In Stitches

Can you hear me now?

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:32:00 +0000

I am thrilled to be (already/finally) 20 weeks pregnant! Between my last update and now, I have had many weeks of being sick and tired which is all the excuse I have for not writing frequent updates. Almost everytime I think that the sickness has got to be ending (second trimester, 15 weeks, 17 weeks, 19 weeks), I get proven wrong again. I was sick yesterday at 19w1d so I'm crossing my fingers that was the absolute last time...

Now the baby should be able to hear me, so at least I have someone to complain to if it happens again! Hear that, baby?

Here are some of the notable milestones of the past weeks:

10 weeks: We get to watch the baby on an ultrasound. Heart is beating, baby's arms and legs are moving, everything looks great. John is pleased with baby's rhythm and dancing skills in utero. Awww, look at that cute fetus!

14 weeks: We take baby on an airplane to Wisconsin for Grandma's 90th birthday. I try to keep my pregnancy a secret until the presentation of the scrapbook where my page announces that Grandma is getting upgraded to "Great" on February 27th. However, several people start to notice my little bump and word gets around to nearly everyone beforehand. During this trip, I feel the first flutters of baby moving.

19 weeks: Daddy takes Mommy and baby on a short vacation to the Bahamas. Baby's first international trip! I am getting much bigger and am feeling baby's movements a few times everyday. John wishes he could feel too, but I think baby needs to get a bit stronger first. The belly is definitely growing and I'm pretty firmly in maternity clothes now (and loving it - why does anyone go back to normal pants after finding comfortable, stretchy, and trendy maternity clothes?!?).

Our big 20 week ultrasound is coming up soon, so hopefully we'll have a lot more photos and good news about baby soon. I can't wait to see how big baby is now!

Growing

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:02:00 +0000

Tomorrow I am 9 weeks pregnant and I am getting bigger! My waist was 30" pre-baby, and it is now 2.5" larger. Today was the first day that my pants were too uncomfortable to button. I've been wearing a lot of dresses, but I might have to figure out an interim-maternity solution for work clothes soon. I can either buy a few more loose dresses, buy larger clothing, or buy a belly band to wear my pants unbuttoned. Oh, the choices!

I'm looking forward to actually showing, rather than just getting fat. But I suppose I have a few more weeks left where it will get worse before it gets "better".

The good news is that the baby is also growing too. We had our first ultrasound on 7/9 and got to see the heartbeat. I was too worried to really look at it myself, but John and the doctor looked intently so I trust them that it was there. Although the official printer wasn't working, John was able to take a first picture of our baby with his blackberry.

John is already very attached to this little one. I'm still trying not to be too attached but just enjoy that I am able to stay pregnant for this long. I will let myself get attached and get (even) more excited when we get to our next ultrasound at 10w2d.

The baby seems to want me to know that it is there, though. I've had a few bad days of nausea and even threw up 3 times in the last 8 days. While feeling sick isn't wonderful (obviously) it does help me feel more confident that we're both still okay so far. Otherwise, I feel like I use up all my energy just trying to eat, sleep, and work. I can't wait until I have more energy to actually do things that I'd like to do before the baby - like sewing classes, working through my knitting to-do list, and reading more books.

Weekly Recipe: Daily Granola

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:35:00 +0000

I found this recipe at http://orangette.blogspot.com/2008/02/consider-it.html. When I was younger, my grandfather used to make wonderful homemade granola and I've always wanted to make my own. While this wasn't as good as my grandpa's, it seems like a pretty good starting point. I like the ingredients, but the end result was a little too chewy and sweet for my taste. Next time I'll cut down on some of the sweeteners and let it bake a little longer (I did about 40 minutes this time).

Daily Granola (Modified from Orangette.com who modified it from Nigella's Feast

Dry ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups raw almonds
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
1 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds
1 cup dried coconut
¾ cup sesame seeds
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:
¾ cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
¼ cup honey
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300°F. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones, and stir well.

Spread the mixture evenly on two rimmed baking sheets. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until evenly golden brown. Set a timer to go off every ten minutes while the granola bakes, so you can rotate the pans and give the granola a good stir. Remove the pans from the oven, stir well – this will keep it from cooling into a hard, solid sheet – and set aside to cool. The finished granola may still feel slightly soft when it comes out of the oven, but it will crisp as it cools.

Scoop cooled granola into to a large zipper-lock plastic bag or other airtight container. Store in the refrigerator indefinitely.

Weekly Recipe: Lemon Poppyseed Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:30:00 +0000

I've decided to start a new series on this blog where I post a recipe once a week. This won't be any glamorous food blog entry, just a way to record one of my favorite recipes. The series may go through themes - maybe I'll even start posting pictures?! Don't get your hopes up, though.

The first recipe is my mother's Lemon Poppyseed Cake. It is delicious, moist, lemon-y (of course!) and incredibly simple to make.

Ingredients:
1 Box Reg. Yellow Cake Mix
1 Small Instant Pudding Mix (lemon)
3/4 c Oil
3/4 c. Water
3/4 c. Lemon Juice (I only had a 1/2 c, but it was still good)
1/4 c Poppyseeds
6 eggs

Instructions:
Prehead oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients. Grease and flour a bundt pan or 2 loaf pans. Bake for 35-45 minutes.

