At my husband's request, I made a punk-ish baby hoodie for the baby. It's made with Lionbrand Microspun in Ebony and Lime. I THINK I used US 4 needles (I may have used a smaller size. Hoh well.) Again, I winged the pattern.
I had to quit my job a few months after I found out I was pregnant. My doctor told me that I have a heart-shaped uterus (also called bicornial... or something like that) and because of that little difference I am apparently more prone to miscarriage or early delivery. My job required me to stand up for long lengths of time and sometimes I would have eleven hour shifts. I would start spotting and cramping after the end of every work day. It was definitely scary during those few weeks of all that. My parents urged me to leave work and take it easy, so I am taking it easy and enjoying things I know I wouldn't be able to do or enjoy for a while after this baby is born. It sounds completely scary, but I am absolutely excited about having this little one.
Guess who just came out of the hospital? That's right. After two weeks of fainting, puking and generally feeling awful, I'm finally back to normal and looking forward to resuming my busy busy life. I want to go back to work, read, draw, crochet, knit and sew in my spare time (see, this is why I'm more tired during my off days than I am during my normal work week. I do more during the weekends, but it's a good kind of tired) My doctor did tell me to take it easy, take my meds and eat well. I don't ever want to go back to the hospital again. I don't think my nerves can take any more needle poking, blood letting, rather flavorless hospital food and middle-of-the-night nursing student rounds where nursing students think they have the right to shake you awake in the wee hours of the morning and ask you if you've pooped and peed today. Geh. That was the lesson, I'm not going to get sick, not if I can help it.
Anyway, this is what I was up to while I was waiting to get well. They fortunately did not have to stick me with an IV, so the left both my hands free to finish my friend's variegated green halter top. I unfortunately do not have pictures of the finished product because I already gave it to Ross. Perhaps she'll model it for me one day. It turned out great and it was the greatest feeling to see her really happy when she got it.
This is my first attempt at doing "Marguerite," my Grandmother's unfinished bedspread. The flower turned out pretty nice and I'm rather proud of it. I'm a real doofus when it comes to reading patterns, but I was able to figure it out and get it right the first time. Yahoo!
This is proof that I have the capability being innovative (heehee) I was having a hard time crocheting with a spool of thread in while I was laying down (reclined more like), so I used one of the hospital bed posts as a holder for my spool. No rolling around, no hard pulling, just a nice even feed when I need it. Lovely. The staff didn't mind that I did it and they were even nice enough to ask me questions about what I was doing. It was great to talk about it with nurses who also knew how to crochet, so that made my stay even more cheerful. Nevermind the cons I listed earlier.
My little brother is the cutest thing. He's only three and he follows me everywhere I knit or crochet, wanting to learn it. So I gave him some leftover yarn from the Cataract doily and my shortes pair of knitting needles. He gets impatient when I try to teach him the way to do it, I think he enjoys seeing the movements and tries to copy what I do. I maybe teach him real knitting when he's older and still interested. Right now, it's enough that I have a very cute knitting/crochet partner who adores me just as much as I adore him.
I bought these balls of yarn in Hobby Lobby Evansville some time ago. It's called Sinfonia, a sportweight cotton yarn from Mexico. I completely adore this yarn and I bought loads of it (in cream and variegated green) though I had to leave most of it behind. There was a limited number of the variegated green yarn and the dye lots are different, so I've been thinking about the possible projects I could do with it. I decided to make something for one of my adored best friends (who celebrated her 26th birthday on the 15th of August: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROSS!)
It's a crocheted halter top for the next time she goes to the beach. I figured a plain bikini top would be too revealing (personally, anyway. I bet Ross has no such hangups. Heehee.) so I decided to make it into a sexy, not-quite-openwork halter. Hope she likes it (and actually gets to use it, but knowing her, it probably would be. She loves the beach.)
This blue thingie above is the Cataract doily I made for Deborah (wildthing1058 on Crochetville) She was assigned to make a doily for me, so I thought it would be a nice gesture to give her something back for her hard work. I already sent Madonna (tween on Crochetville) her two doilies, the champagne-colored one and the big purple people eater. I hope she likes it. I wasn't able to block any of the pieces as we have a set of three year olds running around, pinned doilies somewhere in this small condominium would be disastrous if/when they get to it. So I hope those lovely ladies don't mind. 
And finally, a random photo of moi.
And guess what? I'm working on yet another one. Mwahahahahaha.
I'm definitely done with the Champagne-Colored Doily, all I have to do is block it and post pictures. Now I'm working on this:
See, this is why gauge is very important. This purple "doily" is turning into a huge people eater. I barely started with it and it's already more than eight inches wide. I just hope the lady who gets this for the Doily Swap will like it and will have somewhere to put it. I mean, it looks fairly impressive (READ: hella big) from where I'm looking, but I would also want it to be useful. Form follows function and all that.
People always ask me why I'm so crazy about crocheting and knitting. I can't say I'm crazy about it, but I definitely see how amazing it is to turn a pretty ball of yarn into something complicated. By manipulating string using a hook; twisting, turning, building it stitch by stitch, you come up with something that showcases its beauty even more. This is especially true when you make doilies. Not to mention, crocheting doilies is an exact art. Each stitch has a purpose in the whole scheme of things. If you miss a stitch or you put even one extra, it won't look right.
*Puto is a kind of steamed cake made of rice flour. It's usually eaten in the morning with cheese or butter or both. It's wonderful with coffee or hot chocolate. Just thinking about it makes me gain five pounds. Mmmmm.
It's obvious where I like to work, no? Now you can see what my sheets look like. 
I'm going to work on another doily, or maybe a larger centerpiece after I'm done with this. This could be for the doily swap, or I might decide to keep it, who knows? The larger doily is definitely for the swap. The lady I'm making the doily for likes purple and I found the perfect shade of purple in my stash. It's the closest thing I can get to Cadbury purple, only the thread is a little richer in tone.
I'm almost done with the halter! I'm still not bored with the lace pattern, so that's good. Phew! 
In other news, I just joined the Doily Swap at Crochetville and I'm so excited! They coordinator still has to announce the person I'm sending the doily to, but I can hardly wait! My first swap! :D Tee-hee!
This is the diagram I based the lace pattern of the halter on. It was originally a pattern for a pillowcase, so I might do that project for real. The book is called Madonna Crochet Volume 6, published by Goodwill Bookstore, in 1968. I'm extremely lucky to have found copies of it. I remember Mom and Grandmama having magazines back in the day and I also remember leafing through it without having any idea what the diagrams meant or what it was for. I think I was about three or four years old (I'm twenty-six now...gah. How ancient.)
This is where I started. I was taking the babies out to the mall and I found mercerized cotton thread in the cutest hot pink. My sister and I adored it, so I bought two balls (enough for a bikini top) and started crocheting the first half of the bikini in Seattle's Best while waiting for Daddy to pick us up.
One half done! Have I mentioned how much I adore this color? I'm not a pink person. In fact, my closet is just a huge blob of black. This pink is too cute to pass up, though. This is perhaps the first (and maybe the last) pink project I'm going to be working on. I might change my mind about working with pink again, who knows?
The lace pattern is showing up quite nicely. I thought it would be a complete bore to do. I don't really like repetitive patterns, but this one changes often and it's not too confusing, so I like it. I can do it while watching TV and my hands would be on autopilot. I would look down on what I've done and I would see that I would have made a four inch progress. Coolness. It is to me anyway. :D
