This is the dinosaur I made for Phil and Lisa’s son Oliver. I had intended it to be ready for his bris, but he was born a bit early and I got busy with wedding stuff and then returned the library book before leaving for my honeymoon. It took a while to get it out again, but once I did the little guy only took about 2 weeks to knit up. The book is Easy Baby Knits by Family Circle and the pattern is Betsy Brachiosaurus (in the book she’s in bright pink with yellow). I didn’t make any modifications to the pattern other than using a larger size needle because I was using a slightly thicker yarn (and I used the same color for all the white areas, whereas the original pattern has some parts in white and others in yellow). I also omitted the long eyelashes and glued-on felt spots, stuff that I didn’t think would work well for a 3 month old baby.
I was quite irritated with the pattern as I knit it because I couldn’t figure out the odd shaping. It all became clear quite soon, however, and I was amazed at the ingenuity because by the time all the knitting was done there were only a few seams to do. In fact, once I’d sewn in the pads of the feet and the back of the legs, all I had left to do was stuff it and sew one long seam down the back. Quite cool.
As you can see he ended up quite tall! 21 inches (roughly). The pattern calls for him to end up 18″ but as I said I’d used a thicker yarn (Bernat Baby Coordinates in (duh) blue and white).

Side view showing his cute little fingernails, and how nicely his tail lets him balance to stand on his own.
Don’t look if the sight of a dinosaur degrading itself offends you. ;P

I’ve gotten a few more comments than usual lately (prompted, I’m quite sure by my mention on Stephanie’s blog). I’m not complaining- quite the opposite, I’m thrilled! But now I’m feeling guilty for not replying to everyone. It is hard when someone writes to me as anonymous or puts a name but doesn’t have a blog so all I see is Blogger’s standard “noreply” email address. So I’m going to address some of the more recent comments here. 🙂

Jan wrote:
I’m so happy for both of you 🙂 What is your due date?

I don’t remember if I answered this already. Our original due date was the 25th of May (although every online calculator gave me the 23rd of May). When we went for our ultrasound the technician upped the date to May 19th, so that’s what we’re going with for now.

Allycupe wrote:
Wow I just flipped over here after reading about you on Yarnharlot. Congrats on your new wee one..imagaine all the knitting you can get done between now and then! Wool diaper covers, blankets, socks, sweaters…..it could be ENDLESS!

Tell me about it! I’ve had fun knitting for the babies of friends and family members, but now I get to do it for me! It does seem endless…I’ve knit a black cardigan that needs the buttons attached, the Just Ducky hat/socks set, a matching Froggy hat/socks set…now I’m knitting a cardigan and hat out of sock yarn plus I have 2 more cardigans that I want to make with the sock yarn, plus the Debbie Bliss alphabet blanket, plus there are some cute things on knitty.com…plus a whole bunch of toys… there aren’t enough hours in the day!

Caroline wrote:
Jennifer, you rock. Seriously, taking the time to call Patons and making the pattern available for everyone? That’s incredibly generous of you.

:} You’re sweet! I just didn’t want to get in trouble for giving it out! But I also felt horrible saying “the pattern is from XXX book but you can’t have a copy because you can’t buy it any more so I have it and you don’t nyah nyah”. I weighed the odds…and plus they are located in Canada and have a toll-free number, so it didn’t cost me much to ask, just a few minutes of my time. (Plus the lady called me back while I was at work, and any excuse to take a break is a good thing!)

Carin, KnittingNervana, Katnfiddle, Kat with a K, Sherry, Anonymous knitter from NYC with a bowler hubby, Alisha, Llamabean125, Laurie (Moo!), Karen, Bobbie, Elizabeth, Kristine, Kathe, Shannon, Carrie and Jay Jay wrote to comment on the cool bowling socks or to congratulate Yannick and I on the wedding and baby news. A huge thank-you to all of you, because it means a lot that people who don’t really know me that well are taking the time to wish us (and our little 3″ bundle) good tidings.

Kristine also wrote:
I was thinking the same thing as knitting mama! Lots of food talking for someone who’s not eating! My thought though, as it so often is, is your body knows what it’s doing. Maybe the reason you’re not nauseaus is that you’re not eating so much that your stomach and the baby are competing for room?