So Far, So Good

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:09:00 +0000

6/24
I am 5 weeks (4 weeks and 4 days) pregnant. After one year and two early losses, it looks like I might finally be on my way to a baby. With my past experience, I'm worried that positive tests may turn negative and I have about 7 positive pregnancy tests to prove it!

The good news is that the tests are getting darker so it looks like this little one might stick around a bit longer. My first appointment is on 7/9 and I hope that we'll be able to see a heartbeat at that appointment.

Every day I stay pregnant feels like a great accomplishment at this point, but I also feel detached from my pregnancy. Symptoms (which mostly include absolute exhaustion at this point) make me happy, but it feels more like a happy dream than reality so far.

Unlike the last time, I didn't share the news with John in any cute way. I took a Dollar Store test on 6/18 that looked negative at first, but the dye movement me second guess it before throwing it away and I tested with one of the expensive tests. The tests seemed to get a bit darker with time ("darker" being relative as I had to take the test apart and hold it against the light to see anything at all), but I thought I was just seeing lines I wanted to be there. John was asleep, so I woke him up and asked him to see if he could see anything on the test. Shockingly, he thought the test was convincingly positive!!! After the test sat for about 30 minutes, the line on the expensive test actually was pretty convincing.

As of today, I have 4 positive Dollar Store tests, 2 positive FRER tests, and 1 positive digital test in my collection. Luckily for me, I only have another 4 pregnancy tests in my collection which should be enough to get me through the 2 week wait (why is waiting always in 2 week increments?) to my ultrasound.

Although we are still very much in "wait and see" mode, if all goes well we may have a baby around February 27, 2010!

99 Things Meme

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:06:00 +0000

Things you’ve already done: bold = 44
Things you want to do: italicize = 18
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band. (In Elem School, I played the flute)
4. Visited Hawaii.
5.Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain. (not a major mountain, though)
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo. (unless karaoke counts, no)
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. (my mom taught me the basics of knitting when I was a kid but probably 90% of what I know now was self-taught)
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning. (And caused food poisoning for the local neighborhood children. Don't boil lemonaide in a copper-bottomed kettle. Lesson learned.)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice. (I was in Venice and offered a gondola ride and turned it down...)29. Seen a total eclipse. (I think so...I remember a school project around the eclipse but not much else)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. (Italy - check. England - not yet, unless the Heathrow Airport counts.)
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language. (Um, I'm not fluent or anything but I've tried multiple times.)
37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke. (like a million times)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance. (is this really something people "want" to do?)
47. Had your portrait painted. (Actually it was drawn with pencil, does that count?)
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen. (Does a food bank count?)
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar. (in sushi)
72. Pieced a quilt. (a 3x3 quilt in 6th grade... I'd like to do something a little larger though!)
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone. (does a sprained ankle count? I had to wear a cast...)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous. (hmmm...famous swimmers, yes)
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit. ("involved" like married to a lawyer?)
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.

Chemical Pregnancy

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:46:00 +0000

On December 14th I found out I was pregnant. On December 19th I had a miscarriage. The medical term is a "chemical pregnancy" because it was too early to be confirmed by ultrasound. I hate the term chemical pregnancy because it trivializes the loss and grief that I feel. It was not a "false positive" it was MY baby that I lost.

I thought that I would be over it by now. But, I find that I still break down too easily when I have too much time to think or when something sparks a memory.

The strangest feeling is that I would be completely willing to trade anything for a few more weeks of pregnancy even if it meant I would have inevitably lost the baby. I don't know if it is because a few more weeks would have made the baby real to more people or if I just want a few more time to enjoy being pregnant.

But mostly, I feel angry. I feel angry that after waiting 7 months to get pregnant that I only got 4 days to enjoy it. I feel angry at all the people who get pregnant easily and complain about pregnancy symptoms. I feel angry at the people who get pregnant who cannot take care of their babies or don't want them. I feel angry at my body for failing me.

I found this post in a group on Miscarriage - A letter from women to their friends and family by Elizabeth Soutter Schwarzer - and found some of it particularly relevant:

When women experience the loss of a child, one of the first things they discover they have in common is a list of things they wish no one had ever said to them. The lists tend to be remarkably similar. The comments are rarely malicious - just misguided attempts to soothe.
-Don't say, "It's God's Will." Even if we are members of the same congregation, unless you are a cleric and I am seeking your spiritual counseling, please don't presume to tell me what God wants for me. Besides, many terrible things are God's Will, that doesn't make them less terrible. -Don't say, "It was for the best - there was probably something wrong with your baby." The fact that something was wrong with the baby is what is making me so sad. My poor baby never had a chance. Please don't try to comfort me by pointing that out.
-Don't say, "You can always have another one." This baby was never disposable. If had been given the choice between loosing this child or stabbing my eye out with a fork, I would have said, "Where's the fork?" I would have died for this baby, just as you would die for your children.
-Don't say, "Thank God you lost the baby before you really loved it." I loved my son or daughter. Whether I lost the baby after two weeks of pregnancy or just after birth, I loved him or her.
-Don't say, "Isn't it time you got over this and moved on?" It's not something I enjoy, being grief-stricken. I wish it had never happened. But it did and it's a part of me forever. The grief will ease on its own timeline, not mine - or yours.
-Don't pretend it didn't happen and don't change the subject when I bring it up. If I say, "Before the baby died..." or "when I was pregnant..." don't get scared. If I'm talking about it, it means I want to. Let me. Pretending it didn't happen will only make me feel utterly alone.
- Don't say, "It's not your fault." It may not have been my fault, but it was my responsibility and I failed. The fact that I never stood a chance of succeeding only makes me feel worse. This tiny little being depended upon me to bring him safely into the world and I couldn't do it. I was supposed to care for him for a lifetime, but I couldn't even give him a childhood. I am so angry at my body you just can't imagine.
-Do say, "I am so sorry." That's enough. You don't need to be eloquent. Say it and mean it and it will matter.
-Do say, "You're going to be wonderful parents some day," or "You're wonderful parents and that baby was lucky to have you." We both need to hear that.
Above all, please remember that this is the worst thing that ever happened to me. The word "miscarriage" is small and easy. But my baby's death is monolithic and awful. It's going to take me a while to figure out how to live with it. Bear with me.

