antler mittens

Thank you for all the good wishes on our baby news! We are over the moon. I can't believe how many changes our lives and my body have undergone so far, and I know this is just the beginning.

On knitting news: I finished my Antler Mittens a few weeks ago. They are snuggly warm and squishy soft because of those cushy cables and Quince and Co.'s Osprey yarn. I predict they'll get a lot of action this winter as part of my winter-white knitted set. So far I've made a hat, cowl, fingerless mitts, and now mittens. I hope to add leg warmers and a headband someday. 

mittens + blue cup from my last pottery class

As part of my prepare-for-baby frenzy, I signed up for another pottery class, which starts this week. I figured I should squeeze in time for things I want to do now, before my belly gets too round to throw pottery on a wheel or I have a little one at home.   

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Tonight I keep checking the news for word on the winter storm headed up the East Coast. I hope all of you in the Northeast stay safe. My thoughts are with you!

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work in progress

Finally, I can share the reason for my quietness the past few months.

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My husband and I are expecting a baby next April!

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Although it's too soon to know if we're having a boy or a girl, I've knitted a few things. I think this deep blue Baby Sophisticate cardigan will look cozy on any baby.

yarn along: antler mittens

A late entry for yarn along day

Those are my super-soft, squishy Antler Mittens that I can't wait to wear. I've finished one (except for the thumb) and the second one is knitting up quickly, too, thanks to the Aran-weight Osprey yarn. I love the geometric antler cables, and even though the mittens might look long, the length is actually perfect. The cuff hits mid-forearm, so I won't experience any cold air leaks when I'm bundled up at the bus stop this winter. 

I had a friend ask me why I'm making mittens instead of gloves. Well, I'm mitten person all the way unless gloves are absolutely required. I wrote more about my reasoning here. Are you a mitten or a glove person?

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Last week I reread Naked by David Sedaris. He never fails to crack me up. I especially wanted to reread the chapter "Ashes," in which he writes about when his mother was dying of cancer. The first time I read the book, the serious turn of the chapter made me burst out in tears. It came so unexpectedly--in one chapter he showed his mother bantering and full of life and then suddenly she was dying. I'm not sure why I needed to read that again so much, but I felt it calling to me, so I did.

I just started (re)reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I read half of it in high school, but this is the only book I was assigned to read that I didn't finish (gasp!). I was a seriously studious nerd in high school, so I felt mortified that I couldn't finish the book. It was junior year, I was out of time, and something had to give. I did, however, manage to see the musical version of Wuthering Heights twice at our local theater that semester (I was an usher, and did I mention, a nerd?). My theater experience along with some hastily googled summaries allowed me to reenact the novel for my class using photos of celebrities taped to pencils as characters (for an A!). I'm hoping that I'll feel like I really earned that A when I finally read the entire book. 

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What are you making or reading this week?

here i am

I am back after some much-needed time away at the beach. I didn't knit a stitch during my vacation. Somehow between swimming, snorkeling, hiking, strolling, eating, reading, and lazing about, I just didn't get around to it.

I'm glad to be home now, snug in my little house as the air turns chilly outside. It was so good to come home to fall. I've pulled out my handknits and am ready to make comfort food. Tonight I made vanilla pudding, and I've got my eye on this sour cream apple pie. I can't wait until it's cold enough to have a fire. And now that the weather is cool, I'm ready to knit again. I've got a pair of mittens on my needles, and my Rocky Coast is calling to me again.

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I'm still sorting through our beach photos, but I'll show some here soon. You'll be amazed at how much Japanese food we ate while we were in Hawaii!