Bittersweet Domesticity

The weather has been dreadful here today and Ruby's classes were canceled this week, so we've been cooped up. I've been in the kitchen, trying to get some stuff done, which has been boring the kids to tears, but life goes on, right? Yesterday I made a batch of cookies, and for the first time I wasn't completely thrilled with a recipe from the Martha Stewart cookie book (not counting the time I botched the recipe). I made the Caramel Cashew cookies and they're just okay. There's a load of cashews in these cookies -- both chopped and processed into cashew butter and as much as I like a cashew, it's too much. They're kind of like peanut butter cookies, but really really cashewy. Okay, but not mind-blowing like the brownies or chocolate cookies that I've already tried.


A while back I picked up Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook. I know a lot of people have problems with this book, but desperate to get more veggies into Ruby (without going into detail, we're having big constipation problems, so she needs more veg in her diet) I decided to give it a try. It's been sitting in my cupboard for weeks now (maybe even months, I'm not sure) and I finally got around to making and freezing some purees so I can try some of the recipes. In addition to puree-ing I whipped up a pan (or a pie-plate, actually) of Jessica's brownies, with carrot and spinach puree. When Ruby and I were mixing it up the batter looked really gross and it smelled pretty bad going in the oven too. But, it turned out okay. Not delicious like Martha's brownies and a little too cakey for my tastes, but edible. Now we'll just have to see if the kid will eat them. Tomorrow, I'll mix some cauliflower in with her mac and cheese. Wish me luck.

And Your Bird Can Sing

So, I've heard that kids shift from scribbles to actual pictures in a magically quick way and for Ruby it's finally happening. She likes art, but she's way more into abstract paint smearing than drawing figures. I haven't been worried that's she's behind for her age per se, but I have been anxious for her to start drawing. What you see above is a bird. Specifically, Vlad from Horton Hears A Who (or as Ruby calls him "that silly bird" -- we convinced her that he was silly, not scary to prevent her from having a melt down during her very fist theatre experience). She then felt like she had to scribble around him (clouds, you see), but I'm glad the main figure is still in tact (though, with the orange on orange, kind of hard to see). I was so proud when she drew him, she may have well won a Pulitzer Prize. Sigh.


Another random: look at my new garden shoes! Aren't they the most stylish plastic utility shoes ever? And they were $6 at the grocery store. For you non-Canadians, there's a grocery chain here that carries a clothing line called Joe Fresh, which is awesome. Really cheap and really stylish -- kind of like if Ikea made clothes. Although, I overheard the following conversation the other day at the community centre where Ruby takes art class:

Woman #1: Hey, I like your shoes. (Oh, by the way, they weren't the plastic ones, but cute $10 fake leather ballet flats)
Woman #2: Thank you. They're by Joe Fresh. He's a new Canadian designer.

A new Canadian designer? Lady, you bought your shoes at the grocery store. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but when you buy your shoes at a place that also sells fresh produce, you gotta own it.

Family Photo Friday: The Apple And The Tree

Seven weeks. We're seven weeks into being a family of four. With Ruby, the first three months of her life felt like an eternity, but with Henry it feels like we just brought him home. He's growing like crazy (three inches taller now than when he was born) and he's sweet and hungry and grunty and smiley and cooing and beautiful. And he looks like his dad.

Above is a picture of Aaron with his mum (hope you don't mind Leena, but this photo is so beautiful that I had to post it) when he was seven weeks old. Now, here's a picture of Henry, also at seven weeks:


Now, these photos don't really do their likeness justice -- I could have found others that were dead ringers, but for now you get the point. Two beautiful boys. And I love them both.

Chocolate Cookies, Again

Chocolate cookie success! After the tragedy of the un-chocolatey cookies earlier this month, I made another attempt at choco-cookie glory. I've taken to just opening my Martha Stewart cookie book and making the first thing that a) looks good and doesn't require some kind of crazy press or mold and b) I have the ingredients on hand for. I was tempted to try Grammy's Chocolate Cookies again, but when I opened the book to Giant Chocolate Sugar Cookies and realized that they're pretty much exactly the same (but bigger), I thought it was better to knock another cookie off my list (as part of my daydream to make every cookie in the book, which I know will never actually happen).

Now, the original recipe calls for GIANT cookies -- the whole batch is only supposed to yield eight cookies. That's insane. I ended up with about 14, so I had to kind of monkey with the cooking time, so some of these are chewier than others. And they're delicious. And chocolatey. I can say no more.

It's On

I knew the thrifting bug was hitting me last week when I made an unscheduled stop inside a Value Village (though I bought nothing because they were charging crazy prices -- like $7 for a scratched up Pyrex that could never fetch more than a few dollars on ebay). The thrifting season seemed to officially start this weekend with garage sales popping up everywhere, despite the snow. I had planned to go to this huge rummage sale that happens here bi-annually, but I was seduced by a fabric sale and never ended up making it.