The Best Christmas Present

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:50:00 +0000

December 14 - It was our 7th month of trying and I was getting very frustrated with the process. I am too impatient for all the waiting involved - 2 weeks to ovulate, 2 weeks to test - every single cycle.

So this morning, when I took my temperature it confirmed that I had a triphasic chart and I decided to take a pregnancy test. I waited about 10 minutes and checked the test - definitely 2 lines! The second line was light, but clearly visible. My due date is 8/26/09!!!

Now that it is "real", I'm starting to worry that I'm not ready for all the things I need to do to prepare but I'm mostly just escatic! And worrying is healthy, right?! I thought about saving the news to surprise John with closer to Christmas, but since he had given me my Christmas present yesterday I figured I could give him my surprise early too.

For his gift, I bought a newborn onesie and wrapped the positive pregancy test in it. Then I added a 2008 Christmas ornament of a Snowman couple that has an arrow on the belly saying "Baby". Over all of that I put the movie Wall-E, just so that he wouldn't catch on right away...

I let him open his gift this afternoon and he was really confused at first. So I pulled out the pregnancy test and said "it's positive!" John was really excited and despite his previous statements about "pee sticks" being disgusting, he said he wanted to keep it. Too funny.

I love how excited and involved John is of the pregnancy process so far! He asked lots of questions about how big the baby is right now and then went to go look up to review the development stages of the embryo (answer: our blastocyst is not quite the size of a poppy seed).

Now I need to decide when to tell everyone. I'm at least waiting until Christmas to tell anyone, even immediate family. It would make Christmas presents so easy to tell the future grandparents then. Unfortunately, I don't like the idea of telling family when we are only 5 weeks along. We'll see how I feel in another week, though!

Back Again?

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:42:00 +0000

Over and over I say that I'll start posting again. Each time I have some excuse like life is too busy or life is not blog-worthy and then 6 months have gone by and I feel like it has been too long to start back up.

So here I am, whether I have blog worthy material or not.

While I have numerous finished knitting projects to share, wedding pictures I have never posted, and a trip to Greece I have yet to document - I lost my hard drive and do not have access to any of our pictures on my new computer. Now that we've eliminated all potentially interesting content, you're just stuck with me and my thoughts.

Lately I've been tormeting myself over what I am doing with my life. I have a tendency to over-analyze things and somehow it seems to keep coming back to analyzing myself. Most of these thoughts end with me resolving to stop thinking so much and just take a risk and move FORWARD. Yet, I seem to manage to end up back at the same starting point over and over again.

The general thought process goes something like this:

I am not fulfilled at my job. This job is not what I want to do with my life.
But I don't know what I do want to do with my life, so what is the alternative?
Maybe I should go back to school.
But in what? Isn't it a waste of tuition to get a degree without knowing what you want to do with it?
Maybe I should find another job and try something else out.
Begin researching jobs online.
I need a masters degree in something to get the jobs that actually sound interesting. Everything else is just what I am doing now with either (1) less responsibility or (2) worse hours.
Maybe I should take a government job doing what I'm doing now where at least I'd be better compensated...
If I never take a risk at a new career, I'll never have the opportunity to make it better. Sure, it might be worse, but that is a chance you have to take!
Maybe I should go back to school to really look at new careers in a new field. Maybe I should take a chance that I was right about the degree I wanted to get 3 years ago.
Maybe I'm just not interested in working at all. All I want to do is go to school and have a family. I don't have any real career goals.
If I don't have any goals about how to use the degree, wouldn't it be better to not have the debt?

Rinse and repeat. Now think about that about 10x per day, everyday, and you'll understand a little bit better how it is to live inside my head.

Luckily, I have a very understanding husband who pretends that he is not tired of hearing the same discussion over and over again.

Just Old Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:55:00 +0000

This probably isn't the best thing to post about. But I need to write about it, so here goes... After I get this out, I promise a post about my wedding!

My wedding was everything it should have been - a beautiful, wonderful event shared with my family, loved ones, and the most wonderful man in the world. But, instead of 6 of my closest friends standing beside me, there were only 4.

