This Puff Daddy scarf thingy took me an hour and a half start to finish.  The yarn is Arucania Limari.  It’s nice yarn, but for containing only merino, alpaca, and silk, I’d expect it to be a teeny bit less scratchy.

I don’t have a picture (yet) but it looks cute on me.  My pom pom is not as spherical as I’d like, but there are worse problems to have.

From a Mary Maxim kit (No. 3794N, Snow Mitts for Kids) we have mittens for my nephew William.� My first intarsia (WOO!) and my first 100% acrylic (meh).� The yarn is Mary Maxim Mellowspun, which is okay, but nothing special.� These mittens rock, though.

I also knit a scarf for my Grandmother, but I didn’t get a picture.� Instead, I offer you a photo of some of the 16 lb beef rib roast that she bought for dinner… for six people.

Alli did not request a hat, but I knit a pink one for her too:

The day before Ginny’s due date, Matt and I went all over Baltimore to find beads, and then that evening, I started this hat.  I think I finished it within 24 hours.  Nervous knitting, perhaps?

The answer to life, the universe, and everything is NOT 42!� It’s wool.

Yesterday, GiGi wore wool as a diaper cover for the first time.� The interweb, and my few cloth-diapering friends assured me that wool makes an effective diaper cover (in the form of soakers and longies).� I trusted enough to knit a pair of each, and to collect them from generous friends and family, but I did not truly believe.� Then GiGi turned out to be a super duper wetter and I was afraid to even try.� But I waited and now, I believe!

My mom knit these longies from a Little Turtle Knits pattern, and GiGi wore them all day yesterday.� Even when her diaper was wet inside them, the pants were dry to the touch on the outside.� For serious!� Wool.� It’s the answer.

In other news, yesterday was my 30th birthday.� I’m 30, a wife, a mother, a homeowner… I suppose I’m officially an adult now!� So I celebrated in an adult way, with one spectacular cocktail:

A Manhattan made (by me) with Rittenhouse 21-year-old straight rye whiskey.

My last pre-pregnancy cocktail was a crappy restaurant Manhattan made with Jim Beam.� Ugh, it was gross and I didn’t even finish it.� My first post-pregnancy cocktail was this lovely drink, and ohhh, it was divine.� I had some roasted pistachios (50% less salt from Trader Joes) and a glass of water on the side.� Matt went to the ends of the earth (well…all over Baltimore) to get me a bottle of Rittenhouse, and it was worth it!� Thanks, honey!

Here’s one thing:

Why spend $10 on completely unnecessary padding for your precious child when you can make completely unnecessary padding for the cost of some scraps from your sewing stash?  Skull and crossbones flannel from Joanns, reverses to cotton chenille.  I imagine they’ll be better at soaking up drool than those fancy store-bought ones!

Then we have these little guys:

Two gnomes out of a possible five (I haven’t knit the rest yet) from a nice little kit from Green Mountain Wee Woolies at Etsy.  While the kit is very nice, I do have one minor quibble: all of the pictures (including the one that came with the kit) show the gnomes wearing cross-body handbags (European carryalls?), yet the pattern does not provide handbag instructions.  Boo!

In other news, baby girl is huge!  At her first pediatrician appointment, she weighed 7 lbs 2 oz.  Twelve days later, she weighed 8 lbs 9 oz!  Also, she had grown almost two inches in height since birth.  Damn, that’s crazy.  And it can’t feel good to grow that quickly.  Matt went back to work today, and we all missed him tons.  Luckily, it’s only two weeks until his company shuts down for Christmas and New Years, when we’ll all get to be together again.

Her internet alias shall be GiGi.� She was 7 lbs 6 oz at birth, and has wavy blonde hair.� That’s us at home, tired as I don’t know what, about seven hours after she was born.� That’s a glass of Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc 2002, in case you were wondering.� It was delicious!� Here she is a few days later with her daddy:

And then a few days after that, we celebrated Thanksgiving:

She’s now about twelve whole days old, and Matt and I are slowly figuring out this parenting thing.� She’s a pretty chill baby, which is great, given that Toaster is such a lunatic.� Nursing is going well, if you ignore the extreme engorgement (which is now over) and the yeast infection (Thrush, which is not over).� No supply or latch issues, at least.

Her birth was spontaneous and unmedicated, like we hoped and planned for, but I did have to push for four hours.� That sucked.� We can all thank my pointy pubic arch, apparently.� In the end, she came out red and healthy and squealing.� She is still healthy, but less red and less squeally.� Instead of red, she’s doing that newborn molt thing, and is very flaky.

WordPress has a new photo system that makes it much easier for me to share photos, so that means (I hope) that I’ll be posting more frequently… Usually, I avoid posting if I don’t have pics, and the gallery system I’ve been using has been acting up lately.

Okay, so that’s all the news for today.� I’m sure I’ll be posting again soon, because these photos aren’t nearly worthy of GiGi’s extreme awesomeness and good looks.� Despite some minor sleep deprivation, we are both entirely smitten!

For a boy:

• Hagrid Chewbacca (as a talisman against MPB)
• Bran
• Carl Agathon
• Refrigerator
• Dude
• Booberry
• George Foreman

Some names we’ve come up with for a girl:

• Hermione Myfannwy
• Starbuck
• Athena
• Blender
• Leeloo Dallas Multipass
• Booberry
• George Foreman

As you might be able to tell, we’re fond of lite science fiction and fantasy, historical mythology, kitchen appliances, and the absurd.  What do you think?  Any suggestions for a really cool name that did not make our list?