Owl Love You Forever

I will no longer be posting on this blog, so feel free to check my new one out!!!!

Owl Love You Forever:
http://owloveyouforever.blogspot.com/

Surprise !!!!

Youuuuuuu guessed it !!!! Robert and I are the happiest people on this earth. We are so greatful to have this lovely gift come into our lives at such a perfect time. I found out that Robert and I were having a baby on Tuesday, February 22nd. Above are pictures from the exact day I foud out, I was 4 weeks pregnant then, and it was such a happy day for the two of us !

This past monday. I received my 3rd ultra sound so far. It was by far the neatest, sweetest, most adorable thing I have ever seen !!!! I measured 5 days farther along than I thought (so instead of 11 weeks 1 day which is what we thought I was the first two appointments, I measured at 11 weeks 6 days). The baby was sleeping and sucking his/her thumb. It was so sweet and made me smile from ear to ear. I could cry just thinking about it. It was so amazing and truly unreal. The baby looks like a REAL person now !! Hands, toes, eyes, ears, tooth buds !!! So amazing ! After about a minute, my OBGYN moved the ultrasound and the baby woke up !!! It started to move and jump around, wiggling it's fingers and flapping it's arms ! It is now able to hiccup inside of me too !! This day was filled with moments I will always cherish, and was one of the best experiences I have ever had !!!

So now you know our larger than life knews !!! We are having a baby !!!! My expected due date is October 30th and we could not be a happier mama and papa to be !!

Guess What !!!

I know that I haven't been my normal blogging self the past two months.  But my mind has been on other things and I haven't really had so much time to blog.

I do have some news to share with you all !!!!  I would like you to GUESS though !!  There is a clue in my blog banner.

Now, guess away !!!!

A Polygamous Knitter

Things have been so hectic around here lately and I apologize for my lack of blogging. I will however, tell you all about that in a later post !  

I have been a naughty knitter lately.  From the beginning of my knitting journey, I have always been a monogamous knitter.  I currently have (and I need to breathe as I say this) three projects going at the same time. This is so  not like me.  I do not think I have ever worked on more than one project at a given time.  I like to cast on, knit until finished, have one project finished and enjoy it.  I then cast on for another.  Lately, I have found this to be a terrible idea.  I am so bored with knitting just one project and that is why I have three items currently on the needles.  

I am working on a pair of norwegian heart socks (minus the hearts)

The Norwegian Love Hat 

To match these socks that I have already knit:

And I still have to finish up my baby Cocoon.  I have had nearly 2 rows and the bind-off row left for a month !  I need to finish it up !

It is 74°F (23°C) This lovely Sunday afternoon.  Robert and I bought some steak and brats yesterday to take to the park with us today !  We also bought a badmitten set and are so excited to play that too !  We will have a lovely picnic and enjoy this Sunday afternoon together !!

Oh, and I musn't forget to mention that I was promised a yummy Gelato ice cream cone down at the ice cream shop for dessert !!  Can't wait !!!

getting my game on

The weather has been so great lately.  Robert and I have been waiting for Spring to come and are so happy that it is slowly arriving !  Because the weather has been so fabulous, Robert and I have been able to spend almost every free day that we have together outside tossing around the football, frisbee, and getting down and dirty with table tennis !!!  We have been playing so much table tennis lately.  It's really great too, because the park directly utside of our flat has a couple tables to play !! We literally open our door, take 10 steps and we are there !

co·coon

(k-kn)

n.

a. A protective case of silk or similar fibrous material spun by the larvae of moths and other insects that serves as a covering for their pupal stage.

b. A similar natural protective covering or structure, such as the egg case of a spider.

I am so in love with these baby cocoons.  The actual pattern is Kicking Bag for Babies. But to me, they look like little baby cocoons.  The ones pictured above were not knit, nor photographed by me, but by fellow Ravelers.  So many mothers favored these 'cocoons,' over normal swaddling blankets.  Many mothers complain of having to repeatidly re-swaddle their babies too many times.  This way, the baby stays snug and warm without kicking  around too much.  I simply love this idea and am knitting one myself in a soft mint green.  

