Mommy, where do babies come from?

Well from these of course!:

Well, we hope anyway. So today is my first day with the new medication. There will be mixing of powders and injecting of liquids this evening...I'm starting to feel like a junkie here. It's always amazing to me how they trust people to do this to themselves and do it correctly. Thank goodness the insurance pays most of this, I only had to pay about $170 for all these drogas mas fina. Third times a charm they say, so we'll see!

We were also supposed to get some adoption papers notarized today. Didn't get around to it because I had to go buy this:

Treasure Island is closing and having big sales. I would have bought more, but hubby gave me the "I'm going to go wait in the car" line, so I tried to go through it all quickly. I managed to get a great deal on bamboo dpns, needle holders, the Baby Knits book and this awesome green shaker box! Yay me! What? What about the papers for the kids? KIDS?? I said there was a YARN SALE didntcha hear me?? Some things just can't wait!! Ah, what's a few days anyway...not like they're in any rush on their side...These papers (along with a lovely check for almost four grand) are just to get me a home study so the orphanage has proof we're not axe murderers. And the laugh of it is, the people verifying this are good old New York City Social Workers! We know how reliable they seem to be!!

Anyway, in other knitting news, I managed to start the Leaf Lace shawl.

After like 4 tries that is. First, I learned that I am not skilled enough with circs to cast on 4 tiny stitches with lace weight yarn. Therefore I decided to get it started on straights and then switch back to the circs. I got a great tip on Knitty to put circ wires in hot water to straighten them so they are manageable when new. Who'da thunk it.

That's it for today. How much do Sunday nights suck. Back to work this week, which includes getting up extra early in the morning for trips to the doctor..nothing like a little blood draw and vaginal sonogram to start your day!!

Today I leave you with a stupid joke a bartender told me this weekend:

"Did you hear about that actress that killed her husband today?"
"No who?"
"Reese somebody?"
"Witherspoon?"
"No, I heard she did it with a knife"

Baby baby oh baby (what a week)

Man it is so hard to keep up with this blog, I don't know how some of you do it. It's been a crazy week at work, and I did manage to meet my deadlines for the baby showers. Julie got the blue pixie cables sweater and booties (free pattern here) and she seemed to really love them. I completely forgot to take a picture of them as I was in such a complete rush to get to the restaurant. She also got a beautiful crocheted blanket from a family member. The poor girl tried to smile through the whole thing but she looks like she's ready to bust. Sad part is she's not due until March 23rd!! Yikes!! Whenever I discuss the trials of pregnancy with my mom she always says "I still think you should just buy one off the shelf". Meaning of course, adoption...which gets more and more attractive all the time! (Actually, we started that process too..more on that another day) Whenever my girlfriend complains about stretch marks and drooping boobs, I make the motions of counting out money.... "How much did you say that was senor? And would that be in pesos?" We're a sick bunch I tell ya, but ya gotta have a sense of humor to stay sane!!

I also finished the Pullover for my friend at work. Of course three days before the shower I go to seam everything up and I find out the true meaning of "short sleeves":


Yikes man!! This my friends, is exactly why the tell you to make a guage swatch, but do I listen? Noooooo... So rip away, do some math and frantically get to resleeving. I was still a little off in the end, but nothing a little blocking couldn't cure. The yarn ended up much nicer after blocking too...very soft.

So here is the end result, along with matching baby socks from an EXCELLENT pattern that I found here and what was left from the 3 skeins I used. I think I'll make the miniature sweater from Weekend Knits with the excess as a goof for a co-worker who keeps asking me to knit him a sweater.

Pattern: Pullover from Design your own kids' knits 3-6 month size with rolled rib edging

Yarn: Zara merino extrafine color 1733 (3 skeins)






So next up is the Interlocking Balloons scarf for hubby for my daily commute project, and I am about to wind up the yarn for the Leaf Lace scarf for my sitting on the couch and concentrating project. Although the scarf chart gave me a run for my money today...I am new at charts and didn't really get that you just follow the directions of the row and not look at the row below...I was trying to match up all the stitches...what a dope. But I gots it now..silly chart...tricks are for kids! Here is what I have so far:


I'm using Debbie Bliss merino dk in a dark charcoal color. There it is with my half colored in chart..boy it is so much easier when all the purls are one color and the knits another!! I steal a few minutes every day at work and go to town with the highlighters. It is no easy trick to follow this chart while sitting on the train, but I've got my system down. Wish I could get the person next to me to hold up a magnet board for me ( a little higher honey, your straining my eyes..)