One of the only things about my wedding that was set from the very beginning was our wedding party. John and I sat in our villa in Tuscany the same September evening he proposed and wrote down the names of the men and women we wanted beside us at the wedding. As soon as we arrived back home, we asked these people to be our bridesmaids/groomsmen and they all agreed. Our wedding was scheduled for the next year's Labor Day weekend to ensure that everyone had enough time to travel for the wedding.

In mid-May, I received a message from one of my bridesmaids telling me she had bad news. She could no longer come to the wedding. Two days later, I receive an email from another bridesmaid telling me that she can no longer come to the wedding. At this point it seemed like a bad joke - this couldn't be real, the timing was too much of a coincidence.

For a week I waited for them to tell me it was all a joke - that of course they wouldn't miss my wedding for the world! I spoke to both of them and told them that their presence meant a lot to me, and that we would do anything to help them make it to the wedding. I also let them know that I would understand if they couldn't make it.

Neither one of them changed their minds or told me how I could help. It was that easy. Suddenly I went from 6 bridesmaids to 4.

I was so sad that I wanted to call off the formal wedding. I couldn't imagine continuing with all the wedding planning. I just wanted to run away with John and elope. I would break down in tears in public and John would take me home to try to console me. John agreed to call off the wedding and elope. We put off sending out invitations for about 2 weeks while I thought about what I wanted to do (and reviewed all contracts for their cancellation policies).

Looking back I shouldn't have let them off so easy. They caused me so much pain, and they didn't even have to know how much they hurt me. I told them that I forgave them, that I knew they tried, that I knew that they thought my wedding was important. To my other friends I said that they were just too young and didn't know what they were doing. Deep down, I will never fully forgive them. Why would I now put effort into a relationship that they have demonstrated means so little to them?

People say I am lucky to find out now that they aren't good friends, just old acquaintances. I just really never wanted to find that out.

Baby Shower Knits

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 27 May 2007 12:21:00 +0000

I know I've basically disappeared from blogging lately. Hopefully I'll become better, but life has been hectic lately. I've been planning a wedding, buying a house, applying for new jobs, and knitting. It is no wonder there isn't time for writing about it!

Last week I went to a good friend's baby shower and finished two handknits for her. I procrastinated on the finishing until the very end - in fact, the morning of the baby shower I knit the garter stitch border, bound off, and blocked the blanket while I sewed buttons on the baby sweater! On to details about the knits:

Pattern: Cabled Baby Blanket from Debbie Bliss SimplyBaby
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (in Leaf?)
Notes: I learned to cable without a cable needle on this project. I liked the pattern of the blanket because it kept my interest longer, but still near the end I was dreading knitting on this project. Again I've promised that I will not knit baby blankets as gifts, but we'll see how long that lasts.

I almost a whole skein of the yarn left because I ran out of time to do another pattern repeat. Luckily I have a lot of other colors of the same yarn, so I'll just need to make a striped sweater later!

Sorry for the low-quality pictures, again this was done the morning of the shower so I didn't have a lot of time! Luckily the recipient is a photographer, so I hope to receive better photos of my knits once the baby arrives!

Detail of cable pattern:
Pattern: Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater - free pattern from the internet (Note: I was able to find a copy by opening the cached page in google, but the original site with the pattern has been taken down)

Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby in white/blue/teal/purple variegated

This was such an easy pattern that I finished it in only a few weeks. I still believe that this sweater looks too girly with the colors. I was torn between putting girly buttons on it and giving it to a different recipient or trying to make it as boyish as possible and give it to its intended recipient. Ultimately, I went with little dog buttons to make it "masculine." Hopefully it will look cute with a baby boy!

I hated the yarn color in this sweater. I will never use cheap variegated yarns again. I thought it might make it look cuter, but it just looked like - well I'll let you see for yourself!

Close up of buttons and collar details:

Sit tight and you may get an update about the actual baby shower!

FO: Baby Shrug

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 14:30:00 +0000

This was sort of a mystery project at least as far as this blog. It was never a work in progress and suddenly, BAM, another finished object!

A few weeks ago, John and I went to Baltimore to go to the NFL playoff game between the Colts and Ravens. While we were up there, we go to meet up with one of John's old fraternity brothers who lives there with his wife and daughter. This was the first time I had met them and of course I was inspired to start a new project for the baby as soon as I got home. I was able to use some yarn from my stash and knit this one up in 2-3 weeks. Just in time to meet up with them again today for lunch!

Pattern: Baby Shrug from Debbie Bliss SimplyBaby
Size: 12-18 months
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora #15510
Needles: Size 5 and 6

I would definitely knit this pattern again. Not only was it FAST but it is feminine and would be cute in so many colors. I also think it is very usable for babies because you don't have to worry about buttons or any other closures! It is knit in one piece so there were only 2 seams (the sides and the sleeves) to sew. I realize though that finishing is less forgiving on larger guage projects, so I'm not perfectly happy with the seams. I don't think anyone will notice except other knitters, but after re-seaming 2-3 times I was ready to accept imperfection.

FO: Devan Details

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 14:11:00 +0000

I know I've been MIA for a while but I promise I've been knitting like crazy and have lots of wonderful things to show you. First of all, the details on the completed Devan cardigan - with buttons.

