oh, hello, old friend...

things have been a little surreal lately. a little bizarre. a little nice. i realized i haven't updated this thing in almost a month, and i honestly thought, "well, what the heck have i been DOING?!" mostly, i've been working and having fun. so there's that.

i went to seattle for a brief stay last weekend to meet the munchkin, aka the nubbin, jammin, benjamin, ben, the nephew. it made me so sad when i left to think that the next time i see him at thanksgiving, he will be five months old. so much time to miss in baby time.

there are far too many "favorite" pictures to post from the trip, so we'll only do a few. i was there for a total of two days - the second day, we drove up to deception pass state park in washington and made our way down whidbey island to the ferry back. this was after a very satisfying hunt for rocks at north beach.


the prettiest seaweed in all the land.


ben is a noisy, vigorous little guy. he does everything vigorously. he even SLEEPS vigorously, with his grunts and coos and hoots. he's not fussy at all. he's just vigorous. however, get him in his wrappy thing in a noisy place (like, say, pike place market), and he's passed right the heck out.


me and dad in his humboldt state sweatshirt. i don't even own an article of clothing from humboldt, and i WENT there, for goodness' sakes!


i really love this photo. ben's first ferry ride! he loved the light, the noise... and he loves hanging his head upside down when he looks at the world.


oh, and in addition to pike place market on friday, we also went to the most hilarious brewery tour i have ever been on. redhook brewery tour - if you are ever in that area, you must go. me, my bruddah, and my mama.


our flight out of seattle circled around mt. st. helens. goodbye for now, pacific northwest. i will always love you.


i got home and finally finished up a few projects that had been blocking for lord knows how long. first, i made myself a sweater. i'm really proud of this sucker ( ihaven't counted the bobbles yet... the bobbles sucked).


although my initial desire was to make this sweater in some bright, crazy color (as i have been known to do on occasion), i also desperately needed a warm, black, awesome cardigan. so yeah... i went with it.


then the christmas knitting begins. this'll be for my mom, made using the springtime bandit pattern and good ol' noro kureyon yarn. i really want to keep it for myself, but i guess i'll settle for just making another one.

the kid...

this kid just cracks me up. "what the heck are these ARM things?!" my nephew, benjamin's, latest youtube update. and look! he's wearing one of the onesies i made for him!

rock and roll prom, baby gifts (oh, and a little bit of knitting)...

first off, i am rather freaked out by this whole swine flu thing. the thing that frightens me is realizing how easily a virus like this can spread across the entire world in such a short period of time. it doesn't take much. you look at maps and see flagged cases popping up in the most random of places. only it's not random. that's the interesting part, from an epidemiological standpoint. of course, it's also a good thing that, so far, at least, it appears that it is mostly just making people ill. here's to hopes that deaths continue to stay low (says the girl who will be traveling to new york city in a few short weeks).

anyway... i finished off the day at work, which included a lot of swine flu updates, then headed out to find a birthday present for my brother and some mother's day goodies for mom. i decided to give my brother a gift card and then send him some more baby stuff. i got a 5-pack of onesies at target, then some iron-on printable transfers at hobby lobby. i give you THE cutest onesies on the face of the planet:


another tree.


"they call me munchkin." and mama and baby elephant.


the back of the munchkin one.


and for kicks and giggles, i've gotten addicted to tiltshiftmaker.com. here's a recent one: a photo of my sis-in-law, the mom-to-be, at moraine lake in canada.


also? rock and roll prom was a few weeks ago. the theme was "talk nerdy to me," thus some of the outfits. here's my favorite photo booth shot: this was immediately after i accidentally elbowed megan in the face bouncing on the bed. why do i look so happy?


oh, and finally, a knitting project. i've been going nutso with the baby knitting lately, but i also have a top secret lacy tunic in the works. the body is done - now i just have to get onto the neck-wrappy part. here's your sneak peek:


it's been a while since i bought new yarn, like, online. i've been to the yarn store off and on, but even that has been a while. i've used up some of my stash yarn on baby stuff. i swear, i've been good! yesterday, though, i bought some lovely wine-colored yarn to make this: the great gatsby dress.

and i just now bought some hemp yarn in a (hopefully) nice chestnut color on ebay to make this: sunshiney summery awesomeness in shirt form.

i think i'll be starting with the dress... oh, right, once i finish this hat i'm making and the lacy tunic and this baby sweater on the needles. too many projects in the works!

self-portraits, a finished object of the nubbin variety, and back to work.

i hate to say it, but it's kind of nice being back to work. the only reason i hate to say it is because i have SO MUCH TO GET DONE in the next several months. really, there's quite a lot. however, i thrive under busy circumstances (to a point, of course). in short, it's all right being back, all in all.

i finished yet another knit for the nubbin - the ribbed baby jacket, to be exact, knit out of warm, wild, and wooly lamb's pride. i'm afraid it's going to be too small by the time winter rolls around, though, so i might pick up some stitches along the bottom and knit an extra inch or so. we shall see - i guess, if worse comes to worse and it doesn't fit the nubbin, they can re-gift it to some winter newborn.

anyway, here it is, next to me stylishly frosted old bathroom window.


in other news, i've started a self-portrait thursday thang. 1/1/09. i spent a lovely day in my pajamas:


1/8/09. blur + color = magic:


and finally... happy new year (a tad late)! this is ed and me and our second annual american gothic-esque new year's photo. be sure not to miss ed's pink socks.


compared to last year's shot:


and this was our "everybody look in different directions" shot. oh, lovely.

knitting for the nubbin...

this is the beginning of "knitting for the nubbin," aka the munchkin, aka the niece/nephew whose scheduled arrival date in 7/8/09. that's right - i will be a proud auntie soon enough!

the only thing i can ask with this first piece of baby knitting is: why are tiny things SO DANG ADORABLE? look at how freaking CUTE these little pants are!


i used the kanoko pattern and red heart ltd. designer sport weight yarn. the yarn is perfect for these pants, even if it is just plain old acrylic. eek!!! so little!