Top Down Cardigan

I knitted this before Grace was born and she finally got to wear it! And it fits! Excuse the rest of Grace's outfit. I really should have put her in something cuter than sweat pants and a onesie for the shoot, and I should have at least wiped her face....but we were having a down day. Very cold and gray outside.

This is the pattern. If you've never done a top-down sweater -- try it! It's so much fun. And it's easy -- easier than you would think. As you're working along in the pattern, you have some major "AH HA!" moments as you see the sweater taking shape. And there is so little sewing up after. As it says at the top of the pattern, the cardigan is knitted in one piece. All you have to do afterwards is sew under the arms, and sew on a button of course. If I do this cardigan again, I'll make more button holes and make it button all the way up.

It was great putting this on Grace the other day because it inspired me to start knitting again. I haven't done anything in a while. Just been too busy, and I was on a doily kick for a while. But I think I'll get out the old bag (well....bags) of yarn and start stitching again. I think I'll knit ahead for spring.......something in cotton......

Back on the Doilies!

I took a break from doilies for a while...I think it was around the time I found out I was expecting Grace. I started knitting baby clothes instead. Maybe because the weather's getting hot, I haven't felt like knitting clothes, and am heading back to doilies. I put the booties on hold for a while too, because no one's gonna put booties on their kid in the heat of a Korean summer.

My first knitted doily, Flacon. This went well. I shied away from knitted doilies because they're hard to start, but I'm going to give them another chance. Another problem with them is that if you make a mistake, you might want to kill yourself since it's so hard to go back and correct something. With crocheted doilies going back to correct something is just a minor inconvenience. My goal is to someday knit this doily, but I'm going to work up to it.

Flacon:

A very easy crocheted doily, Cutie Pie Doily:

I also made a couple of toys for gifts. I gave the little bunny to Eva.

Grace was wild tonight. Not cranky, just wild. She didn't go to sleep until 10:30, even though I did the bathtime routine at 5:30 when she was tired. At 10:00 p.m. she was wanting to practice rolling over (today she went from her stomach to her back by herself) and was laughing and clawing at my face. Things could be worse. I'm so proud of myself for not freaking and just going with it...

Bootie bonanza

Have started making a bunch of booties since so many people I know are procreating. I could order a cute outfit or something, but you get so many of those as gifts already. I know I'd rather have a handmade something. Plus, I have a few hours of free time on my hands after (if) Grace goes to sleep at night, so what else is there to do. This apartment is too small, so I can't do anything that could wake her up , like watch movies or play the piano, or even clean up. Booties it is. The red pair have already been gifted.

0 days?

Ah, it says zero days... no big deal. I'm totally prepared for this to be over with. I have an appointment tomorrow (40 week appointment!) which may give me a clue as to when this will be over.

I decided since I can't sleep I should post these pictures of finished projects. Who knows -- I may not have time to if baby decides to come soon.

My Bella's Mittens turned out OK. They're from the movie "Twilight," which I'll probably never see, but I thought it was a cute pattern. I eliminated the long cuffs though, 'cause I thought those could get annoying under a winter coat.

Also, I crocheted up this ultra easy scarf with the Noro yarn from Dongdaemun. I did a pretty crappy blocking job because I don't like sitting on the floor anymore, but at least it's done and will be wearable as soon as it's dry. Toto likes to supervise these things.But it's hard work...

I'm hungry.

Nice weekend

An unusually social weekend for me. Saturday I had a bunch of girlfriends over for a little crafting. We mostly chatted, but I managed to teach Amy the purl stitch and it was just nice to catch up with everyone. We also enjoyed some tasty treats: Lindsay brought Tim Horton's chai tea and Toblerone, Hayan brought a walnut cake, and Amy brought some Korean cookies. It was a nice relaxing day.

Sunday, today, was the moms' lunch. We met in Myeong-dong and had late lunch at Seven Springs. We had a great turn out -- I think there were 12 adults and 2 babies. It was really nice to exchange information, stories, and support...and eat of course! It's nice to know that there's a number of other expat moms out there who I can call up if I need to later on. And later later on, we'll probably be able to have playdates with our babies.

The lunch was great, but it was also really great and refreshing to get out of the house. Myeong-dong was busy, but today I was totally able to deal with it. I went to Kosney and bought a baby book and a few baby scrapbooking stickers I found, and bought a few makeup products at Innisfree. I can't believe how long it's been since I've been out shopping! Being cooped up indoors sucks, but I think I've saved a bundle of money as a result...I used to love strolling around Myeong-dong making a purchase here and a purchase there. Anyway, today I spent some money on myself for a change and it felt good.

So another quiet evening tonight. I'm pretty tired from today's outing, actually. I'll probably work on my newest project tonight, Braidy. I'm making Sejin a scarf because I realized that I've never actually finished anything for him and it'll be good to take a break from baby projects. The braid in the scarf, though, is pretty intense...more intense than I thought it would be. Luckily the pattern only calls for two braids, one at each end. I'll probably throw a few extra in for kicks, because it looks cool.

