The Esther Williams pattern is going very well.

The decreases are not that bad. Hallelujah! Now, I need to figure out that crocheted edging thing.

I knit on the Interlocking Balloons scarf most of yesterday, and it’s longer now. I was thinking it was getting easier, until I had a friend over today who was working on her first pair of Felted Clogs, and I realized that I can’t knit the scarf unless I give it perfect and undivided attention. So, while she was here, I started the pink Esther Williams hat, and I am writing out the pattern as I go. It is an extremely easy stitch to knit in the round, but I know those hideous decreases are lurking.

Tomorrow morning is our ultrasound. You will probably hear from me afterwards, unless I post early. It will be a busy day.

Also, on the evening of November 19th, I’m hosting my sister-in-law’s Cookie Lee jewelry party. If anyone would like to come? There’s no sales pitch, just yummy food, holiday music, and lots of jewelry to try on and play with. You could bring your WIP’s and hang out!

Enter the Interlocking Balloons scarf from Scarf Style.

This is not an enjoyable knit. Half way through the first wretched chart repeat, I wasn’t sure if it was worth continuing, aside from the part of me that won’t let a pattern win. Fortunately, by the time I had finished the first 44 row repeat, things improved slightly. It helps that I had scanned in the chart, enlarged it, printed two, highlighted every other stupid row, and attached a guide sheet with paperclips. Also, I’m understanding what the pattern is doing, which has cut down on the time I spend staring at it and wondering why I have two purls in front of me instead of one, or visa versa. One of the things that is difficult is you have to change the way some stitches are worked on the wrong side of the scarf. I like my even rows to be mindless, thank-you-very-much.

And then there’s the fact that I’m not sure how it will look when it’s done. I think I like it, but it will all depend on the blocking. Because I’m using Angora by Lavold, it is already well into the blooming process (bloom refers to the fuzzy halo that angora has, which you can’t really see in the picture). It’s soft, and beautiful, but unless it stretches out in the blocking process, I’m not sure it’ll look quite right.

I’m two balls into it right now, and I’m on my 3rd repeat, out of 9. And I think it would be incredibly easy to make a matching hat. This pattern seems to be made for hat conversion, and I might just do it. It’s looking like I’ll have enough yarn left.

I’m also thinking about trying my hand at the Elizabethtown Hat (there are two different links there) that a lot of bloggers are trying to make. I played around with some of my beanies over the weekend, and have some ideas on how to construct it. I just love red, I liked the movie, and I like a challenge.

I seem to be burying myself in new projects. And they’re all for me. I don’t think I’m going to be knitting gifts this Christmas.

Well, I did my weights and physical therapy on Thursday. I’ve noticed that Thursdays seem to be a good day for me. I didn’t do anything that would upset my ankle, but I was still able to do a lot. I overdid it however, I felt some pain in my abdomen afterwards, so next time, I’ll work it a little easier.

For the past two years, between Halloween and Thanksgiving, I’ve gone completely off of all sugar and refined carbs such as white flour, white bread, etc. I have always felt great benefit from it, and it seems to help me get through the rest of the “holiday food” season with self control, eating in moderation instead of the Inhaling Sugar Monster I am capable of becoming. Well, I don’t think I can do it this year, but I am in need of a change, so I think I’m going to try to get into the “spirit” of it and do the best I can. I’m on my 3rd day, and I already feel better. The problem is that most non-sugar foods upset my tummy, but I’m trying to find a happy compromise.

I didn’t weight myself this morning before breakfast, but yesterday I was 229.5, so that’ll be our official pregnant weight for the week.

This Wednesday we get our ultrasound to find out the gender of the baby, and we’re very excited about that.

How was your week?

I know I promised you all my gingerbread cookie recipe, and I think about it every day, about 30 minutes after I post, so, here it is…

Margaret’s Gingerbread Cookies

1 1/2 cup shortening (Crisco, for people like Hayden that don’t know these things)

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cups molasses

Cream the above ingredients together, then add

4 1/2 cups flour, + or –

1 T + 1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cloves

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ginger (be generous)

Notes- this makes a really soft, wettish dough. If you’re going to make the circular, sugar coated cookies, roll a rounded Tablespoon-Tablespoon and a half of dough into a ball, then coat in sugar. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes at 375. I’ve found that no matter how long or short I bake them, they get crispy the first day, and are deliciously soft the next day. They’re great either way.

To make cookie cutter gingerbread cookies (really, really good ones), add an extra 1 to 1 1/2 cups flour. I don’t refrigerate the dough, but instead I use flour liberally on the counter top and top of the dough when rolling it out to avoid the sticking. Roll them out very thick, and cut. Baking is the same.

