Readership? What readership?

I was told once that if I didn't post regularly then no one would be interested in hanging around to read what I write. Though I was absent for 18 days or so (not that I'm counting) the thought has been very much on my mind. I worry, though that starting each post with an apology isn't a good idea, as it will most likley get annoying after a while. Rather than apologize yet again for the embarrassingly long time between posts, I would like to thank you for sticking by and still reading me. Thank you.

(right now, I can hear only the sound of metaphoric crickets chirping. I hope there are still people reading... )

There's quite a lot to catch up on, I hardly know where to start. Except, the contents of my brain pretty much look like this:

babybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybaby[patron question]babybabybabybabybabybabybabybaby[email]babybabybabybabybabybaby[patron question]babybabybaby...ad nauseam.

I suppose this is normal, this obsession with what's going on in, around and beneath my belly. And of course, what I'm obsessing about changes constantly. First, it was AmIShowing?AmIShowing?AmIShowing? and now it's HolyCrapI'mShowing!HolyCrapI'mShowing! I wish I could say that my mind was busy on wonderful intellectual pursuits (or even knitting) but sadly, this is what I've got. Now, my reason for not posting becomes clear, doesn't it?

Last baby thing, I promise?

Look at that! Something's going on in there! (Experienced mothers will recognize this as the stage when, unless you squish your shirt under your boobs and belly, no one else thinks you're pregnant, just hitting the buffet a little hard.)

But y'all came for the knitting, didn't you?

This is a bed sock for my grandmother. Most of what you see was done the day before Thanksgiving, as these are a really fast knit on size 7 needles. I know it is cheating, but oh! So nice to have a sock fly to the toe! (Let's not discuss the state of the second sock, ok? It seems to be, well, a bit stalled.)

And an action shot:


It's a simple baby cable, designed to look like I'm a far more clever knitter than I am. My grandmother is a champion crocheter (well, she's very good and very fast) but not a knitter. I was hoping to impress her with as little effort as possible, but since these won't show up until after 12/25, I'm thinking the impression factor is going to go down.

I've been doing other knitting, too. Back in November, I mentioned a wee project I was working on, but never followed up (be careful clicking on that link, that's the story of yaking on the cat). Here's what it was:


Now, this wee sockie is just a prototype. See, for some reason I still have a weird fear about knitting for the baby. What I was really trying to do here was fudge a pattern for a set of baby socks for Kristi and her boys. Sadly, I had no pattern at home (quite embarrassing, really) and was avoiding the computer (I was still working on papers for school). I decided to try out the first sock in Sensational Knitted Socks, the demo, to see how that would work out. Following the pattern, this is regular worsted weight *ahem*acrylic*ahem* on maybe size 5's. (It's just a template! I promise!)

The problem came when I finished and wove in the ends. I'd made a sock (a scratchy one, yes), but who would it fit? Is it too big for an infant? Too small? I have no experience with this.

Since then, I've checked out two baby knits books from the library, but haven't really looked at the sock patterns yet (which makes me feel like a complete chump, just so you know). Now that finals are over, and I'm in my second trimester, I have no excuse for not ripping myself out of the couch's gravitational pull. I'm just not sure why I haven't, yet.

Before I go (read: before my boss comes back from lunch) I want to thank everyone for their comments and emails about my Hanukkah bush crisis. Reading everyone's thoughts helped me put mine into place and into perspective, and basically stop freaking out over it. For the most part, I've become comfortable again with celebrating Hanukkah as Hanukkah, and exchanging gifts on Winter Consumer Holiday, aka Capitalist Gift-Giving Day, aka December 25 like most other Americans. The bush didn't get put up this year, but this had more to do with Juniper's obsessive chewing habit (the branches would reach into his cage, which isn't a good idea at all) than with either of our feelings. We did buy a little 2' table top model, but since neither of us has made it up into the attic for ornaments, it sits naked on our table. But we're ok with that.

While neither of us have really had the energy to do much (Mr. Cygknit is still in finals, and I'm, well, sleeping on the couch more often than not) in our own home, we have noticed a different perspective on others' decorations. We've found ourselves commenting on the merits of one neighbor's ostentatious display of inflatable elves over another's snowmen, and the tacky quotient of white lights vs. Colored vs. Blinking. While we're not going to be moving into the Christmas camp in the future, at least I'm not as afraid of it as I was. And that is a good thing.