It's a boy!! Sebastian Peter was born around 3pm on Friday, July 30th. Ryan and I took the long drive to the hospital and got there just as visiting hours ended, but they let us stay for about 20 minutes anyway. This hospital is seriously security-minded and won't let the babies out of the nursery until visiting hours are over, which I find extremely frustrating, but I guess they gotta do what they gotta do.

We got to see Sebastian getting a very very messy diaper changed, so we actually saw more of the butt end than the face end. But the little bit of face we did get to see was adorable! He's a cute little thing, for sure. Eight pounds, 6 ounces, 21 inches long. So he's big, but he wasn't the giant bruiser they were predicting.

Mom and Dad are doing fine. Mom's drugged up from the c-section but was in great spirits and was a great patient, they said. Dad is dancing on air, and as giddy as I've ever seen him.

I want one.

It's official - for various reasons, Leanne has to have a c-section. She's much more sanguine about it now than she was on Monday. It will be tomorrow, probably around midday. So exciting! We're going to go out to the hospital tomorrow night, even though they won't let us hold the baby. Is that new? Most of my friends who've had babies said the hospital didn't restrict that sort of thing, but this one says only parents and grandparents. Bleh! Still, I want to see the little tyke when it's fresh from the womb. :-)

Duck feet booties are ready to go! I made one pair with the Rowan "Sunny" color, and that is all ready. However, I found some really lovely yellow sport-weight cotton/acrylic yarn at School Products yesterday, and I have started another pair. I'm 90% done with bootie one, and would love to finish that and bootie two tonight. This yarn actually feels nicer than the cotton glace, and I think it's a better color. I have several friends with babies here or on the way who could use duck feet, so there's no wasted booties!

Since Liz wanted to know, I'll tell you that my Knit-A-Way experience was not a thrill. It was just like a Knitting Hands experience, although the staff seemed friendlier to the other people there who were asking questions. Basically, I think the big sale is to get rid of stuff, and they didn't seem to have anything new. It was mostly wool, and mostly stuff I don't like (I like soft soft soft), and mostly blechy colors. I was looking for yarn to make baby stuff and came home empty-handed.

Then again, I was in a crappy mood and that certainly could have contributed. I may have to go back. It's another cruddy day, so maybe today.

I am still struggling with that damn Debbie Bliss bear. It's horrid. I finished knitting all the tiny body parts, and putting them together is no more fun than the knitting of them. I hate the way it is constructed with seams running right down the center of the face. I don't know what I'm going to do about this awful little project that I thought would be so fun.

The upside is Leanne is still hanging onto that baby, though her due date was this past Thursday. Poor thing. They say he/she is about 10 pounds by now,  and they may have to induce or c-section her. She was very upset about the c-section possibility, as she has been a diligent Bradley method learner and really has taken care of herself and had a very easy pregnancy up to now. I told her she must have a comfy womb and that whatever happens, she's going to have a beautiful baby, no matter how it gets out of her. Yeah, that helped. Uh-huh.

In the meantime, I am making a pair of duck feet baby booties from Zoe Mellor's 50 Baby Bootees to Knit. I may give these to Leanne, because she has mentioned that she bought some of the Carter's "little duckie" print baby clothes. I also may give them to my friend Wendy, who has a brand-new son. I had bought some the the little duckie stuff for a baby we never got to see (and had to buy a larger size of other stuff)  a few months back, so I could give her that and the booties and have a great gift. I think that if Leanne has a boy,  she'll get the duck feet right away and I'll make another pair for Wendy's son, who I won't see as quickly. If she has a girl, I will send Wendy the ducks, and make the pink gingham booties on the cover of that book for Leanne, and maybe the duck feet later. I could also make the gingham in green, if it's a boy and I decide this plan is worthless. :-)

So many decisions, but right now it's all hinging on when that silly baby pokes its head out and what sort of equipment they find down below!

After reading the news on the Stitch-n-Bitch list, I got confirmation that Knitting Hands is now called Knit-a-Way, and is under new ownership. Well, that would explain the lack of stock and interest I experienced the past few times I went there. I'm intrigued by the change, and since my confirmation came in the form of a "20% off Everything!" coupon and today is a rainy day, I will be there sometime this afternoon.
 
