Pregnant?

I think I'm seeing a pregnant "sign" ...

 So far no positive pregnancy tests yet. I'm going to try again in the morning and if it's still negative I'm calling the dr to get a blood test done.

Very frustrated right now.

If not this month then next, right?

Christmas Knitting

I may have bit off more than I can chew.

I'm doing a lot of Christmas knitting.

I'm not sure who is reading this blog in my family so I'm not going to tell you what just yet. You'll have to wait! :)

I will be taking pictures so that you can see what I've done. You may get a laugh out of it!

Trigger Finger Mittens Update

Jason used his mittens hunting this week-end. He has now requested that I close up the open fingers, I guess they got a little cold. He wore a pair of those "one size fits all" knit mittens that he bought at Wal-Mart to wear underneath (which was his plan all along) but it wasn't enough. So now I am going to knit some "hats" for his thumb and finger.

My brother has also requested a pair of Trigger Finger Mittens for when he plays airsoft with his friends. He has asked, however, for holes that his finger and thumb can stick out of if I have time I'll make them for him for Christmas.

The pattern is almost written for the mittens, but I haven't taken any pictures of them yet. I want my hubby to model them for me!

Odd Signs in Northeastern Maine

If the Bad Little falls in, what happens to the good little?






















We were stumped, even after following the "Handicap Route", which were road signs... what does that mean "Handicap Route"?? ? ???? ???

Are people who are disabled supposed to follow this route and this route alone, that seems discrimatory to us.

Calais, ME

Jason and I took a trip to visit my brother, Ben, at college. We had a really go time up there in the middle of nowhere. We stayed at a crappy hotel. They advertised that they had a pool, but guess what? The pool has been broken since 2007! I was not happy! Jason and I didn't get much sleep, but we have since recovered.

On Saturday we took a trip to nowhere and found some interesting things. We went to Eastport, the Easternmost "city" in the USA. "City" is a metaphor I think, there isn't anything there. The locals gave us funny looks so we went to Machias to find some food. We had a lot of fun being silly.

I miss my brother, but had a blast with him!

Calais, ME

Maybe it Worked?

I have a good feeling about this month.

We'll see.

I took a test this morning, but it was negative, but I'm most likely too early anyway. I had a random vomiting episode very early Wednesday night and it seems like I can't eat dairy or tomato's anymore... maybe someone is screwing with my system?

Center Hill

I went with work to a field trip to Center Hill in Weld, ME. These pictures are of the surrounding mountains of Mount Blue State Park

Clomid Round 3

I had a period this month, with out taking period pills, it was very exciting!

I started round 3 with a little more hope than the past rounds. My dose is twice as much as before and so far I've only had one day when I was really crabby because of it. I was also a bit nauseous too from the meds, but otherwise I've been doing great.

The house buying is an uphill battle. We are so close and yet so far! The cesspool needs an inspection and that will be on Tuesday then a survey of the land needs to be done. We are hoping to be in the new house before Thanksgiving which so happens to be my birthday!

Mittens for Jason

Jason has asked me to knit him some hunting gear. He wants a pair of mittens with the thumb and first finger able to be exposed (to work a gun) but the rest snug and tight in a mitten. I'm going to use this pattern I found at knittingpatterncentral.com as my jumping off point.

We'll see how it goes.

I knitted this for my friend. I made it as an experiment. I had to alter the pattern a bit because I didn't want to make sleeves. I think it came out alright. I had to add Tinkerbell because I messsed up a little on the neck and I needed a little camouflage

Baby Blanket

Finished! I finished it last night. It turned out really great. I messed up a bunch, but that only adds to the originality!

Baby Sweater

I actually finished this sweater quite awhile ago. I got the pattern from Lion Brand.

Jason picked out the buttons at Pins and Needles in Farmington, ME (the buttons are fabric and made by someone in Maine). After I put them on something still felt missing. I decided that I'd embroider some little trees on it it tie the needles on the buttons to the rest of the sweater. I used to cross sititch, but embroidery is a different animal. I think it came out all right for my first time. I think I'd try it again.

Jason wants me to make another sweater. This time he wants me to put some more color into the whole thing.

Baby Blanket

Almost done with the baby blanket. I took a break for a bit because things got really crazy around here and I couldn't find time or energy.

