Birthday Cowl

Yesterday was Chiquita's last day of school. Wow, my little Kindergartner is now a 1st Grader. We are so proud of her. The end of the school year comes with a knit. This is for Chiquita's favorite teacher, Ms. H. This knit was great. It's so fast and fun, like all cowls. And in yummy bright orange Malabrigo, Ms. H's favorite color. I love that orange is someone's favorite color. It's makes me feel boring for liking Sage green. Don't tell my couches or my car that I said that.

Ms. H is the only teacher that got a hand knit, but that is because there are rules to getting a knit from me. It helps a lot the she was THE favorite. But really, it is because her mom is so cool. The fact that I know her mom tells you something. Ms. Mom is a knitter, also. We have fun at school activities with all our knitting talk and sharing projects. Ms. H will also appreciate the gift because she has seen how much work her mom puts into knitting. See, rules... Have to like you, have to appreciate it, have to use it. I'm such a hard a**.

Pattern: Birthday Cowl
Source: Designed by Nova Seals (Rav link)
Yarn:Malabrigo Worsted Merino in Papaya

Small World

As many of you know, I'm in a Ravelry Game called BattleStar Galactica: FPB. (plug) We have been given a challenge that encourages us to check the project pages of other players. I also like to check out the groups. I came across a local group from Westwood (plug).

Turns out, they came to our WWKiP Day. I had assumed that they were all from the South Bay Group (plug). I guess I should of been a better hostess and talked to more of the people that came. We'll blame it on the pregnancy, I'll do better next year.

So, I wanted to say thanks to the Westwood SnB for knitting with us. Hope to see you again next year!

As for the plugs. If you are local to the areas, join the groups. Never know what fun you can have. Don't forget to check out our group. (plug)

Fascine Braided Socks

I went through my Ravelry page and it turns out that I have 8 FOs that I have not posted onto the blog yet. It's just ridiculous. I only have a good excuse for one of them, that is because I need to buy buttons before I can take final pictures. There are no excuses for the rest of them. This morning I went through and uploaded all of the pictures and I will be getting them all to you shortly. Plus all the FOs I am getting done for the BattleStar Galactica Game. (You can still join for July). This game is a great way to work through you stash and the things you have been dying to make. To start you off I bring you the Fascine Braided Socks. Love these socks. The pattern is very easy to memorize but still has very interesting features to it. Tienne starts it with a pretty picot edge, has a twist on the heel and I just did my regular toe, so if she did something neat there, I have no idea what it is.The only complaint I have is that I can wear them as often as I would like. This is the yarn's fault. It is in J Knit Superwash Sock. I find that it needs to be colder than usually for me to wear these socks. If I start to get a little warm, I quickly get itchy. Itchy socks are no fun. I absolutely love the color. My Dad picked up this skein while he was vacationing in Tampa, Florida. The colorway is Tampa. My Dad is so funny.

Pattern: Fascine Braided Socks
Source: Designed by Tienne Knits (Rav Link)
Yarn: J-Knits Superwash Me Sock in Tampa

WWKiP Day 09

I just wrapped up our second World Wide Knit in Public Day hosted my our knitting group. It was a big success. There were 13 knitters and a 12 yr. old crocheter. She was really sweet. Most of the group was visiting us from another local knitting group that meets up several times a month. I think they have over 100 members, I don't think all of them go to all of the meet ups. A couple of the girls had come last year and brought their friends along this time. Their group will be having an official KiP next weekend.It was pretty fun. A lot of stops and stares. No one really asking any questions. It was fun to people watch. A small band came and played music for a few minutes before moving on. One of the restaurants in the plaza seemed to have a mishaps in their kitchen. So, we had a visit from this guy and two of his buddies.He was the only one in full firefighter gear (rookie?). It was fun watching all the women stare and giggle. There was a baby shower on the patio of the restaurant, and it seems I wasn't the only one that had my camera ready. Fortunately, they were only there for about five minutes. I think a smoke alarm must of gone off and everyone had to follow the regular procedures.

There is also a swanky, beach hotel in plaza. It's a very nice place to get married. So, a group of groomsmen were out getting their pictures taken and decided to raid our party. The groom is the one sitting with my new giraffe on his shoulder while pretending to knit my Rainy Day Gloves. They had also grabbed the other pieces I brought as examples to show non-knitters what you can make. This included my Tulip Cardigan, a pair of Chiquita's socks, and the baby booties I just finished. One groomsman was pretending to knit the booties by stabbing them with needles. Can you say I was nervous much? Good thing I was across the way taking a picture. In the end, there were no dropped stitches on the fair isle gloves and one of the girls was made very uncomfortable by all these men attacking the knitting.

It was a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone that showed up.

