The Inferno

It seems like I just blink and it has been nearly two weeks since my last post! We've been really busy with birthday parties, meeting up with friends, and starting to pick things out for the baby. Also, the Santa Ana winds and resulting fires in the area have been very upsetting and distracting. I hardly slept last night with the trees banging against the window all night and today the air smells so strongly of smoke it has permeated eveything, including my windowless office. Let's hope the winds go away and we get some rain ASAP!

Back to knitting content, there were many questions regarding how exactly the pom-pom tree works, so below I have a demonstration. Before I made mine I looked it up online just to make sure I did it right, but I can't find the link anymore.

First, you wind the yarn around the two pegs, the way I've done below. After making a couple pathetic pompoms, I have determined that about 50 wraps is best.
Next, you cut the yarn and then tie a separate piece of yarn tightly around the middle. You then just slide the whole thing off both the pegs, cut both ends (top and bottom in the photo), and fluff. (No yarn was harmed in the creation of this demo.)

The cool thing is that you can easily adjust the size of the pompom by moving the pegs closer together or farther apart. The pompom tree has lots of holes, so you can choose from a variety of options such as the one below, which would make a ginormous pompom just for the record.

The Pom-Pom Squad

Having crafty friends means that you get really cool gifts like this:



For those of you who don't know, it's a pom-pom tree, used to quickly and easily produce pom-poms. My very wise friend decided that with a baby on the way, I was in dire need of same way to decorate knitted baby items. While I don't plan to force my poor infant to wear oodles of pom-poms like a small, human-like poodle, they really are a nice decorative touch on certain items. Take the recently adorned items below, for example:
Not only was I able to put the finishing touches on my spiderweb capelet (I will devote the next post to its specs), but I was also able to decorate these two cute baby hats. These hats will likely be stored away for baby gifts (have I mentioned that I always need lots of baby gifts; my friends are very fertile it would seem). If you have any need of making pom-poms, I can't say enough good things about the tree! Oh, and to answer the question posed by jenfromRI, I am feeling pretty good, but could really do without the indigestion and I do have to pee quite a bit more often than is considered usual.

The Usual Questions

Thanks for all the great baby knitting pattern suggestions! I will definitely pick up a couple of the books that were suggested and look for those patterns. I am quite excited to be working on baby stuff for us, finally. Even the hubby has decided that one or two things should be saved for our baby. He really likes the blue/multi baby afgan I've been working on, for example.

Aside from the crafting, I am finding this whole pregnancy thing to be quite a learning experience. For example, when you are pregnant and it has become general knowledge, it almost becomes standard for people to ask 3 basic questions:

1. How are you feeling?

I just want to start by saying that I think it's nice that peope are concerned and sympathetic. My only problem is knowing how honest I should be. I mean, do they really want to know that I have indigestion constantly, that without prediction something I ate might make me feel horrible, and that I hate having to pee every half hour? Or would they rather I smile and just say, "great, thanks for asking!" I don't seem to be very good at figuring which type of answer each person prefers, so I'm afraid I've offended some folks already. I apologize.

2. When are you due?

This is an easy one, particularly since my due date is St. Patrick's Day which is easy for people to remember.

3. Do you know what you're having?

My first reaction to this is "a baby of course!" (I mean what did think I was gonna have, a puppy?) However, most people are just curious about the sex the baby and are just trying to make conversation, not exchange sarcastic remarks. More's the pity, since I love sarcasm.

All three questions are perfectly reasonable, and pretty much stay safely away from any of the more intimate details of pregnancy. One things I've definitely learned is that only during pregnancy do terms like "cervix" and debates about various bodily excretions become perfectly reasonable topics of normal conversation. Those who want to largely avoid those topics should stick to the three questions.

Oh, and to actually answer question number 3, we don't know the sex yet since it's still kind of early. I am excited to find out, since this does profoundly affect my knitting choices. For example this yarn would not be a good choice for a boy:


I also wanted to post on my progress on the one-piece baby kimono. Despite my misgivings, I decided to go ahead with it and make some minor changes. I think it will turn out OK, and it already looks pretty cute: