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big vintage book post

I've been sort of collecting up all my good recent book finds to do one big post about. I've been to garage sales, V.V's, a notable large high school rummage sale, and all of them usually provide me with a lovely book or six. So if you are not interested in awesome old kids books, crazy vintage knitting patterns and beautifully illustrated end papers, today's post is not for you. But I know a lot of you by now, and I'm thinking there are at least a couple of you who are going to find this right up your alley.  First, a lovely bunch of Little Golden Books. I was especially pleased to find the copy of "Mr. Bell's Fixit Shop" as one of you dear readers recommended it to me, and I've been on the look out for it ever since. I love it when I actually find something second-hand that I was looking for. That's the best. 

And then, a lovely trio of Richard Scarry books. You know what Richard Scarry fan I am. I was especially stoked to get the "Best Story Book Ever". It has such a great variety of stuff in it. We had a doctor's appointment, the Little Dude and I, and this was the only book we had to bring. It got us through the whole hour long wait quite easily. 

I actually had the "About Animals" book when I was little, I remember the cover quite well. Though now that I look at it as an adult, I feel like the illustrations are a little weird. Don't get me wrong, I still love the quality of them. I just think its... odd that the animals dressed as people are going to the zoo to look at animals who are not like people. You know what I mean. There is an odd sort of post modern quality about it that just always make me go "hunh".

"The Bunny Book" though, is just plain adorable.

Seriously, would you look at that! 

And its nice that Scarry acknowledges the paradox of clothed rabbits versus plain rabbit-rabbits here. That's helpful. 

I think that this might be one of my favourite Richard Scarry illustrations of all time. So lovely.

Picked this one up at a garage sale for the kitsch factor, assuming it would be of the slightly racist cowboys and indians genre, but it may actually be a reasonably good book. I haven't read it yet, so the jury is still out. 

Beautiful end papers though, I will say that. 

These 'Annuals', anthologies of stories and such, used to be extremely popular. I don't think anyone makes them anymore, but I find then from time to time. This one is in good condition, but more importantly...

...has awesome artwork.

Giant snakes and guns! Whew. 

I always like to pick up this kind of very specific cookbook. There is something so mid-century about a cook book devoted to the subject of meat. 

Also, the illustration captions are fantastic. 

I was pretty excited to pick this up for a dollar at a garage sale. 

Its got lots of great pictures, including these crazy squirrels...

and this terrifying wolverine. Its funny, I ran into one of my neighbors just after I picked this up. She's originally from Britain (though she's lived here for ages), and she said in her inimitable British way. "Oh that looks lovely. One does get rawther tired of all his birds." For some reason, it just killed me and I'm always going to think of that when I look at this book now. How tired I am of Audubon's birds.

Then of course, I've been picking up knitting patterns and such here there and everywhere. This lovely bunch are all from the high school rummage sale.

And this pile, as you can tell by the stickers, is from the Value Village. There is a lot I like about the V.V. but one thing I hate is these wretched stickers. They don't come off AT ALL. They tear, and then they rip the paper underneath and if by some miracle you can get them off (in many little pieces) they leave a sticky residue that makes the patterns stick to each other and rip some more. They are THE WORST!

I don't often bother with knitting patterns from the 80's (not quite vintage enough for me, plus, I was alive then, so they don't have the exotic waft of yesteryear that I'm so drawn to). But I had to pick this one up, just for the awesomeness of that cover model. She's workin' the hell out of that double breasted cable knit jacket! So much attitude.

And this is one of the patterns in that little Beehive for Kid's booklet. I'm totally making that little squirrel sweater for The Baby next fall. I'm thinking a nice beige/fawn colour with dark brown squirrels. It'd look so sweet on him. Plus also, squirrels!

And I want to make that boys pullover in a size big enough for me, and in different colours. Grey and yellow maybe. So cute. 

How awesome are these? Halters are indeed Tops (just like lamb chops apparently). I love how they show alternate styling/wardrobe options. Knitted halters; going from the Boardwalk to the Boardroom. Ah, seventies optimism, how I love you.

