Sissy Ties The Knot

My little sissy got married this past weekend. She was amazingly gorgeous and they are very, very happy. They've been dating for 6 years, it was about time!

They tied the knot at the Greek church here in town.


I was the matron of honor, at 33 weeks preggo. WOO!

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Back on the home front, baby's room is totally coming along:




Speaking of coming along, I am starting to feel quite LARGE.


This was taken at 32 weeks. I'm starting to feel like a beached whale whenever I settle into the couch. I no longer simply 'stand up', it's more of a heaving of myself off the couch, complete with grunts and groans.

Weekend mocktails for the pregnant people in the family:

Strawberry Mom-jito. Strawberries, Basil, Lime Juice, FRE Zin, and 7-up. It's quite tasty.

Vices for those of us who are not:

This One Week In April...

It's no secret my blogging has gone... downhill. I'm not going anywhere, hoping that the desire to document my life for the unknown internet readership (except for family - hi Dad!) will return once the kiddo is here.

Anyhow, where I've left off on composing actual posts I've picked up on daily photos with the iPhone.

So here's a glimpse of the past week:

Opening Day @ AT&T Park, year #7


How young is too young to get kids listening to Keith Richards?


Amazing rainbow @ the U. after a freak hailstorm


Really Katy, make yourself comfortable wherever you see fit.


Flora in the yard is exploding and I LOVE IT.


And imagine that, my kid is being difficult.

Ravelympics 2010

In an effort to jump-start my pregnancy-induced knitting slump, I jumped on board for Ravelympics 2010. Of course, I chose a much less ambitious project than last time, given the said lack of ambition and less time to veg out in front of the TV. I also joined Team Buttercream, for that extra dose of motivation.

Without further ado, I give you my project for the next 2 weeks:

Vancouver Cardi

Pattern: #22 Zippered Jacket by String
Knit Picks Cadena, 10 skeins
Size 10 needles.

Yes, I realize the large gauge is a cop-out, given what I've proven my ability is. See above.

You may remember that I butchered this same project back in the day. I love the pattern; it was merely a bad yarn and sizing choice (come to think of it, I have no idea what I did with the WIP. I know I never finished it and I can't remember ripping it... hmmm....). I think this is going to be a much better interpretation.

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In other news, DH made me give up the puppy. In his defense it was totally the right call, but I can't help it, I got totally attached to the little guy.

The only reprieve is that he went to live with a 7-year-old kid who loves him and was super excited to take him home. But I still might have cried over it.

Longest Overdue FO EVER

So I probably finished AND blocked this back in November. Then I hung it up in my closet and forget about it until this morning.



Do you all even remember me starting this? Because I don't. Ravelry tells me it was back in July, and here it is, 7 months later, and it finally made it out of the house. That being said, I freaking love this pattern.



This is the 2nd time I've made this (the first was Traveling Bandit), and I'm already planning on a 3rd. This version was in wool and had an extra leaf repeat which I though I would like more than I do. It makes it quite a bit bigger, and therefore creates extra bulk around the neck. However it is super warm, and can now double as a wrap.



Pattern: Springtime Bandit
Materials: Cascade 220 Wool, size 8 needles
Ravelry

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On an unrelated note, I picked up a lost dog that was wandering around in the street last night on my way home from work. This dog, which can't weigh more than 8 pounds, actually charged my giant SUV and then hid underneath it after I stopped, barking at me when I came close. Luckily, I had some fresh baked sourdough from my stop at the grocery store (it MIGHT have been sitting in the front seat and I MIGHT have been eating it straight from the loaf), so with a bit of that I had him in the car with me in no time.



He is beyond adorable. We put up signs all over the neighborhood last night and no one has called. He and Katy seem to get along, although when we woke up this morning and the dog (Little Man, as we've been calling him) was still there, Katy seemed less than entertained.

He's definitely less than a year old; he doesn't seem to be housebroken (ASK ME HOW WE KNOW) and he is biting at everything.

