A Bit of News

I've delurked on a couple of cool blogs and blurted out the big secret, so I thought I'd better share it here before you hear it someplace else...

Baby #2 is on the way.

Slim will have a little brother or sister come March 10. They'll be only 21 months apart. Aaiieeee! Are we insane?

I've been feeling tired, but mostly good. Just like with Slim, I really haven't had any morning sickness and so far I haven't run into the sciatica pain I had last time. Baby #2 has had a good heartbeat and passed his/her nuchal translucency test, so hopefully everything will continue along smoothly.

I've been desperately trying to avoid startitis on a number of baby things, both for new Baby and Slim. I have the Stripz pattern from MinnowKnits that I've been wanting to start for Slim before he grows out of the amount of yarn I bought for it (yikes). Wish I'd read this review first before getting the Manos Cotton Stria that the yarn shop recommended. I also have Miss Bea's Playtime from Rowan with a lot of cute sweaters that I think the babies will look good in.

But baby things will have to wait this fall. Instead I'm am arming up for:

Alright, yes, I am a slow knitter. In fact, this business about comparing SPM (stitches per minute) on some blogs has really annoyed me. But what I lack in speed, I make up for in enthusiasm. Wanna hear my Sock Wars song?

Okay, click here to hear the original version. But here's my version for you to sing along with, if you're a hard core knitter. We're going to "knit right to the wire!"

So I'm armed up with Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK in Blue Boy. I've still gotta swatch it, and I'm going with US6s, knowing my propensity to knit (ahem) tightly. Then I think I'll be ready for D-Day on Sept. 22 (the day before my 30th birthday!).

But before now and then, I'm busting my butt to get a couple of other projects finished, since I'm making the optimistic assumption that I might be in Sock Wars til it ends in November. I want to get the second Welt Fantastic sock done so I know I'll make my September Sock-a-Month 2 commitment. I hauled during nap time today and made it through the heel. This is what the couch looked like after:

Kitchener stitch bites. Hard. That's Knitting Know-How, Sensational Knitted Socks, Vogue Knitting, Knitting Vintage Socks, and Stitch and Bitch (from back to front), in case you were wondering.

And I still hate Kitchener stitch. These socks call for two grafts, one at the heel and one at the toe. Mine look particularly like ass. I'm not even going to show you the first sock, but here is the heel of the second.

And here is the Figure 8 cast-on from my last pair of socks.

This is why I dig the toe-up. The Welt Fantastic will be my first top-down pair out of 5 so far. But I know I need to expand my repertoire, so I'm sure I'll just have to kiss up to the Kitchener stitch like everyone else. Besides the Sock Goddess doesn't really do toe-up, so if I want to take on her patterns next, I'll just have to suck it up.

And the other project, you ask? What else is going on in Chez Muthaknitter? "The" Sweater. That's what. If you have recently joined our regularly scheduled programming, it is The Swearer (HAH, Freudian slip!) -- Sweater -- the Cap'n would like to see me in before my belly gets too big to fit into it. Especially considering I started it last January. See archives for prior enthusiasm about it.

I have the beginnings of Finishing Angst (TM), and besides, it's big yarn on big needles, and that makes my hands hurt after awhile. So it goes. Only one sleeve and the collar to go. Then the yummy Annie turtleneck is mine.

Phew. Back to knitting.