counting down...

Today at my prenatal yoga class I was the most pregnant person there. I think I was at least a month farther along than anyone else, it was that crazy. It made me feel, well, very pregnant.

If you are wondering what my shirt says, it says "No Longer Empty."
It was a gift from my cousin.

We have a long list of things to do before Smudge comes, though none of those things are that urgent. We have a car seat. And a place for him to sleep. And diapers. That's all set. We do need to cook some food that we can eat later, and we should finish packing the bag for the hospital. But that's really icing on the cake.

One thing on my list has been to finish knitting projects that have been languishing. If you look at my Ravelry project page, you'll see a few things that are 95% done. They're lacking buttons or just need to be cast off. Funny how I can spend 100+ hours knitting a shawl and then not have the patience to cast it off. (Even worse is that it's 2/3 cast off; I just need to do the last 300 or so stitches.)

I did finish one of those projects recently, though: my Vinterblomster Mittens. You may remember that I started these - and knit a mitten and a half - in November and December 2008. I then ran out of yarn, was graciously donated more from Hilary, and finished everything but a thumb in January 2009. And then they sat in my knitting basket, longing for a thumb. The problem was that the afterthought thumb in the pattern was placed too low for my hand. I corrected this in the second mitten, but had already finished the first mitten. It required surgery.A few weeks ago I pulled it out and cut a spot for my new thumb, attached my yarn and knit. And I finished the thumb within a few days, all on my commute on the subway.I love them! The inside is super soft, lined with Koigu floats. They're pretty warm too, though not warm enough for the 19 degree temperatures we've had this weekend. Maybe I can wear them next week.

nesting

The nursery is slowly coming together. You could say that one side of the room is done. The other 3/4 of the room... well, maybe next weekend.Christopher's friend Derek came over yesterday and did various handy tasks for us, like install some lights over the changing pad and hang our baby hammock. We've gotten a lot of flak from our families about the hammock, but we remain confident that it will work for us and for Smudge. It's got a really great swaying and bouncing thing going on, and we hear that babies sleep really well in them.

I have so many things to share, but I seem to be rather passive with my camera recently, so until it's photographed in some decent daylight, the blogging will have to wait. In other news, as of today I am 37 weeks pregnant, which means that the baby is ready. He isn't due for 3 more weeks, but really he could come at any time. wow.

warm baby knits

Have I mentioned that my midwife is a knitter too?

"Of course she's a knitter!" Christopher told me, " she's a midwife!" This is the same logic that has me convinced that everyone who is pregnant is also a knitter. Which makes no sense.

Anyway, at one of my appointments a few weeks ago, my midwife asked me what I had knit for Smudge. (She doesn't know that he's called Smudge though. She called him "the baby.") The woman ahead of me had just left with her newborn, and the baby had been bundled in hand knits made and sent from its Irish grandmother.

I felt sad that I hadn't made anything very warm for Smudge. Part of me thinks it's silly to make something for a newborn, when he's bound to outgrow it pretty quickly. But there's also something about a hand knit that connotes love and thought for the child, and I would like Smudge to have the warmth that my wool can give him.

Right about the same time, Mary Jane asked me to test knit her Cabled Chullo, suggesting that I make it in a lighter yarn so Smudge could wear it. I agreed happily, and pulled out some Sublime Angora Merino from my stash and started knitting. Perfect!

(hopefully Smudge will look good in mouse brown)

And when that was done, I had some left over yarn, and made a pair of newborn mitts for him too. The mitts aren't quite the same size, but they will keep him warm. When Christopher saw these, he asked me why I thought his son would be lacking opposable thumbs.

I used a pattern by Louisa Harding, from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, and I added little cables to each so they'd match the hat. I may still add some sort of string or i-cord to connect them, but I'm not sure yet. Smudge may be warm yet!

Counting down the weeks! Less than 6 weeks until my due date! Yikes!!

the end of a decade

I kind of hate end-of-year summations. In fact, when the New York Times ran their "decade in pictures" feature at the end of December, I skipped it. I just don't like the sentimentality of it. I don't like how those things make me feel, or how they are supposed to make me feel.

Seeing them, and hearing people reflecting on the decade on the radio, did make me think back to my own life in the past decade, however.

In the fall of 1999, I was just finishing my first semester of graduate school. It was a new beginning for me. And now, here at the beginning of 2010, I am expecting my first child, another new beginning.

Some things have stayed the same in the past 10 years: I am still in New York. I still work in theater. I don't feel that much older, and I still take myself and my work as seriously as I did as a grad student.But some things are different: I have a home as opposed to a perch. I sleep on a mattress with a bed frame and not a loft bed a few feet from the ceiling. I am married. I have a cat (though Dinah has been with me since the spring of 2000, so she only just missed sharing the beginning of the decade with me). I lost some innocence by living through 9/11 and its aftermath, and I lost more when Christopher was attacked last year.

I am curious what the next decade will bring. Of course, the first milestone is very clearly in front of me: motherhood. I know that having a child will change my life irrevocably, but I also hope that I won't be giving up the other things that are important to me, namely my relationship to Christopher and my interest/need to create and work.

I hope you all have a wonderful new decade, and of course a happy new year!