I recently finished Baby It's Cold Outside. Not so sure about crocheting anymore. Great for doilies, not so great for garments. We'll see next year how useful the cardigan is.

Some knitted cuteness

I like projects that knit up quickly! These little guys will hopefully be useful and cute. The hat took me just two evenings of leisurely knitting. The socks took three days, and were a little more involved. Kind of reminded me why I'm not a fan of sock knitting. I think it's cool the way you can knit them all in one piece, but the turning of the heel is not always that magical, at least for me.
Newborn hat:
Infant socks:
That's all for tonight. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have an ultrasound pic to upload!

A good Monday

Today I was really sleepy, but it was a good day nonetheless. My friend Karen came over with her son, Ian, and we had a nice chat over some deopbap and manduguk. She brought me a tonne of Thanksgiving leftovers, which I really appreciated. It's been a while since I've had turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie! I just finished eating a few minutes ago and I'm even more sleepy now, of course! Thank goodness for good friends!

I've been a little slow with knitting. I finally finished my baby bell bottoms. They turned out cute enough...but we'll see how practical they actually are. Far more practical is the baby beanie I made for Karen's baby. It turned out really cute, so I think I'll make one for my baby as well. The yarn I used for this was nice and soft.

Other than that, not much is new. I'm staying very close to home and spending less and less time at the computer. It's just becoming too uncomfortable for me to sit here for very long. Whenever I get up from sitting a long time I have a sore back for the rest of the day. It's hard to believe I'll have my 36 week appointment on Friday. Time is definitely flying, but I usually tackle a small project every day and I'm beginning to feel a little prepared for this baby.

Toto, on the other hand, has no idea what is to come.

Getting there slowly

Baby preparations are coming along slowly. Most of the reasons it's so slow going is because I can't do much. If I try to do too much, I get sore and spend the entire next day on the sofa. I've learned my lesson. So I can only do very little at a time, and I give Sejin as much to do as he can handle.

Last Sunday Sejin's brother came over and helped us move stuff around. We got rid of one of our old wardrobes, moved all our newer wardrobes into the storage room, making it a walk-in closet, and moved the baby stuff into our room. It looks better already, but there's still a lot to get done.

I finished the Fantasy Naturale Top Down Baby Cardigan and I'm very pleased with how it came out. This would be an easy pattern to modify by changing the girly eyelet pattern to some ribbing or other edging.

A quiet visit

Well, mom left two days ago after a pretty low-key three week visit. Now the place seems kind of empty, but I'll get used to it again.

Mom in Dongdaemun:

Unfortunately, mom and I didn't get to do a lot. We did a few little shopping trips on her first days here, but one Tuesday morning I had a setback that no one was expecting. I woke up that morning and it was painful to walk, so I knew something wasn't good. So that afternoon we went to the hospital to find out that the baby had dropped (not good at only 30 weeks). The doctor ordered me to stay in and rest. So that's what I did. But I felt really bad that mom was here all the way from Canada and all we could do was sit around my apartment. The good thing is that we both got some knitting done and my mom did a lot of baking and cooking, which I really appreciated.

Multidirectional scarf I sent home for my sister:

Baby cardigan (one year size):

Saartje's booties (maybe six month size?):
Cable baby hat (3 month size?):
My mom baked this pie in my little convection oven:
Another good thing about staying in was that I had time to think about what baby stuff I needed, and I ended up doing a lot of online shopping. I got some serious deals on gmarket...far cheaper than what I'd found even in Namdaemun. Onesies for 2,900 won, sleepers for 7,000. Stuff like that. I couldn't even find onesies in the baby malls in Namdaemun and the sleepers I saw there were 10,000 won and up (some over 20,000). So the baby stash has been growing and I haven't even gone that crazy, money-wise. My list of things to get is growing smaller, which puts my mind at ease.

Baby stuff is piling up. Still need to make a place for it all...

I washed up all the cute little onesies and sleepers:

Anyway, I had a follow-up appointment a week later and I guess the rest paid off because the baby had moved up a bit and things appeared to have improved. I'm still supposed to take it slow, but it was reassuring to hear that things looked good. I've only been working about 2 hours a day while making sure to take rests here and there between work, laundry, cooking, etc.

I also received lots of gifts from Canada, which came over in my mom's suitcase. My sister sent me lots of goodies and my mom made a bunch of stuff, including a quilt, an afghan, two very nice receiving blankets, and plush baby blocks. I didn't expect all that stuff! I'm hungry. Wish mom was still here to make lunch!

Don't knit late at night

This is what happens when you knit when you're tired, late at night. This pattern is so cute, and well-written, but I screwed it up. Usually if you make little mistakes, like lose a stitch somewhere or forget to make a one-stitch increase, you're not going to notice it in the final product. But when you skip an instruction that says "knit another 16 rows," you're in trouble. I just couldn't figure out why the arms were so skinny. Then a few days later I read the pattern over again carefully and saw the huge chunk of knitting I had missed. Ouch.