And I had to include these three shots from the Bernat knitting book (late sixties I'm thinking) just to illustrate the inequity in modeling from the time period. Beauty standards change a lot, and modeling for a home knitwear instructional guide is probably not the creme de la creme of modeling gigs. But still, in what world is this guy a model?  I'm sure his mother loves him, but seriously, that is a face for radio, as they say. 

And in what world is he married to this woman?

Honestly. Also, there are like, five or six different very attractive ladies featured throughout this book and just this one dude, and frankly he looks like he's suffered from one too many rugby related facial injuries. I'm guessing he was related to one of the photographers or something, and they just pulled him into the shoot in a pinch. Just sayin'.

crocheted cuteness

So I'm on day day six of my sewing withdrawl, as my machine is in the shop. I'm over the worst of the twitchieness, but man, I just don't know what to do with myself in the evenings. Anyhow, I'm finishing up a lot of little knitting and hand-sewing projects that have been lying around, so I've got one of those to show you today. Its a darling little sweater that I've been commissioned to make for a baby girl.
I'm so used to making things for little boys, that I just never get to do this sort of thing, you know, all pinky with flowers. This is, of course, the Baby Sophisticate again. Such a great pattern. In order to fancy it up I decided to add some crocheted flower appliques, but I haven't crocheted in ages, so I turned to the good ole' internet for some help and found, once again, the perfect little thing at Attic 24. Really, it is my go-to site for all things crochet, especially of the cute and colourful variety.This is the teeny tiny flower pattern.

And this is from the Crochet Flower and Leaves pattern, but I decided to keep it simple and didn't do the second layer of petals. 

Really, these cute it up so much. And those teeny tiny flowers would be perfect attached to little barrettes as well. They were kind of addictive to make, and I could imagine all sorts of wonderful uses for them. They'd be really great done up in one colour and then hundreds of them joined together to make a scarf.... but my sewing machine will be back in three days, so I think I'll hold out instead of starting and insane, time intensive obsessive crochet project. I'll wait and do an insane, time intensive obsessive sewing project instead. Yeah, that sounds good.

down time

And unexpected bonus of my four days commuting into Toronto was... the commute!
Who knew how much I was going to enjoy getting on a train in the dark and riding for an hour or so. I'd be sitting there, all excited to be heading out into the early morning once again, and look around me to deduce that a) I was the only one who appeared to be excited, and b) I had a WHOLE HOUR to knit. Or read. Or write. Or just sit still and look out the window.  It is only when you have two small children under the age of four that you can finally realize how awesome that is. I also noted that c) I was the only one knitting. Which did kind of surprise me. And that just goes to show what sort of a fibre arts/crafting bubble I live in. It really, actually made me wonder that no one else had any other kind of handwork going on. No crochet, no needlepoint, nuthin'. Go figure.

Anyhow, with four morning rides and four evening rides, I was just about able to finish up a nice little project. And by 'just about', I mean this is what happened: 
I believe the technical knitting term for this is "a pisser". For those of you who don't know what you're looking at, this is an almost finished project, except with 18 stitches left to cast off I've run out of yarn. argh. Anyhow, I had to wait until I got home, and then dig around in my stash to find another close enough colour-wise bit of yarn so that I could finish it off. 

And here it is. Ah, my enthusiastic little knitwear model! Actually, contrary to what his face is saying, he genuinely likes his new hat. Its the same one I made for him when he was but a wee little boy, which he has outgrown and passed on to his little brother (though not without some reluctance:  "That's MY hat!") When it was half way done I tried it on his head for size and he said, "Is dat for ME?" and when I said, sure it could be for him if he wanted it, he quite sweetly declared, "I want a lovely purple hat like dat one! Will you make it for me?" But of course, my love, but of course. 

