Well, That Was Fun

(of Team BSA)

(3 or 4 hats, just kept knitting without patterns...)

(for the Baby Hoodie)

(for the languishing Cable Rib Socks I finally wrestled into completion) Totally time-consuming, but also much fun. Ravelympic knitting wrapped up on Sunday and now all of us Ravthletes are slowly readjusting to regular life...

I didn't knit as much as I had supposed I would- this is probably a good thing. Almost everything I did manage to knit was in cotton, some projects on bamboo needles, as I don't yet own multiples sets of addi turbos in every size (cue sad violin music), and my wrists both have a lingering ache, which could have something to do with being almost 34 weeks pregnant (I seem to remember carpal tunnel issues with the last few pregnancies), combined with excessive knitting, topped off with that whole cotton dragging against bamboo issue, and, well, yeah, soreness.

Soccer season is upon us. We homeschool our kids, but our oldest son plays on the local christian school team, which has been an enjoyable opportunity for him. The first game is today, and after last night's storms, it looks like they'll be playing in a wee bit of mud, yay mud. The coach takes all the uniforms to be laundered, so hey, my boy can get muddy and I don't have to deal with it, except for the socks, which I really don't have to deal with either, now that he is trained to do most of the laundry around here... so I can sit back and knit, of course! (Just kidding, well, kinda kidding, it's good for kids to know how to do laundry. It's a life skill worth having, no? And it gives me more time to knit, hehehe...)
So what else is new? Let's see, a baby sweater, 4 hats, and a pair of socks. Started some formal grammar with my 9 & 7 yr olds, the whole crew is studying Ancient Egypt, the oldest 3 are plugging away in their math books, and my 7 yr old's reading is really taking off.
We've also had a week of allergy fun (not so fun!) setting off 5 yr old's asthma, almost sending her to the ER Friday and Saturday night, but we managed to get by with a lot of nebs (those of you with kids with asthma know exactly what I mean...) and very little sleep for me, which is never so good. She sounded like it was pneumonia (again!) but never did develop a fever, so it looks like we'll get through this bout without more anitbiotics or x-rays, yay! 3 yr old is coughing a lot now and I heard the first wheeze out of her last night, sigh, bring on the Benedryl... What's on the agenda for the rest of the week?

• find some buttons for my finished Loppem
• block said Loppem
• finish the latest baby hoodie design, just needs sleeves and hood
• work on girls' cotton shrug design
• paint boys' room (nope, didn't get done last time- you see, I am not really superwoman, just super listmaker)
• buy paint for girls' rooms
• order girls' bunkbed
• disassemble pool (our nights are already getting cold, 80 degree days aren't enough to heat that much water!)
• work on mapping Egypt with kids, start timelines
• sew some new dresses for the girls to wear to the Kelley Farm this fall (okay, at least cut them out this week)
• big grocery run to start stocking pantry for fall busyness and general baby aftermath- you know, 48 boxes of cereal and about 120 jars of pasta sauce... or something like that...
• plan backyard campout for Labor Day weekend
• buy air mattress for said campout

That should keep me busy, making these last 6 weeks and 2 days (but who's counting?) keep flying by...

Happy knitting-

ali

32 Weeks Down, 8 To Go...

and maybe another week after that... I have been known to go a little 'past due'... sigh...

Anyhoo-32 weeks and I feel like I'm starting to gain the real poundage now, and the achy hips that go with that, but I try not to dwell on it, you know, because I'm such a positive, non-skeptical, looks at life through rose colored glasses type o'gal (pause to let my sister stop choking on her coffee...) I am trying to remember to remind myself (why is it that never works?!) that 'this too, shall pass...'

Major time swallowers and life distractions like forming Team BSA to compete in the Ravelympics have left me with little time to notice such trifling aches and pains. Fun stuff, those Ravelympics. I have 2 FOs to my name, and am nearing completion on 3 more! We'll see what the weekend brings time-wise; there are other things to do too (gasp!) like put up the new bookshelves (yay! for new bookshelves!) clearing the accumulated book mess from non-shelf areas... and planning another week of homeschooling- we're heading back to the beginning and will be comparing and contrasting creation stories from different cultures next week and then it's off to Ancient Egypt, along with some basic reading, writing, and arithmetic... Oh, and did I mention that soccer practice started? Um, yeah, that means I'll be leaving my house with all 6 kids in tow 5 out of 5 weekdays each week from now until the end of October, and yes, the baby is due somewhere in there (Oct. 10th-15th) so it will get interesting...

Here's a sneak peak at my next Ravelympics 2008 project-

and a candid peak at the growing child-

Have a great weekend!
Happy knitting-
ali

Team BSA- Group Photo

Here they are folks: Team BSA, taking a moment in between stitches to pose for a group shot-


The feverish knitting has begun, as well as some silly time sucking activities like making home movies, designing shirts, mugs, and certificates of achievement- some of us might be having a little too much fun...