The Ultimate Chocolate Cake

I haven't made a cake in quite a while and a favorite in our house is Martha Stewart's recipe for the Ultimate Chocolate Cake.  It's incredibly moist and delicious !  We LOVE it !  I decided to make two layers of cake, and instead of making the chocolate frosting alone, I also made cream cheese frostingl. 

I put cream cheese in between the two layers and then frosted the top and left the sides bare.  I am not a huge frosting person.  Don't get me wrong, a good homemade frosting is delicious, but too much is too much !!!  There is lots of leftover frosting though, so Robert can add as much of it as he wants if he wants !

Robert took a piece of the cake to school yesterday so that he could enjoy it with his lunch.  He shared a bite with some friends in his class and they  loved it so much, they asked if I could bake one for the class !!! He took three large pieces with him to school today to share with his mates and I will take one with me when I visit my friend Meadhbh for tea this afternoon.  I think it's safe to say that this cake will not last even a whole week.

my weekend

I decided to knit a matching hat to my 'Norweigan Hearts' baby socks.  The hat turned out cute and goes perfectly with the socks.

The weekend has come and gone, and Robert and I have already spent a lot of our time off outdoors.  We walked to a used book store and browsed their selection followed by sitting outside enjoying the warm weather while eating some tasty food !  I ate a Currywurst (German sausage with special tasty sauce) and french fries while Robert enjoyed a Döner (Turkish wrap with lamb meat inside)

Robert has been so busy with play rehearsals that he has been arriving home between 9:30-10pm each night.  Naturally, I have dinner ready for him when he arrives.  Yesterday evening, we enjoyed oven roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, peas and carrotts.  The oven roasted chicken was so moist and perfectly cooked. I cook the chicken we eat on the top of the stove and don't usually cook it in the oven.  This time, I chose a recipe that cooks the chicken in the oven for almost two hours.  It was such a lovely change and one that I will do more often.

Happy Monday to you all !!!

here comes the sun doot n' doo doo

The weather has been beautiful here lately. It has been around 6°C all week and the sun hasn't left the sky !  It began on Sunday when I was with the glorious sun!  Robert and I have been going for quite a few walks latley and are enjoying every minute of them.

 Berlin may be a large city, but it is full of beautiful trees and nature.  This one is just around the block.

 Robert thought it would be fun to put our feet in the wrong places.  I wasn't so sure.

We walk around Volkspark a lot.  There are many paths and so much action going on here.  People are always out walking, roller blading, running, skate boarding, sword fighting, war reenaction, hiking, etc

Below are some people are tossing the volleyball around in a sand pit at the park and enjoying the warmer weather we are having lately !

Sunnnnn !!!!!!!!!!

 At the park, there was this random spinner to run on.  It is amazing how fast and slippery it is.  I tried it out, but was too terrified to stay on it longer than two seconds !!!  Robert had to 'impress' me with how good he was on it.  I was impressed, but he was shocked with how slippery that baby was !!

The sky has been so blue and the park is so lovely.  I could walk around for hours each day and always find beauty in something new.

 There were tons of trees around the park connected with balancing lines.  This balancing line is a rubbery material and is maybe two feet off of the ground, at parts it is even four feet.  This balancing line was maybe a football field long.  This guy had already walked halfway down it.  It was amazing to watch.

It is so nice that March has finally rolled around.  The days are feeling longer and the sun is shining more.  I am looking forward to spring :)

The Knitting Bug

This week is going oh so slowly yet flying by before my eyes.  If you know what I mean, thank you for understanding :) I hear that many of you over in America (particularly WI/MN area) are hit with some sort of bug.  Though I am sorry for this, I can completely sympathize.  I too have caught the bug.  I however, am stuck with the knitting bug this week.  I  cannot for the life of me fall in love with any of my yarn enough to put it into knitted fabric.  A couple of days ago, I made a special trip to look around for some yarnspiration.