LOL. I can mention a lot of food because I’m not nauseous (except the time I tried going to a Chinese buffet…NOT a good idea!). I have no problem seeing the food on the table, or watching others eat. But within a few bites of my own meal I get this “heat” feeling spread down from my chest to my belly, and I am instantly full. Full enough that it takes effort to force down a few more bites. But I LOVE food, so can talk about it endlessly! :] I have no idea if the baby and my belly are in competition for the same places, although my belly has been pretty big for the last year or so and I would imagine there is plenty of room. 😉

and finally,

Julia wrote:
Jennifer, I am an avid Charming Tails collector and mouse lover. My whole tree is mice, and I would love to see your wreath close up so I could get an idea of what you did. Could you either post or email a larger picture?

Wow…someone else who goes through the archives? I’m flattered! About a photo- I don’t have one at the moment, but in about a week or so we will be starting to dig out our holiday decorations (I didn’t say Christmas decorations because we decorate for Hanukah too) and I will be sure to take a detailed photo when we put the wreath up. I can tell you that it is just a store-bought wreath that we wrapped a strand of white miniWow…someone else like me who goes through the archives when they find a blog they like? I’m lights around, and a strand of silver…what’s that stuff? Not tinsel…the long fluffy “rope” of glitter…anyways, one of those strands. The mice that are on it are the 12 days of Christmas series, and about another 7 or so ornament mice, including the blown glass one hanging in the center.

I can show you pics of my collection though! I first noticed them 4 years ago when I bought Yannick a rose dipped in solid gold for his birthday and went to a collectible store to buy a case for it. I saw the mouse on the beach in the oyster shell holding a pearl and thought it was so cute! Next to it on the shelf was the one with the mouse sitting on the pillow and yawning and I couldn’t stop smiling when I saw his face. A few weeks later I quit smoking, and as a reward every week I took the money I would have spent on cigarettes and spent it on a mouse. Later my family and Yannick started buying me some as gifts.
I store them on glass shelves in our dining room. They will have to be moved if we ever change the furniture, but for now I am happy to have them out where people can see them and admire them.These are the bottom two shelves. You can see the one with the pearl towards the left end, and the yawning mouse towards the right. You can also see some of the ornaments…the ones that can’t stand on their own I let hang from the shelf supports.

This one shows the top and middle shelf. I have two of the Canadian limited edition mice, and there are two mice that Yannick used when we were talking about getting married. The mouse surrounded by gems and holding a diamond was his way of saying that a ring was coming, and then once we were engaged he bought me the one near the center of the middle shelf…the guy mouse is facing the girl mouse (I’m too lazy to look up their names right now…Maxine and Maxwell or something?) and holding a diamond ring behind his back. I love the name of that one… “I have a question for you”. They have really cute names some of them, like the one of the mouse dieting and standing on a scale is called “Just Weight”.This is one of my favorites. Yannick had bought it for me a while ago and we decided it was something we wanted to include in our wedding…so it was the topper on our wedding cake!

I just had the coolest customer service experience!

Back in October I had ordered a book, Knitting Ganseys, from Amazon. Every few weeks I get an email telling me that the shipment will be delayed, and as of this morning it wouldn’t be delivered until January 23rd. I’m a little fed up of waiting, so I chose a new book I wanted (Knitting Vintage Socks) and decided to see if I could switch one book for the other.

You know how when you call customer service you normally have to wait…and wait…and wait until someone is free to talk to you? With Amazon’s customer service it’s not like that! It was so cool…a little window pops up and you put in your phone number and tell it when you want them to call you…right away, in 5 minutes, in 10 minutes, etc…

I put in my work number and chose “right away”. The window changed to say “answer your phone”.

It was like magic. My phone rang.

I answered it and heard that dead air followed by ringing that told me that I was now calling them (like when telemarketers call and you answer the phone to hear ringing). Within 2 minutes a rep was on the phone and I had switched one book for the other, with a shipping date of November 24th.

And my new shipping rate is lower than the original one.

How can you beat that?

One of these days I’ll get around to posting a belly shot of me. It’s hysterical…I can’t eat enough, so I’m losing weight in my legs, waist and face. But my stomach looks like its been blown up! I’m having a lot of fun showing it off in tight tshirts, although I can’t believe it will get bigger than this as the baby grows! (I’m huge and I’m only at 14 weeks tomorrow).

