What a weekend.

This weekend was busy, and crazy, and fun! Saturday, we had planned on a low key day at home. Until, at 2:30 or so, the power went out. Not sure if it was the heat, it was over 98, or weather, or a fluke. But we were out of power, and it was getting HOT in the house. So off to the mall we went! We had fun, walked around a bit, got a few things from Old Navy's maternity section, then went out for dinner. I hadn't been to Chili's in ages, and it was SO good. I could have just gotten the Skillet Queso and been happy. After dinner, we headed up to Buy Buy Baby, which is a massive store, filled with baby stuff, on 2 floors! One floor is furniture and nursery things, the other floor is all the other things you need with a baby. We picked up some bed rails for Celia, because my mom is bringing up my old bed (an antique), for Celia to have, so we needed rails for a full/double bed. While we were there, we told Celia she could pick out a little present for her baby brother or sister. She was SO excited, and kept running around, saying that her baby needed towels, and bibs, and bottles, and clothes, and toys. She wanted to get one of everything for her baby. It was way too cute, and I was nearly in tears as we're walking around. We let her pick a cotton one piece outfit, and a hoodie towel. She's so convinced that we're having a boy, that the outfit she picked is yellow, green, blue and orange, and has animals over it, and the towel is blue with a crocadile on it. Oh yeah, she's sure. And insistent. She's just so adorable about the whole thing. Then on the way home she was talking about how she was going to be the one to change diapers, not me or daddy. And she wanted to feed the baby, and give baby a bath, and all these other things. It really made me happy to see her already getting excited about her brother or sister.

And yes, it's definitely, without a doubt, just one. I had another ultrasound this morning, at 11 weeks 3 days, and there is one baby in there. The other sac is still present, but empty. Which is good, it means that the other embryo was absorbed, and the sac will hopefully soon follow. It was so much fun to see this particular sonogram this morning. It was the first trimester screening, and they checked for markers for Downs Syndrome and stuff like that. It was just so detailed. I could see the nasal bone, and loads of other things. No sex organs yet though...but next time we should be able to see. I go back in 6 weeks. ;)

Yesterday was busy with usual errands. Grocery shopping was oh, so much fun. I forgot that the first day of school is today in our area, so it was a mob scene. Thankfully I got in and out relatively quickly. Then I spent the afternoon dyeing. I got my new toy- a skeinwinder- in last week, so I played with it a bit the day I got it, and some more yesterday. SO much faster!! So I dyed up 9 skeins (one is already spoken for). But I have two Fawkes, a Lord Voldemort, a Crookshanks, a Ron Weasley, and several new colorways that will be uploaded as soon as they're dry. I had so much fun, and while I was working away yesterday, I had loads more ideas for different colorways, but they'll have to wait for next time.

Prize pics!

Here's what I came home to on Thursday! What a fantastic surprise! I didn't expect so many beautiful yarns, and all ones I haven't tried yet!! Thank you SO much Sheri!!!


We have: All Things Heather, laceweight alpaca in a really pretty green, Urban Gypzy, twisted, in fun fall colors, and my personal favorite- Yarn Pirate, in pink, purple, yellow, white...just so pretty!! I can't wait to cast on.

But first...comes my Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 pal's socks. I need to work on those first!! Here's a pic of the yarn I dyed up a few weeks ago. I love how it came out, both the burgandy and gold are done with different concentrations of similar/the same colors. I'm trying a pattern that I haven't used before, and am going to do gold for the cuff ribbing, heel and toe. Fun!

Holy cow!

I was just checking Sheri's blog over at The Loopy Ewe, and I was a winner in her Anniversary contest!! I'm SO excited!!

To stay or not to stay...

I am going to a conference for work, in October. I'm really excited, because it's in San Jose, CA, and I've never been to California before!! Now, before I got pregnant, I was planning on either going a day early or staying a day or two late. Now, I'm not so sure!! I know San Jose is like an hour to San Francisco (and the only reason I know that is from looking at flights), and I'm dyeing to get to Artfibers after seeing and hearing so many great things about their stuff. But the idea of travelling alone, in a big city like San Francisco, kind of freaks me out. Is it worth it?? Or are there any neat yarn shops in/near San Jose? I really know NOTHING about California, it's terrible! Any advice would be awesome.

Sockapalooza 4 package

Yesterday, I finished my Sockapalooza 4 socks! Here they are!

They immediately went into a woolwash bath, and they're drying as I type! I'm hoping they're dry by tomorrow morning. My fingers are crossed!!

I also received the socks from my pal yesterday!! I have to say, she went way above and beyond- they are absolutely gorgeous!! Here's a pic of the package she sent:



The socks are truly stunning. Made of Cherry Tree Hill, and SO soft! The lacy pattern is the hanauma bay sock pattern, and I absolutely love it. The other gifts in the package include Claudia Handpaint in Toast, hand soap, a Loopy Ewe sock book, a row counter/bracelet that is just awesome (and made by my pal, Moonlight Knitter), a fun ornament that's from her home town- a pig for the hog capital of the world, a notepad, a keychain, and a beautiful handmade bag- which has sheep on the outside and piggies on the inside. I love it!! Thanks so much Stacey- you completely spoiled me ROTTEN!! I love it all!!

Gifs!

A few weeks back, I was asked to be an angel for a SP10 participant who didn't receive anything from her pal. I gladly put a package together, and sent it off. 2 weeks ago, I came home to a fabulous box! Apparently her pal did come thru, and she sent me a fun package in exchange for the one I sent her. I finally found the cord for my camera, and the battery charger, and I got a great shot of everything. Here it is!

Some beautiful hand dyed yarn and roving, beautiful wooden sticks, a fun pez dispencer, and some chocolate. YUM! I love it all. The colors are awesome! Thanks so much Michelle!

Thank you!

Thank you all for your kind words! Thankfully I'm doing really well. I know that twins would have been a huge challenge, and a long and risky pregnancy for me and both babies. I'm thrilled that we're having 1 healthy baby!! My daughter is so excited, we told her about it on monday. She keeps running around telling me there's a baby in my belly and its' her brother. Of course it's way too early to know the sex, but she's convinced it's going to be a boy. If not, we'll be in some trouble!!

I've been working away on my Sockapalooza 4 pals socks. I love how they're coming out. I'm about halfway done with the second sock, so I have some major work to do tonight!! I hope I finish them in time! They're supposed to go in the mail tomorrow!! I'm guessing they'll make it in on Friday or Saturday, but I'll more than make up for it in the package. I bought a few extra goodies for her, knowing that they might be a day or 2 late.

Secret Pal 11sign-ups are done! I will start working on sorting the names into groups as soon as they're all verified! I'm looking forward to another round! Though this time I won't be participating, just hostessing. I'm afraid to commit to a pal with the pregnancy, I won't have the time and energy to really put into it. I'd hate for a pal to feel neglected.

I also joined the Hogwarts Sock Swap 2, hosted by our lovely headmistress, Rebecca. The second years (which I am!), get to send yarn in their package with the socks, so I decided to give all participants a 10% discount on their yarn purchases from my shop. The Hogwarts series of colorways have gone so well, it's amazing! I have more to put up (as soon as I finish my sockapalooza pal's socks), including a few new colorways- Ravenclaw (which incorporates both book and movie colors), Prophecy, and one skein of Night Bus. I LOVE how Prophecy came out. I may keep 1 of the skeins for myself (I loved how the first one came out before the colors were even set, and I made a second). So much fun!!!