Hats delivered

I really thought I had something exciting and interesting to post tonight. Maybe I'm not a real blogger and certainly not a writer for that matter. Unless you were eagerly awaiting seeing the finished product of the four hats, just close this blog right now and move on...

Really I just wanted to show that I actually finished the third and fourth baby hats.

Hat Number 3

Hat number 4

There you have it. Four hats in just nearly two weeks. The girls got them at class last night and all were received with great appreciation. I didn't select who would get which hat, only that those having girls would get the girl ones and likewise with the boys. BFF got the one I hoped she would (boy hat above) and I think everyone was happy. Especially me! But, then they all asked for booties!! Not booties for their babies, no, ones for those cold hospital floors. Uh...I politely declined. I think that's more of a crocheters project, don't you think? lol.

Back to my socks and yes, of course that blanket for BFF. But first I gotta read some more of that knitting blog. Hey, I need some inspiration!

Knitting is the name of game

I have been in a knitting frenzy the last couple weeks - gosh maybe longer. As you know I'm expecting a baby boy in April. You'd think I'd be all too excited to knit up a wonderful blanket or some clothes for him, but alas I bought the yarn for a blanket and decided against it after knitting a swatch for the pattern. It turns out it's a very heavy gauge holding two strands together to make a very bulky weight yarn. Not really baby blanket-style to me. So, fortunately my BFF is also expecting a baby boy - just one month after I am due. Well, of course I had to start a project for her!! I had seen this cute patchwork blanket here on Ravelry when I had been looking for a design for my own baby's blanket. My BFF is set on a very specific color scheme of gray and yellow  for her baby's room, so I headed to Michael's and picked out the perfect shades and included some white to have a good variety. I remember when I first showed them to her, she gave me a hug and said, "Finally someone understands what I want".

I set straight to work on it. That was back in November. My original dimensions were just 4 squares by 4 squares but when we laid out the first few I had finished she decided it should be 6 by 6. She's my BFF so I went along. :) As of a few weeks ago here's how it looked so far. There's 21 1/2 piece done in this pic, but now I have 24 complete - 2/3 done!

However, if anyone knows what kind of knitter I am, they might ask why I decided on a patchwork blanket since I HATE the finishing part of knitting. That is, piecing together and weaving in all the ends. Do you see how many ends and pieces I will have to put together? What was I thinking!!

So, last Thursday I was feeling a little shaky about my current pregnancy and frankly worried that things were starting to go downhill toward Pre-Eclampsia (turns out it was all in my head), so I decided I need to relax. What better way than knitting - and not something frustrating, but something mindless and fun. How about socks for me? Besides, I finally completed a pair for Hubby a couple weeks ago (after he was complaining that I was spending too much time on BFF's blanket) and honestly after they were done I thought, "that wasn't so hard". What took me so long?!

So, trying to spend my days relaxing both Friday and Saturday, I knit my little heart out. I finished one whole sock for myself. Here was the start. It is a self-striping yarn I got at a thrift shop for only $3.50 that still had the original price tag of $17!

After texting my BFF about my new socks she reminded me that I had told the other girls in my Bradley Method birthing class that I would knit them all hats for their babies. There are two having girls and three of us having boys. So I set aside my sock and started straight away! Here's the first girl hat.

Well that only took about two hours so I then went back to work on my socks and by Sunday evening I had a whole first sock done. Back to work on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday so not much time for knitting. However, by Friday, I was back in gear and back to baby hats. Actually, this next one turned out more like a toddler hat, I think, since it nearly fits June Bug. Oh, well it was only about two hours, so if I decide to keep it for my baby and make a slightly smaller one for the.other girl's baby, it'll probably knit up in a jiffy.

Last night I was determined to tackle some sort of start of seaming up the blanket for BFF's baby. I had to start somewhere, right? I tried two different techniques. Mattress stitch and whip stitch. What do you think?

Mattress Stitch

Whip Stitch

This is the back of the blanket. Hubby likes the whip stitch and I think I do too. The front looks really nice and about the same for both. I'll ask BFF what she thinks too, but I'll show her the live pieces.

So, today I am suffering with a head cold so I couldn't go to a very anticipated kids party where June Bug was invited. However, hubby had the day off and took her for me. What a great husband! I rested and of course knitted. I did a little work on my second sock and as of this evening started the second baby girl hat. I think that that hem alone took two hours, but I was watching Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon, so I was a little distracted. lol I love Reese! I can't beleive I've never seen it. I've watched Sweet Home Alabama probably half a dozen times! Well, Dr. McDreamy is in that one too, so you can't blame me. :)

Oh, here's how the baby girl hat #2 is progressing

P.S. In case you were wondering why I've been in such a knitting frenzy (besides trying to relax), it's because I found a new blog to follow. Yes, I've caught up on every post she's ever done. Wait, should I admit that? Anyway, what a knitter!! You can find her here http://allkindsofknitting.wordpress.com/.

A new routine?

This week my daughter was off of school due to the holiday. So, I decided to use some of my PTO to be with her. For part of it we headed to my sister's house. Every time I go there I come home with some sort of life-changing improvement idea. These ideas include saving money, couponing, building a budget...you get the picture. Well, this time it was an extra bit of desire to have a clean house. Sarah, you say, really? It probably is because my sister is in the process of moving so her normally very clean and de-cluttered house is less cluttered than ever! As you can tell from the title of this blog on my home page I generally can find lots to do besides my housework. Yuck!

I became pregnant 6 months ago, so that 'avoiding housework' feeling has increased even more and of course brought me even more grief than before from hubby. He works 45 hours a week and if you include his 45-minute commute each way he is away from home about 50 hours a week. Since I work 19.5 hours a week right now and only work 10 minutes from home, I'm the obvious choice for the majority of the housework.

So, naturally I discussed my new idea with my BFF right when I returned home and she smartly suggested I look up some help on the Internet. So, I did. I searched things like, "How to maintain a clean house" and "Keeping a clean house". I soon found several blogs and some how-tos for daily maintenance. Several had suggestions from flylady.net so I went there.  In a nutshell she has a "program" that you follow for maintaing a clean house.  Day 1 is simply to shine your sink. So June Bug and I eagerly watched the how-to video and got right to it.

So here it is two dinners, 1 breakfast and one lunch later.

  

My BFF is already eager to hear how things will play out. 

I didn't hear any skepticism in her voice, but if there would have been, I wouldn't have blamed her. Lol