I am getting really tired of not being able to eat, though. It makes me really worried that I’m not eating enough for the baby. I know people always say “Oh, you were bigger before so its fine, the baby is feeding off of you”. But I’m worried the baby is getting calories from me without the nutrients it needs. Its not that I’m nauseous, in fact I haven’t thrown up at all, and I’ve only been really nauseous “maybe” 3 times total. But I have no appetite. Zero. Zilch. Nada. One day last week I managed to eat a bagel with cream cheese, a banana and a fruit cup. Literally- that is someone’s breakfast. And that was what I ate all day.

Friday night Yannick and I went to Moe’s for supper. We hadn’t been there in a while and thought it would be a nice change. We shared an appetizer of potato skins (4 pieces, so 2 each) and then he had a smoked meat pizza and I had the Mexicali wrap (wrap with taco beef and all the toppings). Each half of my wrap was about 5.5″ long. I managed to eat 3/4 of one half. Yannick had 2 of his slices of pizza then finished my half of the wrap…then I decided there was no point in bringing it home like I usually do because it wouldn’t reheat well due to the sour cream and guacamole in it, so he ate the other half too and brought his pizza home.

When we got home we remembered that we still had 2 movies to watch from the 3 we rented last Saturday, so we popped in The Lake House. It was a cute movie, and we both fell in love with the actual lake house. The only thing that was bad was the ending. I don’t like movies where the story finally gets wrapped up- then the screen goes black and the credits start to roll. Give me a few minutes of after-story first. Give me a minute to go “ahhh” once it all comes together. This ending was kinda like eating a great meal, then being thrown out of the restaurant a split-second later. (Ok, bad analogy…but it was really abrupt).

Saturday we got woken up early because the mother of one of Yannick’s best friends (who also happens to technically be my ex) had been rushed into the hospital the night before, and was now in a coma. I had to work all day, but Yannick was able to go to the hospital and be with his friends and their family. Unfortunately she passed away that afternoon, and we will be attending the visitation tonight and then the funeral on Wednesday. It’s very hard, because Jason (my ex) is only in his late 20s, his brother is in his mid 20s and his sister is only 17. Their step-father had already passed away a few years ago, but their mom was still close with their actual father so I’m guessing that he will take the youngest in until she’s at least 18. It’s messed up when something like this happens out of the blue and I can’t imagine what they are going through right now.

We had made dinner plans with our friends Mike and Laura for Saturday night and Yannick didn’t want to put them off even though he was feeling out of it from being at the hospital all afternoon so we met up with them and had a great dinner. We went to Le Surcouf in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, a quaint little house that was converted into a restaurant that serves French cuisine. It was delicious! They have a standard menu, plus a table d’hote and a “seasonal” menu. The seasonal menu changes every season (duh) and incorporates meats and vegetables that are fresh and available that season. So now that we are into Fall/Winter, the seasonal menu was “Chasseur” (Hunter). Its main course selections were Osso Bucco of Bore or Guinea Fowl. What is cool about their table d’hote is that you can make it up from any of their appetizer, main course and dessert selections…you can really create your own meal. I’m going to tell you what everyone ate because I want your mouth to water so you’ll go and try it out for yourself:
Laura had a mixed salad (very artfully arranged on the plate, but then again everything was) and scampi and for dessert had a chocolate mousse.
Mike had a salmon salad (he claimed it was the best salmon of his life), walleye (fish) with a butter and almond crust/sauce, and creme brule (also the best of his life, and a very large portion).
Yannick had wild game meatballs, steak tartare and a melting chocolate fudge volcano thing that was excellent…and I don’t like chocolate.
I had grilled vegetables with goat cheese, rack of lamb and a dessert of pears in a pastry crust topped with fresh pomegranite.
The food was so good but even at that I only had about 2 or 3 pieces of lamb (there were about 7 on the plate, plus the sides, so the guys finished them) and about half of my dessert.

We stayed so long we closed the place down, and then Yannick had to drop off some tools at his cousin’s house, so we headed home and he dropped me off so I could go to bed.

