For the Love of Wool

When I was first getting into knitting soakers, I found a pattern online for a soaker sack!  It's just darling, and was fun and easy to knit-in-the-round.  (I used Patons wool in the creamy natural you can see above!)  It would be paired more appropriately with a side-snap shirt, I think, but I don't have any of those yet and I do have onesies, so I stuck one in for the photo.

John can probably testify to how many times I exclaimed that our little one would look like such a sweet glow-worm in her sheepy sleeper soaker sack.  I was thinking of the toys that were popular when I was little.  You squeeze their bellies and they glow.  Anyone?  (Picture on Wikipedia.)  All she needed was a hat to match.  Then I realized that I could probably make one of those, too.  :-)

I found this pattern and got to learn how to make i-cord!  I just used one i-cord strand, though the pattern gives you a few different options.  That part was fun, although the initial increases after the i-cord were kind of hard for me . . . took me about three tries, in fact.  But it was exactly what I had in mind, and came out just darling, I think!  Better yet, I ran out of the Patons skein I'd used for the sack when I was about half-way through the hat, and my Mom-in-law just happened to have a matching end from one of her projects hanging around the house.  :-)

Our High Chair

I bought this high chair back in October before I was even pregnant.  :-)  I'd always thought it would be nice to have a wooden one instead of a big plastic one, and when I spotted this at a little shop in Schuylerville, I loved it.  (It's the same shop where I later bought the fabric for our dining room chairs!)  A hand-made tag hanging from the chair suggested that the buyer "Paint me orange and put me in your garden!"  Hee hee.  Thankfully, when John heard that it was being offered for such a reasonable price, he had no problem with me going back for it. 

The question is . . . to paint, otherwise refinish, or leave it in its current beautiful state?  I think that actual stripping and restaining would probably be more work than I'm willing to put into it, considering all the spindle and my due date.  I kind of hate to paint it, too, because I think the wood is pretty.  But I'm not sure.

Then there's another question . . . should I sew some kind of cushion for it?  If I don't, I'll probably just tie my little one into it with an apron, as I've seen Mom do in high chairs without safety belts.  But a cloth lining with built-in ties might be nice to prevent her getting her arms stuck through the back and could only increase its comfort.

If you are a very observant reader, you may have noticed that I finally changed my little "pick-a-room transformation" button from "dining room" to "nursery."  I left it on "dining room" for so long because the dining room technically still isn't done.  I still would like to replace the maroon TV cabinet which isn't large enough for our special dishes with a cabinet and hutch.  I've seen ones I liked on craigslist, and I would paint it white, maybe age the edges a bit with some sandpaper, and replace any knobs with glass ones from Hobby Lobby.  But then I was blessed enough to become pregnant again, and became quite worn out, and started tutoring, and it got put on the back burner.  (To be honest, I've never bought anything off craigslist before, so intimidation may have something to do with it, too!)  But, anyway, the high chair did replace the spindly fake bush which was in that corner of the house when we moved in.  Maybe there will eventually be a final dining room tour post.  :-)

26 Weeks

26 Weeks!

And feeling fine.

25 Weeks

23 Weeks

Am I Nesting Already?

I don't know when my nesting instinct is supposed to kick in . . . I should probably look it up in the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy which I just received through paperbackswap.com!  (Or I could google it, I suppose . . . ).

Anywho.  Whatever the cause is, I am definitely feeling the urge to get ready for this baby.  :-)  The prefold diapers so graciously given to us by a friend of a friend are all stripped, with the little ones folded and the big ones in the process of being packed into storage.  Various baby paraphernalia have been scrubbed of any garage-sale grime.  The adorable little girl clothes my Mom-in-law collected and passed on to us have been sorted into "delicates" and "not delicates" to be washed tomorrow.  And this office is anxiously awaiting its transformation.  :-)

The office before John moved in...

...With its odd mix of posters from very rival colleges in the area!

 The office now . . . the bassinet will be moved to our room soon!

Yes, it's a bit messy . . . but mostly with baby stuff!!

I might mention that it's not just baby stuff which I'm feeling the urge to attack!  The fridge got scrubbed yesterday for the first time in months, and the Brita soaked in Clorox water for the first time ever (along with the breast pump I also found at a garage sale!).  I'm having the urge to bake stuff for the freezer; only flour tortillas have gotten stashed in there so far, though.  All this stuff seems far more important to me than blogging at the moment.  And to be honest, it is!!

May the energy continue . . .

I think I don't play the piano enough.  I love doing it for my own benefit--musical, psychological, and when I'm playing hymns, spiritual--but I also love the thought that our little one can hear it, too. 

This is the hymn I was fixed on a few moments ago.  It's so simple, and goes like a conversation between a seeker and a wise and seasoned pilgrim.

Art thou weary, art thou languid,
Art thou sore distress'd?
"Come to me," saith One, "and coming,
Be at rest."

Hath he marks to lead me to him,
If he be my Guide?
"In his feet and hands are wound-prints,
And his side."

"Is there diadem, as Monarch,
That his brow adorns?
"Yea, a crown, in very surety,
But of thorns."

If I find him, if I follow,
What is guerdon here?
"Many a sorrow, many a labor,
Many a tear."

If I still hold closely to him,
What hath he at last?
"Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed."

If I ask him to receive me,
Will he say me nay?
"Not till earth and not till heaven
Pass away."

Finding, following, keeping, struggling,
Is he sure to bless?
"Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Answer, 'Yes.'"