I love sweater weather. Not sweater and coat weather, but "just sweater" weather. Sweater weather is sadly fleeting in NYC - spring and fall pass by in what seems like a matter of weeks and before you know it you're in sweltering humidity or freezing cold.
One of the good things about being pregnant is... sweater weather is magically extended! I'm walking around the city gaping at people, most of whom are already in winter coats including many hats, scarves and boots, wondering aren't they HOT?!!! I'm still wearing sandals, a short sleeved shirt and a heavy cardigan/sweater coat and I'm hot! It's magical and really kind of awesome because usually I'm the one who's cold. Of course, it wasn't so great this summer, which is usually my favorite season despite the humidity, if only because it's longer than spring or fall and who doesn't like the long daylight hours? Summer, while pregnant, standing on hot sticky airless subway platforms? Not so great, although I have to say that NYC subway riders have been fantastic and people have been giving me their seats left right and center since I first started showing, and now that I'm really showing, I rarely have to stand.
I think February is going to be a great time to have a baby, aside from the whole navigating snow and ice and possibly blizzards while nine months pregnant thing. I'm looking forward to being less cold in the winter, and in January and February, usually my least favorite months, we will be... kind of distracted to say the least. And by the time summer rolls around we will hopefully be somewhat in the swing of things and ready to get out and about a bit.
Of course, now that I have all this baby knitting queued up, I'm longing to knit warm cozy items... for myself! Sweaters, cardigans, a cowl or two, a cozy scarf out of handspun... but of course I'm still excited about and focused on the baby knitting. I'm not going to start sweater knitting right now, but instead I've been enjoying fondling all the knitwear in stores and have purchased not one but two cardigan/sweater coats which, I think, happen to look great during pregnancy but these are not actual maternity items and will work well after too. Is there such a thing as a nesting wardrobe?!
I did go maternity clothes shopping last week by the way, and now that I
know about the concepts of "wrapping and ruching" it does seem like most maternity clothing is designed more along the concepts of "shapeless and baggy." I did manage to pick up a few things, and with the addition of some items online, I think I'm in pretty good shape. The heavier cardigans mean I can wear my summer tops for longer and so far that is working out to be a good combination. Plus I picked up a pair of really comfortable maternity jeans (a lot more comfortable than the cropped pair I had previously) and it turns out that
this skirt also converts into a strapless dress so I may even be set for a wedding next month and a few holiday parties, although I may have to squeeze in a quick knitted shrug to go with it...
Anyway, now is the time, I guess, to 'fess up about all the yarn buying from last month. I went on quite a tear last month but I'm doing pretty well on my
resolutions. I ended up skipping Rhinebeck. I had a really busy day Saturday and wanted to stay close to home on Sunday (I had planned on going for the day) and frankly I was a little scared to go given all the money I've recently spent on yarn. I did get the Pigeon Roof Studios bitter orange, but that was still in September, and I have ordered 1 extra skein of FSM (spring) as an addition to my
Seasons subscription but as that is a one time opportunity I figured that was an ok exception!
Alright, deep breath, here are the stats for September:
skeins purchased: 315 (39)
skeins knit: 121 (9)
yards purchased: 60,224 (14,117)
yards knit: 18.408 (1,283)
yards remaining: 40,917
$ spent on yarn (not including sales tax or shipping): um, I'm going to cheat and not say but it was a LOT
knitting since: 1/27/07
So, um, yeah! That I knit 9 skeins seems like kind of a lot but I guess 6 of them were little pakucho skeins. 1,283 yards knit is pretty respectable. To have purchased over 14,000 yards of yarn... yikes! That's as much as my entire stash was at the beginning of this year! Yes, most of it was sock or lace, but still!
Anyway, you probably want photos. I'm starting to upload them to flickr a batch at a time so I'll have an eye candy entry up soon...