I messed up a tad tonight, somehow my stitch marker got knitted into the rest of the blanket (it was a piece of yarn the same color as the yarn I was working with--not a good idea) so I had to rip a bunch out. Then as I was putting it back on the needles I realized I had two strings going not one and one side was lower than the other.... tomorrow I will attempt to fix the mess I've made.

I've only 6 inches left! Should be done this week-end!

Round 2 with Clomid

Started taking Clomid again today. I'm going to try and be real dilligent about taking it at the same time every day. I'm shooting for noon when I take my other pills.

House

Jason and I think we've found a house! If all goes well the closing date is Oct 28th!

A house for Hamlins?

We put an offer on a house today. This is the second time we are putting an offer on this house. The first time someone else beat us to the punch. That offer fell apart and now we are getting a turn!

We are hoping that it goes through easy. The house is closer to Jason's parents than mine, but that's all right. It is also 45mins from work for me, I'm going to have to commute for the first time in ..... gosh .... 8 years! I worked it out with my "boss" that I will work Mon, Wed, Fri so that we can get the preschoolers to preschool.

Yes, we are taking our daycare kids to preschool. We are so crazy. We are the ONLY daycare in our area that takes the kids to preschool. Here is the logic. These 4 four year olds have been together since before they could talk. Come next year when they go to Kindergarten they are going to have a SHOCK. We thought this might be a nice lead in for them. Apparently the parents agreed because they are paying for preschool in ADDITION to the normal daycare rates (we aren't giving them any discount). We'll see how it goes with all this carting around.

We are very excited. We are hoping that this is IT!. We have looked at 20 or so houses in a couple of months. I think we have seen everything in our price range with in an hours travel! I'll be so happy when that is done.

Keep those fingers and toes crossed!!

My Pregnant Best Friend

Here are some more pictures of my best friend. She had the baby on August 25th at 11pm. The baby was 6lbs 13.5oz and 21 inches long. They named her Adriana Nicolasa.
She is beautiful!

TTC

Still not pregnant.

Going to start another round of meds soon.

People keep telling me "Practicing is the fun part." I used to believe this, but, it's not true. The "fun part" would be having the baby, or being pregnant. It almost sounds like: "Enjoy sex now while you can, because once you succeed your life is over!" or that having a baby is a bad thing.

Here is another: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"

What I want to hear sounds more like this: "It will happen, in God's timing."

But I suppose that at this point no matter what people tell me, I'll still feel frustrated.

Baby Blanket

I'm working on my first baby blanket. I found the pattern at a blog named Pickles. I would have taken a picture of how far I've gotten (the picture is from the blog that I found the pattern on), but the batteries in my camera are dead and I haven't made it to walmart yet.

I bought a new book The Expectant Knitter (not that I'm expecting) and as soon as I'm done this blanket there are a few things I want to try.

I bought buttons for the sweater I made. I hope to sew them on tonight and then when I get batteries I'll post some pictures. Jason helped me pick out the buttons. They are gender neutral.

Mama to Be Opening the Hat

Here my friend is opening the hat! She loved it! :)

Little Model

I found a little cutie to model the hat I made. She is a year old, but she's a little peanut. I tried it on a 16 month baby and it fit him too. The thing stretches quite a bit.
I also tried it on a 4 month old and took pictures but I haven't asked her Mom yet if I can post pictures.

My Best Friends Belly

Is it weird that I am in love with this picture? I don't know if it's jealousy or longing, but I love this picture and what it captures.

I am doing a "photo shoot" with her some time this week. I'm looking forward to it.

Diaper Cake

I know it's not something knitted, but it's something I made. I saw this idea first on web site for the magazine Parents so I've been looking for my opportunity to make one.

I was finally presented with an opportunity and I took it!

It was really easy to make and fast too!

Pregnant Best Friend

Here are some pictures of my best friend Nicki. She is due September 5th. She doesn't look very big, but she tells me that the baby is crammed up in her rib cage.

The last picture is her opening up the hat I knit for her. See my blog to get a clearer picture of it.

Still No News

I'm wrapping up my first month of TTC with Clomid. I'm going test on Thursday the 27th, that'll be 35days since my period.

I started a new blog about all the things I've been knitting. There's only a few things posted.

Loopy Hat Instructions

I started using this basic hat pattern from lion brand using the type of yarn I had bought for an earlier project. I knew that I was knitting loose so I switched needle sizes to a 5 US. Once I got started it became clear to me that I was still knitting too loose and so the size of the hat was not going to be for a 3-6 month old as I had intended.