Pattern: Devan from Knitty.com
Size: 1-2 year
Yarn: Marks & Kattens Clown #1723
Stahl Socka 50
Needles: Size 0 & 1

This one knits up quickly considering the needle size. I love the way it turned out, but knitting solid blue on the back on size 1s did make me never want to knit this one again. Of course, now that it has gone onto a good home I "accidentally" bought enough sock yarn so that I could do this one again in girly colors...

I was proud of this one because it is the first garmet I've ever made. I was impressed with my own finishing - although I think the tiny stitches make finishing very forgiving!

Front (with little cat paws):

Back (Patch Version):

Promised Pictures and New Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 18:42:00 +0000

First, as promised - the lessons learned from my last post in pictures. First, we have the washcloth-lace-study:

Next, we have the two-plus-year-scarf. Note, the older side is on the left - newer on the right.

The scarf was completed in Manos del Uruguay yarn and I adore the color blends in this yarn. Here is a close-up that more accurately reflects the yarn colors:

As soon as I sew the buttons onto Devan, I promise to post a better description of the pattern and materials. For now, I want to share the newest baby sweater project -- the Lace Edge Cardigan from Debbie Bliss SimplyBaby. This one feels like it knits up quickly and I'm already more than half way done. I started this mostly because I was tired of knitting in blue from Devan and tired of knitting on size 1 needles. I'm knitting this cardigan in KnitPicks Shine Sport in Coral on size 2 needles. My stitch gauge is off so I'm knitting the 12-18 month width in the 18-24 month length. And the best thing about this sweater is that the front and back is knit in one piece so I save myself TWO seams!

Presenting...Devan et. al.

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 01:51:00 +0000

Yes, that is right. The unimaginable happened - I finished Devan! I think it is mostly due to the yarn-buying-freeze enacted by John until the sweater was completed. Now I am allowed to buy...get ready for this...AS MUCH YARN AS I WANT. Oh, John could not have possibly imagined how much yarn I want, but the deal was made and now I'm free to go on a yarn spree. There is sure to be later posts about these yarn purchases.

Here is Devan in pictures. First, blocking:

Then with shoulders seamed:

Add a neck/button band, seam sleeves to body, seam sides and sleeves:

Today I took Devan for a drive to buy buttons. Once I sew on the buttons, this one is good to go! Unfortunately, I've gotten really attached to this little sweater so it is going to be hard to let it go. However, we did get a Christmas card from our friends which confirmed that he is still the MOST adorable baby in the world so I believe he deserves it!

Devan isn't the only finished project around here, though. When I went home for Thanksgiving I picked up an unfinished project, a lace-y dishcloth, from about 2 years ago. This dishcloth is now finished, and happily in use for dish drying and other kitchen activities. There are a few things worth mentioning about this dishcloth:

I had a booklet of dishcloth patterns with the half-finished project, after using process of elimination I selected the only pattern it could have been. The fact that it has been 2 years since I touched this project means that:

(1) my knitting skills have improved and

(2) based on the pattern I could not have been following it correctly before so I

(3) tried to attempt what I may have thought the pattern was way-back-when only to discover an inch later that it was not the same pattern. This lead me to believe that

(4) maybe I did know what I was doing 2 years before and so I

(5) switched to doing the pattern as actually written. This led to yet another lace pattern which was not the same as the first or the second.

At this point I realized I had a few choices. I could either continue on and complete the dishcloth as a sampler of 3 lace patterns which I may never be able to replicate or I could rip it out and start over. This is when I remembered why I had knit a dishcloth in the first place...it does not matter what it looks like. It is only a dishcloth. With this knitting revelation, I finished in years a project that should have taken a weekend.

In the interest of getting some old projects off the needles (notice these are all things I never claimed to have "on the needles" in the first place), I also finished a scarf that I had started in September 2004. It is perfectly lovely and I wear it all the time. However, finishing a 2+ year old scarf did teach me a valuable lesson that I want to share, and will be shown with pictures tomorrow. Knitting is fabric, and therefore it 'ages'. This means that if you knit a scarf over multiple years, one end of the scarf will look much older than the other end. This is incredibly convenient for all those times when you need something that can pass as either old or new. In fact, I recommend procrastinating on all knitting projects so that you too can achieve this unique effect.

The Stash

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 03:39:00 +0000

It is possibly due to the fact that I finally live in only one city for the entire year...but I have finally accumulated a yarn stash. I used to pride myself on buying yarn by the project. I'd buy yarn with a project in mind and be SO excited to start that I would actually start. This resulted in plenty of unfinished projects, but not much unclaimed yarn lying around.

Currently, however, I have bags of yarn in the office, living room, bedroom, and every storage basket in the apartment. Bags of yarn that I have absolutely no idea if or when I will ever use them. Bags of yarn that make me really, really happy to have around.

Some of this yarn was accumulated through yarn sales and local yarn stores. Most of it was accumulated through online yarn shopping sprees when work puts me in a bad mood. Uh oh...I may have become a yarn-shop-a-holic.

My sisters are definitely shop-a-holics. Nothing brightens their day faster than purchasing a new shirt or jewelry. I've never understood their desire or ability to spend hours in the mall. I've always dreaded shopping, it seemed much too girly--this explains why so much of my wardrobe is (1) from high school or (2) hand-me-downs from my younger, and much more fashion conscious, sisters. But give me the ability to buy yarn in pajamas and, apparently, I too have an inner shop-a-holic.

