trick rider skills when she stopped dead in her tracks and threw me over her neck.
She stood there next to me smelling me as if bewildered by the fact that I was face planted on the ground and not giggling with glee from her back.
It took me a second to get my breath back. By that time, my dad had collected the horse and my mom was helping me off the ground. "Well, back up you go," my mom said. It was the last thing I wanted to do. My whole body hurt from having the air shoved out of it from the instant stopping power of the ground.
I got back on and we WALKED around the house.
This was not the first time I fell off a horse and not the last. Sarah had a knack for attempting to ditch me on the surrounding natural growth - she dropped a friend and I off on a tree and clotheslined me on a grapevine just to name a few. What I learned from this first experience was that I had to get back in the saddle.

That's how it is today with this blog. I've been dreading coming back to my online world. I had a HUGE issue in high school and college with writer's block. As a result, I've convinced myself that I loathe writing. In all honesty, I don't loathe writing. I loathed the process that higher education wanted me to use in writing. Anyway, that's another can of worms.
So, today I was thinking about horses (as I often do during the coarse of my day, sitting behind a computer screen at a desk in an all white room thinking of the beautiful things I've seen and done from a saddle) and it came to me that I needed to get 'back in the saddle again'.

Here I am, entering back into the online world. I have been working on a project I was hired to do - christmas stockings! I have completed the knitting part of the first one. I'm working all the ends in and doing some finishing. It should take me WAY less time to get through the second one. Confession: I had gotten very close to being done and ripped the whole thing out two weeks ago because I hated the way it looked. It was messy.

My life was messy for a while during my adjustment period to a new job and crazy stuff that was going on this spring. It totally showed up in my knitting. I have settled a bit more into the swing of the new job and life is slowly returning to normal.

And so should this blog.

I'm back people.

Focus

I'm having a hard time staying focused. There is a LOT to do before this weekend. Things have been so busy lately. We've had bachelor party, bridal shower followed up by 'girls night/bachelorette party', we went to Houston in a day for a First Birthday party, and now it's nose-to-the-grindstone-week-before-the-big-event!
I'm working on a slideshow at the moment for the rehearsal dinner of Erica and Loren over the years. I freaking LOVE old photos. It has been great getting to thumb through our best friends' old childhood photos and put them in 'order'.
In my spare time, I've managed to get some craftiness done.
For the bridal shower, I went with crochet because of the limited time frame. I made some earrings...that I didn't take a photo of before giving them. Sorry folks. But they were these:

From crochettoday.com

Mine didn't look as nice as these, but I had to adapt the pattern for smaller hoops. I want to keep messing with the pattern to see if I can get a set to look as nice. They still came out pretty darn cute though!

I also am still working on this sarong:

From crochettoday.com

I'm using yellow because it matches the bathing suits Erica has better than turquoise. I'm hoping to finish that up this week too.

I have also resorted to carrying the socks with me everywhere in the hopes I'll have a spare moment to work on them. Don't mind the Marry Poppins bag - my husband HATES this bag. It's pretty neverending and is hard to find things in. But I have insider knowledge that I may be getting a smaller nicer purse for my birthday. ;)

I have worked a few rows here and a few rows there, but it still doesn't look like I've made progress. I am determined to finish these socks. And I'm currently looking for a scarf pattern for the rest of this same yarn in the stash. They are not destined to become another set of socks.

Additionally, I've cast on some Christmas stockings (yes Christmas in April - I'm working in advance) on my new circular needles! I've been hired to whip two up for a woman from Floresville. I'm really looking forward to the pattern - its vintage and cute. Plus it's going to use the intarsia skills I taught myself when making the nerd coasters. I'll be posting progress on these as I go - after the whirlwind of this weekend is past.

I also managed to try my hand at embroidery - Erica pinned a picture of a wedding date embroidered on the bottom layers of a wedding dress in blue. It was fun and came out pretty good! Something I'd never done.

I've also managed to get some burning done this past weekend and social time spaced throughout the last couple of weeks.

Alrighty, lots to do, not a lot of time to do it in. So, happy knitting!

-E