Someone please remind me I am having a baby in less than 5 months and we don't need a puppy. Please.

Tis the Season

It's finally starting to look and feel like Christmas around here. We've spent lots of time staying out of the blustery weather outside, opting instead for a fire and cocktails (ahem, MOCKTAILS) on the couch.






Katy's ready too.

It's been a low-key Holiday season for us; I opted out of my yearly Christmas Brunch because this Bean is still giving me fits of morning sickness and wasn't able to commit, and we've missed both of our company Holiday parties for other non-Holiday related activities. But with the cold, foggy weather and the house now smelling like pine and mulled cider, I think I'm here.



I've also got some knitting mojo back. I've got three more baby gifts due by February (including something for a set of twins!), but I've shifted back to knitting for myself. I'm working on a couple new sweaters, sized to fit my new preggo shape so I've GOT to finish them this season. The first you can see in the above photo is Sedum, with Knit Picks Caldena. The speed of large gauge is offset by seed stitch, but I love this cardi so I'm dealing with it. It's my goal to have this finished by New Years, so I can take it to the Cabin. As always, we'll see how that goes.

Here we are as of last night:


The 2nd sweater is Peasy by PiPiBird (I just LOVE all her patterns. I already knit Buttercup, and it's one of my favorite sweaters).

I needed something to offset the bulkiness of Sedum, and I already had the yarn so this was a perfect fit.



This is what I plan to take to with me over New Years to knit, along with my sewing machine and some baby patterns. The Bean has revived my desire to bring my sewing skills up to par with my knitting skills, and long stay at the cabin amongst falling snow is the perfect backdrop.

And Then It Was Thanksgiving...

Once again, the entire month of November completely passed me by. We hosted Thanksgiving for the 2nd year at Casa WnN and it was a complete comedy of errors (more on that in a few).

Happy Thanksgiving!
(PS - Do you know how hard it is to get a dog to look at the camera?)


Katy to the left...


...aaand Katy to the right


Anyhow, I forgot to take a photo of the food, but it was basically exactly the same as last year, so take a look at that and imagine it on the counter again. I did get a photo of the table though:



I had visions of creating this warm, cozy household for dinner time but since it was 75 degrees outside, we opened the windows and turned on the fan instead.

I did remember to take one more photo that day.



I'll give you one hint: That's not Thanksgiving leftovers.

Yup, we're expecting a baby (hence the blog silence for the last couple months.) I've had no desire to wake up early and sit down at the computer to blog, I'd much rather stay in bed! We're due June 13, 2010, making me 12 weeks along. The belly is here to stay, although it's in that weird middle stage that looks more like a spare tire and less like a cute little maternity bump.

I'm starting to feel better, which is a blessing and a curse because when I felt yucky nothing sounded good to me (to eat or otherwise), but now I'm starting to miss wine, sushi, blue cheese, and hot bubble baths LIKE CRAZY. But it's worth it.

So without further adieu, meet Baby C at 10 weeks in his/her cute little gummy-bear stage:


It's still sinking in that this little dude/tte has taken up residence inside me. Even more, I can't believe we are already 3 months along!

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So Thanksgiving was about 10 seconds away from becoming a train-wreck this year because of Baby Bean. I'd been feeling great the few days prior, and thus agreed that I was completely feeling up to hosting again this year. Of course, Thanksgiving Day came around and BAM. I was so sick I could barely lift my head off the pillow. DH, bless his heart, jumped in head first and attempted to get things going.

Fiasco #1: DH made the marinade for the meat, but put the 3T of salt that was supposed to be used for sprinkling at the end INTO the actual marinade and I caught it about 30 seconds before the meat went in, resulting in trip #1 to the grocery store for a new set of ingredients

Fiasco #2: DH started peeling the 5 pound bag of potatoes for the gratin. I was in such a fog it didn't register when I saw him peeling them into the sink, that I should remind him that the peels shouldn't go down the disposal. So the sink completely clogs, resulting in trip #2 to the store for a plunger, and trip #3 to the store for some Drain-O. Neither worked, so he had to take apart the entire plumbing to manually extract the peels. It is now 12:30pm, guests are due at 1:30pm.