My mom has a veritable yarn store worth of yarn in our basement at home. My father loves to warn John about the dangers of yarn-buying addictions but meets with limited success. John apparently has too much faith in my ability to control my habit or does not yet comprehend how bad it may become...

And, no, I still have no progress on the baby sweater. Yes, baby keeps growing and my deadline gets closer and closer. While I do not have the attention span to knit adult-sized garmets, I also seem to lack the focus to complete child-sized projects on schedule. At least I know that I have plenty of yarn to keep my company while I procrastinate!!

Wedding Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 03:25:00 +0000

Finally! While we were in Seattle for Thanksgiving we managed to make some serious progress on wedding planning. Most of it was achieved by breaking down John's resistance to my ideas by sheer hours of wedding planning activities. I don't think my fiance has ever appreciated the number of hours I spend on wedding research, and he got a small taste of it over Thanksgiving.

My mom and dad picked us up from the airport on Wednesday at 11:00am. From there we drove to Seattle for our first appointment with a reception location at noon. Following the Fairview Club, we proceeded to visit another FOUR reception locations. Thursday we took a short break to overeat and visit with extended family. Friday we were back on the reception location trail, visiting approximately 9 additonal locations from Woodinville to Snoqualmie to Seattle to Bothell. Fiance was definitely beat down by this. On Saturday I suggested that Dad and Fiance go to look at a few more sites on their own while the girls went dress shopping. This mere suggestion finally resolved the deadlock on a decision we had been arguing for what-feels-like-months.

Saturday resulted in 3 finalists for dresses that were, shockingly, all WAY under my budget. On Monday I grabbed a bridesmaid and my dad for the final decision. I bought a dress that I adore for 50% off (you'll have to wait for pictures until the wedding)! Because the dress is off-the-rack, the first set of alterations is in progress as we speak and I have a second fitting scheduled for January.

Following this rush of progress, we headed out to visit a florist recommended by an event planner friend of my parent's. I got along with her really well, and I think she'll help execute my floral vision perfectly. So we tentatively have a florist!

In other news, my mother made us my favorite cake of all time to decide if John and I want the recipe for our wedding cake. We all agree that it is a go, so now we just need to find a baker willing to work with my mom's recipe.

In a single week we went from behind schedule to ahead of schedule. What a good feeling!

Knitting Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 05:14:00 +0000

It has been so long since I wrote about knitting that you may believe I no longer knit. I have found that I go through phases of intense knitting or reading. While I am in my reading phase, I may read 3-4 books without picking up a pair of knitting needles and vice versa.

There has not been much progress on my current projects, but I was inspired by visiting our friend's new baby (the one who the baby blanket was for) that I knit a hat in an evening. It is incredibly adorable, see below, but potentially a little too big for a 7-week old baby. I'm hoping he can wear it sometime this winter, but I may need to start a new one that is smaller.

Digital pictures are a bit more difficult to come by since I discovered that my tiny digital camera is broken. I tell you this only so that you appreciate the effort I put into taking these pictures for your viewing pleasure.

And again for your viewing pleasure I present...The Cat in the Hat!

And now that I'm embarrased Cairo in front of his sister and the whole world on the internet, I'll give you some more flattering portraits of the pair. On the left is Cairo (sans hat) and on the right is Nairobi.

Wedding Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 04:24:00 +0000

Wedding planning has become the biggest time consumer in my life right now. I think this is for one (or more) of the following reasons:

1. I am indecisive. This is a big one-indecisiveness means that I will ALWAYS look for further options, even when the one I have is perfectly good.
2. I just don't care enough/I don't know what I want. I'm guessing my indecisiveness is due to something resembling apathy. This may be more due to reason #3, but the fact that I end up with finalists that do not resemble eachother at all must mean that I don't really know what I want.
3. Online research. Planning a wedding on the west coast from the east coast means that, instead of spending wedding time actually looking at potential sites, florists, caterers, etc., I can spend HOURS looking at ideas from other weddings that will never help me. I have "fallen in love" with locations in Albany, New York and Southern California, for example.
4. Me and John don't agree on general parameters. I lean towards gardens, he won't stand for tables on the grass. I lean towards cozy, he cannot accept seating guests across multiple rooms (see Reception Site below).

So here is where I am in the planning process:

Wedding Date: Narrowed down to a Saturday in August 2007 or Sunday September 2nd during Labor Day weekend.

Reception Site: 2 finalists right now. (1) Tibbetts Creek Manor which can hold 90 people inside and 50 people outside on a deck. Nice gardens for the ceremony. There are multiple doors between inside and outside. I think this would have enough "flow" to keep guests happy, John believes that people seated outside would feel slighted. (2) The Arboretum can hold at least 125 people outside on a patio. We would need a tent in case of weather. Indoor area can seat 80, which could be used for buffet table, dancing, etc. Unclear how many people can really be squished outside so there may be the same issue as #1.
And there are three potential resolutions, John changes his mind, we cut down the guest list, or go back to the drawing board on sites. It looks like we're leaning toward the drawing board, although this has definitely resulted in more than one emotional breakdown.

