Little Mr – Page 8

Passing time

July 29, 2014 Marie Leave a Comment

19 days and counting down. This child feels as though he’ll never arrive, and at the same time I stare at that number and think it can’t be right. But then I try to move and it’s glaringly obvious – I am most definitely 37 weeks pregnant. This is not something I care to repeat in my life. Once is enough when it comes to pregnancy. I can honestly say that while the majority of this has been smooth sailing, this last month is torture. I don’t enjoy the kicks and hiccups baby gets anymore (it just hurts these days), and I’m firmly of the belief that if men had to go through pregnancy, too, there’d be very little debate on access to birth control and other contraceptives.

Being, well, me, I’ve managed to get just about everything done already in preparation for this kid. And now I’m left wandering aimlessly around the house. I’m officially bored, which really says something because I’m usually the person who can find things to occupy my time easily. The problem is that nothing is comfortable anymore, which means no sitting and knitting, no movies, no zoo visits, no gardening, no standing in the kitchen baking up a storm… I feel useless. Completely and totally useless.

I need something to occupy my time so I don’t go completely insane dwelling on my discomfort. I feel the need for some grand project – something I can really look forward to working on. I’m probably insane and should be looking forward to not doing anything these next few weeks but that’s really just not my style.

Baby shower festivities

July 14, 2014 Marie Leave a Comment

This and that

June 1, 2014 Marie 1 Comment

Baby bandanna bibs whipped up last night. I found the flannel elephant print as a remnant piece at Joanns and also ended up with 50% off the price and couldn’t pass it up. I used this pattern.
Basic 3×1 toe-up socks, knit a bit larger than my own foot in hopes that they’ll fit my sister so I can gift them to her for her birthday. I’ve reached the point where I have enough hand knit socks that I don’t really need to knit more, but I’ve acquired a stash of yarn that I really want to get through, so gifting socks seems appropriate.
New trunk I found for $35 at TJMaxx yesterday. I’ve been looking for something sturdy that I can use to store the Little Mr’s handmades as he grows out of them and this one immediately jumped out at me. I’m not sure it will hold all that he will end up with, and I may eventually scale down what I keep and only keep the nicer, more time-intensive knits, but for now it has quite a bit of room.
I started a new Wee Austin Hoodie for the Little Mr. I had to sit in the hospital laboratory for nearly 4 hours Saturday for my 3-hour gestational diabetes test and wanted to make my time there useful. Honestly, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to bring with me and I have 4 balls of this sock yarn sitting in my stash so I figured it would be a good carry-along project. It turns out that I knit nearly 4 inches in the lab alone!
New fabric for a crib skirt – I didn’t think I wanted a crib skirt until we put the crib up and I realized it looked too bare with nothing under it. My mom purchased one for me at the thrift store for $1, so I’m going to use it as my template and cut my panels to match. I’m really in love with the fabric and how well it matches the blanket I knit, so I can’t wait to get it made and add it to the room.

Slowly coming together

May 4, 2014 Marie 1 Comment

Sometimes I worry about what my stepson thinks and how he feels about his dad and I having a baby. I don’t know what, exactly, I think he thinks, but I always tend to imagine the worst. I mean, how awkward is it to be having a baby around the same time your stepson turns 20?! I try hard to not talk about the baby all the time when he’s around, even though it’s becoming increasingly difficult because my home life is consumed with baby stuff. I really just don’t want him to feel like he’s being replaced, or like he’s no longer important to me, because that’s totally not the case.

And then there are days like yesterday. The stepson was up for the weekend, as is our somewhat-usual every other week/every couple of weeks schedule, and helped the Mr take the twin bed down and then proceeded to help put the crib up. And helped me move it to where I wanted it. And then helped fix the fitted crib sheet that I was trying to get on the mattress, tucking it just so to make it look right. Little details that melt my heart and make me realize that I worry too much. Little details that show that he’s not as bothered by it as I think he is, and that maybe even he’s a little excited about a new sibling even though it’s certainly awkward.

The Little Mr’s nursery is slowly coming along, though far from complete. But, aside from my growing bump and the flutters and kicks, things are starting to feel a bit more real.

Snug

April 25, 2014 Marie 2 Comments

I wanted to splurge just once on this baby for a hand knit. I’m usually very budget-conscious about how much the yarn costs and how many skeins I need, and when it comes to this baby I’ve certainly been a bit more aware of the cost considering how quickly little ones outgrow their clothes. But I wanted to have one really luscious, gorgeous knit for him. Just once. So I decided to make a Snug. The pattern looked easy enough, especially given it being knit in garter stitch. And on our yearly knit group yarn shopping trip I (somewhat timidly) threw my budget out the window and I purchased 2 skeins of Malabrigo Mecha in Piedras, telling myself that 2 skeins should surely be enough for such a little sweater.

And everything was fine and dandy… until I ran out of yarn. Apparently this jacket is quite the yarn hog. The jacket then sat in the knitting basket while I cooled off from my anger for a while. I contemplated the potential of ripping out the whole front and not having a hood and, instead, making a collar. I contemplated finding a solid color of a cheaper yarn to use instead. I contemplated giving up entirely, but that nagging in the back of my mind of wanting just one splurge of a knit for this baby wouldn’t leave.

And so, with much annoyance, I ordered a 3rd skein and hoped and prayed it matched the original dye lot closely enough to work. And, thankfully, it did.

I might entirely regret knitting a $50 baby jacket, and it is entirely possible this baby may not even wear it at all (though, truth be told, I’m going to make one hell of an effort to make sure he wears it at least once). But at least it’s damn pretty to look at!