baby's new sweater

Here's what I was hinting about yesterday.  Its feels SO GOOD to do some knitting again. Its really been ages since I've knitted, as I've really had a quilting/sewing focus lately. But a couple of weeks ago I busted out the needles and got down to a project that I've been wanting to work on for awhile now.
The pattern that I used is the Baby Sophisticate. The poor Second Baby does not have as many mama-made knitted items as his big brother did. And he's been needing a really warm sweater to wear in the car when we go out. We often just put him in a hoodie because he has this car seat cover that keeps him cozy, but lately it's been really cold out, and so I wanted him to have something proper an wooly. So I hit the boxing day yarn sales at my local yarn shop, and here you have it.  And doesn't he look handsome in it? This green is so good on him. I'd always imagined doing it in grey, but the green (which was on sale) is just perfect. And it was so fun and quick and satisfying to knit (top down, no seaming up at the end) that I just might make another one. 
Now, to be fair, this was my second attempt at this sweater. This green version is knitted with an aran weight, as the pattern reccomended. But I gave it an initial shot with some worsted weight that I had in my stash, just to see how it turned out. And I'll tell you how, really, really small! Luckily, since it is top down, I just knit the body and part of one sleeve and then slipped it on him to see that yes, it was going to be way to small for him. So I put that one aside (I'll finish it later as a baby gift or something) and went on to this green one with yarn in the recommended guage. 

Just in case you are curious, the yarn I used is Cascade Eco+, which has a guage of 14 stitches to 4 inches and is 100% Peruvian Highland wool. And its not itchy at all.  I know a lot of people are reluctant to knit in wool for babies, but I put a long sleeve t-shirt on him underneath anyways, but it doesn't seem to bother him at the neck or anything. I'll just have to be careful when I wash it. And as you can see in this photo, it pretty much just fits him. The sleeves are just long enough, and same with the body. He'll probably outgrow it in a couple of months, so I vowed that he'd wear it at least once a day till then, just to make the knitting of it worthwhile. Also in this picture you can see the buttons quite nicely. I didn't have four the same that I liked in a nice wood/brown colour, so I mixed it up for fun. You can get away with that on a baby. And furthermore, this is a new face he's been making lately. He wrinkles up his nose, puts his tongue up against his bared teeth and does this funny fast little inhale/exhale though his nose. It makes him seem even more like a puppy than he usually does (which is alot). He seems to do it when he's excited, but also when he's annoyed. Either way, its very cute. 

Here again, with the back view you can see that its just long enough to cover his waistband. I'm tempted to extrapolate from the pattern and try to make it a little bigger even. I made the biggest size, but I'm sure I could figure out the math and go up another size. 

I think my favourite feature about this is the nice little shawl collar. I even learned something new as I made this project; Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn cast off, to make a nice flexible edge that lays very nicely when you're done. 

There's that face again. He's got sort of a Billy Idol/Elvis vibe going on. 

I'd forgotten how satisfying it is to knit for babies. So quick! And there's nothing better than finally putting that little sweater on your little one and seeing how nice and cute and warm they are. 

 

onetwothreefour!

Look who I finished making today:  Can you guess who he is? Does the post's title give you a hint?

Here's a shot that should give you a clue.
That's right, its Joey Ramone!

When I first saw this pattern in the Stitch and Bitch Nation book, I knew that one day I'd knit this doll. My very oldest childhood friend is a huge Ramones fan. At his wedding two years ago he even had the string quartet play covers of their hits as the pre-service music and as they signed the register. I'm telling you, you have not lived till you've heard "I Wanna be Sedated" played by a two violins, a viola and a cello. Anyhow, when I saw this pattern I knew that if he ever had a baby, I'd be knitting this doll for him. And now he and his wife are expecting their first child in September. So I had to bust out the knitting needles and get 'er done.

I don't make knitted toys that often. Don't get me wrong, I love the way they look but there are a lot of fiddley little details, and I find they are a lot of work. But I really wanted to make this one. The directions for the actual knitting pattern were quite good, but the description of how to put it together and do all the crucial finishing touches were really not very helpful. For example "Attach strands of yarn to head for hair.", doesn't really give you much to go on. Its about as helpful as a sack of hammers.
Luckily, my local library had just added Hilary Lang's Wee Wonderful book to their collection. (she also has a blog) And the timing could not be better. It is a great resource for all things related to making soft toys. As she so rightly puts it, most of good toy/doll making is in the stuffing and the final touches of face and hair. I really wanted this one to look, you know, Ramone-y, so I was happy for the good advice. (btw, its really hard to stuff a toy and still make it look skinny.)
And even though there are no knitted dolls, it still had great directions for how to make yarn hair and attach it to a dolls head. And there are some supercute patterns in that book too! I've put a couple of them on my someday to-do list.   Despite the fact that I didn't find the finishing instructions helpful, I did like all the details the designer incorporated into the doll. For example, these shoes are awesome. 

