Things are Looking UP

I seem to have found a whole new set of happiness today. I am not sure where it came from, but there it is.

Yeah, I am still really uncomfortable (physically) but that can only mean that this baby is making her way out soon. :) I have a new found energy to bleach my bathtub (don't worry, hubby did it so I wasn't inhaling fumes), buy washcloths and a new shower curtain, and get all my diapers out, washed, and folded. I also need to lanolize the wool soakers and longies I knit.

(I realize I just typed "buy washcloths". I know...I could knit some, right? I don't have super-soft cotton appropriate for that. And after we use the new washcloths on the baby we can wash them and everyone can use them. I either buy a few new towels or washcloths for each new babe.)

I am also really super, duper anxious to cast on something new!! I really want to start my Rivendell Socks - like RIGHT NOW. But no one will help me wind the yarn. I just need to get this beautiful skein of DIC Smooshy (Beach Fog - love it!) wound up and a-sock-knitting I will be.

You know you love the Beach Fog!

And this is the sock.....sorry for the tiny thumbnail.

Oh, and I found this really beautiful yarn over at Susan B Anderson's blog that is discontinued.....and then found 2 skeins on Ravelry. No, I will not tell you what it is because I WANT IT FOR ME. Although, I am not really in a good place to buy more yarn right now. But it's sooooo pretty.

I keep checking the mail for my needles to arrive. I swapped another raveler for the size I needed. Hers are already there.....mine, not so much.

AND, in the mail I am looking for my first shipment for the Harry Potter Yarn Club from Sunshine Yarns. This is the first time I have ever done a "yarn club". I did some research before hand and checked out all the yarns from the last 7 rounds of the club. I liked every single one of the colorways, so I put my faith in that and signed up (months ago). I thought it would be nice to have some yarn arrive at my house while I was sitting at home nursing my baby.

Oh.....other knitting stuff.....

I got two books from the library that had patterns in them I ran into either on blogs or Ravelry.

The first one is Vintage Baby Knits. (Little tiny thumbnail picture there, sorry.)

While I did think a lot of the patterns in it were cute, I wasn't super impressed with any of them. Mostly, I think, it's because I do not like knitting pieces of garments and then sewing them up. Every single pattern in there was knit in pieces, so that just turned me off. I *did* really like the "Duckie Onesie" and I am sure I could convert it and knit it in the round....but that would be a small pain in the @$$, so no. Cute stuff, but nothing that I've never seen before. So, I took it back the next day.

I also picked up Closely Knit. I actually would maybe knit a few of the patterns out of this book. It is full of gift ideas. The garments in it are knit in pieces, but that could be fixed. Again, not any garments that I've never seen before. I do like a few of the baby pieces, especially the charts for the duckies and the kangaroo. I like some of the blankets in the book, which is weird b/c I haven't ever actually knit a blanket and the task seems daunting. There is also a really cute pair of knee socks, a hat and scarf set that are pretty original looking (to me), and even a cardigan I think is cute. I'll be keeping this one for a few days and reading more closely through the patterns to see what I think of their construction.

Hmmmm.....what else??

My brother is still with us, until the 7th. Things are going good with him too. He got his c-spine cleared, so no more collar. He's pretty happy about that. They cut some of the bands out of his mouth so he can move his jaw a teeny tiny bit. It's enough to get a straw between his teeth so we have been experimenting with different pureed foods (he hasn't had "food" in about 2 weeks). So far, creamy Campbell's soups are the best, closely followed by pureed scrambled eggs with cheese.

Thanks for the comments of encouragement and prioritizing regarding this little stepping stone in my life. I finally just let go and let God (which I did a long time ago with him......the whole "almost dying - accident" thing just had me backstep a little bit). My brother is probably going to continue drinking (in fact, he had a beer when we stopped at his place after all the dr's appts the other day) and there isn't anything I can do about it (which I know, have always known, just let my hopes get up with the accident thing). But, I can help right now by being here for him. He knows he can always reach out to me in the future if he wants some help finding "help" to get clean.