Bush Vs. Zombies

Appropriate given the closeness of Halloween and Election day, yes?

Busy Bee

Last weekend went by like a whirlwind. I had family in town for my baby shower, new parenting class Saturday morning, baby shower (so much fun!) and the send-off for the folks heading back to California. Everyone was so happy and incredibly generous at our shower - I think the baby is set for the first year as far as wardrobe goes. So I took a few days to recover from the constant running around, especially since I get tired so easily these days. I've been knitting like a fiend and hopefully will have some finished stuff up soon. After my small bout of startitis I'm ready to focus on actually finishing the projects. I've got four things going right now which is really strange for me since I'm a mostly monogamous knitter. We're in the final countdown for baby (about 7 weeks to go) which makes me excited and nervous and just a wee bit scared s#*@less.

Oh, and I've been catching our kitty sleeping in the moses basket for the baby which is currently residing inside the crib. How does she get in there? No clue. I'm waiting for a daylight occurrence to snap a pic.

Dear Blog,

This morning, if you can call it that, I woke up at 4am from dreaming of Selbuvotter. My hands were ready at their knitting stations. This is going a little too far. Yes, I did spend yesterday at the shop reading through my Selbuvotter book and perusing the patterns and I did pick up a couple skeins of Jamieson for my background color. The baby was kicking like crazy (apparently also in love with the idea of knitting mittens right now) so I got up and made some tea. I knit a couple of inches of boring lace stole and about and hour or so later finally passed out on the sofa. Come 630 the Man woke me up to get back in bed and now, here I am freshly awake from dreaming about...yes...mittens. Maybe this is some strange Campbellian way my life is speaking to me - instead of a hero starting his journey I'm in need of starting a new project. Mittens. I thought starting a colorwork project (a stocking for the baby) would quash this urge to start something new but apparently it must be mittens. MUST. BE. MITTENS. Therefore, blog, I am digging through my stash this morning for the yarn I had in mind and casting on. Dreaming fulfilled. The hero's quest complete, er, just about. Can I please get a full night of rest now?

Episode 10

It's up.

Hobbies around the World

I'm always interested to see how other people spend their free time. Apparently choreographed dance is a big part of leisure culture. Notice the lady in the background (knitting!). Thanks Rebecca!

Mitten-minded

I don't know if the weather taking a freakish turn towards freezing has anything to do with it but I'm having a sudden urge to knit some mittens. After looking through Ravelry patterns I'm thinking that I need the Selbuvotter book to guide me through some awesome traditional color knitting. I also don't know why mittens are calling my name - is it all the sock yarn in my stash calling to me for fulfillment? Maybe. I could very well knit socks, and I have pulled out my hibernating pair of socks from my cedar chest, but the mittens must have their way. We'll see if this sudden infatuation with hand covering continues into tomorrow- I may have to make a quick run to the shop for some inspiration. Does this happen to you?

Birthday Recap

Friday was my birthday and we spent the whole day tromping around downtown Seattle and eating. Breakfast at Mae's was good as usual and I had my favorite vegetarian biscuits and gravy. After heading downtown we decided to catch a movie and on the way I stopped to check out H&M which just opened in Seattle. We trotted up to the theater to see Religulous which I found interesting/horrifying/funny to watch. Plus it had a great soundtrack. Food again! Of course after about 4 hours I was starving so we went over to Serious Pie which was seriously good. Chanterelle pizza with truffled cheese? Hell, yes! And I had the most mouth-watering, jaw-droppingly good dessert I've had in a long time. Cannoli with pumpkin mascarpone, candied pepitas and squash, and yummy saucy stuff. I'm still dreaming about it and wishing for a bowl of the mascarpone with cannoli chips to eat myself sick. Yum. A few hours spent at Uwajimaya and Kinokuniya poking at strange foods and deciding amongst knitting books and we were off to eat dinner. (Seriously, we ate every 4 hours or so). Bamboo Garden is my favorite cheap vegetarian/chinese restaurant. We stuffed ourselves and walked over to Seattle Center to watch Night of the Living Dead performed by Seattle Children's Theatre. It was so incredibly funny and campy and a tad bit scary that as we were leaving I said that I could watch it again. Maybe I will. Highly recommended even if you're not into the horror genre. (There is a suggested age of 13+ for this - I think it depends on the kid.) Finally at home again I picked up my knitting and soaked my feet in some peppermint foot bath.

The little hat above is a free pattern on ravelry whose name eludes me. I knit it up while watching a movie at home this week. It's Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran on size 8 needles and I had about 16g left over from the skein.

Flying through the FOs

I've been pretty lackadaisical about posting lately but I HAVE been knitting like crazy. I finished my first pair of felted clogs for my FIL for Christmas and I have to say they're pretty rad. It's always exciting to see something huge and floppy come out structured and three-dimensional. They are "neat" as the Man says. I also completed the Backyard leaves scarf from Scarf Style but have yet to block it. I'm also working on the Weekender Lace Wrap as one of my final Christmas knits, I have one more queued and then I'm done! Time is flying by and October is especially busy for us - it's hard to believe that in just a couple of months our little sea monkey will be making her debut. I'm already thinking about Halloween costumes to sew up for her and I'm thinking that next year she may be a flying monkey a la the Wizard of Oz. Hee. Isn't one of the upsides of being a parent to humiliate your child when they're incredibly small? Oh, and did I mention how much I loooove Fall weather - how crisp and cool and sunny it can be all at the same time? My energy is on an upswing and all I want to do is eat pumpkin flavored food and drinks and watch the leaves turn.

Zombies in Plain English

Just trying to help.

Back to the Grind

Vacation was lovely. The weather was lovely about 90% of our trip and we had a great time and ate lots of good food. No yarn store visits to speak of (sorry!) since I didn't know exactly where we were going are how long we would be gone. We did a lot of laying around and playing in the water. My ideal. And apparently all of the people in these coastal towns live off of ice cream, saltwater taffy, and candy. I swear, every other shop had barrels of candy and was chock full of kids. My idea of a candy store was the Tillamook Cheese Factory where we ate our way through some delicious free cheese (fresh cheese curds anyone?) and indulged in a scoop of ice cream. Delish. Everything is back to normal this week and Fall is definitely here. I've been knitting like crazy and getting ready for some family visits, the baby, and cooler weather. There's nothing like a pile of sweater in your lap to say Fall. It makes my knitterly heart sigh with happiness.