The Swing - then and now

In case you're still following my blog, I have an update on life! I started back to college and plan to get my bachelor's degree in mathematics.

My first class is a Critical Thinking and Writing Class. I didn't really think I was a good writer at all, but turns out my instructor thinks I write pretty well. How exciting!

Our assignment this week was to write an ekphrasis poem on a piece of art. I chose to do it about the paint "The Swing" by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, which was done by him in 1767.

In 8th grade, I had to do a posterboard-sized painting of the original painting. So, I'm posting a pic of the original and my 8th grade piece of The Swing. Then below, I've posted the ekphrasis poem I just wrote about it today. Enjoy!

The Swing

In this lover’s park where cupid plays and cherubs whisper

We rendezvous, but in secret for we know it is forbidden.

The shadows of the trees hide you well, but I know

You are there waiting, watching, yearning for a glimpse.

A storm is brewing

Not in the background, between the trees

Where the ominous clouds have dimmed the sun

No, a storm I must weather between he that controls

And I, who longs for your eyes in my view.

My dress, not red for desire but its softer cousin.

Pink for playfulness, but also passion and premonition

That it soft layers should flow up and over

Yes up and over your precarious point of view

There, among the wiry bushes.

They don’t hurt you but carefully prod you

Maybe closer, just within reach.

Our eyes meet again and again with motions back and forth

My legs thrust me; pelvis moving.

Ever closer but teasingly away again.

Will my slipper alone satisfy you?

Perhaps by accident it floats your way

But no, not by misadventure, but by hoping and wanting,

Waiting for the time where not only my slipper meets you, but I do.

Something is holding me back—a power beyond me.

The reins of this swing are pulling me, keeping me away.

Joined to the reins are his hands.

I keep trying to get closer to you

But am detained, maybe forever

Or maybe until love comes of age

He can’t let me go, he won’t let me go.

Finally, goodbye for the day

I’ll protect us from the fierce storm for now

But I’ll remember your position

I’ll remember you were nigh

The memory of us can dance in my head

When those slippers come together

In learned steps of lust, but not lust, love

Love longed-for

A memoir of our swing.

Jelly-filled, please?

Beware: This blog post has nearly nothing to do with my normal theme. I'm just thinking on virtual paper.

I just read my last post where I was "so excited" to start exercising at 6-weeks postpartum. Don't they say you always want what you can't have? Yep, now that Tax is nearly four months old and I have the freedom to workout however I want, somehow the desire has left. However, the desire to fit into my old clothes has not!! I did buy a new pair of jeans since I couldn't bear to wear those maternity pants one more day! They don't look bad and with heals; I can still do the walk, but I know they're a size bigger than I used to wear. Ugh!

We've given Tax a few tastes of this and that knowing he'll be getting ready to eat more than breast milk in the next few months. This makes me endlessly worried that all this VORACIOUS EATING that I only get to do while breastfeeding, will soon be gone (no, I did eat like this while pregnant). Then, what am I going to do?! But also, I'm a little concerned that I've been a bad example to my daughter the last few months. A doughnut or two almost every week, soda with dinner a few nights a week, lots of chips with melted cheese on top and salsa at snack time, lunch time, dinner time (really any time!!), too many McDonald's french fries and an ice cream cone (the only way to eat ice cream) and a half to a whole beer almost every night (no, not at the same time lol)! Most of the time she's been taking part in mommy's indulgences (except the soda and beer, of course!). This just can't be good for either of us. I know better, but really, I'm teaching her these bad habits are okay.

Two days home from the hospital, I was so excited to have this from my hubby that I took a picture!

Portion control has always been what I've leaned on as my weight-maintenance routine, so essentially that's what I'd like to get back to. (Before I got pregnant a year ago and after 12 years of marriage and a child, I was only 4 pounds heavier than I was the day I got married). I'm not even 5 feet tall, so I've never been able to eat as much as everyone else, and I've never been good at giving up anything completely, so I've just learned I need to eat less. But breast feeding is amazing in that I can eat like a normal person lol (or so I like to think).

So, starting tomorrow (not Monday), I'm going to do two things. First, start walking EVERY day! Even 10 minutes on my treadmill (yes, there's no excuse), but hopefully outside, with the kids, maybe even hubby, for at least 20 minutes. Second, one small indulgence a day. Not a whole doughnut, not a whole beer, not a whole cupcake and hopefully no soda at all. (I wasn't drinking soda before or during my pregnancy. Why have I started now that I'm breastfeeding??)

Well, is that enough? Hopefully. I'll let you know.

Married...with Children

Remember this post? That was just the beginning. That boredom turned into my desire to have another child. A few months later yep, I was pregnant. And this time, nine months later (as opposed to 6 months like with June Bug) we have "Tax". This nick name was given to him by my mother, thanks to his birth date - tax day!

But I know what you're really eager to hear about - the finished blanket for BFF. Yes, over 200 hours later, here it is!!

Its final measurement was 34x36. A better photo of it is in its new home at BFF's house.