Sunday I went to babysit for my friends Jackie and Kevin as the had a funeral to attend (what a week it has been) so I watched their son Bradley. He was so cute! He’s 13 months old, and I was with him from 12:00 to 3:30 when I put him down for a nap. I got to feed him lunch, give him his bottle and play with him all afternoon. It is so adorable watching him play hide and seek, or stand up and waddle around now that he is walking. Debbie came by around 2:30 to play with us, and Yannick arrived around 3:45, and Jackie and Kevin came home a little later. We hung out there for a bit then left around 5 so we could figure out what to do for dinner.

Apparently I haven’t learned yet, even though it has been over 6 weeks since I’ve really eaten a full supper, so we went to Scores for dinner. I had been craving the chicken tenders for a few weeks, and we had tried to go both to Baton Rouge and to Scores for dinner on Friday but both places had crazy wait times, so we ended up at Moe’s. This time we made it in and got a table within minutes. I ordered the chicken tenders with fries and added the salad bar, figuring it would be good to get in some veggies. Didn’t even occur to me that the likelyhood of me finishing my meal would be slim, and here I went adding on the extra salad bar, thus guaranteeing that I wouldn’t finish anything. Yannick didn’t even let me eat my salad until after the meal came so I’d have room for the chicken. So sure enough, I ate some fries and 2 of the 5 tenders, nibbled the salad, and Yannick ate the rest.

I completely understand now how men gain sympathy weight when their wives are pregnant. If Yannick keeps finishing the meals I can’t eat…

Anyways, after dinner we went home and watched the last of the 3 movies, Lucky Number Slevin. We both quite liked it. Josh Hartnet was good and Lucy Liu was extremely adorable. All in all, a fun movie.

So there you have it, my weekend in food. I did eat on Monday, but since it was my day off I grazed instead of sitting down for formal meals. I had such little appetite that while Yannick had his leftover pizza and 2 bagels for dinner, I had to force myself to finish a full bagel and a few slices of orange.

I can’t wait to be ravenous. I can’t wait to make a big plate of my favorite foods and dig in until I lick the plate clean. I’m getting annoyed at getting full off of a few bites. So far pregnancy has been the best diet I’ve ever been on…I eat whatever I want and so far I’m down 3 lbs. If only I didn’t have to worry about the health of the baby! (kidding!)

In knitting news, (since this is a knitting blog) I have finished both Froggy Socks and the matching hat, although the hat won’t be blogged until I buy 2 white pom poms for the eyes and get around to embroidering a mouth. I also finished Oliver’s dinosaur and brought it to my cousin Marlene so she could give it to her son and his wife (Oliver’s parents) the next time she sees them. I took photos of the dino before wrapping it up so I’ll try to remember to post those tonight after the viewing.

And I’m still working on the Bowling Socks .pdf file. I have finished the file but it is over 6 megs and I don’t want to clog anyones internet servers, much less my own, so I’m just working on a way to make it smaller and then I will post it up for everyone who wants a copy.

Wow! I’m amazed at all the people coming on over to see me thanks to Stephanie (the Yarn Harlot) putting a photo of me with Yannick’s bowling sock on her blog from the tour stop she made here in Montreal. I really appreciate everyone stopping by, and know why you’re all here…you want the pattern!

Well, the pattern is from an old Beehive knitting pattern booklet called Beehive Knits for Men, and it’s so old that there is no date on it. Just the price ($0.35!). There is no date anywhere, but I’m guessing it’s from or pre- the 50s because it used to belong to my Bubbie who made everything in it for my grandfather “back in the day”.

Unfortunately the pattern booklet isn’t sold anywhere anymore. I even looked around online and couldn’t find it on eBay or anywhere for sale. There are other Beehive Knits booklets, but not the same “Knits for Men – with special gift section” that I have.

So guess how nice I am to you? I could have just started making photocopies or scans of the book and sending them out to everyone who inquired. But that could be in a copyright gray area and there are a lot of you asking. So I took a deep breath and called Patons themselves. What’s the worst they could have done, said “no”? At the very least I could have taken the time to send each of you the magazine in turn, and if you choose to make a photocopy of the pattern for your personal use (while you have the mag in your possession) and then forget to destroy it when you send the booklet back to me…well, I’m hardly to blame for that, am I?