Aaron's mum, Leena, is part of a group that knits and sews items (mainly bags and purses) and then sells them to raise money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. On Saturday they held their first fabric sale, which feature piles and piles of vintage fabric. Piles, I'm telling you. I bumped up my stash as much as possible before my brain got overwhelmed and Henry (who was strapped to my chest in his carrier) got too heavy. What you see above is just a portion of my bounty. Needless to say, I was too pooped to make it to the rummage sale.

So, how to hit all the garage and tag sales with two kids this spring... I've got the bug, I just wished I had the energy and the time!

Hung Up

Last weekend we rounded up the family and went to a arts/clothing fair in town, mainly because a woman who makes pants that are very forgiving to the post-preg body was going to be there. Also, Aaron and I have always been interested in art, but we've never had the money to start collecting anything. We're certainly not rich these days either, but we figured we could drop a little bit of cash if we saw something we really liked and if we continue to do so a couple times every year, before long we should have some okay pieces in our house. We spotted a booth full of really cool pop-arty wood carvings and Aaron was really drawn to this one. It's by a local artist named Lisa Brawn and her subject is Tom Mix (also known as the Fancy Cowboy), a silent movie star from the early part of last century.

I love this guy. I wasn't too wild about buying a piece of cowboy art, since more traditional cowboy art really dominates the market here and, of course, I prefer to rage against the machine and all, but this picture is pretty awesome (and I will stress, Lisa isn't a traditional Western cowboy artist -- her recent pieces just happen to feature cowboy movie stars). I like that it's pop-arty but not ironic in any way. She did have some pieces with more famous iconic images, but I like that Tom Mix is so unfamous in my circles that he could just be any random guy. I am pleased.


Bringing Tom into our house has also inspired us to, at last, hang some other art that's been sitting around. I finally put the swatch portraits up in Henry's room (though my desk/computer is still where his crib will go once he's out of the cradle in our room). We also hung up a really intense black velvet desert landscape that we bought at a rummage sale last year. It's over our bed. Pictures really don't do this one justice and I'm still not totally sure of it, so instead I've included some of Ruby's recent art. I too, was concerned when she came out of art class yesterday with an all black painting (is she really that upset about having a baby in the house?), but I soon realized that black was the colour of paint sitting directly in front of her, so that's what she chose. Sometimes kids don't need to be psycho-analyzed, I guess.

Little Gifts, Little Effort

As you may know, I really love giving handmade baby gifts, probably more than any other kind of gift. By my count, I know about 20 babies who are due to appear in 2008, and with Henry and Ruby eating up about 22 hours of my day (the other two are for sleep/compulsive DVD watching), I am not logging in much craft time. Since there's no way I could make 20 Jess Hutch dolls or even 20 baby hats, I decided to steal a page from Angry Chicken and whip up these onesies.

Amy posted about these about a year ago and I've had them stuck in my mind ever since. So cute, so easy and I have all this kids' fabric from Reprodepot laying around, left over from Henry's swatch portraits. So, with Ruby at her Nana's yesterday I swung into the craft store, bought some iron transfer paper, picked up some onesies at the Superstore and got to work.


So easy. I got 10 of these done in about two hours and I figure a package of two (or one for a not-so-close friend) should make a nice babe gift. I have one cousin who gave birth two days before Henry came along and another who had a baby last week (I have a big family, but three great-grandchildren in a month is a record for my Grandma), so I'm going to send a few of these off a.s.a.p. That leaves me with a few in reserve, plus the motivation to easily make some more when more babies are born. Hooray for simplicity, I say.

Depending On The Knits Of Others

Well, I'm not going to pretend I've been making stuff (other than food). For the first time in Henry's life, I knit a few stitches the other day, finishing the toe of a baby sock. Not super exciting. So, I'm going to spend a couple of posts celebrating the knits of others that have come into our home.

The awesome Lucy and her sweet family came by the other day with handknits for both Henry and Ruby (and a skein of Socks That Rock for me... Hooray!). Here's Henry in a sweet little sweater that she made. It fits perfectly (better than my still pretty big BSJ pictured a while back). And I love the bright colours -- baby clothes are usually so drab in colour and they wash poor Henry's dark good looks out.


It's been impossible to capture Ruby on film lately, so I had to photograph her sweater without a kid in it. But, it does look really nice on her. I love the i-cord tie at the neck. Super cute and also fits like a glove. And, she actually is willing to wear it, unlike most of the stuff I make her.


Finally, in an attempt to feel useful as something other as a full-time milk bar, my obsession with the Martha Stewart cookie book continues. And today, I actually made a successful cookie -- the Chocolate Chunk Walnut Banana cookie (though I used pecans instead of walnuts). It's basically banana bread in cookie form. Delicious.