The Little Dude was pretty interested in the process of putting this together. As I showed the dolls finished hair to Hubs, L.D. inquired "is dat a girl or a woman doll?" "It's a boy doll," I replied, "sometimes boys have long hair too." He thought about it for a minute, and then got down on the floor and put himself into downward dog position, so his head was hanging down and said, "My hair can be long to, when I point down like this. See?" And he bounced he shook his head around to fell his curls bounce. 

Here he is, channeling his inner Ramone. I didn't even style him for this picture. He often requests his sunglasses after nap time, when everything in the world seems too bright. And he just happened to be wearing that stripey shirt. Even though I'd tried to steer him towards something short sleeved. He insisted that he had to wear this one, insisting urgently, "I need a stripey shirt because today is stripey t-shirt day!" Indeed. 

what's on

Here's a bit of what's on around our place these days.

What's on my stove:  Home made ginger beer. Courtesy of Hubs. He's a man on a mission, and despite the fact that over the past couple of years he's made ginger beer a handful of times, he still feels that he hasn't "cracked the code" on the perfect recipe yet. He considers this iteration a disappointment, as he says its neither sweet enough nor fiery enough and didn't ferment very quickly (he's blaming that on acidity and possibly the use of cream of tartar) but I actually really like this batch. Its mellow and subtle. He'll make a few adjustments and try it again (different sugar, less lemon, or maybe no rind this time), and has big plans to try making his own Root Beer or Sasparilla. (I can't say that word with out feeling like Yosemite Sam)

On the tape deck:     I cannot tell you HOW MANY TIMES we listened to Cinderella this week. Suffice it to say, it was a lot! But of course, I took this picture yesterday, and since then he's changed it up to being all Rumplestiltskin, all the time. I asked him what his favourite part of Cinderella was and he said "the hear ye, hear ye, guy". That's the part where the king sends out a decree inviting all the eligible young ladies in the kingdom to the ball. He has a very funny voice, and there is a trumpet blast, and for some reason, L.D. really likes that. His favourite part of Rumplestiltskin is where the Queen tries to guess his name and when she successfully does, he gets so angry that he stamps his foot so hard that it makes a hole in the ground through which he disappears and is never heard from again. We act that out a lot, which is very funny, especially when he wants me to be Rumplestitlskin, and he has to guess names. Because he'll start with a couple of real names "Casper? Bill?" and then move on to place names "Gallilee?" and then just make shit up "Schmoo-Schmo? Blaggle?" Then when he finally shouts "Rumplestitlskin" I have to stomp and spin around and fall to the floor with a howl. And I like to really do it up, because he loves it, but I totally gave myself a headache the other day after, like 7 spin/shout/falls. 

On my needles:   Rock Star Doll. Can you guess which rock star. I'll be impressed if you do, and no, neither Bert nor Ernie are rock stars. I've been enjoying the activity of knitting after all the quilting I've been doing lately, but remembered why I don't generally do a lot of doll/toy knitting. Its so bloody fiddle-y! Its a baby gift for a friend, so I have to see it through, otherwise I'd have abandoned it by now. By the time I'm done I'll bet I could have used the same amount of time and made a sweater. Well, ok, a kid's sweater. Or maybe a scarf. But you know what I mean. 

On my sewing machine:  Another play matt quilt for the baby. But I'm going to make this one thicker, because he needs the extra padding when down on the wood floor in the dining room. He's SO active and while he still can't crawl, he somehow manages to be constantly in motion. He's like a little coiled baby spring of activity. I'm telling you, it sometimes feels like he never stops. Even when I'm feeding him his legs are pumping and he's slowly windmilling his little arms around, pulling his ear, rubbing his head, sticking his fingers into my mouth. Its quite funny. Getting a diaper and sleeper on him after his bath is a full body aerobic workout. Speaking of which....

On the floor:  The world's happiest baby! Such a smiler he is. My sister says he sparkles, and its true, he is positively effervescent. He's just within the past week figured out how to pop himself up really high on his arms like this, and when I get out of his sight line, he turtles his little neck up like this and jacks himself up on his strong little arms to get a look at me, so he can warble and squeal in my direction. I love it. 

