Bad knitter!

I went to Sock Club last Saturday, with my giant belly preceding me. (24 days and counting til the due date, if anyone is wondering.) The fellow sock knitters chastized me because I had not yet knit anything for Thumper, other than an unfinished little hat. And even that will remain unfinished for a while, because the last time I went to pick it up, one DPN was missing. Oops. Why don't they sell those in sets of six or seven. It can't come as a surprise that we WILL lose one or two at some point. I want to conduct a search of all purses, briefcases and knitting bags before I break down and buy an additional set of that size.

However, in my knitting defense, I do want to point out that Thumper's little hat is the ONLY thing that I have started in my entire pregancy. It isn't like I have been knitting new projects for anyone else. Everything in my bag was started pre-pregnancy, and is STILL in progress. I honestly just haven't been doing much knitting. Normally, I knit while I do other things: watch TV, wait in line, wait for court, take a lunch break, and so on. These days, when I have an oppotunity to just sit still and rest for a few minutes, I take it.

Does Child Protective Services consider it nelgect if you fail to knit for your child?

Today, it is all about the knitting guilt.

Knitting Black Hole

I am in the knitting black hole. You know, where everything you are working on is in the vague area of half-done. You knit and knit and knit on various projects, and can see no noticeable difference on any of them. Pomatomus, baby hat, Mom's ribbed socks, I have knit on all of them, and they look exactly the same.

My sweetie (though I am mad at him today, so use the term with some annoyance) and I are going camping this weekend. Ok, I can laze around outside as easily as around the house. Just make sure we have comfortable chairs. So this may be a good time to make some knitterly progress, without the pesky distractions of housework and laundry. I don't even have to think about which projects to bring. All of them, of course.

The only thing I have been finishing lately is the flannel receiving blankets. Four down, last one half finished.

Well, I am "finishing" on little Thumper too. Eight weeks til his cast off! We won't talk about how I currently resemble a hippo.

Today, it is all about the blackness.

Admissions of a Slacker

I should be ashamed of myself. I realized today that it has been NEARLY A MONTH since the Yarn Harlot came to speak, and I have yet to blog about it. Or anything else, for that matter. I am a Blog Slacker. My three regular readers (if there are that many) must have been horribly disappointed in me this month.

As it turns out, no harm has been done. I have vivid memories of the evening of knitterly delight. I carpooled with three other enthusiastic knitters. We, of course, wanting a good seat, arrived three hours early. They had less than 100 chairs out, and didn't seem to notice that half we already filled. Nonetheless, we scored several front row seats off to the side. See?

We met a charming woman behind us, who doesn't knit but was saving seats for her do sisters that do knit. Does that make her a squib? Someone from a knitting family who doesn't knit?

The hours flew by as we chatted with other knitters, ooohed and ahhhed over knitting in progress and in finished form, and waited in breathless (Ok, maybe that was just me, little Thumper presses on my diaphragm something awful) anticipation.

The bookstore people must have finally gotten the hint and set out more chairs. Someone (I suspect a yarn store representative) put out a few welcoming knit-related signs. Finally, she appeared. The famous Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She was just as funny as she is on her blog, in her books, and in my dreams. I was laughing so hard at times, I thought I would go into early labor. Naturally, everyone wanted to meet her at the signing afterwards, whether they had a book to sign or not. I didn't, but all three of my carpoolers did, and I had noooo objection to waiting in line with them. Stephanie had stated that people "with babies on the inside or outside" could cut in line, I didn't. Though I did swipe a folding chair to use at intervals in the line.

Other than happening too fast, meeting her was a dream come true. We presented the Indiana- themed washcloth (very clever, wish I could take credit for any part of its creation), and even rated a picture with Stephanie's traveling sock. I assume that my giant belly earned the right to hold the sock.

Today, it is all about the Harlot.

Men just don't understand

My husband this morning: "You sound excited. You are acting like this is a race or something."

Excuse me, this is FAR more exciting than a Nascar race. Those happen all the time. There are, like, 40 Nascar races that are fully televised every year. There is one ever year within a 75 mile radius of our home: The Brickyard 400. There are actually THREE races per year near home, if you count the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400, and the Grand Prix.

The Harlot, on the other hand, has not yet come to Indiana. (That I know about, at least.) This is a rare event, and worthy of excitement far exceeding that of cars going in circles really fast. And if he calls knitters crazy one more time, I am going to pummel him.

Please forgive him. It takes more than a year to properly train a Muggle Husband.

Today, it is all about the excitement.

Knitting Blahs

The other day, I realized why I have been kind of bored with all of my WIPs. I am on the second sock in everything. Pomotomus, Jaywalker, charity socks, Mom's socks. Even my little baby hat is the second one in a row that I am doing in the same yarn. I realize that second socks are necessary, since humans were born with two feet, but it gets a little boring to finish something, then turn around and make the exact same thing in the exact same yarn.

I did finish a charity sock the other day, while watching "Memoirs of a Geisha", so maybe that will help inspire me to finish all these second socks! It is either that or succumb to the yarn whispering to me from the sock yarn bin to start something new. Resistance is futile.

Today, it is all about the resistance.

P.S. My camera is back on speaking terms with my computer, after a brief but successful mediation. I should be able to start posting pictures again.

The Harlot is coming! The Harlot is coming!

That's right. Knitting's closest thing to a rock star is coming to Indiana! She will be signing her latest book just north of Indy, a mere 50 miles or so from me! Naturally, I will be there. I don't care how, I will make it, and preferably stay awake for the whole event and on the drive home. The local yarn store accidently scheduled a yarn tasting event for the same night, but surely SOMEONE else will be going to see the Harlot for carpooling purposes. Must remember to go to Knit Night tonight to find out.

Today, it is all about the Harlot!

When you are bored with everything else,

start something new. Except this was a baby something, so I think it falls under the exception to the usual "not going to start anything new until I finish one thing" rule. (My computer isn't speaking to my camera today, so I can't show any pictures. As opposed to my recent picture laziness that accounts for the lack of pictures all last month.) You will just have to imagine my new project. Nothing special, just a little baby blue hat for a new baby. That was the only thing baby that I could remember off the top of my head.

And in case my husband ever thinks I have too many needles, he should remember the half hour I spent combing the house and muttering to myself while in search of any double point needles that would come anywhere close to being right for the yarn.

As it is, this cute little hat was finished just in time for a baby shower. (Literally, I was decreasing in the car, and bound off when I got there.) So now I have to start another one for my little thumper.

I have made timely but not measurable progress on works in progress. I have knit minutes on all of them, and yet can't see any difference. Is there a support group for this?

The weather is warming, so my sweetie is taking the bike out every chance he gets. I can only wave as he leaves, with slight envy in my heart. Riding, even as a passenger, is on my "don't list" right now. I know it is supposed to be safe enough, but I am just not confortable with the idea with baby on board. Plus, there is the problem of this giant belly of mind. (I was nearly the same size as the expectant mother at that shower last weekend, even though she was allegedly two months farther along than I was. Course, she is 15 years younger, and probably started out as a size 2. Besides, my baby will be larger and healthier. That is my story and I am sticking to it.)

Today, it is all about baby blue, baby boy hats.