Leanne is going to have her baby any day now, and I am no further on that stupid bear, so that's on my agenda, too. I might have to make some booties or something like that in the interim, just in case said baby pops out before I finish. I do have other gifts I am giving her, but none of them are handknitted (knitted baby monitors are not functional, it appears) and I want to give her something I made myself!
 
Headed to Grand Rapids, Michigan tomorrow for work, getting back Tuesday night. If I don't have to work on the plane, maybe I can knit. But I may get stuck with actual work. Yuk. I'm so over work. I was there until 11:30 Thursday night, and now that I didn't get the promotion, that sort of thing is extra-maddening. I'll work it out eventually, but in the meantime, I'm just not thrilled to be there at all.

I had sort of a shitty end of the week. On Wednesday, I had to drive in to the office so I could drive to Pennsylvania later in the day because we were shooting something on location there Thursday, starting very early. On 8th Avenue, like 5 blocks from my office, I got rear-ended by a cab. It was a minor incident, but I still wanted a Police report, just in case we end up having to replace the whole damn bumper. The whole thing was just a big pain in the ass, and made me very late for work (which was OK - I called and explained and no one minded).

Yesterday, I got to work and went to see my boss. She told me that my raise had come in, and through our conversation, I discovered I was not getting promoted along with this 6.25% percent raise. Well, back in the beginning of the year, when I first started asking about my review/raise, she told me I would absolutely be getting promoted, that I was definitely ready. When I asked her if there was anything more I needed to be doing, she told me no, I was doing great. So this was a tremendous shock.

I was too shocked to bring any of that up at the time; basically I was so shocked all I could do was say "I have to go" and head for the ladies room in case I actually burst out in tears. I didn't, but I was choked up for a while.

I have a friend at work who was at the same level as me, and asked our boss about her raise/promotion outlook around the same time I did. She wasn't satisfied with the answer, went out looking for other jobs, got an offer that came with a promotion and a HUGE raise, told our boss, got counter-offered (not the same salary, but apparently a good compromise) and is now my "superior." Actually, it looks like now I am going to be her "right-hand" person on some of her projects. This isn't a problem between us, because she's great, and she even said she doesn't think of it that way - she knows we're equals outside of the blackmail. But for me, it feels like a tremendous setback, and the irony of it all is too much.

I can't figure out what happened, which is the worst part. Why would she say one thing and then do another? I had no indication at any time during the past 6 months that I was lacking in any way. She is constantly telling me how wonderful I am. So what gives? I'm going to bring it up next week when I can talk about it without crying (lack of PMS would help that situation greatly!). But the cold hard reality is that if this is the decision, it's not going to change now, and I am going to have to wait until next year for a substantive raise and promotion.

That's too long. I already spoke to several people who assured me of my high value in the marketplace, and it looks like I'm going to have to find that out for myself. I don't expect I'll go the blackmail route, either. Once my heart's not in it anymore, I'm out. This makes me sad, because I thought I'd be able to stay here for a while and could be really happy, here. Until now, my boss has been the absolute most wonderful person I could ever hope to work for in a million years. Sad.

Yeah, it's been well over a month since I posted. That's lame.

So what happened in that time? I worked about a gajillion hours, went to Chicago for work, had a fun birthday, went to Hawaii with my family, had my first anniversary, had a great time on vacation, came home and worked a million more hours (negating most of the nice vacation effects), New Jersey, Phoenix, and Dallas for work, got jet-lagged, came home, collapsed in a heap, went back to work, and finally had a nice long weekend.

Right now I am knitting Debbie Bliss's Bear in a Lamb Sleep Suit for Leanne's baby. She loved it in the book and so I decided to make it for her as a surprise. How cute is this?



Unfortunately, the instructions suck ass. Seriously. First off, the colors are specified by name in the book, but only in numbers on the shade card, so the brown I ordered online (because I couldn't get to a LYS that carried it) is the wrong brown. I can live with that - it's just a more fair-furred bear than I had planned on.