On my windowsill:  This sweet little flower in its tiny little cup. The vase is actually a little KLM shot glass that Hubs got at a V.V. once. (I wish I could say we got it on a plane, but its been awhile since we've flown anywhere, especially via KLM) The Little Dude picked me this flower, hence the very short stem. It makes me smile every time I see it, because it's happy and orange and was picked and presented to me with the same nonchalant comfortable love that characterizes my Little Dude so well. I was taking this picture, and actually stopped to clean the window in the background, and was annoyed that there were still spots, even though I did inside and outside the window, so I moved it to the table where I thought it might work better. Then L.D. came along to 'assist' me.

"Don't DRINK it!" I yelped when I realized what was going on as it was snatched out from in front of my lens. He looked at me quizically and said, "I was just smellin' it."

Duh.

un-pregnant

There have been a number of little reminders lately that I am no longer pregnant. Pregnancy is such a funny state of being, and so all encompassing in both your mind and body, that sometimes I forget that I'm not pregnant any more, until I am suddenly reminded. For example, I went out for a walk with the Little Dude yesterday, and with great ease, did up the zipper on my coat. But it wasn't until after I zipped it up that I realized that I could. You know what I mean? It was very satisfying and shocking at the same time to realize that I was no longer pregnant. 

Also, I can stand up from a sitting position on the floor with no assistance whatsoever. And I can sit with the Little Dude on my lap, front and centre as it were, while I read him a story. Also, I cleaned the bathtub this evening. That doesn't really sound like something you'd want to celebrate, but just the mere action of bending and leaning over into the tub to scrub it was something that I would never even  have dreamed of doing a couple of weeks ago. Not that I dream of cleaning the bathtub now, but again, you know what I mean.

And I'm starting to feel like my old self. There are still a few aches and pains left over from pregnancy, and of course, lactation is a whole other thing to get used to, but in general I'm feeling pretty pleased about my non-pregnant self. Oh, and the best thing about not being pregnant any more?   This guy! He's just a smidgen jaundiced, (nothing to worry about) but we're supposed to lay in the sunlight any chance we can get. So we have these nice little sunbathing parties on the big bed in the afternoon, which are just the perfect photo opportunities. 

Look at those delicious little feet! And what shall we put on those little feet?

 These naturally! My mom and dad went out to visit my Aunt Rita today, and she sent these lovely little booties along. This is a pattern that my Oma always used to make, and they are just the best. They really stay on, and have such a nice boot-like quality, if you know what I mean. And they are so beautifully knitted. I do my fair share of knitting and know my way around a set of four needles, but these are just perfectly knit. The tension is gorgeous throughout, and there are no lumps or bumps anywhere!

 My Aunt Rita also knitted this. I'm hoping that it will fit the New Baby soon. Its so cold in the house lately (even though it is weirdly warm and damp outside) and we could really used a cardigan. 

Humour me with the detail shots ok? I just love a nice close-up of a hand knit. 

Also, just one more of these:
 I've said it before and I'll say it again; I wish the internet had a smell function. This kid smells so good. I could just live with my face buried in between his sweet little shoulder blades. 

killing time at the V.V.

We've really been trying to get it in gear with getting a room ready for the New Baby, but its been hard. There is so much going on otherwise, and great mounds of stuff to do before he arrives. There is paperwork to be done for maternity leave benefits, and a whole pile of stuff to get for Home Birth supplies. And then I should also pack a just-in-case bag for if we have to go to the Hospital. And there are a lot of books I need to read (of both the parenting and fiction variety). And there are some movies I need to go out and see before the chance to see movies is sort of off the table for a while, since I'll be breast feeding. And I should get my hair cut. Also, I need to see a Chiropractor. And renew my passport... You see what I mean. There is a never ending list of stuff to do before the blessed event. But really, he needs a bedroom, so we tried to prioritize that this weekend. Chose a colour, bought some no V.O.C. paint, and Hubs had big plans to paint both the front hallway and the New Baby's room. But of course, the Little Dude wanted to help. And not that we don't often welcome his participation in projects around the house (that is how they learn after all, by mimicking us), but really, no matter how low the V.O.C's are, I'm still pregnant, and its still a pain to wash any kind of paint out of a toddler's hair. So the Little Dude and I decided to 'help' Daddy paint by leaving the house. For two days in a row we spent an hour or two at the library while Hubs sanded and spackled and replaced trim and put on base coats. But on Saturday he needed another couple of hours to do the final coat. And we/I was tired of the library, so we needed another place to kill a couple of hours. 

