future academic.

My first memory of learning the gory details of pregnancy was in 10th grade health. I had the typical health teacher, ex-baseball coach (fired for a mysterious incident that was never talked about), golf club always in hand, he taught us more in the "ways of the world" and about "real life." There were a lot of videos. He did take it very seriously, but he thought teaching from a book was ridiculous and so once a month we would partner up and complete a review of a chapter from the text just to meet the requirements so we could go back to discussing the meaning of life. (Go public school!)

One of the many videos we watched was about pregnancy and birth. He thought it was very important that everyone see a birth, especially since his wife was pregnant at the time. We knew it was coming for weeks and I think everyone was dreading it. I was, because I was totally terrified of childbirth. The day comes and he puts in a video from the late 70's. Now I don't remember too much about the actual birth part, I think I just closed my eyes most of the time.

The most vivid thing I remember is that they showed the woman knitting a sweater from the first trimester until birth. They kept showing this sweater coming together, this woman just sitting and knitting. There was a lot of knitting analogies, and animations of dancing knitting. Terrifying. I'm surprised I can even knit at all while I'm pregnant with those images burned in my brain.

Luckily I was not permanently scarred for life and all I've been doing is knitting. I knew I would knit some shawl collared sweaters for the baby, because they are my favorite sweaters for boys. Tyler has so many of them, we both are obsessed. I didn't love all the seaming in this sweater, I had to take it in so it wouldn't be boxy so the seams are a little bulky. I like the stitch pattern, it gave it a perfect grandpa vintage feel, and the merino yarn knit up so soft.

ravelry link here.

bump watch

Time has been passing way too fast. Seriously what has happened? I'm now in my last trimester, and the pressure is on! I can't believe that I'm shopping for car seats, room decorating and thinking about all those details. February seemed to be the month where I really popped (and got my first dye job ever! So fun). I went from a little bump to a big one, and fast! Now when I go to the gym I'm like a walking freak show people just stop and stare.

I'm lucky that I still feel pretty normal other than some typical things, and baby has gotten so big and active he's break dancing in my tummy all the time. I can still wear a decent amount of my clothes, before being pregnant I always wore loose, blousy tops, and now it's interesting how I am the opposite now and love snug things. I have some things that I think are still too big that I wore before.

Here are a sampling of instagram bump photos from February. My username is secret_pocket if you want to follow me, I may not be too good about updating here, but I'm always posting on there.

What have I been doing? Baby knitting! To share soon. 

love day.

I hope you all had a great valentines day. We don't go too crazy about it, but Tyler did give me some amazing gifts: he picked out some decals from Shanna, and a ring from Odette.

We couldn't help but put up a decal right away, this one is from her new line (not available online yet). We put it by our front door as a bit of a mantra. 

We got some pizza take out and chocolate cake, which was just what I wanted. We went to a late showing of The Artist, which was really good. Tyler was totally enthralled, but I was bit distracted because pizza + chocolate cake + jelly bellies x(26 weeks pregnant) = loud tummy noises that in a silent movie, the other 4 couples there could probably hear.

one and not done.

I got one sock done. Now I have to do the other one. Hopefully I won't have this turn into my mitten project. Making two of something is hard! Mentally I just want to move on. I guess I could learn how to make two at a time, I'll see if I get sock obsessed after this pair.

This one turned out well, the fit is good, but I feel like I can feel the stitches a bit when I walk. This is probably too simple of a pattern, I would like to do a toe-up version next time. A good place to start, and I didn't have to think about it much while I was making it or refer to a pattern.

making milk.

I feel like instagram has turned into quite the mini blog for me, I love posting on there but I know it only limits to iphone users. Those who follow my instagram have seen my blender obsession. After making hundreds of smoothies in my food processor, I went for my dream and got a blendtec blender (my mom got one at a costco demo show for me). I've had it for a week and used it dozens of times. I'm in love with an appliance and I don't care who knows it!

One of the things I wanted to try was making my own almond milk. It's so simple, and so much better than store bought (and cheaper!). It can be made with any blender, just probably takes longer than my 40 seconds. :) I used a couple different recipes for reference. I did not have a nut milk bag, I used cheesecloth, but I folded it twice so it was strained through four layers. One layer alone would not be fine enough. Worked great that way.

I used it with my favorite smoothie recipe, and it was fantastic on cereal. I hope to make this a weekly routine. Makes about a quart, and it keeps for 3-4 days. Like all almond milk it separates in the fridge but just give it a stir and it's back to perfect.

