November 27, 2007

Still Thankful

Well, Thanksgiving is over and we're back home from a wonderful vacation. We went to Hawaii where we met up with some of Chris' family and had an amazing time together. It wasn't my idea of a traditional Thanksgiving, but I loved every second of it and could definitely see doing it again.

The view from our hotel room. There was a park, then the beach and ocean.

The day before we left, we had another ultra sound appointment. We found out the baby is a girl!

Baby girl at 18 weeks, 6 days.

I think for blogging purposes and certainly until she has an official name, I'll call her Minnie Purl.

I've started feeling the "flutters" of her movements. It's pretty wild and a much more fun reminder of being pregnant than feeling sick all the time.

And my desire to knit is back! On the plane, I cast on for Oblique. I'm making it with Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL in a yummy, warm, brown color called Aged Oak.


I bought the yarn last year when Webs had it on closeout. (It's on closeout again and this link will take you there.) My plan for it then was to make the Nantucket Jacket from IK, but I just never got around to it.

I had been wanting to make a big, cozy cardigan for myself that will take me and my growing belly through the winter, but also work post-baby. I had a sort-of-plan for a very basic, no-pattern cardigan using a different yarn in my stash. But when I saw the pattern for Oblique, I put the sort-of-plan on hold. I went stash diving, found this Lavold yarn and immediately started swatching for Oblique.

I got lots done on it in Hawaii. One day, I went down to the park and sat myself under a tree to knit. It was lovely.


After a while, a woman approached me to say she saw me knitting and just wanted to come over and chat. She's crocheted for years, but only recently learned how to knit and loves it. She was very sweet and complimentary when I showed her my work. She says her daughters (who turned out to be my age) tease her and so she was happy to see that it's not a dying art. I told her she could find lots of fellow knitters on line.

I'm still working my way up the back piece. I'm about a half inch away from starting the raglan shaping.


Progress has slowed since being home, though. I took this picture yesterday, but I'm only about 3 rows further along now.

I also went yarn shopping in Hawaii. I found a delightful store in Honolulu called Yarn & Friends. They were super friendly there. At first, it seemed like they didn't have a very big selection, but as I looked closer, I realized they had a surprisingly large variety packed into their relatively small space.

I bought some gorgeous laceweight (Ornaghi Filati Merino Oro) in a very-Jean, brick-red color which will someday be a lace shawl for me. Not sure yet which lace shawl. I'm open to pattern suggestions. There's 1375 yds in this one skein.


I also got some Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel in a lovely pinky-peach color. I think I'll use this to make EZ's February Baby Sweater for my little one on the way.


I wish I'd had the presence of mind to take pictures of these yarns in a pretty, Hawaiian setting, but alas, after I thought to do that, I never had the yarn, the camera and some daylight all in the same place at the same time. Instead, I decided to embrace the little bit of Autumn-ness we get back home (hence the fallen leaves in the pictures).

Well that's all for now. Please send house-selling vibes my way. We close escrow on the new place tomorrow. Until we sell this house, we'll be the stressed out owners of two mortgages.