So off the the Value Village we went. 

Which was good in some ways, and bad in others. On the one hand, we both had a great time, (up until a lil' meltdown at the cash register over L.D's need to get a toy from their display of bagged baby toys. But Mama said 'no'. And the Little Dude was not so happy about that. Though I had pushed our visit well into lunch time, so I suppose I was asking for it. I held my ground despite the tut-tut-ing of the old ladies around me, and we made it out the door without the toy. And all was forgotten once we were finally in the car) And aside from that last minute meltdown, it was a really nice hour and a half, looking at books and knicknacks, and toys and bedsheets. 

On the downside, it was much more expensive than the library. Ahem. True, each individual item is only a fraction of what you would pay for it at new retail prices, but when you leave with a cart full, (as I inevitably do) it does add up. 

Anyhow, here are some of the lovely things I found:

The one (1!) toy that the Little Dude was allowed to purchase. I'm so glad that despite the plethora of crappy, broken, plastic, battery operated toys that were available to him, that I was able to gently steer him in the direction of this wooden car. I know I won't always have the input, but while I can, I will. 

A whole bunch of lovely old Crown canning jars. These aren't actually for me, but are for a friend of mine who is getting married and wants to do her floral centre pieces in these kind of jars. She lives in Toronto, where they charge a mint for this kind of thing ($3-$8 dollars apiece!) but out here where I live I could score them for .69 cents each. Yep, things to like about living in the sticks. 

The most adorable apron. It doesn't read well here, and would be a way better photo if I could model it on a body, but with the huge pregnant belly I'm sporting these days, aprons look rather ridiculous, unless they are of the smock variety. And even then... 

It is made of the most awesome dancing ballerina fabric. Very 50's in the colour choices. I'm always so pleased when I find a really good vintage apron. They used to be much easier to come by. 8 or 10 years ago when I started collecting aprons the racks at the V.V. were full of cute vintage aprons. But now, whether a lot of other people are collecting them, or just that there are less of them out there, I find that the apron rack is mostly dreck. Lots of recent, plastic-y commercially made ones, mostly advertising businesses, or featuring recipes from Kraft foods. So its really a treat now to find one of these.

And actually the same goes for really good vintage knitting patterns. I mean 70's and earlier. I used to find piles of them, but now the pickings are much slimmer. I only found one this weekend, but it had such great pictures in it. 

Isn't that adorable? The gauge is super fine. I could never imagine knitting something with this many stitches. But it sure looks cute. 

I love the pictures of men's sweaters. The way they are styled is always so funny, with these hyper-masculine props. You could do a whole gender study on the pictures in knitting magazines. The women are allowed to just sit there, and be passively looked at, but the men must always be on the verge of action. There are usually weapons of some kind, or at least a nod towards killing wild life or fixing cars, as if to say "Don't worry, we haven't been emasculated by wearing hand-knit items, we are still very, very manly!"

Oh, and I LOVE this kind of tea towel. The kind that are made of real linen, and have some sort of touristy printing on them. Note the squirrel under British Wildlife. Both of these are nicely broken in, and super soft and absorbent. They are certainly my preferred towel, and don't worry, they will be put to use, not just collected in a box somewhere.

And then I hit the bed linens section. Always my favourite part.  Awesome pillowcases.

This one deserved its own picture. My favourite kind of pattern. Lots of contrast, very bold. And it is that really good, thick cotton, if you know what I mean. 

I have this one already, in shades of green, and I just love it. Please excuse the not very good photo. Lots of dust and wrinkles. I did not have time to wash and iron before I photographed, because trust me, if I'd waited it never would have happened.

This is another one that I already have, but have almost entirely used up. It makes such a good quilt backing, so I snapped it up as soon as I saw it. 

And this one is just gorgeous. I love the addition of just that little bit of dark green/black. It really makes the design pop. Very early 60's.