I Must Be Stopped...

I must be stopped from going into the kitchen. Really, this whole post-pregnancy brain-drain thing has made me stupid. Like a good mom, I decided to bake a batch of cookies, of course from the Martha Stewart cookie book that has me so obsessed. Since my breast-feeding body has been craving chocolate, I went with Grammy's chocolate cookies, since Martha's minions promised that they were super, super chocolatey. Yum.

So, imagine my sorrow when they turned out far lighter than the picture in the book and were barely chocolatey in flavour. Like, they just hinted at a taste of chocolate. Knowing that Martha is a woman who would never promise intense chocolate and then only offer a hint, I took a second look at the recipe. Where I had read 1/4 cup of cocoa, the recipe actually asked for 3/4 cup. Umm... oops.

They still taste okay, but just like average sugar cookies. I was so annoyed by my mistake that I almost made a second batch, but I figured that since these are technically okay, it would be a waste to toss them and I really don't need five sticks of butter worth of cookies sitting around my house while I'm trying to shake that baby weight. Because Martha doesn't skimp on chocolate, just like she sure the hell doesn't skimp on the butter, yo.

Okay, I swear on a stack of whatever that this is NOT going to become a baby blog. But, I was inspired by Leanne, who was inspired by Stroller Derby. Birth stories in six words. This I actually have time to do.

Ruby: Unnatural and chemical, ending with joy.
Henry: Deja vu, but more in control.

Crafty stuff next time. Promise.

Hits And Missess

No, I haven't been spending the early weeks with my new son making curtains. I actually finished these off about a week before Henry's arrival -- but I haven't been itching to post about them because I botched them up. What you see here is a variation on the cafe curtains from Amy Karol's Bend-The-Rules Sewing (what else?), made by someone too pregnant to have the good sense to measure properly.

I split the curtain so I could open them, not taking into account that the curtains would retain some of their folds when I pulled them shut. That, coupled with the fact that I probably folded in the edges more than I allowed for when measuring, they're now too small for the window. Oops. Of course, I don't have enough fabric to go at it again and Reprodepot is no longer carrying this stuff, so I'm on the search for another appropriate window fabric. I do like this pattern though -- Amy's use of twill tape to hang the curtains with is ingeniously easy, so once I find the time and the fabric, my kitchen window should be less scantily clad.


So that's the miss. The hit is this double chocolate brownie that I made last night after greedily picking up a copy of the new Martha Steward cookie book. Mmmm. Everything in it looks delicious and I have secret plans to make every cookie in the book. Even in my two-kid state I managed to pull off these super easy brownies. This is the perfect recipe -- loads of chocolate, a little bit of salt (too much says Aaron, but I like my chocolate a little salty) and the recipe is small enough that you won't feel guilty about having a pan of brownies sitting around your house begging to be eaten.

In other news, Henry is growing fast. At three weeks he's moving in on 10 lbs. I looked at some old photos yesterday and Henry is almost busting out of clothes that Ruby was wearing at four months. I can't believe how different siblings can turn out -- genetics freak me out!

Baby's Surprise

So, remember when I made the Baby Surprise Jacket a couple months ago and figured that it would sadly be summer by the time the baby grew into it (I neglected to gauge properly)? Well, I didn't bargain on having a nine pound baby who eats every two hours around the clock. We needed a sweater to put over his short-sleeved outfit yesterday and behold -- the Baby Surprise fits.

Mind you, this is also testament to Elizabeth Zimmerman's design. I swear by the one-piece t-shaped baby sweater -- be it this particular one or other similar shaped designs. The really suit and infant's body type and are okay to wear if they're a little big or even a tiny bit too small. I really urge any baby knitters out there to stay away from set-in sleeves. It's all about the big T. And as you can see, stretchy little Henry feels nice and comfy in it.

Easter Chirps

Greetings from the milk factory! I'm continuing to celebrate my right to eat foods that are on the pregnant lady banned list -- today we gorged on giant hot dogs at one of our city's two (two!) all hot dog restaurants. Mmmm... sauerkraut!

So, happy Easter or spring or whatever you celebrate this time of year. We only celebrate Easter in the most secular of ways (chocolate, bunnies, a yummy dinner with family) and Ruby is very excited to hunt for eggs in the morning after the "magic bunny" sneaks into the house while she's sleeping. Above is a little chick craft that she made at school yesterday. Peep!

A Week Later...

Still here. Still alive. Nursing constantly (Henry is 9 lbs. and growing fast) and sleeping little. As it turns out, the baby has night and day backwards and the 3-year-old has her days straight, so there's only a few hours each day when they're both snug in their beds. Ugh. Luckily, Aaron has a blissful two weeks off of work, so we're making it work. And watching a lot of bad TV during the nursing/trying to get the baby to settle in his bed hours.

