One year ago today....and today....and WIP Wednesday.....

One year ago today...

One year ago today, I gained someone and I lost someone.

I gained Little Man. He was extracted from my womb, kicking and screaming at approximately 8:10am CDT at Mercy Hospital in Janesville, Wisconsin. The second they placed him near me and I said, "What's all that screamin' about," he immediately stopped. He recognized mommy's voice from the start.

He went from this photograph (which was taken when he was approximately two weeks old)....

to this one, which was taken on Sunday at his first birthday party (please notice the frosting all around his face, hands, and clothing, as well as cake).









He has grown so much. When he was born, he was 7lbs, 3oz and 22" long. As of his doctor appointment last Wednesday with the cardiologist, he was 21lbs, 12oz and just a smidge under 30" long. And let's not forget that in the last year, he has mastered a lot of things including smiling, laughing, rolling over (and off the bed), sitting, crawling, standing, clapping, eating solid foods, picking things up with his pincer grasp, and most recently, toddling around the living room between objects...as well as a bunch of other things.

Sadly, today also marks the day that I lost someone important in my life. Just a mere hour and a half before Little Man was born, my maternal grandmother passed away. She had just turned 84 last September.

This photo was taken probably in early 1981...possibly around Easter (I didn't wear dresses often and I appear to be wearing a fancy dress, not the one I wore at my first Christmas...and I'd also had a haircut by this point). My grandmother, who is holding me, would have been 54 at the time...if it was, indeed, Easter of 1981 (please notice how much Little Man looks like me!).

This photo, on the other hand, was taken the day of my wedding on August 29, 2009 at the nursing home. It's among the last known photographs of her and a very good one. By this point, Alzheimer's had set in to the point that she had no idea who I was (or any of the rest of the family that came to visit that day). But, I had flowers, pretty hair, a pretty dress, and I was talking to her. She didn't seem to mind one little bit.


So, that was on this day last year. Happy first birthday to Little Man.

Today...
Today is another whole story. It's raining outside and will probably be turning to snow sometime within the next couple of hours. We're only supposed to get 2"-4" but that's enough when you're not quite prepared for it. Then again, it's also supposed to melt within the next couple of days. This is the time of year I hate...the cusp between fall and winter. You still have leaves falling off trees, and cool, crisp mornings...but then you have this crap where it rains, freezes, turns to snow, melts, re-freezes, melts, snows, rains, etc. I've never been a fan of this part of the year, only because it prevents travel to places because of the weather. I mean, all winter can do that but the ice is what kills travel for me. Oh well.

Today's plan is to clean off the counters in the kitchen. It's not something I necessarily want to do...but I has to be done before tomorrow. Tomorrow, we've got several people coming to the house to do measurements. We have people coming to measure for our new counters, hence why the counters need to be cleaned off. We have people coming to measure for our new tile in the back entry. This means that Puppy is going to be locked up for awhile tomorrow because of all the people that will be here. He's going to be mad but he's going to have to get over it.

Other than cleaning the counters off, I plan to knit, finish doing my laundry, perhaps look into doing Husband's laundry, and let Little Man have more birthday cake.

WIP Wednesday...
Sadly, I have no photographs to show you of my WIPs...but I can tell you all about them :)

I have my Basic Socks going. I have the first sock finished and am past the heel and gusset decreases on the second sock. I'm using Sami Merino from Creatively Dyed Yarns in Dark colorway (which, in reality, is lime/neon green). They're not difficult...they've just been languishing because of other WIPs that are a bit more important (in my mind). These socks are for MEMEMEMEME! They're a little big but I usually wear pretty socks with another pair under them so the fact that they're a little big doesn't matter.

I also have Little Man's Giraffe going. It's currently sitting in the closet but it's not on time-out. It's just that there are other projects that are more important. All I have left is to attach the ears, finish the spots and horns, make the hair, do the face, and finish attaching everything (the body is put together). I'm looking at probably 5 more hours of work on it. I just haven't had time. I'm using Cascade 220 superwash in two shades of green (are you seeing a trend?).

Thirdly, I have Mama's Simple Skyp Socks going. I have finished the first sock and have not started the second one. I don't generally have "second sock syndrome" or SSS...just something else is getting in the way right now. I'm using BMFA Socks That Rock (Medium) in the Chickabiddy colorway. It's not a color I would have normally picked for myself...lots of reds, yellows, and oranges. But, I figured that I needed to have something to brighten my day once in awhile.

Fourthly, I have my Traveling Vines Socks. They're kind of on a time-out...mostly because I don't have anyone to give them to once they're done. I started these as a companion to a scarf of the same name...I'm actually envisioning a whole series of this with a scarf, socks, a hat, maybe some fingerless mitts or a shawl. I don't know yet. Oh, I should probably mention that I'm the one doing the designing here. Anyway...the scarf has been made, given away, and the pattern modified. I need to re-knit it with the modifications. I did baby socks to test how the pattern would work and where I'd perhaps need to make adjustments. I have the first one finished and am partway through the cuff of the second one. But, like I said, I don't have anyone to give them to. Little Man is way too big for them...and they're kind of girly. Anyway, they're with leftover Zitron Trekking from my first pair of socks.

Lastly, the one that has been getting all the attention: Little Man's Cobblestone Baby Blanket. I started working on this when I was about five or six months pregnant. Well, Little Man is now a year old and I haven't finished it! I figure I'm about 65% finished. Again, this is a pattern of my own design (borrowed stitch patterns from stitch books and mushed them around a bit and woo!) so I'm anal about keeping track of everything from needle size (US #6) to yarn (Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted) to number of rows in the CO/BO (not telling) to number of pattern repeats per row (don't remember) to number of pattern repeats total (not done yet so I don't know)...I've also got gauge and all of that so that when I finish, I can write the pattern normally, send it out for testing, and there it'll be. But, I want it done by Christmas. I had originally hoped for it to be done by Little Man's birthday but, well, that didn't happen. The math works out that if I do, on average, 5 rows every day, I'll have it done by Christmas. If I do 10 rows every day (on average), I could have it done before Christmas with time for it to be washed and blocked and wrapped properly. We'll see.

So, there you have it. For more WIP Wednesdays (and FO Fridays), go visit Tami's Amis and Other Creations!