There is also my Willow, doing what she does best...eating the needles..all my bamboo needles have teeth marks on the ends..

Today I did a dumb thing. I left my wallet on a train when I switched to a connecting train. Just when the panic started becoming palpable, my cell phone rang. This lovely wonderful fabulous want to kiss her on the mouth (well no, ick, but you get me) girl called me and told me she found the wallet. Turns out she lived fairly near me. She was a very young girl living in a very bad neighborhood and she was the nicest person ever. Kind of restores your faith in this big bad world. I brought her the biggest box of chocolate I could find on such short notice (cause that's what I would want as a reward if it were ME). Shhh, don't tell my husband, he'll roll his eyes and not really be surprised I did such a thing... Okay, that's it for me, I'm already late for ER...I leave you with this moment of Zen ( or obligatory picture of knitters cats)...

Oh come all ye drunk & disorderly

Last night was the company Christmas party (rescheduled due to the NYC Strike). Never ceases to amaze me how people can significantly damage their career with a little malibu & coke. I decided to stay dead sober this year and watch the show. At least my boss didn't show up piss drunk and make an ass out of himself this year. I wasn't forced to explain that I had no idea what his problem was, and no I am not going to tell him stop drinking, I'm not his mother... This year he didn't really drink, but kept a stupid joke going way longer than was really funny. Oh well. Sometimes I feel like I"m in the real life version of "The Office" sitcom.

A co-worker found out I was a knitter, so I have ceremoniously changed my real name on this blog, lest she find me. Seems she spends a great deal of time surfing blogworld. She's nice, but one of those "close talkers". The kind of person that has you clear across the other side of the room by the end of the conversation because you keep taking steps backward when she talks. She tried to tell me everything she ever knew or thought about knitting in about 15 minutes. I just did alot of blinking and nodding....and wiping my face from all the saliva flying about (blech).

Anyway, the Pixie cables sweater is coming along nicely..I just have one more sleeve and the neckband to finish. In my last post I neglected to take a picture of this very yummy yarn I bought at the union square market on New Years Eve day. I don't recall the name right now, but it was unlabeled hand dyed yarn in this fabulous rasberry color. I have to figure out what to do with it...It's kind of on the chunky side, and I think I only have enough for a scarf. But I don't want a plain old stockinette or garter, so I have to find some kind of pattern that shows off the color but isn't too boring.

On the fertility front..I am on the obligatory pre-cycle birth control pills, and will probably start the stimulation meds at the end of the month! Let the retaining of water begin!!

And so your back...

From outerspace... Okay, we're going to give this blog another go...now that (I think) I get how to post pictures, because let's face it, a blog without pics is Bo-ring.

It's been a crazy few months, what with the holidays, and my uterus getting in the way of most things (more on that later)..but I still have managed to knit, and yes my friends I have pics to prove it...Exhibit 1:


Pattern: Cropped Cable Cardigan (#14)
Source: Vogueknitting Fall 2005
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky in Nantucket

While everyone said this pattern sucked, I kind of just rolled with it as suggested by Tipper, and it came out pretty great. Only the stupid button hole came out wacky, but I plan to fix that soon. Didn't have time before gifting it to my bro's girlfriend...can't figure out if she liked it, but I thought it looked great on her. Sorry the picture sucks, had to take it at about 11pm the night before Christmas Eve.

I also made 14, count 'em 14 Reverse Bloom Washcloths from Weekend Knitting using 14 different colors of the suggested Crystal Palace chenille yarn. I loved the way they came out (sorry, no pic) and I gifted them to all my staff with a big bar of soap and body lotion. No one oohed and aahed, but as stated many times before, if you gift to non-knitters, that's the risk you take!