Don’t worry. We don’t need to start any vintage pattern scandals over here. Patons gave me permission to make the pattern available to all who ask, as long as I let you know which of their current yarns is the substitute for the discontinued yarn called for in the pattern. (It’s Kroy Sock Yarn, by the way).

Yay! Now…before you all start writing to me with your addresses, just itching to get your needles into the pattern…I’m taking this one step further. I’ve already scanned the pattern, and tomorrow I will be attempting to put it together (with the yarn update) into PDF format. As soon as I can cobble it together I will put it up in my sidebar, available for anyone to download.

So be patient my pretties…in a matter of days (a few tops, I promise) you will each be able to download your own copies of the pattern to save and/or print, and I will be able to keep a clear conscience and sleep well at night. See how we all win? ;]

Of course, those of you who found me through the pattern are more than welcome to stick around for a while too! If any of you have blogs please email me to let me know so I can come visit you too!

Also, Bobbie wrote to tell me:
No, “baumwolle” isn’t wool; it’s cotton. “Baum” is tree and “wolle” is fiber = “tree fiber” = cotton. So, since it’s mixed with acrylic (you were right on that one ;), the tot’s sweater is probably washable. Yeah!

Very cool! Thanks for letting me know! It probably is washable…on the yarn label there is a pic of a tub with 30 in it, which I believe is the washing temperature. It can also be ironed, although the dryer pic with a big X on it leads me to believe I’m better off drying it flat. 🙂

Last night’s knit-together was so much fun! I was in a corner with Deawn, Mona, Karine and Yannick…it’s a good thing I didn’t drink too much ‘cus I think I would have peed, I was laughing so hard. There were a lot of people there, let’s see if I can remember…there was Robyn, Peggy, Olga (new), Angela, Jennie, Veronik, Molly Ann…(anyone else get a Romper Room flashback?).

Mona was a lovely little yarn fairy and brought a couple of bags of left overs and odds and ends for us to devour like vultures peruse and choose from at our leisure. I scored some nice little odd balls:

These 4 balls are Schewe Baumwoll-Mix, 50% Baumwolle (wool?) and 50% Polyacryl (acrylic?). I plan to use them for a cute little cabled sweater for the baby. Boy or girl, I think it would be adorable with a mini pair of jeans on a Fall day.

This bit is some unknown fiber, probably wool, assumed to be feltable. I’ll try a spit-splice when I feel in the mood. It will probably end up marinating in the stash for a while, eventually ending up as an accent color in a pair of felted clogs or something.

This is a yarn made up of 4 strands of thinner yarn. I was told it is 50% cotton and 50% acrylic. It will be another sweater for the baby (or probably the “kid” at that point). What, me knit for myself? It will probably be in stockinette as I’m not sure if anything more patterned would show up, and I really don’t think the yarn(s?) would hold up well to a cable unless I knit it at a really tight gauge. I’ll wait and see once I swatch some of it up.

This is some more of the same stuff as above in a different color. I don’t think I’d use the two together…are the colors too similar? I can’t decide. Maybe I’ll use it for kiddie socks.

These are supposed to be 2 little left overs of merino. I think. If I can trust my pregnancy fog to remember what Mona said so many hours ago.

Lastly, these are…I don’t know. What you get when you spin the 70s? In any case, I thought they were cute, and if I have a girl I KNOW I will end up with plenty of opportunities to knit something sparkly.

So see, you should have been there. You would have laughed, and you could have scored free yarn.

I’ve been blogged! No really, go on over and check it out. I’ll wait right here.

This is so cool! Now if only I could show Yannick, but, alas, the socks are a surprise.

I’ve been trying to decide what to do about them, because they appear to be a tad narrow for his feet. I think I will try them on him one night while he sleeps, and if it seems to fit then I’ll make the 2nd one and give him the pair for Christmas/Hanukah. If it doesn’t fit then I’ll finish the first one and give it to him to keep in his bowling bag for good luck.

Last night was a very informative meeting of the Montreal Knitting Guild. We had speakers in from 10 Milles Villages, a Fair Trade store. It was really cool learning about Peru and the alpacas, and especially touching many of the knitted items they brought in for show-and-tell. Definately a place I plan to check out at the next gift-giving holiday!

