Knit & Kick

As I mentioned before, I picked up crocheting again to fill up some time and made a mug cozy and small blanket.  The blanket was originally going to be a shawl to snuggle up with while reading or watching a movie, but Grover claimed it midway through making so I changed the project a bit.  I am now learning to knit.  Yay!  It is a bit more complicated and I have to concentrate more, but I am starting to get the hang of it.  I have had to re-cast the first row like five times BUT progress is happening.  I decided to give knitting a try after seeing a blanket that one of my friends completed for her newborn niece.  The pattern was more complicated than the one I crocheted and it was more substantial.  It turned out beautifully.

The main reason I wanted to learn to knit?  ONE OF MY BESTIES IS HAVING A BABY! She is still early on in the pregnancy and we are not sure of the sex (although she said, and I quote, 'I just feel like there is a penis growing inside of me.') so I went with gender neutral colors.  I am a huge fan of gray and yellow together, but the yellow yarn they had at the craft store was not a pretty color.  Instead I went with gray and a pretty green.  I am using a basketweave stitch which you can learn how to do here.  The gray will be in the center and the green on the outside.  I am excited to see the finished product! It will take quite a while, I'm sure.  It just has to be done by August when the little gummy bear joins us!

Another thing about this bestie having a baby thing - I cannot even describe how excited I am! I grew up with this girl and continue to be great friends with her and I think that adds to my excitement and joy for her.  When she told me I literally screamed and teared up and everything.  I can't wait!

Grover helping me stretch.

He's an angry elf. . .

On another note, Ben and I have slipped in our healthy eating/exercise routine and are working to get back on the wagon.  He has P90X on his external hard drive, so we brought that home this weekend, put it on the computer and have been BRINGING IT! I started out with just the stretching, which I will not do again, and today we did kempo.  If you haven't done P90X, kempo is kicking and punching.  It was fun!  The hour flew by!  We do not plan to do the P90X program, but just do the videos we want to keep in shape. After kempo, we took Grover on a walk and let him run at one of the tennis courts off the leash.  It was sprinkling, so he got pretty sandy and dirty so he got a bath afterwards.  He was not pleased. . .

5 months until we see your shining faces in the States!