Yum, yum. If you remember from last year (and the year before, quite frankly), I like to make gingerbread turkey cookies on Thanksgiving.

Now, on to the VCC. After deciding that the filler panel couldn’t go through the armpit without making me look like I sagged to the floor, ahem, I spent a very long time staring in the mirror, pinning here and there, seaming bits and pieces, trying to decide what to do. After re-knitting almost the whole sweater this year, I am determined to wear it when I’m done, even if it’s a size Large, and my pregnant self is bigger than that.

I decided to just knit the filler panel to the armpit, and rapidly taper it down so the armhole remains it’s original size. It’s not great, but I can wear it. the sun isn’t up yet, so I don’t have a picture of the finished panel, but I have pictures from yesterday.

The first filler panel, which measured 41 inches, was intended to go up the sides, through the armpit, and down the sleeve. Once I realized that wouldn’t work, I had a lot of side panel left. The thought of ripping it was making me sick, mainly because I HATED knitting it. It seemed like a lot of wasted time, and since this would be the SECOND time this particular stretch of yarn had been blocked and frogged, I wasn’t ever going to knit it again. It was going in the trash.

Then I had a really cool thought.

I snipped. I unravelled, I picked up stitches, re-bound off, and I have a matching ear warmer/headband! Hot-dang! I’m quite pleased with that little bit of brilliance. I’m especially pleased that I thought of it before I ripped the whole thing out.

The second filler panel was 13 inches at the time, so I only had a little bit left to knit before seaming it it. And I didn’t block it. Leave me alone, I don’t care. It’s in the sweater, and it’s not coming out ’til I lose about 60 pounds.

Happy Friday. I’m off to help at the school all day, which always exhausts me. Today, we’re making a mosaic bench for the dinner auction.

UPDATE– Actually, I’m staying home. Veronica woke up sick, and my ankle is bothering me, not to mention I can barely move because I’m so tired anyway. So, Nate is going to go and make a mosaic bench. And he’s a saint.

The VCC will NOT win. It is giving me what-for, and I’m not gonna take it. The filler panel idea, while apparently imperfect, WILL prevail!

I’m having some trouble, can you tell? The problem is, I’m not sure exactly how to fix it. I’m seaming here, seaming there, staring at the mirror. Fortunately, I listened to my inner voice and stopped knitting on the second filler panel, so I could sew in the first one to see if it was even going to work. Now that I know it isn’t, I have saved myself about 25 inches of filler panel knitting that would have gone wasted. This is good.

I know I’m being somewhat cryptic, but trust me, the whole dilemma isn’t interesting enough for me to want to type out, or for you to want to read.

I finished the fingerless mitts yesterday, but didn’t get a picture before nightfall when my friend came to pick them up for her husband, so we had to take some flash pictures which always suck. My friend said that her husband is enjoying his hat, but is still very cold, so I’m glad I made the mitts. I hope they work out.

Nate had a good birthday yesterday. I think. It was really low-key, which is what he said he wanted. I have a hard time understanding that. I like the Big Bang birthdays, myself.

Here’s a picture of Nate, Olivia, and Veronica at our favorite Thai Food restaurant last night.

My little camera is so cool. It was really dark in there. The shutter speed registered at 1/3 of a second, with red “warning” lights flashing at me, and yet, I still got a decent picture.

My amazing husband, whom I continue to adore, is a year older today. As I was telling my dad a few days ago, I am still pinching myself after nearly 12 years of marriage. He’s fabulous, and we all love him. Very much.

Happy Birthday, dearest. May your special day be full of love, joy, and thai food.

Cute picture, no? Veronica took it. Along with about 2 dozen others, but this one turned out cute. Digital cameras rock for blogging. I was all excited because I don’t look fat in this picture. Nate had to point out that it’s because my hands were in the way. Then I had to point out that it was intentional!!!

Anyway, it’s a cute picture. The problem I have with it is that when I look at it, aside from some great, flippy hair, all I can see is my brother. Eyes, nose, mouth (definitely the mouth), facial expression and chin. There’s nothing wrong with my brother, but I can’t think of any girl that wants to look at a photo of herself and see her masculine sibling. Nate just sees pretty little me in the photo, so he’s somewhat redeemed.

Back to the hat… It looked great, but could have used some blocking. However, the poor man I knit it for needed to be warm more than I needed to satisfy my pride by delivering a perfect and blocked hat. So as soon as I had tied off and woven in the ends, I called my friend, who had her daughter come and pick up the hat and take it directly to the hospital.

And then, he called me. From the hospital, this poor, sick man called and thanked me for making him a comfortable hat. I could cry. He sounded so tired, and I barely even recognized his voice.

So I spent the rest of the day yesterday working on the first of his fingerless mitts.