I have always had a love for sock yarn.  I love knitting most things on size 2 or 1 US needles.  I find that I am really drawn to the look of fine knitting.   And the thing that is so fabulous about sock yarn is that it is so incredibly versatile and can be used for so many more things other than socks.  You can make shawls, mittens, hats, etc with it !  The possibilities are endless !!!! Lets not forget to mention that sock yarn tends to be really beautiful too.

Sad to say, but I purchased nothing.  Not a single thing !  I have however, had some ideas stirring up in my mind for yarn that I would like to purchase soon.  I hope to stop by again this upcoming Monday and rub some my beautiful, soft, luxurious purchases all over my cheeks(I know I'm not weird, you all do it too!).  I am thinking smaller projects though.  I have lots and lots of ideas !!! 

I finished knitting my Norweigan Heart socks  almost immediately after casting on.  I really like the way they turned out.  I love knitting this pattern with 'traditional Norwegian colours' being red and white or blue and white.  It's also fun to knit these socks in funkier colours too.  I think it's so much fun experimenting with varigated yarns for the body of the sock and then a fun pop of colour for the hearts (or any other fair isle design of choice).  I would like to do a pair of these with cupcakes around the top band.  I think that would be super cute !

After sulking all day about how I have nothing to knit, Robert made my evening by making his famous burgers!  I still find it funny how almost all Germans think that all americans eat is burgers, steak, and ketchup.    Robert makes the best cheeseburgers (or at least I try to make him think this so that I can get out of cooking one meal, I am kidding of course). They are always so full of flavor and are really delicious. We top them with crispy onions, regular onions, pickles, mustard, ketchup, cheese, and grill the bun for a crispy bread !  I am usually very picky with my burgers, but I always really enjoy the ones he makes.

The weekend is almost over and I am hoping for a lovely new and upcoming week ! I am excited to see what it has in store and look forward to (hopefully) many new knitting, outdoor, and home adventures !

A great start to the week

I have finished my second pair of Hodge baby booties.  I have said it before and will say it again, this pattern is brilliant.  The only thing missing is a tie band around the ankle and so I have added (just like last time) a *yo, sl1, k1, psso* round and will continue to do so while making these in the future.  I absolutely love this pattern.  It definitely helps that these booties knit up really quickly !

I also finished my small project using Debbie Bliss's Cashmerino.  Because I was using scraps, I decided to knit a pair of striped mittens which I have titled 'Cerard.'  I never really use a mitten pattern when making mittens, so these were improvised, but I quite like the way they turned out !

My current project is a pair of Norweigan Hearts baby socks in Regia Tweed 6 fädig.  I have used this yarn a lot lately on projects requesting sock yarn.  I find it to be a really nice mix of fibers not to mention  that Regia is Gigi's (from the knitmore girls podcast) favorite sock yarn !!

This evening, Robert and I cooked (well I cooked, he kept me company and watched) klöße, red cabbage, and fried chicken for dinner.  It was so tasty and such a treat.  We only eat this meal maybe four times a year and would like to make klöße more often.  It is such a long process though, but oh so worth it !!!

 Here is Robert's plate.  I know it's an overload of food, but he's 6'4'' ...enough said.

The counter is clean, the dishes are washed, and our bellies are full.  It's later in the evening and I will continue to enjoy knitting on my Norweigan Hearts socks.  The pattern is basically auto pilot knitting for me and knits up so quickly.  I really enjoy making these socks and find that they make such well received baby gifts.  This is the pattern I use for my personalized (with the baby's name) baby socks (instead of the hearts).  I would guess that I have fifteen pair of these ready for gifting or for a future little one of our own :)  

My week is beginning so nicely and it is only monday.  I wonder and am excited to see what tomorrow has in store.