The actual knitting instructions are far worse than that. This thing is knit in a zillion little tiny pieces, and then there is no friggin schematic for how to put it together! Just a bunch of paragraphs of description. Hey, Debbie, a picture is worth a thousand stupid words! Because it's so annoying, I've mostly knitted only on airplanes, and even then it's been hard to force myself to do it. I'm almost done with the bear part. I suspect the lamb suit part will be less of a pain in the butt.

I promise to be a better blogger from here on.

So, does anyone remember last year, when my best friend told me we were going to a big yarn sale in order to get me to my bridal shower? Strangely enough, almost exactly a year later, my now-pregnant best friend and I went to the yarn store she decoyed me with! It was called The Knitting Cove and was a lovely place to while away an hour or so on a beautiful day.

I came home with a Debbie Bliss baby knits book and some baby cashmerino to make some booties. My cube-neighbor at work just had a baby boy, and since he was there when I gave my other friend the strawberry cap, I wanted to give him something, too. The pattern works up quickly, and the booties are so cute! Don't you agree?

My blog's been quiet, but I sure haven't. I feel like I haven't had a minute to myself for weeks! No knitting, no sewing, nothing but working and running from place to place. I've had a lot of fun, but I am so worn out and just want a quiet day to myself. Dunno when that's going to happen.

Mother's Day was fun. Mom and Dad came over and I cooked an amazing brunch (if I do say so myself), culminating in amazing crab cakes, courtesy of America's Test Kitchen. If you like crab cakes, make these. The only trick is being willing to shell out 20-25 bucks for the jumbo lump crabmeat. It is totally worth it. You'd pay that for one serving of these at a restaurant, and they wouldn't be as good, damnit.

Been reading in New York Magazine about the protests planned for the Republican National Convention in August. I still can't believe it's going to be here. A block from my office. Shit. What a mess. I may have to go join the protests, since I will be in the neighborhood! What worries me is that the US Open is going on at the same time, and apparently the Mets and Yankees are both at home. What a friggin mess, whatever your political leanings.

Starting to get really excited for our trip to Hawaii in June. My whole family (Mom, Dad, brother, us) is going. Mom's birthday, June 11th, is King Kamehameha Day, a big holiday there. She has always wanted to go, so we are. We'll spend the first 5 days on Oahu, the next 6 on Kaua'i. Our anniversary falls in the middle of the Kaua'i leg of the trip, so we'll get to spend it in my favorite place in the world.

Well, work got crazy again and I've hardly had any time to knit, sew, or blog. It's frustrating - one week is so dead that you're wondering where you're going to bill your time (the evil that comes along with working in a client-service business) and the next you're insanely busy and wondering how you're going to find the time to do it all.

In between all that we went to Atlanta for the wedding of my friends Peggy and Ronna. Screw anyone who has an issue with calling it a wedding and not a committment ceremony. These two wonderful women are so in love, and it was one of the best weddings I've ever been to! Lots of family and friends, lots of love, lots of dancing and good food. What's not to love?

Ryan and I made new best friends, too. Ronna's two nieces, Carly (6) and Wensday (yes, it's really spelled that way and she's 8) latched on to us the first night of the weekend, and none of us ever let go. Everyone kept telling us we need to have kids ASAP. Well, yeah, it's not like it hasn't occurred to us. We're getting there. Someday we'll either be financially in a position to do it, or decide we can't wait any longer and hell, there are a ton of people with kids who make far less money than I do, even if Ryan doesn't have a full-time job. We'll see which happens first.

This weekend is the Cherry Blossom Festival so we'll be back at the Botanic Garden. I think our friend Wil and his girlfriend are joining us there on Saturday. That night we've got a party to go to - a colleague of mine is having "Drinko de Mayo." Who can resist that? Maybe Sunday I will get back to sewing, since it's supposed to be rainy.

We had a little baby shower at work for my friend here who is about to have her baby. First we gave her a gift certificate many people contributed to, and then I gave her a strawberry cap, which made her cry. Happy cry, you know. It was really sweet.

