Friday, January 23, 2009

Boleros for Moms and Babies

Thanks everyone for all of your nice comments on my Tilted Duster! I was actually able to wear it out yesterday and I felt so stylish and cute :) And given that I more or less haven't left either a hospital room or our condo for the last 8 weeks, haven't had a hair cut since the beginning of November (those of you with short hair will understand what a big deal this is) and waddle when I walk...I would call that a success! ;)

37 weeks and counting!

As for me and baby, yesterday marked the beginning of our 37th week! This means that he is officially full-term! *big sigh of relief!* This also means that my doctor has released me from bedrest! While I certainly didn't immediately jump up and run a marathon...8 weeks of laying around does a number on your body let me tell you!..I am gradually upping my activity level. B's been able to take me out a little the last couple days...even if it is just for quick trips to the library or store and it feels amazing! I'm slow and exhausted, but I really don't care :)

In the knitting front, I used a good portion of my time at home to complete some long languishing projects and begin a little personal yarn challenge (a post to come on this soon). First up is the Two Tone Shrug from Fitted Knits that I began a year ago December.

Two Tone Shrug - Front

Nothing super intriguing to report on this one. Its a simple, pretty basic pattern that I knit on the recommended needle sizes (8s and 5s). Although if I were to do this over again, I would knit the ribbing on larger needles. I was able to block them out for width, but lost some in length, so it lost a bit of its dramatic effect I think.

Two Tone Shrug - Back

The yarn is Manos 100% wool with the body knit from a hank and a smidge of the multicolor brown (112) and the ribbing knit in a little over a hank (literally 3 rounds out of the new hank) in chocolate brown (G).

I also knit up a Baby Bolero from One Skein (on size 8 and 9 needles) with about 2/3rds of a hank of Rio de la Plata Lana del Artista, which is a nice handspun combination of Aqua Green, Chinese Violet and Ceylon Yellow (at least according to the label).

Baby Bolero

This was a special little project because I bought this yarn from the Green Thread knitting store on our way back from our snowboarding trip to Mammoth last March. That week we had decided to start our family and I picked up this cute gender neutral yarn to make a little something for our prospective baby. I fell in love with the colors on the hank and it continued to delight me as I knit the bolero. I added the picture below so that you could see the color range a bit better. However, the natural light we've had lately is making it difficult to capture the yellows and greens, which are brighter in real life.

Baby Bolero - closeup

I guess that's it for me for now. I will be back to talk about by strange yarn compulsion project as soon as its finished...which should be any day now. In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!

12 comments:

Mouse said...

Sending good vibes for health & easy labor your way! I never did make it to 37 weeks.. my son wanted OUT at about 32.. lol~

Anonymous said...

Congrats on reaching 37 weeks! The story about the baby yarn is so special. The yarn is super cute too!

Anonymous said...

Cute belly and bolero!

mames said...

37 weeks! yay! the irony is now that you are off bed rest mr. baby boy will take his sweet time a'coming.

i love the bolero, but the smile on your face totally makes it. i highly recommend some 'conditioning' pre birth. i was such a wreck after 12 weeks down, but it came back albeit slowly (when there was no time to be slow).

i am totally going to that yarn store. tim and i plan on getting up to mammoth in march for a weekend, it will be a perfect place to stop. our first time in three seasons...well, you know why. and we are going sans twins. so plenty of yarn grazing/gazing time.

cannot wait to meet the little one.

Anonymous said...

You look great!

mle said...

You are looking soooo good! You can't even tell you're pregnant from the back!

Jennifer said...

You look fantastic! I love the FOs. Congrats on being full-term, and the best of good wishes on the coming delivery!

Ruinwen Dagorielle said...

You look amazing! Baby Bolero is adorable! :)

Julia (MindofWinter) said...

Yay you! I am so glad that you made it 37 weeks. I was incredibly relieved when I got there - and I had only 3.5 weeks of modified bed rest. You rock! Here's my advice - don't up your activity level too much - definitely walk around and feel better but don't go back to the gym. Let that baby cook for as long as you can. I was so glad that I eventually got Griffin to 40 weeks - he was a little thing - only 6 lbs. 14 oz. - so he would have been a 5 lber at 37 - fine, but still! My other, more important piece of advice is to get thee to a salon! The first thing I did at 37 weeks was go and spend time with my hair stylist and it was one of the best decisions ever. You won't feel up to it afterward and you need to feel cute in the aftermath of pushing a watermelon out your hoo-ha! :) Love, J

Kara said...

You are looking great. And so cute in your knits! I love the baby bolero, so cute.

Anonymous said...

Yay, yay, yay! :)

ps: OMG, Julia is cracking me up!

Kim said...

Congrats to both of you - I've been out of blogs for 8 months now (since my baby was born). Great job on all those baby knits and sewing projects!