Tonight I’ll be at the Montreal Knits to-do on Monkland. The dinosaur is getting a bit unweildly to carry around (one arm left then just seaming and stuffing) so I brought with some yarn and the needles to make a pair of Froggy Socks and Hat that are similar to the Just Ducky ones I posted two days ago. They work up fast so I’m predicting I’ll have at least one completed sock by the end of the meeting.

I’m good at keeping a secret, aren’t I? :] We have told people we know “in real life” but I waited to post the news here because I wanted to wait until after the ultrasound, just to make sure everything was ok with the baby.

So, yes, Yannick and I are having a honeymoon baby. Say “hi”!

I am officially 12 wks and 6 days pregnant. I’ve known since September 13th, as we took a few (three!) pregnancy tests during our honeymoon. On the 13th (early) it was “unclear”. On the 17th (period due) it was “yes” and on the 20th (once I was officially late) it was practically blinking and flashing. After yesterday’s ultrasound the due date has been raised from May 25th to the 19th. We don’t know if it is a boy or girl yet, as it is still too small to tell. We will be able to see at our next ultrasound (at the end of December) and we probably will be finding out, but not necessarily telling anyone.

We’d been really nervous, because at my last appointment the baby was too small for the doctor to find the heartbeat for us to hear, so we have had no confirmation that the baby was doing ok. Finally yesterday we got to not only hear the fast thudding, but actually see the baby jumping and squirming and moving pretty much non-stop. It was the freakiest thing in the world to see, especially since I can’t feel it yet.

Isn’t it cute?
It’s the Just Ducky Hat and Socks set found as a free pattern here.

This photo accurately shows the color of the yellow yarn. I love the little webbed ducky feet! This is the matching hat. Ignore the lousy color…all the hat-only photos I took with the flash were completely washed out. I am happy with the bill and the floppy loops on the top of the head. I’m not happy with the eyes. I used little blue buttons because they were all I had. When I remember I plan to buy bigger black buttons, probably around 1″ in diameter. I think they will be much cuter (more like the eyes on the original pattern).

Still, it came out pretty cute, no?
I think so.

Wanna see what else I made?

(I’ll admit…I had help with this one).

I didn’t do much over the week but get some knitting done. I didn’t get much done Friday night either but knitting…the kicker is where I did it and who I got to see. I’ll give you a hint. I had a great time but my cousin has the photos so I’m just waiting to get them from her and then I’ll post all about it. After that Yannick and I went back to La Louisianne for dinner. We shared some yummy alligator (that felt strange to type) and sweet potato fries, then he had the crawfish again and I went for the crab cakes. (Highly recommended).

Saturday I worked and was so tired by the end of the day that I literally came home with Yannick, made some Kraft dinner, watched a movie (Thank You For Smoking, also highly recommended) and was in bed, asleep, by 11:30pm. I’ve been zonked lately!

Today we had brunch with my parents, siblings, my grandmother and my sister’s boyfriend. It was nice going out all of us together. Usually we go out for dinner to celebrate (belated) birthdays, but this time it was easier to get us together during daylight hours, so we brunched at Bocaccino’s in the West Island. I kinda feel like my family forgot my birthday this year, since it happened while I was away on my honeymoon. I know they usually bunch all the gifts up together at Hanukah time, but usually there are at least phone calls. This year it kinda went unnoticed except by Yannick who remembered to get me a card in advance so he could give it to me on the cruise. My gift from him had to wait until we got home, but I know what it is and it’s been ordered and trust me it’s a good one!

Tonight we went bowling with one of my brothers and my cousin. I bowled the first game with them (and sucked majorly, I’m not even telling my score…let’s just say it only had 2 digits) then sat out the next two and knit so they could practice for Tuesday night. (My dad, brother Mike, cousin Jon and Yannick are a team in a local bowling league). I’ve been working on the dinosaur for my cousin whose wife gave birth at the end of the summer. (I don’t remember if I’d blogged about this). I’d wanted to have it done for his bris but he was born early because his mom was induced. Then I had the wedding and honeymoon, and I’d returned the library book that the pattern was from because I knew I was leaving for 3 weeks. I figured I’d rent it when I got back, but I couldn’t find the book at the library. I finally clued in to reserve the book, and finally got to pick it up on the 5th of Nov, so I’ve been working on him ever since. I think he’s going to be so cute!

Now I’m off to bed because tomorrow is a big day.