Weird People

"I'm one of those regular weird people." -Janis Joplin

I've always felt that perhaps I was a little different from other people, but hopefully not too different. I guess I'm just a regular weird person. I'm sure my family and friends would support me on at least the weird part. For example, I very rarely read fiction. My preference is for "how-to" books. I figure if I'm going to read I should learn how to do something at the same time. I have a lot of knowledge about pack in/pack out camping in remote areas. Do I actually do this kind of camping? Nope, but I read a book about it. I also read a book about day hiking which was pretty cool. I have to admit that it's a lot less work to read about these activities than to actually do them.

Most knitters start too many things and then have trouble completing them, a problem often referred to as startitus. Lately, I've been having the opposite problem, I haven't wanted to really start anything. I finally decided I had to do SOMETHING, so I am swatching for the body of the Schachenmayr sweater.


The beads in the photo are some new ones I picked up to work on making Christmas gifts. I thought these were pretty in a nice light green, similar to the light green of the Jaeger Trinity yarn.
Here is what the finished product should look like:

Starting People

Babies are such a nice way to start people. ~Don Herrold

Thanks for all the wonderful congratulations on the baby! We waited a long time for this, and are both so thrilled (along with our families, who are beside themselves with excitement). We required a lot of medical assistance for this baby, and I feel very lucky to live in a day and age when my medical problems didn't prevent us from starting a family.

I am due in mid-March and am nearly four months along, which makes me very happy. The first trimester was full of nausea and exhaustion. I'm pretty sure that the person who first used the saying "sick and tired" was referring to being pregnant. The second trimester I've had a lot more energy and very little nausea. (Yippee!) I'm optimistic that this will mean a lot more knitting for the next 3 months or so.

It's been a little chilly here in sunny, southern California, so I've been working on my Le Slouch. The seed stitch is rather slow going, but it is looking pretty cute:


I hope to finish my Le Slouch in the next couple weeks. I had also started a baby kimono in yellow (we don't know the sex of the baby yet), but I'm worried about the fit after reading about Theresa's experience. I may just frog it and start something new instead. Any suggestions for some really great baby sweater patterns?

A Secret Project

First, thanks to Brenda and JenfromRI for assuring me that marriage does NOT go downhill fast after 5 years. I'm sure the hubby will be reassured to hear that. Second, I have to say thanks to my readers for not disappearing these past few months. I feel it only fair to admit that the blogging has become less frequent and the knitting projects have not made much progress. Sure, everyone's been polite and not brought it up, but that's just a testament to what a nice group you all are.

I do have a confession to make. I have been working on a secret project that has not been listed in my WIPs. It's a fairly complicated sort of a project, so it has been taking up a lot of my time and energy. Frankly, this is the most consuming project I've ever worked on, but I'm hoping it will be my best yet.



Yep, that's exactly what it looks like. We're having a baby! (And you thought all those hats and blankets were for other people!) :)

Oppression

"Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!" - quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

This is my favorite quote from that movie, and that's saying a lot since it is one of my all-time favorite movies (I must admit that the British sense of humour really appeals to me). During grad school I actually hung this above my desk for awhile. I was not feeling the love from my grad program at that time, to say the least. I am feeling a bit oppressed this week with all the work I need to catch up on (although not nearly to the same extent). I have to turn in some tenure-related materials by Monday, so I've been slaving away at that, while trying to keep up with classes and get some writing and research done. Whew!

Last week I didn't get much done because my parents were visiting and the hubby and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary. It was all quite fun! We went to Laguna beach on Labor Day, which was lovely, and then hung out and tried to stay cool for the rest of the week (temps hit 100 early in the week).

The hubby came home yesterday and said that someone at work told him that marriage goes downhill fast after five years. At least we still have one good year left! ;) I promise that there will be actual knitting in my next post, but in honor of our anniversary I thought I'd post a wedding photo (one without the hubby, since that might embarrass him; he's quite camera shy). This is a digital photo taken by a friend, so the color of my flowers didn't turn out quite right (they were actually deep burgundy). I can't believe it's already been four years!