nervous

This is not the nervous part but is knit-related, so I start with that: there is another WIP on the sticks, the bulky Fair Isle hat that was supposed to be friend A's Christmas present. After a false start with wrong sizing, it's working up fairly quickly, and I'll have a picture of an FO soon. Sprout is sleeping through the night most nights, I feel like a human being again, and there is time for several rows of knitting most days--I think I appreciate it even more now that the time for it is scarce and measured.

So why nervous? I'm going to meet my doulas for lunch today. Patti's bringing the pictures she took of us during labor and birth. When we were setting the time today, she said, "Now, do you want the pictures of the actual surgery? They're pretty graphic." I said, yes, I need to see them.

I still mourn the fact that I didn't see him come out of me, one way or another (our anesthesiologist was not going to consent to drop the drape so I could see Sprout be born), so I'm hoping Patti got a picture of him all covered with goo. I don't care how graphic it is, I just really want to see it, so much so that I've had butterflies about this lunch for weeks.

But hey, by sometime this afternoon, I will have seen a full-color picture of my uterus, and hopefully of my b being born! How cool is that?

fo: heike socks (at last)

After a year + on the sticks, here they are

Pattern: Sensational Knitted Socks, Baby Cable Rib
Yarn: hand-dyed, handspun superwash from Handspun on the Web, no colorway name (75% wool, 25% nylon), 400 yards
Needles: Size 0 Addi Turbo 40" circular
Method: Magic Loop, 2 at once
Begun February 7, 2006
Finished April 20, 2007 (lots of dormancy in between)

They're called the Heike socks after the woman who dyed the yarn--I love how it flashes and pools and just wish I'd also taken a picture of it in the hank, it was even more beautiful. There was barely enough yardage, though (I had to partially unravel my gauge swatch and was holding my breath to the end), and that was even with making the cuff fairly short. I didn't love the yarn to work with--it was very loosely plied, which made working with the sz 0 needles hard (too easy to catch or split the yarn), but I think it will be durable. They're surprisingly comfortable--I generally like short row heels better on me, but this heel flap doesn't bother me, and they're just the perfect length. And they have the added cache of being the knit project that I worked on while in the hospital, and my first FO since Sprout was born.

To end on an even happier note, here's a gratuitous baby shot from this morning's smiles:

knitting again!

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, I knit my first stitches at home since having Sprout. I got a few more rows in today while he was sleeping--dinner was made, laundry was done, milk was pumped, hospital bill paying was caught up, and it was more important to me than showering (that's probably TMI). It was glorious, and if the yarn doesn't run out, I hope to post a finished object of Heike socks here in a few days.


Happy tax day from my little sprout:

cravings

1. sleep

2. knit

3. sugar

Which of these do you think I get most often? Only one can satisfyingly be had on the run. I'm starting to understand why new parents talk about uninterrupted sleep in the fondest, most ardent terms. I've even begun fantasizing that maybe my first Mother's Day present could be a night in a hotel. Solo. Where I could do #1 and #2 to my heart's content. I took my knitting with me when I went to urgent care earlier this week (pulled back muscle from hauling around growing moose-like baby), and they were so efficient I only got three or four stitches done, after it took me a few minutes to remember the long-abandoned pattern.

But all that pales in importance when I see this:

Happy Easter!