Thoughts on blogging...and other things.

I used to write in my online journal almost daily. This was years ago when I needed to write in order to maintain some order of sanity. At that time, writing was somewhat therapeutic for me.

Now...well, in case you haven't noticed, I write about once a week. That's fine. That's really all I need at this point. I don't use writing as an outlet anymore...that's what knitting and other things are for.

But, on to the goings-on in my little corner of the universe.

I've had two baby showers. My sister-in-law had the "family" one for my husband's side of the family a few weeks ago. I got a bunch of stuff...seriously, for as few people that were there, we seriously came home with a full car. I wish I had taken pictures of everything before I washed it and put it all away...but, I didn't. And, stupid me, I did it again for the second baby shower. I had my second baby shower this past Saturday. Again, my car was full of stuff...and I didn't take a picture. This one was at my friend's business (Sherri) and was my family and friends. It was a good time...and Jazzlynn (i.e., my "niece" - Sherri's daughter) helped me open up everything.

Between both baby showers, we got almost everything we "needed." The only big things that we needed were a crib, boobie pump, and a changing pad. We needed some little things, also...like bottles and binkies. With the money I had saved up, and money and gift cards we received, we were able to get those things. So, Brian put the crib up on Monday and I made the bed...except for the crib bumper. It's mostly on but I'm still trying to get it tied correctly. I may have to have Brian help me get it on fully because I can't get at the back side of the crib...I'm too fat right now :)

In knitting news, there isn't a whole lot going on that is any different from last week. I'm still working on the baby blanket. I've finished a few things: a self-designed hat (again), a baby hat from Susan B. Anderson's Itty-Bitty Hats, and I started another pair of socks. I'm finally using some of my Knit-In purchases from last March, in this case, "Dark" (which is a lime green sock yarn) from Creatively Dyed Yarns.

I'm back on a yarn diet...sort of. If it's something that I cannot find around here, I can buy it. It's just better if I don't tempt myself...but, things like Knitters' Guild meetings bring me into contact with yarn shops that I won't drive to otherwise (like Fiddlehead Yarns in Kenosha). I'm going to try to do some stashbuster projects while I'm out on maternity leave, if only to get through some yarn that I've had sitting in my stash for awhile.

I got my yarn for the Knitters' Guild Brown Bag Exchange. I think my bag was a little too full...I think I had something like 8 skeins of yarn in the bag I dropped off (with a note that said that whoever picked up my bag was not obligated to use all the yarn and they should return what they didn't use - I wanted them to have options). The bag I picked up had one skein of Zen Yarn Garden (fingering, superwash merino) in a colorway called "buttercup"...which is really a pink/orange/yellow/peach combination. This years' theme for BBE is "Babies Babies Babies!" That's part of the reason I'm doing it: I have a baby coming! I also kept my yarns mostly gender-neutral because I don't know what I'm having. Anyway, we have until May to finish these projects. The yarn I received screams "girl" at me...so I'm thinking a little girly dress with matching socks or something (depending on what I have left - if anything). It's going to take me at least a week to find a pattern I like for this yarn. That's fine.

Because I've been designing some things, one of the members of a Ravelry group I belong to suggested I become a member of another group that is for designers looking for test knitters. You can be a designer, a tester, or both. Right now, I'm just a tester. I have a baby hat pattern that I'm going to be testing. In fact, I'll probably be starting it today. Over my maternity leave, I may look into test knitters for my patterns. We'll see.

Anyway, I suppose that's enough chatter for right now. I'm going to get going on my day...not that I haven't been doing anything this morning. I've gone through baby stuff, started baby laundry, and cleaned up the living room a bit. It's been a somewhat productive morning. This afternoon, I think I'm going to knit and work on thank you cards...that sounds good.