Almond milk

1 cup raw almonds soaked overnight in water, rinsed and drained
4 cups filtered water
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of kosher salt

Combine water and drained almonds and blend on high until well blended (maybe 5 minutes for regular blenders, whole juice button on blendtec). Pour over cheesecloth or nut milk bag set over/in a pitcher or bowl. Press all liquids through and put back in a rinsed blender. Combine with the rest of the ingredients and pulse to combine. Pour in a pitcher and keep refrigerated. 

a stitch for your thoughts.

This blog has been a journal about what I'm doing in the moment. Obviously, there has been a lot of knitting going on. My first trimester cooking large dinners sounded disgusting, so that's why my normal obsessing about food post have been diminished. Luckily this trimester I'm loving to cook again, and things are slowing feeling normal while also feeling so different.

I recieved this beautiful yarn for Christmas (color well water), destined for my first socks. I'm just doing a simple rib sock, and I'm won't be surprised if I have to rip it all out sooner or later. I'm not overthinking it, just the act of sitting and doing some mindless knitting with yarn that feels like silk through my fingers is my therapy right now. I have so many things going through my mind at times, and in those quiet moments I can just let them go.

For example yesterday, I spent over an hour at the grocery store putting together a perfect cart of food and things I needed. When I went to checkout, the lines were long and I panicked because I needed to get home so Tyler could get to a meeting on time. I had no choice, and I just had to leave my cart and walk out of the store so I could be on time. It was totally my fault, and I felt so frustrated and defeated. I got home, and just knit and knit. And then sweet Tyler went and got everything on my list (again) while I was at yoga. Things work out.

baby's first knit.

As you can imagine, I was very anxious to find out what we were having, for many reasons. Mostly for me so I could finally pick out yarn colors and start on baby projects. A couple days after the ultrasound, my sister and I went to the yarn store to pick out colors to start on a chevron blanket together. Made of the softest organic cotton by blue sky alpacas, this yarn has a great color palette to choose from to make this old-fashioned pattern feel modern.

It was a thrill to get my sister back into knitting, we learned together over 10 years ago and I kept at it while she didn't catch the bug. I'm hoping this will ignite a spark in her yet. There has to be a knitting gene in our DNA somewhere we share. I finished this while we were home for Christmas, and her pace is a bit slower, but I can't wait to see it. Her colors for her baby girl are gorgeous.

ravelry link

two hats for two boys.

Last of the hats! I promise. My husband and my sister's husband are very similar in what they like, and I wanted to make them the same hat. I liked this fisherman's style twisted rib beanie. But I did it two different ways. For my brother-in-law Jon I did the pattern as written, and for Tyler he wanted it longer. Jon wears it short, Tyler wears it long. Works for both. Ravelry link for Jon, link for Tyler.

adventures in cables.

So many cables. Cables are shockingly simple to do, but make the greatest variations in knitting that make them look so complex. I knit these for my family for Christmas. From the top:

Lindsay: My sister-in-law's hat was probably my favorite one to make. Made from the softest baby suri, it was my first time doing bobbles. It's a great slouchy pattern that has a great textural effect. Ravelry link.

Mom: I wanted to do something snug and low profile, because she does a lot of athletic outdoor activities like skiing and snowshoeing, so this hat was great. I used a superwash merino yarn and it is a twisted rib with cables worked in for a subtle detail. It happened to match her coat perfectly without me even trying. Ravelry link.

Dad: I loved this pattern, and now I've made it three times since making this first one. A nice unisex hat. It's not very mindless, but it was my first time knitting from a chart and it was so easy to do that way. I'm a chart convert. Ravelry link.

Jake: My brother's hat was my only mess up. I made it too long, the pattern is way too long and I only removed one cable repeat when the last time I made it I removed two. The perfectionist in me was very disappointed and so he'll have another one coming to him, even though I know he's probably fine with rolling it a bit. Ravelry link.

Christmas hats: colorwork

For these hats, I did colorwork for the first time in my knitting. It was really easy to do, and a fun technique. I made twin hats for Malorie and I, using the yarn that I dyed. This hat can either be worn slouchy or the brim folded up for a different look. I loved the way that they turned out, and the yarn was dreamy to work with. Ravelry link.

For my adorable niece Reese, I wanted to do something using a bright neon because she loves those colors. I remembered those crazy ski hats from my childhood that are so fun. I used an adult pattern that I modified to be child-sized. I think the hearts are so sweet, and the purple/lime combo a little modern. I loved seeing her face when she opened it up, she's such a cutie. Ravelry link.