Above is our first night home meal -- sparkling wine and sushi, two of the things I missed most during pregnancy. I thought I'd also want a big hunk of blue cheese immediately, but have yet to feel the urge. Otherwise, things are chugging along and we're enjoying our million dollar family.

Oh, and thanks for all the well wishes. You all are awesome.

My Henry

His name is Henry and he arrived early Thursday morning via C-section after about 14 hours of very valiant labour. Eight pounds, 14 ounces. Loved by all, especially me. That's all for now (can you tell I'm typing with one hand?

Family Photo Friday: Belly

I thought I'd subject you all to one last belly shot. I just got back from a very long and painful walk, but even if the baby isn't here soon, I probably won't be shooting the old belly again. It's pretty damn big, no? I'm getting to the point where strangers stare and me and ask personal questions. I'm waddling. If I need to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom I feel like I'm going to die. It's a big belly. I'm officially about a week and a half more pregnant than I ever was with Ruby and by far the heaviest I've ever been in my life. 39 weeks. I don't know if I have the mental capacity to see 40.

Socks To Birth A Baby With

I didn't think that I'd get these socks done, what with the carpal tunnel syndrome and the baby telling me that he was ready two freakin' weeks ago, but done they are. Anastasia socks knit on size 1 needles with Koigu KPPPM (sorry, I'm not sure of the colourway). They're my first toe-up socks and frankly, I'm quite proud of them. The toes and the heels aren't perfect, but they're okay and I'm no longer completely frightened of toe-up patterns.


I made thse a little shorter because I a) wanted to finish them; b) was afraid I'd run out of yarn; and c) didn't want my ankles to get too hot with the thicker Koigu. Anyway, not much to say, except I like 'em.

Self Portrait Challenge: Politics Week #1

The SPC theme this month is Politics, and even though these assignments are coming out of Australia, the topic couldn't fit my little corner of the world any better today. Politics are a hot topic in our house today and let me tell you, in my pregnant state I'm not really feeling very mellow about things.

First up, today is a mini-Super Tuesday in the U.S. and I'm feeling pretty down about Hillary Clinton's slide in the polls since the mega-super Tuesday in early February. Good gravy, I wish I could vote in the U.S. Living in Canada makes one feel a bit like a disenfranchised voter -- we are really very affected by whoever wins the U.S. presidency (as the rest of the world is, I suppose), but we have no say. Now, I think Obama would certainly make an interesting president and I'm definitely glad to see George Bush go no matter who takes his place, but I think Clinton could really do a great job and she seems to be getting a raw deal. No, she's not as good an orator as Obama, but her policies are solid and despite what some see as a lack of charisma, I think her heart is in the right place. Not that Obama's isn't -- but more and more he seems to be speaking from a pulpit (figuratively, of course) and I fear that his rapid rise to the top may end up overwhelming him or affecting the purity of his personality. I really liked what Tina Fey had to say on Saturday Night Live the other night: "Sure, Hillary is a bitch, but bitches get things done." Word.

So, anyway, if you live in one of the four states holding primaries, please vote. I don't want to tell you who to vote for, but please make sure you're voting for policy, not populism. That's all I have to say.

Secondly, the province that I live in had an election yesterday and despite people constantly claiming about the governing party that has ruled here for 11 consecutive terms, they won again by a huge landslide. Part of their victory is due to the fact that in a place where people can make huge salaries in the private sector, our local political parties have been unable to attract leaders with any spark or ability to lead. As a result, we have the lowest voter turn-out in the country. So, we're saddled with up to five more years of embarrassing environmental policy (our premier won't cut carbon emissions until 2050 -- by which time he himself will likely be dead); growth that has made the gap between rich and poor unbearable; no rent control; terrible health care; and a general thumbing of our nose at the rest of the country. I could go on, but the entire incident just makes me really sad. I voted, but even as I did so, the whole situation just seemed hopeless. I fear that something really terrible is going to have to happen before anything changes -- you know, a hard rain's a-gonna fall...

So, that's me expressing my politics (somewhat inarticulately, but I'm nine months pregnant) and doing my best to do my part.

Ghosts Of Baby Sweaters Past

Thanks to everyone who gave me some good vibes about the pregnancy, either here or through private email, I think I'm finally accepting that I may have daily contractions for weeks to come. We were at the hospital today (baby changed positions and I didn't feel him move all morning) and I finally got some decent answers from the doctor, so I'm cool. Or as cool as a woman can be when she's nine months pregnant.

