Keeping Busy During Transitions

Everything feels restless right now.  Our lives are transitioning and we cannot do much else other than wait.  At 38.5 weeks pregnant, I am beginning to feel overdue.  Sweet Helen was born at 37 weeks exactly, and I am quite surprised to find myself sitting here now still pregnant and waiting for baby Clare.

Having left work at 37 weeks to rest and prepare, I have been enjoying time with my family.  Now, our home is clean (mostly), our bags are packed (mostly), and everything is in order for Clare's arrival (mostly).

To fill in the quiet moments of the day, I have picked up a few more projects and preparations.  Yesterday, I wound a new hank of Pure Wool, hand-dyed by a friend to start a Vanilla soaker for baby Clare's wool collection.

I know I have made a ton of these lately, but they are seriously addicting! I love the COWYAK provisional cast-on method.  I love that the more I have made the pattern the less I have to follow the directions.  I love how quick they are, how little yarn they require, and how fabulous all the different wool's are to work with!

For this size small, I followed the 10 ply pattern, used US4 and US6 circular needles, added an extra set of short rows, and picked up 48 stitched for the leg ribbing.

How do I keep knocking out these projects so quickly? Easy. I am literally knitting almost all the time. I start my day knitting before the rest of the family wakes up (pregnant insomnia), I knit in the morning while Helen plays and naps, I knit in the afternoon when the heat keeps us indoors with the lights dim and Bambi humming in the background, I knit in the car whenever we drive anywhere - 10 minutes, 20 minutes, every minute counts, I knit in the evenings after Helen is in bed and until David falls asleep on the couch.... I just knit...

And when I am not knitting, I am sewing....

I have been cutting out and sewing up flannel and terry cloth wipes to use with our cloth diapers. I am always so nervous about the first laundering of anything I sew, but these really washed and fluffed up so nicely! I do not have a serger, so with right sides facing each other, I sewed around the edges leaving a two inch hole on one side to allow me space to flip them right-side out.  I clipped the corners before flipping and sewed around the right-side edge to finish them.

I also made a wipe solution to keep in a spray bottle at the changing station to moisten the wipes with. I filled my spray bottle almost full with water, then added 1 Tbsp each of baby oil and Dr. Bonner's Baby Castile Soap.

There is a lot more going on around here - it is strange to think that I will not be going back to work full time.  But, I am enjoying planning a home preschool curriculum for Helen and I this fall. I will of course share more about that later. And, of course, as soon as baby Clare decides to come out to play you will hear about that as well.