baby cardi, and what's with these birds?

I finished the Feather and Fan cardigan for my baby.
This was the first time I've knit anything using the feather and fan pattern, and I love it! It's amazing how such a simple stitch can yield something that looks so complicated (well, it looks complicated to me, anyway).
This picture is a bit awkward, as the sweater was lying in a bush. It kept settling funny, and I was tired of getting strange looks from the lady across the street, so I just stuck with what I had. Which is this awkward photo.
I think the buttons are cute, but they were a bad choice for this sweater. The 'petals' of the buttons get hung up on the button holes. Maybe once the sweater is worn a couple of times the button holes will stretch out some.

The bottom is my very favorite part.

I'm just hoping that my baby has some hair on her head; I'd hate for people to think that she's a boy just because the sweater is blue. Nevermind the fact that the buttons are flowers and the bottom of the sweater is lace, but I've come to a point in my life where people don't surprise me. There are so many people out there whose filters have gone bad (if you know me at all, you've heard me complaining about this A LOT lately...)

So about these birds...

A few weeks ago, Husband told me that there was a bird trying to make a nest on our outside light fixture. He said the nest was small and not yet complete, so he knocked it down. The next day, I go outside and find this-

The ultimate "I'm giving you the middle finger" statement by the bird. I mean seriously, have you ever seen such an extravagant nest? Look at all those long things hanging down! Where did the bird find all this crap anyway?

I thought it was hilarious and sent a picture to Husband. He did not see the humor. Actually, all he saw was a fire hazard. So he knocked it down again.

The very next week, Husband finds this in our grill cover:

a nice, normal-sized bird nest, complete with 5 little eggs. I told Husband I would drop kick him if he bothered this nest.

I went out this morning to check on the nest, and 2 of the babies have hatched.

I can't wait until my baby hatches. I just hope she's cuter than this baby.

I've been so bored...

I've been on bedrest since Tuesday.
And it's been very boring.
I used to be one of those people who thought that surely, lounging around would be great, kinda like a vacation. Who wouldn't want to be ordered to stay in bed all day, allowing time to catch up on reading, watching TV, sleeping, etc....
Try it. I dare ya. See how long you last. Probably just long enough to realize that, even with cable, there is NOTHING on TV during the day, except court shows and poorly portrayed, 'unauthorized' biographies of Madonna. (I'm ashamed to admit that I wasted 2 hours of my life on this stupid movie.)

I also read an entire book on Friday- the latest installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series. It was good, but it left several loose ends. I suppose I'll have to wait until May 2010 to find out how the Sookie/Eric saga plays out.

I couldn't spend the entire week in my bed. I just couldn't. My hips started hurting, then my back, and even my butt was numb from staying in bed. So I've spent a large portion of the week in this-
my new comfy glider. I love it, and it was well worth the 10+ week wait.

I have been knitting a lot too. I finished the Boheme Sweater for Little Girl, modeled here by our creepy doll gifted to Husband by his grandmother. (The doll is actually supposed to be a boy, and I have no idea at all why his grandmother thought to give Husband this doll, other than the fact that they share the same name. They look nothing alike.)

This pattern was really simple, and I love the lace portion. However, I do have some mods planned for the next one:

~The button holes are oddly placed in this pattern. The top two are close together, and the third one looks like an afterthought. I hated the asymmetry so much I stitched the bottom hole closed. Also, I'll place them only 2 stitches in, instead of the called-for 3.

~I'll keep the first 3 stitches in garter stitch to keep the sides from curling so much.

~I think the picot edging is adorable, but it was a pain in the butt, and it causes the back to flip up. I may end up with a garter stitch border on the next one.

I've also started on another cardigan. This is the first time I've ever knit feather and fan, and I really like it!

It's made from Sheep Shop #3 (lovely yarn, BTW). The blue is actually more aqua than this picture.

And I've knit a couple more inches on the Daisy Chain blanket.

It's only about 40% complete. I really need to get on it and finish.

FO's for babes

I love knitting for babies. Not only are baby items so cute, but they're usually fairly quick to complete and give me a sense of accomplishment. In the case of this dinosaur, the knitting portion was done fairly quickly, but the seaming took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. There were entirely too many pieces to put together, and I'm not very good at seaming, which made it that much more difficult to complete.

However, I think it came together relatively nicely (thanks for the pictures, Kristen). I hope Clancy P. enjoys drooling on his new dinosaur.

Pattern: Roaring Dinosaur

Yarn: Cascade Cotton Rich DK

Needles: size 4

I also finished a dress for my baby.

And I think it's adorable.

Pattern: Mini Pini

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece

Needles: size 5

I really wanted to do this in a variegated yarn, but I didn't have anything in my stash that would fit this project. Husband has been complaining (more than normal recently) that I have "all this yarn, and never use it." So, I grudgingly began knitting this from stash yarn.

The only modification I made was to add a row of eyelets in the garter band, because it looked a bit too heavy at the bottom to leave it in plain garter stitch.

I can't wait to see my baby wearing it.

It's Derby time here in the 'ville, which means lots of traffic, parties, and drinking. I don't know that I've ever wanted a Miller Lite as bad as I did Saturday, but I did not partake in the drinking of alcoholic beverages. I resisted. Instead, I had this-

BYOB, maternity style. I must say, this is some damn good root beer.

But I did still have a great time, even without the beer.

Shannon, Allison, me, and Kari