Anyway, this all does give me both the motivation and the time to get some more stuff ready for Frank's arrival. Back when I was pregnant with Ruby I tended to knit really unpractical baby items. Like, what you see above -- a baby cardigan knit out of sock yarn. It's the Diamond Seed Baby Jacket, from the Fall 2004 issue if Interweave Knits, knit in Lang Jawool. I don't remember any of the other details. From what I can remember, I started this in late 2004 and finished in January 2005 and finished everything short of sewing on the buttons. Why? I have no idea -- maybe when Ruby came out as a girl I didn't love it so much any more. Anyway, I kind of like it, despite the mis-matched stripes (I had never touched sock yarn before and didn't recognize this stuff as self-striping). So, a new sweater for Frank!


And, I also dug out this, which I'm pretty sure is the Basket-Weave Baby Sweater from the September 2004 Creative Knitting (I only know this from looking it up on Ravelry). I used Scheepjes Soft Fun. This was not a very successful sweater -- I think Ruby only ever wore it for a picture. The problem -- set-in sleeves. Not too friendly for a newborn. This may have worked as a larger sweater for a bigger baby, but it essentially is sized at about 10 lbs (at least how I knit it). I feel obligated to try it on Frank, but I'm not keeping my hopes up. Now I just have to get the kid to come out -- at this rate he's going to be way to big for any of these sweaters anyway.

*note: the Diamond Baby Jacket is actually in the Winter 2004 issue if IK. Sorry for the confusion.

Family Photo Friday: Random

Not much of a story today, I just wanted to check in and say that I haven't had a baby. All signs point to labour starting a.s.a.p., but there's been nothing but teaser contractions and such. Every now and then I think we're on our way to the hospital in a few hours and then everything stops. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing? I'm not getting a lot of info from medical professionals other than "it should start within 24 hours."

Anyway, here's a picture of my lovely Grandma Ruby when she was a young lady. Enjoy.

Nesting Portraits

So, remember how last post I was lamenting how my kids seem to be in such a hurry to be born (Ruby was two weeks early, and at three weeks to go, I'd gone into pre-labour with Frank). Well, I jinxed myself. Five days into pre-labour and there is no sign of the baby. Now, I understand that pre-labour can go on for weeks, but since my water broke with Ruby before any labour symptoms even started, this is new for me. It's freaky, it hurts, and I'm starting to get really impatient. Every time I talk to/see a medical professional they tell me that I should be good to go within 24 hours, but it's just not happening. I finally saw my OB today who quite frankly told me that it could be weeks still (his bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired, but at least he's matter-of-fact). Ugh. Well, at least I got to see the Oscars.

Through all of this I've been in pretty hard-core nesting mode -- on Thursday alone I did about six loads of laundry. I've also put together just about every piece of baby equipment we own and even though he'll be in our room for a few months in the cradle, I've been starting to transform my office into a nursery. In a way, this is hard for me because I'm not too jazzed about losing my who A Room Of One's Own vibe, but there's so many cute things to be done.


I've been wanting to make the Swatch Portraits that showed up at Purl Bee about a year ago since they first became such a blog sensation, but haven't had the motivation until now. A couple of months ago I bought a bunch of kids' fabric from (you guessed it) Reprodepot with the intention of making portraits for Ruby's room, but once they arrived I decided that they were a bit too baby-ish for my growingly mature little girl's room. Since they weren't too girly, I saved them for Frank and voila! Three swatch portraits to hang over his diaper table.


I really love all of these fabrics (I have a similar one with a Sleeping Beauty theme that I got from Superbuzzy, also ages ago) and I see them all over people's blogs. So cute. The yellow one is a Wizard of Oz theme, the brown one an ABC/apple pie kind of deal, and the white one about counting. So cute. I want to get more of the story-driven ones, but I have no idea what I'll do with them -- I'm just coveting.


So, that's about it. Wish me luck with this whole labour thing. Like I said, I'm not in too big of a hurry to see Frank -- he's still a few weeks before his due date -- but the anticipation that comes with this prelabour nonsense is killing me. I'm at 2 cm right now -- only 8 to go.

Grand Apron #2

I really wanted to whip up another nursing apron before baby day and I managed to eek out enough time yesterday. I used the same recipe as the last time, so the sewing and cutting only took a couple of hours to do. Easy as pie. I used some fabric that I got ages ago at Repro Depot. I bought it with no real purpose and a single yard was just the right amount for this apron. Hooray.


Above is a picture of it on. I didn't really have the patience to stage a decent self-shoot, so this is the best you get.

And, it looks like I finished just in the nick of time, as I seem to have gone into pre-labour. I think it's still going to be a couple of days, but it looks like I'm going to have another February baby. Three weeks early? Why can't these kids give me a little extra time? Always in such a rush!

Colorform Me Beautiful

Poor Ruby. Everything here has been about organizing the baby's clothes, putting together the baby's bed, finding time for mommy to have a rest... She's been throwing a lot of tantrums and just generally driving me crazy, which only makes me feel more guilty. Life's hard for a three-year-old princess who's being forced to abdicate her throne.