Oh, wait, I actually remember why I wanted to blog tonight. Nothing exciting, but I'm nearing 6-weeks postpartum, which means I can start exercising - officially!! Walking daily is my first goal. Ten minutes a day to start. No dieting per se, since I'm nursing, but I probably could cut back on the slice-of-banana-bread-a-day-with-lots-of-butter-on-top I've been eating EVERY day. But BFF has me hooked on having "just a little something" with my coffee (which I can finally have) or maybe a cup of tea. Yum! Maybe I'll have to look for a healthier version. I think I hear my kitchen calling...which is good since the baking department practically shut down while I was with-child. Glad to be back to my old domestic self, now to get back into those old jeans!!

Finally, one for the boy

The blanket for the BFF baby is showing much progress. I've now got 31 pieces of the 36 I need and 20 actually stitched together! I draped the blanket over my rocking chair this week and it looked so beautiful! I might just have to keep it for myself - just joking lol. I did, however consider making one for my own home, but I know I'd never finish it. At least with the BFF baby blanket I have a deadline of April 6 for completion.

So last time I wrote I was going to cast on some wavy scarf, but I knit about 10 rows of 240 stitches and quickly cast off. It's a great idea, but it still needs some tinkering and probably better yarn.

So, back to Hubby's socks, which are almost done. But then I actually had an idea for something for our new baby boy. I told my sister that I had an idea for an intarsia vest. She said, "Don't start another project, Sarah!" Did I listen to her? Of course not. It was Saturday evening and Jeff was at Sac Brew Fest, so I cast on while I was on the phone with her. Six hours later it looked like this.

I even got quite a bit further the next day - up to the shoulders - but then I didn't like how the checkerboard was too tight and squeezed the chest in too much. So I ripped out the whole thing to the first teal line. Oh, boy, am I glad I did. I went with more of a castle watchtower look and I think it turned out great. I was planning for it to fit a 9 month old, but it may be more like a 6 month old. I finished it last night.

Don't worry, I made a slit at the back with a button hole since Hubby and I knew that no little baby head would ever fit through that tiny little opening at the top. Uh-oh! what does that say about how that little head is going to fit coming out of me!! Only about six weeks until I'm due now and even with 12 weeks worth of Bradley Method Classes I'm still scared out of my mind about trying to push this baby out!

Anyway, if anyone wants to see how 34 weeks pregnant looks on me, here it is (photo taken by June Bug).

Hubby just left for work and he said, "Have fun knitting today!" If only I had something fun and exciting to knit...wait, I've got a cousin-in-law due to have twin girls this summer. I better go start hunting for a pattern!

Oh, and I've been craving cake, so I actually may do some baking. But in my current "not interested in cooking at all" pregnant state, they'll be from a box mix. I know, yuck :( Maybe I'll make my own frosting from scratch.

Still Relaxing

Since I've been trying to relax so much (to keep my BP down, of course) and knitting is the ultimate for me, you've probably noticed an absurdly abundant focus on nothing but knitting lately. But hey, I'm eight months pregnant so standing around cooking or digging in the garden (in February) are just not options right now. I really hope I get over this after the baby comes. (Doesn't anyone want to come over and cook something for me?)

I've finished a pair of socks for myself...

But, I'm sad because they are a wool/nylon blend and they're very itchy. Bummer dude!

Since I finished them in record time and didn't really feel quite ready to work on something new since the BFF's baby blanket still needs hours and hours of work, I decided to organize my knitting needles.

Well, that was fun...but I was already missing knitting so what did I do? Go back to the blanket? Of course not, I cast on another pair of socks for Hubby.

These are an Acrylic/Nylon blend and oh boy are they soft and surprisingly thick. Yeah, I know they'll get all pilled up eventually, but oh well. Really these are just for relaxing and mindless knitting, so of course I wanted something else to work on. So I tried a little swatch of something else.

What's it gonna be? When I got pregnant, BFF got me a super great gift of High Tea here. So when we were there a couple weeks ago finally enjoying that tea (thank you again!), I saw a scarf that had this great puckered (read billowing) effect. I tried this swatch with a bit of Aran weight acrylic yarn just using various sizes of needles (thus the organizing of my needles above) to get that bulging effect. It worked, but the yarn is hideous for it. I'll have to find something else. 

In the meantime, I finally got the urge to start blocking some of the pieces to BFF's blanket. I've blocked them to 6.5 inch squares. That's a bit of a stretch for some, but others open up beautifully. 

Oh, seeing them laid out like this really put some fuel inside me to get back to this blanket. Yeah! So a day later I found myself piecing them up. But first, I thought I better sketch out the placement just in case I go brain dead and try to sew them in the wrong order.

June bug helped color it in. So here's how it's coming together. 

By the way, since BFF is about my most loyal follower, this will be the last sighting of the blanket until she sees it at her baby shower at the beginning of April. Sorry. But don't worry, I'll take pics and post them later before it's gifted. Hopefully later there will also be some pics with it cutely flung over her crib or something nice like that (not sure how she feels about pics of her baby being posted on the Internet yet, so I can't promise you'll ever see the baby nestled inside it). Oh, and since these pics were taken some days ago, I now have 7 pieces sewn together and 5 more blocked and ready to sew on today... 

...wait where are my knitting needles? I think I know what yarn I want to use for that billowing scarf :) 

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/.