Crochet: A mystery, and a plan

A crochet mystery.  

My grandma made a beautifully complex-looking blanket for the baby, but doesn't know what stitch she used since she can no longer read patterns after a stroke.  She just made up the stitch, or had it stored somewhere in her subconscious!

Whatever it is, it's definitely cozy and super soft!

I can tell that the edging is a shell stitch pattern, because my first crochet project of a scarf used it.  But what about the middle?  Is it some form of shell stitch too?


In other news...

I've spent the past 2 weeks finally trying to really teach myself to crochet (projects 3-7).  Here are all the projects I have ever done: 

1. A 1-skein scarf.  (This was done probably a year ago.)
2. A perfect sphere.  (Done in February)
3. A newborn pumpkin hat & cocoon for a halloween costume
4. A newborn boob hat, for nursing hilarity
5. Another newborn boob hat for a friend
6. A 4-inch snowflake
7. A mini pumpkin

I'm just waiting for a larger tapestry needle to show up in the mail so I can finish weaving in some ends, and then I will post some photos and link to the patterns!

Assuming I have plenty of time before the baby arrives, what patterns should I work on next?

Feelin' Prodromal

Well, today's the day that our little womb dweller is due!  It is hard to believe that I've made it this far and that he's still in there.

We had an appointment with the midwife this morning, and she says the quality and strength of the contractions I've had periodically since the night of the 7th mean that I'm having prodromal labor... it'd be actual labor if the darn contractions would stick around!

The good news is that it's giving me lots of practice with breathing techniques, and labor is looking less scary because each time I have a real contraction I somehow get excited instead of nervous.  The bad news is that it's a bit tiring to suddenly realize "Omigods, this is it!" and then to have it fizzle out, over and over and over... makes sleeping interesting, since it mostly happens at night.  My prescription is literally to take naps and get as much sleep as I can.

So... can I say that I've been in mild labor for over 2 days?  Can I say that the lunar eclipse sparked it and that he's therefore a blood moon baby?  Guess it depends on your definition of labor.  And moon.  And baby.

Now we just hunker down and wait.

For the love of Mead, Part 3: Ceiling Surprise

Ryan came home and his first question was "have you looked at the ceiling recently?"

Why, no.  No, I haven't.  If I had, I would have noticed this:

Oops.

Those meady explosions were a little more powerful than I'd thought!  Luckily the kitchen has shiny washable paint and the hibiscus bits didn't stain. 

Anyway, today's the day I'm adding 1/2 of the remaining nutrients.  The fermentation has not slowed very much so far, which is awesome!  These nutrients will give the yeast another boost to keep them going strong.  I'm still aerating a few times a day and being extra-careful about more krausen clogging up the airlocks... and ending up on the ceiling. 

So far the Specific Gravity started out at 1.105 (adding more honey equals a higher SG), and it's now down to 1.090 (or maybe a bit less, it's hard to tell with all the bubbles!).  That means that the mead is already 2% alcohol after just 6 days, which is like a weak beer.  It certainly smells alcoholic already.

I'm expecting it to get to about 13.75% by the end... most wine is 12.5-14.5%, so this is pretty good for such a quick mead.

Trying to capture the Blood Moon

I played with the settings on the new camera all night to figure out how to take moon pictures.  I do not have a tripod or an ideal lens (just the 18-55mm it came with), but these were the best I could come up with....

(Click on it to see the full size)

The trick was to set it to F11, ISO 100, a 2-second timer delay (to keep me from shaking the camera more from the button-pushing), zoom in on the moon and let the automatic focus do its thing (it is far better than I am), and then to adjust the shutter speed based on how much light the moon was giving off at any particular time.  I'm particularly excited about the full moon photos, since I've never been able to capture that kind of detail before!

This was my worst photo, where I set the shutter speed so slow that I thought the camera was malfunctioning and I stopped holding it still out of frustration.  Oops.

It has its charms... nice October-appropriate colors.

In other news, spending so much time staring at the sky appears to have kicked these Braxton Hicks contractions up a notch or five.  Here's hoping that our little spawn doesn't take too much longer to get here.

I hope you enjoyed the lunar eclipse as much as I did!

Do you have any moon photos to share?