I turned 31 on Tuesday.

I’m not sure how I feel about it. I was a little lonely, as my hubby was gone on a business trip, and my sisters didn’t make it to see me, but it wasn’t too bad — I’d already had my “party” and I had my son with me. Plus I had some really good friends (one in particular) that worked hard to make sure I had a very happy birthday even if there weren’t people physically with me to share it with — there were many people sharing it with me in spirit. But at the same time — it was kind of melancholy. Birthdays are . . . contemplative for me. There’s so much I wanted to do by the time I was thirty, and now — I can’t fool myself into believing that “if I just do it WHILE I’m thirty, it’s the same thing!” But. There’s so much I’ve done that I never thought I’d do, and I think, in the end — it balances out.

So what is the “old lady” doing with knitting these days?

I’m making progress on Mother’s bag. I don’t have another photo, because it would just look exactly the same as the last photo, only a little bigger — it’s about 8.5 inches long now. Still going pretty easily. While I was knitting on it at the hospital, I got to the point where I am confident not looking at the pattern at all. (I probably could have ditched the pattern much sooner, but I didn’t trust myself.) That is making this a truly comforting, mindless, easy knit — I’m needing a lot of that right now. (Speaking of hospitals — Daddy is out, and doing very well now. He even has gone back to work, a little at a time. I’m also just about over my pneumonia. It’s great for everyone to be feeling better. Makes me happy.)

I have some modeled photos of sww’s socks:

He couldn’t take them off fast enough after I took the photos — 100% wool socks are just not a good thing in the weather that we’ve all been experiencing.

I am still working on my son’s matching socks. I just turned the heel on the first sock:

I think the child thought I’d lost my mind, putting those socks on him with the needles still attached, particularly since I was blabbering at him about being very still and careful so the stitches didn’t come off the needles. But he put up with me anyway, and I got to breathe a sigh of relief that they do in fact fit. (Hooray for math!) He’s really excited about getting socks — he keeps telling me “Mama, just knit! Knit my socks! I just want you to knit!” It makes me laugh.

In upcoming knitting news — my baby sister is getting married in February. She’s been riding my ass about choosing a bridesmaid’s dress (everyone’s FAVORITE pastime, right?). She’s being lovely and letting us all choose the dresses within given parameters (she picked the fabric and the length, but we get to choose the design), and we’re having them made. So since I wouldn’t get off my ass and decide, she hauled me to the mall to try on dresses to find a prototype — which was good; I like spending time with her, and she was able to find something that will a) look flattering and b) be easy to alter should I either get pregnant or continue to lose weight. (Woohoo, what a sentence!) The only problem is it’s not a dress style that’s conducive to sleeves — we’ll be going with spaghetti straps.

Um, NO. I dont’ show my arms and shoulders in public — I look way too much like a linebacker. So I have to find something that will cover my shoulders/arms, work with the dress, AND not make me look pregnant if I’m not. We looked around — found nothing of the sort. So my idea, which I really didn’t think she’d go for — “Hey, let me knit something!”

So. I showed her I Do from Knitty. And she said “Oh yeah.” Hooray! But, at the same time, ack! Now I’ve got deadline knitting! And I have to pick out a black yarn that will work with the pattern and look good with a black satin dress.

So if anyone’s got yarn suggestions, I’m all ears!