There is spinning happening around here!
Remember that shetland sweater I knit for WPM ages ago? I’ve been in love with shetland wool ever since. It’s tough. It never pills. I doesn’t look old, even after hundreds of wearings. It’s pretty and practical. It’s everything I love in a yarn.

So I’ve been dying to get my hands on some more. And this week, I finally did. I couldn’t find any spun yarn that I could afford, so instead, I bought roving from PeterPaulAndLarry. It’s oh so wonderful! I got 30 oz of natural black (see below) and 16 oz of the brown and cream wool above.

The brown spins up into a wonderful heathered tan, exactly what I was hoping for, and knits up beautifully. It’s already making its way into a 3-ply DK weight baby blanket. The black is destined for an after-baby cozy turtleneck for me. Photos of warm finished objects to follow!

Knitting, kicking, and tea drinking. Life sure feels interesting right now!

Our little Woozelump is dancing and kicking inside me, all through the night. It’s settled into a pattern of light movement in the days along with all night break-dancing parties. I just put my hands on my belly and sleep and dream of that little dancer.

At 24 weeks, I’ve been having milky nipples for about a month, and my right foot (the one that I injured in the past and that usually swells a bit in the hot months) swells in the heat. Nothing major, but enough that my shoes are a little tight and my tiny toes look like sausages. I’m up about 20 pounds, a lot for my little body, and I’m really starting to feel heavy. My hips have gotten so wide that my knees bow in quite a lot, and so they get sore after lots of standing. But all in all, things are progressing just as they should be: gaining weight regularly, kicking baby, leaky breasts, and all those pregnancy emotions.

I just finished knitting the cutest baby jacket ever! It’s this pattern, knit with wool/alpaca yarn, and is a size hopefully similar to 6 months. How I adore the toggle buttons and the tassel on the hood! Won’t it look adorable with a rolly polly little Woozelump inside?

Back when my mother, her friends, and my aunties were having babies (really, not that long ago), this list was much much shorter. Now, it seems ridiculously long, and this list includes no mention of foods containing pesticides, growth hormones, or antibiotics. Honestly, every yummy thing seems to be off the list! What’s more, the pregnancy police (also known as other pregnant people, your friends, and anyone who sees you consume or purchase any of these foods) are oh so willing to slap your hand away from each potential infraction. Feta in that salad? Bah, toss it away!

Now, I am wholly in support of protecting our fetuses and our own compromised immune systems in pregnancy. I’ve been ill in pregnancy, and I’ll attest, it’s a million times more miserable than the same illness before pregnancy: this body’s defenses are tuned down low so as not to attack that little alien baby! But this list of no-nos is too extreme for me.

Since I first discovered as a very small child the joys of licking out that bowl of cookie dough, raw eggs have never phased me. Those doughs, batters, ice creams, and egg nogs are delicious! And they’ve never made me sick, nor do I know of anyone made sick by them. The same goes for deli meats and soft cheeses. Around here, we don’t eat much fish or meat, so those minuscule levels don’t concern me. And though caffeine (including chocolate) meant cramping and nausea until well into the second trimester, now I consume as much as I want (which means a cup or two every few days). I’m eating and drinking what I want.

Pregnancy police–in this case, everyone–really lose their minds over alcohol. I was frowned at the other day when I walked into the liquor store with my husband! (I guess I look pregnant now!!) But–gasp–a bit of alcohol doesn’t bother me either. All the research done about the affects of alcohol on a fetus in pregnancy concerns a mother who consumes a lot of the stuff; none even look at those of us who have a half or whole glass every few weeks. But if even midwives recommend a glass from time to time, especially to calm a crampy uterus or tense mama, then I’m not worried. Little Do won’t be brain dead from the few beers I’ve had in the last six months.

I’ll take my chances, pregnancy police be damned.

Finally, new tummy photos!! This belly is almost too big to bend over with, and has really sprouted in the last few weeks. I finally look pregnant!