Thanks for the love yesterday! I'm so happy I could share with all you, and I'm relieved it's out there now and I can talk about all my weird food cravings. :)

big stripes, baby stripes, double stripes.

so this has happened. . .
and this. . .
and this!

1. I'm having a baby!
2. It's a boy!
3. My twin sister is also having a baby!

I'm excited to share the news that Tyler and I finally took the big leap. (Not marriage, that was easy.) We are expecting a baby middle/end of May, and are thrilled. I guess it took me a while to get it out there, but I'm neurotic, so whatever. Sorry to Malorie for having me keep the news hostage for so long.

This would explain the lack of posts, for the first trimester or so it seemed like all I did was sleep. I had no motivation to do anything. I am beyond happy that Malorie is also pregnant, she's due just a week and a half after me. Some kind of twin miracle, I guess. I have loved going through this with her. We feel exactly the same, and I could call her and have her tell me what food to eat, our cravings are the same. Luckily the timing was perfect that we were able to get ultrasounds together when we were home to find out our genders. But I'll let her tell you what she's having. :)

winter elves.

I'm back from my long Christmas break. We spent tons of time with family and ate way too much, so success. I'm glad to come back home and get more into a routine, I promise I'll be back here much more than earlier this year, I missed blogging.

Now I can finally show off my Christmas knitting, which was really fun this year. I made hats for my family, and each one was tailored to the recipient. It took a lot of time, but every project I learned something new.

First up, the cutest little beanies for my nephews, who are 17 and 18 months. Theo is pictured (in my nieces old snow gear), and sadly I didn't get a good picture of Noah in his hat, which was equally as adorable on his little noggin. I wanted to do this pattern because it had what I wanted, good ear flaps and ties to stay on a squirmy toddler, and a bit elfin. I wanted to embrace the cuteness of a pointy top while they are still young.

Knit up in a 100% merino superwash, they are super easy to care for, and not too bulky. The beehive ridges help it have some stretch so it is snug and comfy. Theo didn't even try and take it off once there was the distraction of snow to eat.

Want all the details? Here's my ravelry link to this project.

dyeing.

Now that's it's December, I've been so busy working on all my handmade gifts and it's so hard to not be able to share them! I've done some new things that have been pretty fun, and the one I can show is my first kettle dyed yarn. I couldn't find the right color I wanted, and decided to try it out. I used Jacquard acid dyes, half purple half silver gray. I wanted the color to be a little more gray than it turned out, but I love the color so I don't mind. It was actually really easy to do, and I think I've spawned a new obsession to dye all my yarn.

I did pull the rookie move of tying my skeins with wool yarn so there are some lighter spots where they were tied, but it actually turned out to be a nice little variation in the color.

I'm getting ready to leave tomorrow for Idaho to see my family, so I'm rushing to get as much done as I can. I actually am in great shape, I'm almost done with all my gifts. I'll try and check in over the break, and definitely show off all my projects once they can be revealed.

jingle bells.

Sorry for the radio silence for the last couple weeks. We spent a great Thanksgiving break at my brother-in-law's house in Indiana, where we watched a lot of wonder years and sister wives. Not to mention spend fun times with our family and watching Gigi boss around a yorkie like he was her slave.

On the 10.5 hour car ride home, I developed a viral strep infection. I highly recommend catching a terrible illness while trapped in a car, it's quite an experience. So last week I was battling that, and then of course all bad illnesses are piggybacked by some kind of sinus infection, so I was literally on the couch all week. Still not feeling great yet, but today for the first time in a week I can breathe through half of my nose, so I consider that a great victory.

My outside excursions have been limited, but this weekend we went out to a favorite Amish saddle shop of Tyler's in a nearby town. We were there to get some leather, and the shop didn't disappoint.

This shop was brightly lit with skylights, and you could see the gas lanterns that were placed for after the sun goes down. A woman with a simple dress and cap sat at a tiny desk next to thousands of rolaxdex files, where customer information is kept. The man helping us let us walk around the shop area to browse for what we needed and I was amazed with the ancient giant iron sewing machines they use for leather, all run with foot pedals and no electricity.

We were taken to a back area where the workers live to look at some stamps, and I got a shot of their clothesline. The people there are so kind, and I tried to snap photos discreetly and respect their wishes for not having them in any photography.

I picked out a few jingle bells that they have for horses, they have such a beautiful weight and simpleness to them with a such a true chime, perfect for Christmas.