One thing that we're having fun doing together though, is old school Colorforms. She got the set for her birthday and it's the perfect retro, not changed for the new now times kind of toy. Just plain vinyl shapes that stick to shiny work boards. Leena bought them at the suggestion of Aaron's sister's girlfriend Erin, who is a really great artist and claims that Colorforms paved the way to art school for her.


As you can see, Ruby is influenced by the work of Jackson Pollock, who she knows from the original Olivia storybook (you know, Olivia sees a Pollock at the museum and then attempts to recreate it on the wall at home, which results in a time-out). Either way, it's good times and right now I'll take just about anything that keeps down the whining about turning on the TV.

Family Photo Friday: Happy V-Day

Happy belated Valentine's Day (or as my dear friend Kitty always calls it, V-D Day), if you're into that kind of thing. So far in these family photo things I've been mostly talking about my mom's family. This isn't a prejudice, it's just that I don't know quite as much about my dad's fam. My dad has never talked a whole lot about his family; he only has one brother who I don't see a whole lot; his dad passed away some years ago and was never very chatty about such things; and his mom, my Grandma Vi tends to... well, we'll call it exaggerating. I can't really fault her, as, ahem, creative embellishment is a trait shared by both my father and myself as well, but it's really hard to believe much that she says. And as she gets older her memory gets more creative. So take the following story with a grain of salt.

The above photo is the portrait taken at Grandma Vi and Grandpa George's wedding in about 1941 or so. I don't know many details about their wedding -- although they claim they had to run away to get hitched because neither's parents approved of their engagement. But, here's the story of how they (and I do stress, allegedly) met. My grandfather worked as a refrigeration repair technician and my grandmother worked as a receptionist at some company that he had to call often. They came to recognize each other's voices and took to flirting on the phone. Vi claims that his voice was rather sexy.

So, one night, Vi was out bowling with some girlfriends. Apparently, my clumsy ways were also inherited from her and as she lobbed the ball down the alley her feet fell out from under her and she went sliding to the ground. A gentleman from the next lane walked over and said "Can I help you up?" She immediately looked up at him, recognized that sexy voice and said "George?" To which he replied, "Vi?" And they lived happily ever after.

Up until the time of his death, George liked to say "Yup, I picked her up out of the gutter." He meant it to be charming and she always thought it was.


In other news, Aaron really pulled one out of the hat for our Valentines Day. Much to my horror, he's been out of town for work a lot lately (I'll remind you I'm eight months pregnant!) and he came home from New York yesterday with cupcakes from Magnolia. I know people who live in NYC are totally over Magnolia, but in these parts they're quite an exotic treat from my sweet.

Kickin' With Koigu

When it comes to socks, I'm a bit of a one trick pony. Lorna's Laces (or yarn with exactly the same thickness) knit on US #1 DPNs, cuff down, with a standard heel flap and a really simple lace or rib pattern. The lovely and talented Lucy showed up at my Christmas party in December with a hostess gift of sock yarn! Is that not totally awesome? She gave me a nice fat hank of Cherry Tree Hill, plus two hanks of Koigu Kpppm, which I've never dared to use before.

I admit, I've been frightened of Koigu because of the slightly thicker weight and the recommended size 3 needles on the label. I'm not great at adjusting for gauge and I know that most sock patterns will work with my standard Lorna's Laces formula. So, I sought out patterns that specifically called for Koigu, starting with Crusoe, which I don't love the look of (it's a stranded slip-stitch pattern), but seem to do well with the Koigu.

Mistake. I didn't heed the word of the naysayers on Ravelry, who complained that these socks knit up way too small and overestimated the heavyness of the Koigu. After knitting the gusset and the heel I realized that there was no way that I'd get these socks on my feet. Way too tight. I never wear my Jaywalkers because there's no give, so even if I added more stitches or went up another needle size (which I'd already done), I was going to hate these socks. I frogged so quickly that I didn't even have time for a picture. So I moved on to Anastasia.

Again, I wasn't totally confident with my ability to guess on the gauge (and I can't be bothered to swatch with socks), so I went with the recommended needle size and, as you can see from the above photo, they were way too big. But, I'm so excited about my first pair of toe-ups and I love the simple pattern that I cast on with smaller needles and completed my first sock yesterday. And it fits. And the short row heel and toe don't look totally horrible. Hoorah!

I'll post pictures once I'm done sock #2 -- I really want to finish before the baby comes so that I can wear them for the delivery or pad around the hospital in them. Wish me luck!