So, instead of ripping it all out (which would have been hard because I had done cast offs and decreases, etc), I decided to practice that dreaded skill of picking up stitches. I picked up stitches all along under the arms, front and back. You can see where I did. It looks terrible. And talk about frustration. I just finished this because I wanted to use up old yarn and teach myself a lesson about following directions. I just may knit this pattern again, because it is really cute.

I think it looks good on my bear... maybe bear can keep it. She's been naked for 6 years, so I guess she deserves some clothing.

On Tuesday we saw Amira, Jin and Noah for the last time before they return to Australia. We had a nice lunch in Shinchon and then some treats and shopping afterwards. Too bad they live so far away. That's definitely one of the disadvantages to living in Korea. Friends are always coming and going.

Yarn therapy

Yarn shopping is one of my favourite things to do. It's so much fun to look at all the colours and textures and imagine what you could make out of them if you only had the time. It's especially fun when you haven't been in a while. I think the last time I bought yarn was in the spring when the vendors got the cotton out. That's a pretty good stretch of time without buying yarn, so I indulged a little today.

So Karen and I headed to Dongdaemun Shopping Town around 10 this morning when it was nice and quiet. We were both looking for baby yarn and we both managed to find some. Unfortunately we both don't know the sex of our babies yet, so I ended up buying yellow, and she bought green. I also bought some which may or may not go to making baby stuff.

Here's the yellow stuff. Just standard baby yarn.

This says baby alpaca, and I'm thinking it'll make a nice scarf and hat set for me, plus a baby cardigan or something.

Finally, just when we were going to leave the building, I spied this Noro Silk Garden yarn, which I had to get. Noro has to be one of the most popular yarns out there and I've heard so much about it, but I've never tried it. I didn't know it was available in Dongdaemun, and I assumed that if it was, it would be too expensive. To my surprise, the man only charged me $65 for the bag of 10 balls, which I think is a pretty good deal. Kind of hurts to shell out that kind of cash all at once, but when you break it down to the per ball cost, it's really not bad at all. I tried knitting up a swatch with it and I can see why people like it. Because of the silk content, it slips very nice over the bamboo needles and the colourway is so gradual and vivid. So it was a great trip. Karen and I then had lunch at one of my favourite restaurants, Himalaya, near Dongmyo Station. It was delicious and we had a nice talk about babies and childcare. Got some good book and product recommendations.

All in all, it was a good Korea day. Living here is full of ups and downs sometimes. Today all the vendors were very friendly -- I got a few discounts which rarely happens in Shopping Town, some free needles, and a free pattern magazine. Then on the subway home an old man offered his seat to me, which was really weird because often the young people don't even do that. Plus, the weather was fantastic (for me, anyway). It was very cool and overcast. I even got some work done tonight.

Back on track

This is why it took me so long to write the listening books:

Total pages: 396

Number of listening passages: 540

Number of questions: 828

Number of vocab test questions: 540

But they are finished and I had a great sleep last night, so it's time to get on with life! I'm going today to get my hair cut for the first time in what seems like a millenium and I'm going to hang out in Edae after that until my class at 8:00. I have to write the forward for the books, and I'll bring some knitting with me. And I need new shoes, as my current ones are literally falling apart. It'll be a nice afternoon.

As for knitting, I finally finished the baby kimono I was working on. I decided to use buttons for closure rather than ties. It's really cute, but really small. It will probably only be good for the first couple of weeks. Actually, it'll probably just be a photo-op.

I started working on this really cool folk-arty doilie while finishing up the books.

And the other night I started a really cute ribbed baby sweater.

I'm not even sure about this project. I just want to use up some of the cheap yarn I got when I first started knitting. Depending on how this turns out, it might become a cat blanket for toto rather than a baby blanket. It's kind of scratchy and stiff. But I've heard that this type of yarn softens up a lot after a few washes. Fingers crossed.

So I'm much happier now that knitting is back in my life. I still have lots to do, but it's totally manageable. I'll be starting a new project shortly, a conversation series for pre-schoolers. I'm looking forward to this one because there's more creativity involved, and of course, and it'll be much easier on my brain.

Yesterday was fun. My friend Amira is visiting from Australia with her husband and her 1-year-old son, Noah. Noah's a cute little guy who was totally obsessed with the fan in my apartment! After he left I realized that my fan now makes funny noises when running. Kids... At least it still works. Amira brought me a few baby things, including the cutest little booties with kangaroos on them. Love them!

After hanging out here for a while, we went to Doota, to the kids clothing floor. It's much more pricey there than other places, but it's still fun to look. Noah got a cute outfit for his first birthday party this Saturday. I took a spin through the maternity shops on the same floor and ended up getting a cute long sleeve T-shirt that says "The bun is done." Most of the maternity stuff up there is just way to huge for me. I think I'm going to place an online order soon.

Well, guess I should get moving. It's a beautiful day out there.