Wedding Dress: Inspired by a nightmare in which I forgot to buy a wedding dress and had to run to a store between the ceremony and reception once I realized I had forgotten this "minor detail", I went dress shopping last weekend. I didn't find "the one" (and to be honest, don't really believe in the concept). I found things I liked in dresses, but I wanted to modify all of them to make them "perfect". I cannot really see purchasing an expensive dress that needs so many alterations that may not actually turn out the way I want. No pictures here, though...just in case.

Wedding Colors: Coral and Sage Green with Ivory and Peachy colors.

Guest List: Draft is in Excel already. My mother thinks it is simply hilarious that all my planning is done in Excel. Personally, I don't understand how anyone ever planned anything without Excel. My coworkers think it is hilarious what happens when a Consultant plans a wedding--I've even heard of Visio seating charts (which seems like a great idea to me, although I think my mother might die laughing - that is if she knew what Visio was...).

Groomscake: This seems to be one of the only things I can get very excited about. I can't write about all my great ideas, just in case John decides to look. Here is one picture I found today that I think would be perfect for John.

Korean-related Stuff: John spoke to his parents and his mom and dad are extremely supportive of us having a Korean ceremony. I think it will be a ceremony for only family between the ceremony and reception (during the cocktail hour). We'll probably come out for a bit in Hanbok, but change back into traditional American wedding attire for the first dance.

In more fun stuff, I am thinking about having an Asian version of the Candy bar that is seen at so many weddings on The Knot - the Asian Snack Bar! Of course, we will enjoy it the most, but I think it would be fun to have my favorite Japanese snacks and his favorite Korean snacks for everyone to try.

I haven't even gotten to all the details, but I can tell that I'm boring you already. The point of this entire post, if you haven't gleaned it already, is that despite being engaged for almost 2 months, we are no further along in the wedding planning process than I was when I was 14 years old. I have ideas, but nothing finalized. Actually, I may have thought I knew more about my wedding back then.

John's family is definitely more engaged in wedding details than I expected them to be based on their initial reactions. His mother and sister are most excited about the Registry and china patterns. His sister looked at wedding dresses online with me and asked if I was going to change my name when we got married. When we went up to Philadelphia for dress shopping last weekend, I even got my sister to come to dinner with John's family. We went out to Korean food and they thought it was wonderful when my sister said she liked Kimchi without prompting! I think my sister was a bit scared to meet them because of the stories she's heard, but it went very well. I was concerned that my sister might meet his family for the first time at the wedding, so at least one wedding-related concern is alleviated.

Wedding Industry Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 17:52:00 +0000

Although, "The Knot" and other related wedding sites are actually very helpful with wedding ideas and planning, they also cause more stress than I believe is necessary.

I was just sent an email warning me that at the 10-month mark I need to book my officiant, hire a band/dj, and buy a wedding gown. WOAH. I haven't even made it through the very basic steps like setting a date or picking a location. I think I'm going to feel 10 steps behind through this whole year.

John still thinks we should choose a date in the summer of 2008 so that we have 22 months to plan. While initially this argument could seem logical, I believe in reality it would cause 22 months of worrying about tiny details instead of a mere 10 months. I am not known for my decisiveness, so given 22 months I believe I would plan one wedding -- then scrap it and start over.

I also like the idea that we will have more limited choices with only 10 months to go. For the last 5 years I have been a vegetarian (who eats fish). This means that when I go out to restaurants I generally have 1-2 seafood options and 1-2 vegetarian options. If I ever were to consider eating meat, I think the biggest disincentive would be that I would have to choose from the entire menu (how do omnivores do it?!)... If I have difficulty selecting between 2-4 choices, imagine how hard it would be if EVERY location was available at ANY date we wanted??

While planning a wedding from the other side of the country may justify a longer planning period--I have to recall that I selected a college based solely on brochures and websites. If I could choose where I would spend the next 4 years and spend a whole lot of money, I have to believe that we can select a location to spend one day with less stress than I am feeling right now. Or maybe, it is really the reverse--spending a lot of money on a single day puts a lot of pressure on getting it right.

Okay but enough whining, for now. Here is a picture of my ring (on top of a road map of Tuscany).

An Italian Proposal

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 03:45:00 +0000

You may have noticed that it has been a while since I have posted to my blog. The real reason for this is that I have not been able to decide how to disseminate information on my trip.

I was looking forward to posting entertaining stories and pictures of our travels in Italy. However, recent events in Tuscany have managed to overshadow the more amusing stories, such as John's inability to drive a stick shift car.

The big news is that on September 17th, in a small town in Tuscany called San Sano, John asked me to marry him. Of course, I happily said yes. Luckily for me, I did not yet realize that along with a fabulous and loving husband to spend the rest of my life with, saying yes also gets me piles of recommended reading, a zillion to-do checklists, and a year of stress planning a large and expensive party.

Yes, wedding planning has begun. It turns out that despite having dreamt about this event for most of my life, I have absolutely NO idea of what type of wedding I want. And anything that I think looks nice, I can't afford.

I used to worry that John's family would want us to have a Korean ceremony that might "intrude" into my various wedding dreams. Now, I honestly hope that they do so that I can have a section of the wedding planned for me! John would really like a Korean aspect to the wedding and I think it would mean a lot to him if his parents wanted us to have a Korean ceremony. However, John wants his parents' blessing on anything cultural for our wedding (I think he is afraid he would do it wrong and embarrass his parents or that he won't have enough extended family at the wedding to properly perform the ceremony) and we haven't yet gotten word on what that is.