Fiasco #3: I put my beloved Dutch Oven into the oven to heat it up for the bread I was baking, not realizing some Tabasco sauce had leaked inside of it (don't ask how that happened). So after 30 minutes in the oven at 450 degrees, the inside was a total burnt mess.

There were a few other miscellaneous casualties of the day, but I'll stop there. I do believe it will be a Thanksgiving we will remember for a long time.

So anyhow, I've actually been knitting like crazy (tons of baby stuff - not just for me, I also have about 6 friends who are preggo as well!) and have lots of FOs to share. I'm going to enjoy the rest of my Furlough Monday and will be back soon.

Dinner at Chez Persimmon

I had an urge to make dinner a little extra gourmet last night. I picked up some saffron CHEAP at Trader Joes a couple months ago, and was looking for a non-Paella recipe to use it in. Enter Mussels in Saffron and White Wine Broth. Wine? Saffron? Mussels? YES PLEASE


Making the broth. The house smelled sooooo yummy

I also splurged for the Heirloom Tomatoes & fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano and made a simple salad with olive oil, basil, and chives.



Bought some flowers and set the table outside


Nevermind that it was still 92 degrees at 7pm....

Couldn't wait to dive in!


Fuzzy photos due to iPhone+low light, but don't let that fool you. This was A+ good

And, I now get to look at the flowers every day. I love white roses!

What I Did On My Furlough Day

These humble tomatoes...



became...



which will be consumed once this...



has been baked in the morning.

(OK, I also did laundry, folded an EXISTING pile of laundry that was 3 times bigger than me, grocery shopped, & knit)

An FO to share tomorrow.

An Embarssasingly Long-Overdue FO

That title says it all.



According to Ravelry, I started this thing in May 2008. In other words, it took me 14 months to knit 590 yards of yarn. That's ridiculous, really.

Ballet Camisole by Alexandra Virgiel
Size
38 inch bust
Needle
US 5 / 3.75 mm
US 7 / 4.5 mm
Yarn
Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel
How much?
5.5 skeins = 599.5 yards (548.2m)



As you may remember the knitting on this was pretty quick, it was the finishing that defeated me. Since I was being stubborn, I threw this in a basket for over a year, refusing to try again. Well finally I got my head out of my a*s and finished it.

TA-DA!

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So check out my nice little setup for our dinner party on Saturday. That black&white cloth is from the bargain bin at Forever 21. I bought it as a neckerchief but it was too big, so now it protects my table from that big silver bowl.



One of the perks to being married to a farmer (at least in his youth) is the abundance of fresh fruit we get from his parents this time of year.



Grilled peaches are my new favorite.

7.20.09

This weekend I decided to clean out the pantry. I don't think I'll be running out of spices any time soon.



Not the most exciting way to spend a Saturday, but at least I now know that I have 3 jars of Cayenne Pepper.

I also finished up the knitting on Buttercup:





I am really, REALLY glad I went down a size on this (I started on a Medium but went down to a Small). It's a little tight in the bust, but I think it will ease up with blocking.

I also wove in the ends of the Ballet Cami and it was blocked last night before I went to bed (yes, OVERNIGHT, since it was still 99 degrees at 9pm!) Photos on that soon.

Finally, I cast on Vesper.



The longest needle I had was 24 inches, so it got a little tight when I cast on 396 stitches. I checked, re-checked, and then checked AGAIN to make sure I didn't twist the stitches, but knowing my luck I did.

Nothing else too exciting. We had dinner at our house and I am really proud of the table I set, but I'll have to post that tomorrow since I am running late this morning. Maybe it's the heat (112 degrees yesterday!!!!!), but I am totally wiped out this week. I slept 9 hours on Friday night, 10.5 hours on Saturday night, and 8 hours last night and I woke up this morning completely exhausted. Yay for Fresno summers!