Just this morning, I bit the bullet and bought a few things from the maternity clothes shop for the first time. Dresses and tops I’m making myself, and they’re so cute, but the pants I’ve tried to make are total failures: they don’t stay up at all! That, and my leggings are totally shot, beyond repair. So I came home with a pair of jeans, leggings, and two tank tops that actually fit! Those mamabreasts aren’t busting out everywhere, the pants stay up, and the jeans don’t have holes. Hooray! I feel oh so cute and wonderful now!

Also, do you KNOW how hard it is to take posed photos that don’t look totally stupid?? Every week, we load the camera up with at least 20 shots, and finally settle for the one that looks the least stupid!

I’ve just finished making these cloth pads for after-baby bleeding. When Woozel saw them, he said, “Oh, cute!” Yeah. How often does someone say that about our lady products?

I copied the method of Lunapads, which uses a base pad that snaps around the underwear, then adds as many or as few liners as needed. This way, I should have some good versatility, to be able to use the same pads for the heavy days and the lighter ones. My pads are made from some old flannel pillowcases and a few flannel scraps I had about.

Calculations:
Cost of my 8 pads and 16 liners: 25cents for snaps, $1 for trim
Cost of a box of 20 throw-away PP pads: $6.59

Waste-free awesomeness!

And here is our similarly awesome diaper stash (the beginning of it). Mama-made flannel flats with knitted wool soakers. We choose flats over the other fancier cloth diapers available now because of drying time: since we line-dry everything, it would take 2-3 days for a prefold and longer for an All-in-One diaper to dry, and that’s rather ridiculous!
Flats are super-cheap, too, because the same diaper is folded in different ways to fit the baby throughout its diapering time. So no buying different sizes. And they can be made from anything! I’ve just finished tearing up a thrift-store flannel sheet to add to the collection.

Oh, and you do know about the wool covers, right? Our mothers used those yucky, sweaty plastic pants, but their mothers used wool. Once the covers have soaked in lanolin, they’re waterproof, yet still breathable and not smelly. Mine still need velcro sewn onto the waistband.

We’re working steadily toward a waste-free birth and waste-free baby! While most home births still produce a bag or two of garbage, we’re planning to use lots of towels, bath mats, and other things we’ve got around, as well as braided embroidery floss for the umbilical cord, and lots of handmades for baby. There’ll be a load or two of laundry, but no black plastic bags in the alley. Hooray!

The mama’s-eye view.

Stats:
Currently 21 weeks pregnant, due mid-December, on my 27th birthday.

I’ve officially arrived at the point at which baby has totally taken over my body. My breasts are huge (and round and lovely) and producing liquid, my hips have expanded several inches, my belly is out and proud. Everything has changed.

I’ve been feeling movement since 14 weeks, usually in a pattern of strong movements for 10 days or so, and fluttery ones for 10 days. I’m theorizing that Little Do grows in spurts, and so rapidly expands, but the belly expands after the baby does. So there’s less space in there for a while, and movements are stronger. Right now is the strong time, and I’m so pleased, since earth-quakey movements mean a living, healthy babe.

We’re having an unassisted pregnancy–meaning I’m doing prenatal care myself– and are also forgoing ultrasounds, so I’m still waiting to hear that quick little heartbeat on the fetoscope. It’s so crazy for me to think that most mamas heard that sound months and months ago! But all those baby summersaults are consistent assurance that all is well.

Some lovey handmades:

Two rompers from this pattern. I thought worsted yarn was much too heavy for a little baby suit, so I altered it to use with sport weight, and I’m much happier. The blue is some yarn I had stashed in the closet, the white is handspun merino. SO CUTE!

Next Summer Romper! This one is sewn from a pattern I drafted. Basically, I found measurements for 6 month size clothes, and sort of just threw it together. I’m oh so pleased with how it turned out! Maybe I’ll embroider some toadstools on the bodice…thoughts?

Go so well together, don’t you think? Especially when you’re constantly freezing. More sweaters!

I’ve begun knitting precious things for a special someone who’ll be joining our family this December. Oh, how lovely is the calm of quiet afternoons, a warm cat, and lazy knitting. And Elizabeth Zimmerman, whose books I’ve stocked up on.