On the Good Ship Lollypop

This weekend we took a trip on the Good Ship Lollypop. Well, Chiquita did anyways. She had her big ballet recital on Saturday morning. Ballet classes every week - $76/month
Costume - $60
Tickets to the show for 9 - $90
Three minutes up on stage - Absolutely Priceless

I've spent a couple of days trying to upload a video for you. Apparently Blogger and YouTube don't like the format our camera uses. Once we get the professional video, I'll try to post it.

And yes, I cried during the final performance. You seriously spent all of this time and money making your kid follow though on class for a three minutes performance. And it is completely worth it. Chiquita had said she wanted to do something else next year. It seemed a shame because she has so much natural grace. Once the costumes came and they began rehearsals, she decided that she did want to do ballet again. It even pays off for the kids

30 Weeks

I'm in my 30th week of being pregnant. Yeah! I am really starting to get uncomfortable now. Then I start freaking out because I know I have 10 more weeks of getting bigger. Really, bigger. How can one get bigger? Well, I have 10 weeks to find out.

My stomach doesn't exist anymore. There is no room for food and the heartburn is none stop. I've started buying Tums by the Costco pack. Chicklet has found a great spot to kick me in the groin. Makes me jump up suddenly. (Sorry if that's graphic, but pregnancy is nasty). I'm not really sure what is going on under my ribs. There is no slouching allowed because my ribs dig into me. So, really, how can I still have 10 weeks of getting bigger?

Here are the pictures. And for comparision 20 Weeks and 25 Weeks.From the side. At my last check up I was 28 weeks. I measured 27cm, right on track. I've gained half of what they want me to, right on track. I've grown 9inches around my waist. They don't measure this at the doctor's office. I told my Dr. that my online preggo group all measured our waist. No matter where we started, everyone had gained 9-11 inches. My Dr. got a bit of a chuckle out of that. She must of been picturing preggos measuring their waist and posting about it.
From the top. I feel like I am really starting to stick out there. Can no longer touch or see my toes and it takes work to tie my shoes in the morning. Taking a knee is a lot easier than bending over, but then I have to get up again. Oh, and the DH may get moved onto dishes duty, cause my arms are barely reaching across the sink without digging my belly into the counter.

I've got lots of knitting to blog about and an update on Chiquita from the weekend. So, I'll see you around. I need to go find my Tums right now.

Moderation

Update on my comments.

I'm going to leave my comments on moderation for now. But fair warning, I may change it without notice to needing to have an OpenId if I start getting annoyed by the pinger. I hate to do that to those of you that comment anonymous, though you are few and far between. Most of you are already signed into something when you are online anyways.

June Gloom

The last two weeks, we have had full fledged June Gloom here. Which I learned is a weather phenomenon that is exclusive to Southern California. We have had mostly overcast skies, and about every other day rain, though the precipitation has been high everyday. It's still nice enough to walk about the beaches with a sweater and the weather keeps the inland visitors away. June Gloom is a bit like the calm before the storm of tourist make their way to the beach and parking really becomes impossible.

We did have a lucky break in the clouds on Sunday. Skizye and Chiquita are in a Daddy/Daughter club through the YMCA and they were having their end of the year picnic in the park. This is the only event that the Moms get to come to also. I had to leave my marker on my kid by making sure we wore the same socks. They were just anklettes and no one noticed, but we had fun dressing the same. Chiquita and I had a really good time together while the Dads socialized and barbequed. We relaxed in our chairs, eating hotdogs and drinking apple juice. Chiquita and I talked about what we thought Chicklet would look like. Would she look like Mommy, Daddy or Chiquita, who is a good combination of both. We know she'll have blue eyes, but maybe her hair will be brown like Mommy's or stay blonde like Daddy's. In the end, Chiquita told me that I was going to have to wait until she was born to really know.

We talked about how Chiquita looked like whichever parent you knew better when she was a little baby. But she looked more like Mommy did in her baby pictures. As she gets older, she looks more and more like her Daddy, especially in pictures. But she sure has her Mommy's attitude. People still say that she is a MiniMe, until they see Skizye and then they start picking apart which feature is from whom. I think that I love June Gloom. It's not too hot and crowded, but not too cold to get outside. It feels like the laziest time of year even though we are busy wrapping up the school year and other crazy activites to get ready for summer. This must be my favorite time of year.

It's Back

So, my little blog pinger is back. That bastard.

As a result I need to ask all of you a question.

Is it worth my getting annoyed with this guy and leave my comments on moderation so that none of you have to be annoyed with him, or should I switch my comments to needing OpenID. This means that you will have to have sign into a Google, Live Journal, WordPress, TypePad, or AIM account in order to leave a comment.

Now before you say something about word verification, I had that in the beginning and it didn't work. That is why I am certain it is a person leaving comments and punching in the verification. I switched to moderation, cause there is no sense in having both, to keep you from having to sort through the ads when trying to see what others wrote.

So, I guess what I am wondering, is how many of you would not be able to comment if you had to sign in first?