When we last heard from Jean, she was squatting around the house, limbering up for delivery. These days, she and her husband Chuck are doing similar things to Mr. Jones and me, to prepare for our upcoming addition (please click on these hilarious photos to enlarge):
I might be hemming and crafting all sorts of things for the baby, but Mr. Jones isn't so 'up' on that insurance idea quite yet. We did go for a tour of our hospital, however.
Boys have all the fun, don't they? Straight for the gas, probably giggling away...
Oh how I love this image. I'd love for Mr. Jones to meet with a pediatrician (or psychiatrist!) to discuss improvements over his own childhood. They might never let him out of the hospital, with all his great ideas...
Of course the women are left to see where they'll actually deliver the baby, without their husbands. Mr. Jones and I did our hospital tour together, of course. But the looks on these ladies faces were the same as ours: interest, resignation, or shall I say nervous anticipation.Next up: Jean gives birth!
After all that color, I made something neutral and classic. I knit it in pieces, too, which is such a lovely change after going 'round and 'round with circular knitting. It sat unassembled in my craft room for weeks. Finally I sewed it up, and added some "grandpa" vintage buttons.
The pattern is called "Cream Puff", from this vintage pattern book that I found at an estate sale. How I love vintage patterns! So clear, hardly ever a mistake, and the sweetest, most timeless styles...
The pattern, pictured below, was originally double-breasted, but I changed it to be single. I also made stockinette sleeves. I almost lined the sweater, nervous that the gorgeous wool (I have to find the tag, I bought it at Sock Summit this past year, and it was the nicest I've had in a while) might be too scratchy for our future cream puff. When I blocked the sweater, though, it was soft and creamy, like butter.
The stitch pattern is lovely, too. I think she might need to hold a (knitted?) pipe when she wears this one. 
The pregnancy is still going well. I'm getting quite BIG now, and we couldn't be more excited for the beginning of April to arrive. I need to put down the knitting needles and work on a nursery!
I knitted this dress for our upcoming "strawberry" (as we call her), with yarn leftovers from so many other projects I've knitted in the past year. I love how it came out, an outfit for an 80s video game character.
The pattern is "Little Sister's Dress" by Tora Froseth. It's free (so generous!), really simple, and you can download it here (my Ravelry details are here).
I am excited to add something girly to my baby's stash without adding more pastel. Not that there's anything wrong with pastel, and I do like pink, but gad, you end up with a lotta lotta pink for the girls, don't you?
I
wanted some rainbow buttons for the side closure, or maybe something featuring Rainbow Brite herself. Finding nothing appropriate, I attached the big black discs and now like them just as much. She's outfitted for tea with a Care Bear, or a ride on My Little Pony. Game over!
I'm a bit late reflecting on 2011, but it was a pretty good year. We lived in Oregon the whole year, worked on a new film, and got married in Hawaii. I also worked on a trailer for Oliver & S., did a lot of sewing and knitting, designed a baby vest and wrote up the pattern, and found out I was pregnant!
Of course that last item makes 2012 a pretty exciting year to come. Thanks for continuing to stop by!
One of the things I had to get done before Christmastime was to knit a copycat stocking. The stocking on the left is my brother-in-law's, from his childhood. Since marrying my sister last Summer, he really wanted her to have a matching one (or at least a complimentary one) to hang on their fireplace. He mentioned this request to me last Christmas, and when it came in the mail after Thanksgiving this year, I knew the request had become imminent.
It was an incredibly challenging task, from finding the right color wool in the right weight, to matching the fuzzy textures on the faces. In the end I think it came out OK, but copycatting is certainly not for the faint of craft! Have you ever done anything similar?
There must be some joke in the fact that we spent part of our winter vacation in somewhere called "Santa" anything, but Santa Monica was a lovely surprise in its village-y charm. The weather was absolutely stunning, and we walked, biked, and bused through the streets in balmy 78 degrees.
California really lives up to your imagination, doesn't it? Whether you've pictured the skateboarders, the palm trees, the far-off mountains, the sunsets, the highways, the strip malls, or wide flat streets that go on for ages, it always lives up.
When living in New York or London, I've had hosted visitors that marvel that "it really looks like the movies". California is one of the few places where I have that feeling. And yet, it's a movie I like to visit more than inhabit permanently. It's like a dream you know is not part of real life.
Mr. Jones and I spent New Years with old friends, in a reunion with great food, and a midnight Austrian waltz to "The Blue Danube". We gazed at a few far-off fireworks over the beach.
We learned new traditions like this Feurzangenbowle. Of course there was none for me, but the site of it smoldering was certainly quite mesmerizing!
Also enchanting was the Bleigießen. I think everyone decided mine was a bird of some description, but there were also dragons, flowers, and lots of good fortune predicted.
New Years Day we put our feet in the sand and soaked up the cloudless sky.
Perhaps our last holiday before someone's arrival, it lovely to stare at the sea and wonder...
What's in store for us in 2012? Happy New Year, Everyone!
I might be hemming and crafting all sorts of things for the baby, but Mr. Jones isn't so 'up' on that insurance idea quite yet. We did go for a tour of our hospital, however.
Boys have all the fun, don't they? Straight for the gas, probably giggling away...
Oh how I love this image. I'd love for Mr. Jones to meet with a pediatrician (or psychiatrist!) to discuss improvements over his own childhood. They might never let him out of the hospital, with all his great ideas...
Of course the women are left to see where they'll actually deliver the baby, without their husbands. Mr. Jones and I did our hospital tour together, of course. But the looks on these ladies faces were the same as ours: interest, resignation, or shall I say nervous anticipation.