I’m buzzing about making dreams and plans for the future: how can I farm without a tractor? How does no-till farming work? What size of windmill do I need to provide for our needs? How do you keep chickens from freezing in -20 temperatures?

And I’ve realized yet again what a fantastic resource youtube is! I learned to spin and knit and sew with my treadle on youtube, and now it’s teaching me about farming! Which is how I happened upon this series of videos from BBC about a woman who is reimagining farming in an oil-free world. It’s really exciting and interesting.

Four years ago found me ending a 15 month tour of duty as a soldier in Iraq. Yes, really, me. I was a soldier.

I was coming to find just how much my experience of war had changed me, religiously, politically, physically–I felt changed to my core. Once an evangelical christian, I was now leaving that faith behind (“I can’t believe in a god that sanctions–even commands–war,” thought I).

Most significantly, I had come to see everything I did in my normal American life as “consumer” as exploitative: to myself, my countrymen, to Iraqis I was killing, to countless other people across the globe, to the earth from which we get our life.

I was crippled by the guilt of exploitation. When I returned home, I made drastic life changes; since I moved right in with Nick, he made changes along with me. We left the military behind. We learned to cook all our food, began learning to make our clothing, conserved energy, sold our car and bought two bicycles.

We also rejected the normally-held belief in the necessity of college degrees and regular jobs. Nick quit college, because he saw all the busy work was holding him back from actually learning, because in his field (programming), finished projects matter more than university certificates. Instead, he started a web design business, we pursued plans for a co-op farm, and I luxuriated in exploring all the self-sufficiency tasks I wanted to learn.

Next, wanting to escape the political-social climate of the US, we sold everything and moved to Germany, despite having never before been to Europe. We enjoyed our adventure, though it was lonely. After a year, our work-opportunities were fading, and we crossed the Atlantic again, this time to Canada, as immigrants twice over. Nick was working on his dream of game programming. We reveled in the gift of free communication in a language we know.

Vancouver is lovely, but expensive! Here, one makes a lot, but must also spend a lot, mostly because housing is so costly. It’s also, yes, lonely. How can a million people make one feel so alone? By not speaking to one another! So, we like Vancouver, but…

Since I left the military and changed my life, my goal has been self-sufficiency. I realized the “career” I wanted was that of producer of my own needs. I wanted to cease to be a consumer, and instead be the opposite. And I realized that rich community and self-sufficiency had become my life goals.

And now we’re dreaming the fulfillment of our goals, looking forward to the next chapter of our story. The chapter called “Self-Sufficient Farm.”

While here in BC, properties are priced in millions, we’ve discovered a place where land prices are mere tens of thousands. A place of community and slow lifestyle we could actually afford to dream of. A place where I could take the next step in my “career.”

Could the next chapter hold, as Anne Shirley says, our House of Dreams?

Our wishing is in overdrive.

(If you have a wish-granting faerie, will you make a wish for us?)

His Christmas gift, one of the sweaters I mentioned here. Another basic EZ seamless hybrid. This one has a garter stitch body boarder, ribbed cuffs, and a garter stitched convertible collar. Best of all, it’s finished off with handmade ceramic buttons by my friend Charmian, amazing Vancouver potter (check out her work here).

Oh yeah, and that flask? It’s from my mother, and he loves it!

A back view.

This sweater is knit in Cascade Yarns 220, and it’s the first big project I’ve done with Cascade yarns. Let me say this about it: it’s inexpensive, and soft, but not at all durable. His sweater was pilling within the first few days of wear! I’d recommend it for soft little things like scarves (I have it knit into a chunky triangle shawl, and it’s great!), but definitely nothing that takes wear. Yuck yuck yuck.

And new brown corduroy trousers, which go nicely with leather suspenders and a lumberjack shirt. All by me, all available in the new Honeysuckle and Thyme Etsy shop. Yes, you can look this good too!

Hope you’re smiling lots today!