I decided to start with a smart little Baby Hoodie, in a very boy-ish color combo of my favorite Dyed Cotton, for our up-and-coming wee one. Yay! I finally knit something for the baby!

Team BSA

Event: Baby Dressage

Pattern: Baby Hoodie

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton

Needles: US 7 & US 8

Cast-on: 8.8.08 around 7:30 am

Finished: 8.12.08 around 11:45 am

Despite casting on fairly early (though it was 1/2 hour past official start time, 7am here was whatever time opening ceremonies were there...) I had a very distracted Friday. I did manage to finish the back by late afternoon, cast on the front and then started tidying up the place for a little opening night knitting fun. As I had secretly feared, there was much chatting, lively laughter, silly antics, and very little knitting accomplished... not to mention little time for sleeping that night, ehem, (trying to remember the last time the blonde knitter left my home before midnight... hmmm, there might have been one time...)

Saturday saw more napping than knitting- um, it may just be me, but staying up that late seems to be a bit harder in my 30's than it was in my 20's, or say, like when I was 17...

Sunday was busy, and I can't even remember Monday, so it must've been busy too... it took me until Tuesday just before lunch to finally weave in my last end and get my pic posted at the finish line.

Next up for me was this hat, a future pattern, hence the sneak peak pic-

Team BSA

Event: Designer Discus

Pattern: my own

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed

Needles: US 6

Cast-on:

A fun and quick knit, in a lovely lightweight yarn, with so many possible color combinations!

Gotta love hats for that quick (if not instant) gratification aspect- this took and afternoon and evening, and about an hour the next morning- it could totally be a one day hat, if cast on earlier and maybe without all that peripheral stuff like feeding people and cleaning up after them (and yourself.) Easily a weekend project for those less obsessive...

On to some more Baby Dressage and a couple attempts at WIPs Wrestling! Go, Team BSA!!

Happy knitting-

ali

24 Hours all to Myself

Well, okay, myself and my youngest 5 children... Husband and teenager are away on a men's camping shin-dig, so it's pizza and leftover pizza for the troops, a basement camping trip for kid 2, 3, 4, & 5, a quiet room to herself for Little M, and a million and one things on my to-do list...

• Finish my Loppem- I'm getting close...

• cut out a couple maternity dresses (to sew!)


• cut out some jumpers for the girls


• grab some fabrics to make at least one of these!


• move the computer desks back to where they were...


• organize the overflowing book stacks


• paint a boy's room


• clean off the bay window clutter station


• plan next weeks' menu & grocery list


• plan next weeks' homeschool plans, organize kids' binders


• buy shelf for storage area in canning kitchen


• freeze lots of green beans


• have little'ens make some new artwork to adorn the 'wall of art'


• finish Ravelympics planning

The new baby thing is starting to sink in. I'm just getting big enough to notice the discomfort. I'm in the home stretch- 10 more weeks (I'm 30 weeks today) or so... though, I have been known to go 2 weeks over, and 2 of my girls came 5 days past their 'due date', and yet I hope, that maybe this once, I could be one of the lucky ones who deliver a week or two early... it could happen...


I had an appt with my midwife today. Our visits are so funny. Any questions? Not really. Does this feel like another big baby? Probably. Where do you hide so much baby?! Well, don't complain, right? Blood pressure's fine (low, as usual), blood sugar's fine (low, as usual- eat more complex carbs, yeah, yeah, yeah...), baby's heart rate's fine. Come back in 2 weeks.


I went ahead and created a Target Baby Registry, as I always seem to have a few people asking "Is there anything you need this time around?" It's funny, but, yep, with baby #7, there are still things we need. The portable crib is breaking (and the pink toile isn't very masculine, or even gender-neutral...) The big crib has completely broken. The handle on the car seat is breaking- not good. And, after 4 girls in a row, and 9 years since a baby boy, we have virtually no baby boy clothes left- most have been gifted or thrifted... So, anyway, we're kinda starting from scratch with quite a few things. I need to start popping into 'Once Upon a Child' every now and then...

I did think to check a clearance rack the other day, and came home with these-

Too cute, can't wait to see those in use!

I should get a baby thing or two on the needles soon... (and start stocking up on diapers...) Get some meals in the freezer, get the pantry stocked, to-do lists printed up (a la flylady's 'control journal') for the rest of the kids in hopes of a smooth transition...

In the meantime, knitting like a mad woman for 17 days during the Ravelympics will help make a couple more weeks fly by...

30 week belly shot

Happy knitting-

ali