I bought fabric and trim for my copy of the Garnet Hill skirt, and sewed part of the skirt yesterday. Unfortunately, I am not thrilled with it. It sits a bit too high on the waist for my taste. Part of that is the pattern, part of it is that I think it's a bit small, so it's happier sitting higher up on my waist where it is narrower. Grr. I have more fabric, and am toying with the idea of just trying something else or making it in a larger size. Why is it so hard to find a simple, lowish-waisted a-line skirt pattern. You know, like EVERY SKIRT in EVERY STORE out there?

Oh well. I'll figure it out.

Other than that, all is well. It's finally beautiful, glorious Spring here. Ryan and I went back to the Botanic Garden yesterday and pretended to get married again. It was good fun and we took some pictures, but I was too pooped to download them last night so those will have to wait. It was a lovely day, and we ended it off by ordering Indian food for dinner, just like we did on our real wedding night. :-)

I'm kind of fried today. Last night I went out to a going-away party for someone I've worked very closely with for the past 6 months, and who I will really miss. I hadn't eaten much and probably could have done with 1 fewer Tanqueray+Tonic. Ryan joined the party and we had a great time, dancing and laughing and drinking. I didn't pay too hard this morning, but enough that I decided I want to be a lump tonight. So, while Ryan is out seeing Hellboy with our friend John, I am home being nice and quiet.

Added a few more links on the left. I'll try and link to anyone who comments, unless you're nasty. :-)

Well, I gave in with the Cotton Colori and started another Ginger tank. It's so pretty and so flattering, and I don't mind something easy and fast right now. Maybe someday it'll even be warm enough to wear it!

I've recently gotten re-interested in sewing. I bought a machine like a year ago, and felt terrible that it sat for so long. I finally pulled it out a few weeks ago to hem some pants, and now I have the bug. I fell in love with this skirt from Garnet Hill over the weekend, and I think I can make something similar for far less than the $198 bucks they want for it. My office is in NYC's Garment District, so there are tons of great fabric stores around here. I just have to get my ass out to visit one of them and I am sure I will find tons of wonderful ways to spend my money. And take up more space in my apartment. Whee!

OK, I just added a bunch of new links. If you've left me a nice comment in the past 6 months and included your URL, you're there. If you're not and would like to be, just let me know (via comments is the easiest way).

What else is there do to on a rainy Sunday but clean the oven and update your blog links? Yup, I finally have gotten to two of my big "housecleaning" to-do items. The oven was fairly self-explanatory - actually, I didn't let the stuff sit long enough so I re-sprayed and that's what made me turn to the blog.

Updating my links was a pain in the butt! I deleted links to any blogs that haven't had entries in 2004. I also updated links to those I was previously linked to and have moved. I added a few links to non-knitters I've become friends with and enjoy reading.

What I did not do (yet) is add new links. I'm working on it. If you want me to link to you, let me know! Reply here in my comments. I'm going to look through previous comments to find people who've said nice things but aren't linked to, also.

In other random news, if you like Yankee Candles (or other candles with the same size opening as their jar candles) get yourself a Candle Capper now! Ryan and I were in the (don't laugh) Country Clutter store at the Tanger outlets a few weeks ago, buying some candles, and the saleslady talked us into getting one. It's awesome! Just as the package promises, the candles burn more evenly, and there's no black sooty buildup on the side of the jars. I should just buy a boatload of these to give to people when I give them gifts.

Yay for the new Knitty! A nice way to start a Friday, certainly. I see a few things I'm interested in making. I hope one of my pregnant friends has a girl, so I can give her this adorable dress. And a friend of mine has been offering to pay me to make her a meshy shawl, similar to a sweater she has. I've been trying to decide how to make it, but this frill pattern may just fit the bill! The honeymoon cami also looks awfully cute.

The only thing I'm not thrilled about is the preponderance of very short sweaters - stuff that leaves your belly button hanging out. I know I can lengthen them - that's not the issue. I just don't like the proportions as they are. Maybe if I were still young and skinny I would.