These are some of my favourite colour combinations. That green/turquoise/taupe combo. Will also make a great quilt back. 

And I was SO PLEASED about finding this one. I used to have a little pillowcase made of the same fabric, which I have cut up and carefully used in just every which way, but have now run out of, save some random scraps. And this is a whole twin sized flat sheet! Yay! Its a bit faded, but I don't mind. 

So all in all, it was a very successful day at the V.V. And when we got home, Hubs had finished painting the baby room and the front hallway, and once L.D. had some lunch in him, all was well with the world. 

more fun stripes

I'm cold these days. Its cold out, and since we're cheap, its not exactly toasty inside either. And the answer to that problem is a) put on another pair of socks b) have some tea and c) get out the afghans. 

I have yet to get around to making myself the lovely, fun, cozy, watching-tv-and-knitting lap quilt of my dreams. One day. But in the meantime, I don't really need it, because I have so many nice blankets and afghans, both thrifted and gifted. Here's one of my favourites. 

This is a simple yet beautiful striped afghan that my mother-in-law knitted for us a couple of years ago. I have yet to attempt to knit something this large, and am in awe of both her perseverance, and her skill with colour choices. Next time I'm stumped with my little ripple blanket, I'm going to refer to this afghan for inspiration. Also, its made mostly of mohair so its both warm and light. And obviously, I'm not the only one who likes it. The Little Dude has lately started to enjoy playing "its bedtime!" (though let it be noted that this game is only fun when its not actually bedtime). He loves to either climb up in our bed, or make a pretend bed in a chair in the livingroom, and then go through the steps of story/song/lights out/close eyes/fake snoring/'wake up time'! Very cute. Here he is all tucked in under Oma's afghan, doing his story reading before pretend bedtime. 

And here he is, pretending to sleep. 

Its interesting, we are playing a lot more 'pretend' games these days, pretending to cook, pretending to eat, pretending to sleep, pretending to skate. Its really lovely to see him making the leap and understanding the difference between real and pretend. 

baby news

So today was the day I had my ultrasound. I know not everyone is into extra medical intervention during pregnancy, and really, I suppose that unless one expects that there are issues, an ultrasound is not, strictly speaking, necessary. But I'll tell you what it is; its COOL, that's what! I'm not a huge fan of hospitals and excess equipment, but I can't tell you how amazing it is to see that little person inside of me. And to actually SEE little hands waving, and little feet kicking. The technician did her millions of measurements, as I lay there with goop on my belly and a very full bladder (they make you drink a litre of water AN HOUR before the appointment. I was so full of pee, I thought I'd burst! And then they spend 20 minutes poking at your belly. Not the most pleasant sensation) and we chatted etc, and then finally she said we could call Hubs in, so that he could see too. She did a sort of run down, and showed us the head and the heart and the hands and the feet, and I kept wanting her to slow down and just hold the viewer thing still so I could just watch my baby. Because, oh, the sweet little movements! To see the hands flicking around and to feel the feet move at the same time as you see the feet move! So crazy. And then she said, "do you want to know what the sex is?" and we said yes. So she moved the wand around again and showed us. 

Drum roll please.....

Suspense....

Wait for it, wait for it.....

Ok, now I'm just messing with you because there is no way you can tell the sex from this ultrasound photo. But you can see what a lovely profile my son will have. 

Ah ha! Subtle eh?

Yep, we are having a boy. So the Little Dude was right about it being his 'brudder'. And now that I know, I can really get down to my knitting/sewing for the New Baby Boy. You know, in all that free time I have. But I've been dying to make this sweater, so I think I'll get it cast on soon. In a nice charcoal or forest green perhaps. And this one is awfully cute too. Sigh, so much knitting, so few trimesters left. We watched the documentary Babies tonight, which I totally recommend, very watch-able, and CRAZY cute. It totally brought me back to those early baby days of floppy soft little newborns and the excitement of watching a little person struggle to lift their heads and make their first sounds which has me eagerly awaiting them again. Though of course, there will be much less livestock in my version (see the movie, and you'll see what I mean, I was so worried that little Mongolian baby was going to get kicked by a goat)

Can't wait to meet you New Baby Boy!