I have also made two sweaters for my friend's twins. The boy's is the Knitted Bend it Like Baby Soccer Sweater from Lion Brand and the girl's is a free crocheted pattern I found on www.crochetme.com. Both use homespun, and I hereby do solemnly swear not to use this crappy yarn anymore. Mom won't notice or care, so I'm going with it...plus, she hasn't made time to see me to get these gifts, so it's part of her punishment.


I have two works currently in progress with deadlines of Jan 17 and 22nd respectively. Two baby showers for two baby boys. For my friend at work, I am using my favorite cheesy baby pattern called "Pixie Cables" from the Red Heart pamphlet called Soft & Sweet. I am going nuts and doing my first modification to make it a pullover instead of a cardigan and I am using Baby Soft yarn which is not too bad. I am about 20% done (left pic). For my other friend, I splurged and bought Zara yarn in bright blue (#1500) to make a ribbed pullover (right pic) from Style your own Kids' Knits...I'm a little skeptical about this one, as this book seems to have a few errors. I switch off between these two on my daily commute and evening tv watching. BTW, bought the yarn at "Gotta Knit" in NYC and despite bad reviews I've read, they were very helpful!


Okay, so after these are finished, then what? Well, take a look at this:

On the right is my first purchase from Knitpicks. I have four skeins of Gossamer in Sweat Peas that I bought to make the Faroese Peaks Shawl, but upon further consideration, it is kind of boring. I think I will use it to make the Leaf Lace Shawl since everyone is raving about it. This is for a very generous friend at work who will completely appreciate it, so I want it to be perfect. I will start as soon as that pattern gets here from Elann (why I had to pay as much for shipping as for the pattern I will never know, but couldn't find it anywhere else.)There is also two skeins of Shimmer in Turquoise Splendor tagged for Ene's scarf from Scarf Style to make for myself. It's more variegated than I thought it would be, and I am afraid it will take away from the pretty pattern, so maybe this will be a leaf lace something or other too. Next is 5 skeins of Elegance in Wild Rose. I LOVE this color, and can't wait to make myself a Forbes Forest scarf (also from Scarf Style). On the far left are 4 skeins of Debbie Bliss merino dk in charcoal gray (225301) that I will make an Interlocking Balloons scarf for DH. (Can you tell I really like Scarf Style??). DH almost lost his head when he dared tell me he planned on wearing this ratty old flannel scarf since it is getting cold now. Are you kidding?? You just have to ASK for a scarf and you'll get one silly rabbit...despite calling me "granny" and "nerd" when I knit. So I am "surprising" him with this scarf, based on his request of 10" x 60", gray and "cabley".

So that's what's on the knitting horizon for me...I just have to fit in one more baby sweater for my cousin who is having a boy in May. Need a really nice pattern for that one...will have to hunt for one. When we last left our daring heroin, she was crocheting a tablecloth (on hold) and a Pixie Cable sweater in pink (on hold)..no telling when they'll resurrect themselves, now that I am more experienced.

On a personal note...getting back to my uterus (if you are here for knitting content only, proceed to next blog). DH and I have been struggling with having a baby for the last 3 years. To complicate normal infertility problems, I was diagnosed with very early stage endometrial cancer. Weirdly enough, my oncologist and infertility doc still think there is a possibility I can get pregnant, as other women with a similar issue have children. I have gone through 2 IVF cycles with no success and in between cycles, the cancer starts to come back, so I have to take 3 months in between to take medication and have a biopsy. We are in the early stages of starting our 3rd cycle. We also have started the adoption process, and have not submitted all our paper work only because of the holidays and doctor appointments. I think this will be the last cycle we try, as it is too much emotionally to deal with (I thought the shots would be bad but they were NOTHING compared to wildly swinging hormone levels...can't believe my husband is still with me!). We are fine with adopting, so we will continue to pursue that route. There is a fabulous orphanage in Columbia, and we have personal connections that are helping us through it. So that's my story. TMI, some would say, but hey, you have to vent somewhere. Not looking for sympathy either, these are the cards I have been dealt, and we will deal with it. I have many other blessings to be thankful for, including my new found talent to knit!!

Happy New Year to all, and may it be a year full of good fortune, health and happiness, and serious yarn bargains!