SPC: Blue Week #2

Do you expect much from Valentines Day? When we first got together, I always half expected Aaron to surprise me with a Valentine -- nothing too special, but something. I was always disappointed. I'd come home from work expecting to be greeted by a bouquet of flowers or a heart-shaped box, and I'd just get Aaron asking me what I was cooking for dinner. I've learned to stop expecting and even to stop asking -- when I do suggest something specific (afterall, the guy isn't a mind reader), he gets angry, saying that I'm only spoiling any surprise that he may have been planning. It's too complicated.

He is pretty good with birthdays though (other than the first year of our marriage when he gave me Julia Child's Mastering The Art Of French Cooking as an unsubtle hint that he wanted me to improve my culinary skills). And he has a charming habit of buying me costume jewelry, something I never do for myself. So, in honour of my sometimes romantic husband, here's one of my favourite necklaces, in a shade of blue that he often turns to for his purchases (I have a similar-shaded ring, which I can't model because my hands are way too puffy these days). I love it. And I love it all the more because it was indeed a surprise.

Quinoa-Wah!

We've been having some digestive problems in our house. Okay, Ruby has. The kid is picky -- I think we manage to get an alright amount of fruits and veg and fibre into her diet, but her preferences lean towards cheese ravioli, pizza, peanut butter sandwiches, bananas and other constipating foods. So, I'm trying to sneak at least one super duper healthy ingredient into any baked snack, just to get some extra oomph (and hopefully some regularity) into her little bod.

I don't know if quinoa is any good for constipation (it's a whole grain, but full of iron, which can bung kids up), but overall it's such a healthy food, I figured I can't go wrong. I've always kept quinoa in the house, but rarely cook with it. We're not really fancy salad for dinner kind of people (and by that, I mean Aaron and Ruby), and I don't have the patience to try a lot of the hippie veggie recipes that tend to call for quinoa. So I was really happy to find this recipe for Quinoa Muffins from Martha Stewart.

I made them as is, but used chocolate chips instead of raisins. The hot quioa immediately melted the chips, but that actually makes the muffins all the more delicious. And the kid loves them. Hoorah!

Family Photo Friday: Happy Birthday Mom

Tuesday marks my mom's birthday. I'm not going to tell you how old she is, but she's quite young to be mother to three kids in their thirties (actually, my youngest brother is 29, but close enough). Let's just say she has a few years to go before she hits 60. She's always looked pretty young too -- or maybe we just choose not to see our own mother's signs of aging... I'm not sure.

Anyway, this is a picture of mom with her father, my Grandpa Ed, the night of her wedding. It was a really casual affair -- my dad (who I think she'd been dating for about a year or so) was called to work overseas and his company would arrange to also move out his wife, but not his girlfriend. So, with very little notice, they arranged to get married at a downtown church. I always loved looking at the pictures from the reception, where my mom changed out of her wedding dress (which was a very polyester '70s affair with a mock turtleneck collar) into this outfit, which kind of looks like a glammed-up nurses outfit or a kickier version of what supermarket clerks wore in the '70s. I really love this outfit -- I wish she'd have kept it. Anyway, she looks so young and happy and really, not much different than she looks today. Happy birtday mom. You're a good one.

Grande Apron #1

After making those wee aprons for Ruby (one of which she wore to help make dinner last night... sigh), I've turned to super-sized aprons. I didn't use a nursing apron when I was feeding Ruby. In fact, I think they've only gained popularity in the last couple of years (I could be wrong on this), because in my mom's group, only one of us used one as far as I know. I found that my lack of a cover made for a limited wardrobe choice -- while I'm not shy about feeding in public, I always did so in a t-shirt that I could discreetly pull up rather than something that needed to be pulled down from the top, as to not show my goods to the whole world. I believe in being natural, but I also have my pride.

You can buy nursing aprons in all kinds of super hip fabrics, but like their cousins the hipster sling (which I did buy -- I don't trust myself to sew anything that requires safety standards), they're mucho expensive. So, I decided to try my hand making one. I used the Vintage Apron pattern from Amy Karol's Bend-The-Rules Sewing as my starting point and just made a few simple modifications. I made it about five inches longer than the pattern called for and only gathered it up to 19 inches rather than 15 inches at the top. I tucked the edges of the waistband in and sewed them flush to the body of the apron and attached the ties vertically, rather than horizontally. Not rocket science at all.


Here it is on -- I think my belly roughly simulates how much room the baby will take up underneath. I love the fabric, which is another super cheap-o deal I found at a local going-out-of-business sale. I added the pocket to stick any supplies I need in and some rick-rack to keep it sassy. I plan to make at least one more of these before Frank makes his appearance because as any mother already knows, these things tend to get covered in barf and end up in the laundry often.


I also treated myself to a new teapot, since I'll be able to jump back on the multiple cups of tea bandwagon before too long and my old teapot is all gross and flaky inside. Nothing special, I just think it's pretty.

