…without the usual potatoes! (Too much carbs!)

Anyway, I’m just popping by to say that I’m still alive and still very much up to my elbows in booties & mittens. I should have them all done up and sent off by Friday.

In the meantime, yes, I’m alive.

Apart from working on the afghan and the baby blanket, my hands have been busy churning out bootie orders that spiked because of a recent promotion (which just ended today). Above is the most recent pair that I’ve just completed and will send off on Monday.

I have another three pairs of booties and four pairs of mittens to work on. Then there is the store update for May which I really ought to get started on – I have some yarns and fibres to dye up for sale. After that, I’m not too sure if I want to do any more major updates, especially for fibres, until Eva is born. The last update really tired me out even though I split it into a few sessions. That plus the fact that we might be moving back to Asia come September is another cause for concern. While I’d love to stock up on supplies before moving to make life easier, I’m not too sure if it’s a great idea because of how we’ll be shipping our things over – by sea.

So yeah, planning and ideas aside, the next few days will see me busy crocheting and attending ultrasounds plus preparing for Eva’s arrival AND doing some light reading on stuff like Mesothelioma cancer. Eva will be 28 weeks come next Thursday and we have a crucial ultrasound coming up in the same week as well…so more on the baby blog then!

I’ve got it bad.

Nil just teased me stating that I have a number of unfinished projects but I still went ahead and started a new one anyway. To be exact, I have three active WIPs and five in hibernation. The craziest thing about them all is that the three active WIPs are either halfway there or are travel WIPs for Eva while the ones in hibernations are outfit projects like socks and cardigans which I don’t really need right now.

This one is to reduce my stash plus it’s a trial piece for something that I’m thinking of churning for the Eva when she’s older. I’m crocheting granny squares from leftover laceweight yarn that I have in my stash and hopefully, they’ll be enough for the size that I have in mine. I’ll need about 150 squares and each of this is 3″ by 3″ (unblocked). I just started late last night after rummaging through my stash for the right yarns and came up with a sweet reddish combination made up of five variegated yarns. The two combos missing are a very light light rose shade and a brownish-pale pink shade which I have yet to wind up into yarn cakes.

This will be a pure merino lace throw – delicate yet form and breezy enough for, I hope, summer and winter. With any luck, I’ll finish it. I’m determined to prove Nil wrong – I DO NOT have startitis!!!!

So excuse me now while I go off to crochet and work on writing something about industrial supplies.

Ply | Three
Yardage | 361.2 m
WPI | NA
Fibre | Superwash Merino (my own handdyed)
Tool | Serenity Wheel [5.5:1 ratio]

This is up for sale at the store but just to let you know – I’m in love with this dyeing technique! The resulting effect time and time again is a mix of solids and stripes but get this – they are heathered not so much solid per se as you can see in the picture above.

I’d love to try this out with some of the rovings I dyed up using the same technique for the store…but the stash comes first. Must destash, destash and destash.

Yes, I bet by now, you know that my knitting is somewhat non-existent. Aiiii…

A long long time ago, when I first got my hands on some superwash merino for the shop, I churned out this colourway which I felt I didn’t want anyone else to have. Yes, that’s the beauty of running your own shop – if no one else wants it, I’ll have it…and well, if I can’t have it, no else else can! LOL!

It was a technique that I had been working on and the resulting effect gave me a lovely splash of dark purple, dark red, grey and bright spots of pink here & there with some underlining white. Affectionately named Cassis Swirl Jam, this roving reminds me of those jars of peanut butter jam jelly and the barberpole effect in that jar between the brown of the peanut butter and purple of the jam jelly.

As I spun it up, I’m reminded of the effect I got when I worked on another roving dyed using the same technique. So far, I’m loving the results the singles have given off – a mix of solids of a variety of shades plus patches of barberpole and white. This beauty will definitely be a surprise when I’m done with the plying. I just can’t wait to see, really.

Now please excuse me while I get back to my spinning and writing about cattle supplies (?).

For you knitters or anyone out there who cares, if you found someone selling items you suspect is made using a free pattern (which a lot of knitters know – if you don’t, now you do – is bound by copyright rules; meaning you can only use it for personal use and not for profit…this includes selling items), what would you do?

Although my weight gain during the pregnancy may not be significant, it’s still enough to warrant caution so Nil and myself are back on a healthier diet. Previously, we had avoided snacks like chips and peanuts – keeping it to a minimum (like maybe once a month or two) – and entertaining ideas of eating out like fast food to a bi-monthly or even a once-quarterly affair. Since a couple of weeks back though, I have been having this intense craving for fast food and we gradually went from the whole once in a blue moon thing to once bi-weekly and then once a week. It didn’t help that I am constantly hungry with Eva, my portion control ballooned and all…

Before I went for the check-up, I had this naggy feeling that I ought to stop the fast food cravings there and then because of one thing I noticed (I’m a big fan of listening to my body). It was the fact that my last fast food meal ended up with me feeling utterly sick and dizzy. Too much carbs, I could hear myself screaming, and I felt that the weekly trips ought to stop…not to mention the larger than usual portions.

And they did. The doctor’s reminder helped tremendously. She gave us well-meaning tips and advice including a new idea that we didn’t quite explore – a “fruit only day” once a week with papayas and pineapples leading the way. So after the check-up, we went grocery shopping and walked away with a boatload of fresh leafy salads, courgettes, eggplants, tomatoes and a number of other vegetables plus a comb of bananas and a nice ripe pineapple.

Today’s lunch and dinner came in the form of moussaka – made with a yoghurt bechamel sauce instead of the traditional sauce which is made with butter, milk and flour. Two eggplants, three tomatoes, two onions and garlic went into this lovely concoction…and of course, two eggs and yoghurt with about one tablespoon of parmigiana cheese. We had this with some salad and it made for quite a fulfilling lunch – I didn’t have my usual portion size, opting instead of stick to my pre-pregnancy portions.

I have also decided to stick to three meals a day, only allowing afternoon snacks in the form of fruit instead of snacking on cornflakes whenever I was hungry throughout the day. Today’s pick was a banana with a handful of raisins. I’m planning to get some dried fruit like prunes and apricots which are high in minerals, fibres and vitamins with natural sugars which are better than refined sugar plus a couple of apples, pears and maybe some strawberries even though they aren’t in season. Am dying for a bowl of red and yellow fruit!!!

So what’s on the menu for tomorrow? Kung po chicken and more vegetables in the form of bean sprouts or Chinese cabbage and a small bowl of rice! YUM!

In the meantime, I’m off to work on some assignments for mesothelioma.

**Cross-posted on the baby blog**

…truly…

Listening to these people makes my spine tingle and shiver ever so slightly…not to mention break out in peels of laughter for all the appropriate reasons!