That was when I decided to get creative. As I said earlier I've been wanting to try the "Funky Spaghetti Hat" I saw on Knitty Gritty, but what adult would wear such a thing. I saw my opportunity in a pint size version and since the intended victim-er recipient was not yet born I knew it would be certain to fit.

The following is the pattern I modified to fit my purpose.

Materials:

1 ball MC

1 ball secondary color

size 8 needles

dpn in size 8

stitch marker

(you can use any hat pattern you would like)

Abbreviations:

MC -Main color

co -cast on

yo -yarn over

k2tog -knit two stitches together

dpn -double pointed needles

Instructions:

With MC co 56 stitches

garter stitch (knit every row) 4 rows

place stitch marker

join to knit in round and knit 4 rows

Round 1 (yarn over row) k17, yo, k2tog, k17, yo, k2tog, k16, yo, k2tog

knit 3 rows

switch to secondary color knit 1 row

switch to MC knit 1 row

switch to secondary color knit 2 rows

Round 8 k7, yo, k2tog, k16, yo, k2tog, k17, yo, k2tog, k10

Round 9- 15 knit

Round 16 repeat row 1

Round 17 & 18 knit

Round 19 switch to MC and knit 1 row

Round 20 switch to secondary color and knit 1 row

Round 21 switch to MC and knit 1 Row

Round 22 repeat row 8

Round 23-25 knit

Split the stitches evenly. Put one half of the stitches on a stitch holder and the other half on one needle. St st 5rows and transfer them to a stitch holder.

Put the remaining half of the stitches on to one needle and St St for 5 rows.

Bind off both needles together (sort of like knitting two together) when I find another reference to this I'll post a link. **or you can just bind off and sew the two sides together**

There will be a hole on either side of the hat and that is all right because we are going to thread the i-cord through it.

i-cord loops

With dpn and MC cast on 3 stitches

with out turning the work SLIDE the stitches to the other end of the needle and knit

then SLIDE the stitches to the other end of the needle and knit

continue doing this until your length of cord reaches 24-48 inches. You may need more or less i-cord depending on the size of your hat and the spaces between the holes. I threaded my i-cord as I went so that I didn't make too much or too little.

when your i-cord is long enough bind off and (if you haven't already) thread it through one of the holes in the side of the hat and then over and under through the holes you made. Make sure that inside the hat the i-cord is flat against the sides. On the outside they can stick out to form loops.

Finishing

I looped my ends around to form "ears" on either side of my hat and secured it with a knot on the inside of the hat.

I braided four strands of yarn together to make ties to go around the chin.

Just a Note about Creativity

There is no need to follow this pattern exactly. If you are using your own hat pattern you can do some math and evenly space the holes or if you a more of a "free spirit" you can put the yarn over holes wherever you want.

Corrections

Please tell me if you run into problems making this hat so that I can make the appropriate adjustments to this pattern.

Loopy Hat

"What are you making?!"
"Why are there holes in it?"
"Now what are you doing to it?


That is what various family members kept saying to me as I knitted this hat.

I understand their skepticism. After all why put holes in a perfectly good hat?

This hat is what happens when I get bored with the normal.
I first saw this hat on Knitty Gritty a show I used to watch when I had cable. It took me a long time to find the actual pattern to this hat and once I had found it I had already started it from memory.

I call this "Loopy Hat" although it's original name is "Spaghetti Hat" but that name never made any sense to me. Do you see Spaghetti when you look at this hat? I don't.

I made this hat for a soon-to-be born baby girl. She won't be able to wear this hat until she is about 2 (I'm a little shaky on the size of the hat I had some problems) if I got the size right. The size was supposed to be 3-6 months, but the brown knits up a little looser than I first thought and it came out much larger than anticipated.

It was a lot of fun to make. I started out making a basic hat and added the holes as I went. I decided to use two colors because I wasn't sure how much of the brown I had. Turns out that the brown and the pink have different gauges, but I think it came out all right regardless. For the loops I toyed with putting stripes in it, but decided that would be too much work and too busy for an already "out there" hat. I knitted the i-cord (the loops) using a strand of pink and of brown. I think the i-cord loops are a little thick and I wouldn't do that again.

I'm going to try the hat on a one-year old at the daycare and see how it fits her, that will give me a better idea of how big it is. I'm wondering if it will be comfortable. It's a little "wonky". I'll post pics of the inside and a pattern for it later this week.