John and I went to visit my future in-laws last weekend. They were really sweet, especially when John's mother told her mother that I was to be her daughter-in-law. The only negative thing of the weekend was that I came down with a fever and spent 12 miserable hours in bed.

So now that the big news is out of the way, stay tuned for a recap of my Italian vacation.

Greetings from Vienna

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 22:45:00 +0000

It has been a while since I posted a blog entry. Work has been a bit hectic with Hurricane season. Luckily I scheduled a vacation and I was able to get away before anything too serious is on the horizon.

So now me and John are on a two week European holiday - well, Austria and Italy.

We arrived in Vienna on Saturday - sans luggage. Luckily we aren't really in Vienna for the tourist attractions and are staying with some friends of John's. They were able to provide us with most of the essentials, and we only needed to purchase a toothbrush, deodorant, one shirt, and underwear to get us through. Saturday evening we went to see an opera, La Boheme, and went to eat a traditional Austrian dinner.

Sunday we walked a lot. Probably more than me and John have walked most of this year. Not because it was so much, but because we have NOT walked so much this year. We walked around the city park and met another one of John's friends and then saw various downtown buildings/historical sights. We saw the winter palace in Vienna, ate Sachertorte, saw the famous chocolate shop Demel, had a beautiful lunch outside. Overall, it has been a wonderful time and has accomplished the main goal of meeting John's friends/catching up with old friends rather than seeing the tourist attractions of Vienna.

Tomorrow we will attempt to see one or two of the real attractions of Vienna before we head off to the airport to go to Rome.

Hopefully I'll be able to write some more in a few days.

Ranting Online

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 16:56:00 +0000

I have a difficult time using this blog. Whenever there is something negative that I want to talk about I have to be worried who may see it and what they will think. I started this blog so that my parents would have some way of seeing pictures and stories of my life across the country, but I'd prefer not to give them any more reason to worry. Also, John knows about this blog, so that severly cuts down on things I can complain about.

But here goes anyway.

I'm sick of people asking if I'm engaged yet.

I know that it is mostly my own fault because me and John have been talking about it for a while and it is more a question of 'when' than 'if'. I know it is also my fault because I got scared and worried if I was too young for that kind of commitment a year ago, and were it not for that--we'd already be engaged. It is also my fault because (as you might have surmised from the previous post) I am a homebody and don't have much to talk about aside from John. I even understand that you are curious--hell, I'm curious. But it is still frustrating.

First of all, I want everyone to know that WERE I engaged we would have a phone call sounding something like this:

Me: Hi so-and-so! Guess what?
You: Hi Elise! What?
Me: I'm engaged!
...

I promise it will be OBVIOUS. I will not chat for an hour with you and then when you ask "So are you engaged yet?" say "OH YEAH...I completely forgot. He actually proposed 3 weeks ago."

Second of all, asking does not help. If you ask me when we are getting engaged, it only brings up my own frustration with the whole situation (because of the many reasons I blame myself for the question listed above). This leads to fights with John over why we are not engaged. Fights over not being engaged lead to John feeling that I am "pressuring" him. John feeling that I am "pressuring" him leads to him not proposing because he wants to do it when it is a surprise for me and not forced upon him.

I can't fault you for asking, though, because if I were to eliminate the 'fight with John' step then asking wouldn't have any consequences.

And, to be honest, the fight with John step wasn't just caused by questions. It was also triggered by friends getting engaged who have been dating for less than 1/3 of the time we have.

So I guess the long and short of it is that no one did anything wrong but I would appreciate if you would just wait until I tell you it happened.

Blogs I Read

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 15:46:00 +0000

The blogs I read fit into one or more of 3 categories: (1) blogs of people I know, (2) blogs of people who knit, and (3) blogs of asian-white couples with children. Of the blogs I read, only 2 (one being John's) do not have children.

At the pool party yesterday I was chatting about my knitting projects and explained that I have several baby projects because it seems that the majority of our friends are pregnant or recently had their first child. The woman I was talking to asked if I felt that I didn't have anything to talk about with them since I do not have children. I find that, in reality, the reverse is true. I get along well with married couples and couples with children, the people I have more difficulty relating to are people in their 20s (or 30s) who go out to bars and clubs multiple times per week.

Baby Blanket Complete

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 17:23:00 +0000

The baby blanket is complete! I decided not to do a yellow border and continue to hope that our friends will have a baby boy! The couple who is expecting are friends of John's, and he has been very bad about getting in touch with them. He leaves vague messages like "Just wanted to see how you guys are doing. Give me a call" when messages like "My girlfriend knit your new baby a blanket and would like to give it to you before the baby is born/2 months old" would surely get a better response rate. Let's hope I find out something soon. In the meantime I keep the blanket in the car just in case we stop by or run into them somewhere.

Here is a picture of the blanket (and our resident yarn-lovers) during blocking:

I mentioned that I go to a lot of events with John's firm--but this weekend I seem to be spending a lot of time with people I work with. Yesterday we had a happy hour (which I actually enjoyed) and today I'm off to a pool party. John is, unfortunately, working this weekend so he still doesn't really know anyone I work with.