SPC: Blue Week #1

Blue (the photo is, obviously, a very literal interpretation of the theme -- though it also captures the mood of "having the blues," as I took it last night when I was tired and worn out after Ruby being sick all day. Also, no make-up, which is a sign of not having left the house all day, thus giving me the blues).

* the colour of my daughter's eyes, even though mine are hazel and Aaron's are a deep soulful brown

* how can you think about blue today without thinking about the Democrats? So exciting -- way more exciting in these parts than that Superbowl business

* baby boys clothing. Everything is blue -- it's really quite difficult to find something fun for an infant (i.e. not "manly" outfits that are essentially business casual for babies) that isn't blue. Even the orange and red stuff usually has a flower or a heart or something to girlify it.

* Blue Bayou, Blue Moon, Forever In Blue Jeans, Blue Suede Shoes, Blue Moon Of Kentucky, Blue Velvet, Blue Monday, Blue Skies, Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Behind Blue Eyes, Lady Sings The Blues, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, Navy Blue, Song Sung Blue, Famous Blue Raincoat, Tangled Up In Blue

* Other than jeans and a navy sweater, I don't own any blue clothing. I also can't stand blues music.

more blues next week...

Baby Boy In The Hood

Whew, it's been a little tough around here. After a fun, but stressful birthday party for our little lass, she came down with a horrible cold and fever yesterday. Ugh. Plus Aaron's all stressed with Aaron stuff and I've been diagnosed with pregnancy-related carpal tunnel syndrome. Ouch. It'll go away after I have the baby, but it also means that production will slow in the craft department, since it hurts to knit for more than a half hour and I'm not even going to think about hand sewing or embroidering anything.

So, you're looking at what will probably be my final baby knit before the baby moves up to a larger size. It's the Hoodie Baby Blanket from the November 2007 Magknits. Not much to report here: I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease in the green and blue colours. I kind of miss the old wackier colours, but the subdued ones are kind of nice too, in that I appreciate Lion Brand's efforts to make themselves more appealing to yarn snobs, because it makes me more comfortable in making such an economical purchase -- even though the cost isn't high, I still feel like I'm making something nice with a yarn worthy of my effort.

Anyway, this is simple as pie -- I didn't modify the basic pattern or try to do anything fancy since time was definitely a factor on this one (and I'm still hurting from NEVER finishing the baby blanket I was knitting while pregnant with Ruby). It's just a nice big square of stockinette with a little triangle attached, then edged in broken rib. Easy.


Here's Snow White modeling the blanket/towel. With Frank I'm being really careful about only spending my time making super practical things. I know that Leena has been working on a beautiful wool blanket for him, which will be his heirloom piece and I wouldn't be surprised if my mom crochets or cross-stitches something. Fancy-pants baby stuff is for gifts. Mama's gotta keep it real.

Family Photo Friday: Happy Birthday Ruby

Despite the growing popularity of the name Ruby, I didn't choose it for my little gal because it's now and hip, or because it appears in so many songs (though, with the exception of that Kaiser Chiefs song, most Ruby songs are way too sad to name a kid after -- though I will note, she was born on a Tuesday). I named my daughter after my grandmother, who I always thought had a beautiful name to match her beautiful self. I'm sure I'll talk much more about Grandma Ruby in these Family Photo Fridays (she's still alive and well, so she's a fountain of stories), but I thought this picture was particularly appropriate for my little Ruby's third birthday.

A funny thing about Grandma Ruby's name: when she was born in 1923, her parents Fred and Lydia had a hot debate over what to name their little daughter. Lydia liked the name Ruby (which was very popular at the time) and Fred wanted to name her Frieda, after himself. It's puzzling to me why he would be so stuck on Frieda, since Ruby did have an older brother named Ted -- I guess Fred didn't win the name battle with him either. Anyway, Lydia was apparently not the kind of woman you wanted to mess with, so Fred agreed to name the baby Ruby. He went off and registered the name (you can see where this is going).

So, about 40 years later, the now grown Ruby went to the local records office to get a copy of her birth certificate because she needed to apply for a passport or something. After searching through the records (this was in the pre-computer days), the guy at the office regretted to tell her that he didn't have a certificate for a Ruby Frieda, but he did have a Frieda Ruby with the same parents and birthday as hers. That rascal Fred went behind his wife's back and named the kid Frieda anyway, with no one the wiser. Fred was gone before this news was revealed and I'm not sure if Ruby told her mother what had happened or if she just let it go. Either way, she had to legally change her name to what she thought it was for the first 40 so years of her life.

So, there's a picture of Ruby, on what I imagine is her fifth or sixth birthday. I love the picture even though it doesn't really capture who she is -- I've never known her to be scowly or morose, she's actually very sweet and delightful. Like another Ruby I know.

P.S. Sorry about the tiny-ness of the photo. Pictures in those days were pretty small and my scanner couldn't make it any bigger.