Anyway, Knitty is always fun to read and inspirational. I'm really so proud of and impressed with Amy for turning this dream into such a wonderful reality. The whole story just makes me happy whenever I think about it.

I went to a fun new yarn store on Saturday! We were out on Long Island so I decided we should visit Garden City Stitches. A friend of a friend used to manage the place, and recently bought the owner out, but I had never been there.

I was very pleased with the store. They had a nice selection of basic yarns, and tons of novelty yarns. Plus the staff was awfully nice and helpful - one woman just sat and chatted with me and Ryan for ages about design, etc. I fell in love with a froufy eyelashy scarf, and ended up buying the yarn to make it. It's one ball of Artful Yarns Cinema, in the "Mrs. Miniver" colorway, and one ball of Plymouth DazzleLash in shade 129. Easy peasy, a few hours later I had a scarf. Gotta love instant gratification.



I also finished another strawberry cap. Now for a change of pace I'm working on a pumpkin. Still haven't decided what I am doing with my Cotton Colori, but I'm sure it'll become something soon enough.

I am totally beat. Exhausted. Worn-out. Bushed.

Got stuck at work until 8:30 on Tuesday, then had to be up at 5am to fly to Fort Lauderdale Wednesday. We were in market research until 9pm, at which point we went to our hotel. Once we checked in, my keycard didn't work, twice. They had to find me a new room. Didn't get to the room until almost 10, and didn't get to sleep until nearly 11. Back up at 5 for a 7am flight and a car directly back to the office.

I am never letting anal-retentive-afraid-to-slack-off Jeff-the-account-guy (who is a nice guy otherwise) determine my travel arrangements again! At least I left at 4pm. This post will likely be one of my last conscious acts of the day.

I did manage to finish a strawberry cap on the flight out. I was surrounded by little old ladies who marveled at how I "got" my needles onto the plane. OK, I've brought my knitting needles on every single flight I have taken since 9/11/01. Every time. In the US (including Hawaii) and in Europe. No one has ever said anything about it. They had to put my purse through twice yesterday at the x-ray machine (I had a scary-looking banana in it?) but not the carry-on with the knitting stuff. I usually have Addi circs, and always something on them, not that I think they can see that in the x-ray. This time I also had 5 wooden size 6 dpns, and those were fine, too. I told the ladies that and they were astounded. I also gave them Ann Norling's name for the pattern, and the Elann.com URL. Good times.

The other bright spot of research was ordering in Joe's Stone Crab for dinner. Yum! Totally the highlight of the trip. I love crab, and it definitely softened the blow of sitting in a dark room in Florida for 10 hours.

Other than that, not much to report. I'm totally noticing the effect of sleep deprivation on my cognitive abilities. I have said many stupid things today. I'm going to quit now before I say another.

Has anyone seen the sun? I sure haven't. The one day it was decent here this week, I was in St. Louis for market research, where it was grey and cold, too. And it's snowing yet again. I am so sick and tired of this stupid stupid winter. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, but I don't see much improvement in the weather forecast.

On Wednesday I'm going to Fort Lauderdale for market research, but, painfully, I will not get to enjoy the weather there. I arrive in the morning, sit in a room all day, and leave the next morning. Depressing. If we're going to do that, at least let it not be someplace so pleasantly warm!

Not much exciting knitting going on right now. I'm making some strawberry caps for some pregnant ladies, and trying to find more Cotton Classic. I wonder why it's suddenly so hard to come by?

I just took a quick check of my comments and need to address this one right away - I am not pregnant! Leanne, my friend, is the pregnant one. I thought that was clear, but maybe not? Trust me, when I do get pregnant, it will not be an addendum to the end of a post about other stuff. ;-)

I found the perfect pants to go with HoJo! We made a very spontaneous trip out to Tanger Outlets in Riverhead yesterday and I found them at J. Crew. So, if you were in my office, this is what you would see coming towards you today.



Tonight, Ryan and I are going to see Leanne, who is participating in An Evening of Good Taste. Can you believe they're letting us in? ;-) I'm looking forward to seeing and tasting the show, and seeing Leanne and her (have I even mentioned this yet? I might not have) 5-month pregnant belly!