A pair of Leyburns and a Baby

So I've finished up my second pair of socks for the HyenaCart sock swap. The pattern is Leyburn Socks by MintyFresh. The yarn is Stile from Lana Grossa in color 8012 (blue/purple/grey) purchased at The Loopy Ewe.



My notes: Started on March 6th, 2011 and finished March 19th, 2011. Worked two at a time magic looped on my 2.5mm bamboo hiyas. Judy's magic cast on with 11st on top and bottom (22 total). Increased 4 st every other round and then 4 st every 3rd round towards the end because the toe wasn't turning out long enough. I increased to 31st on the instep and 29st on the sole because my gauge was a little under. I did the foot increases as written and the heel was done across the 29st as though I had 25. I did the heel inc as written also. By the end I had more stitches total but still the right number for the lattice pattern. The leg was worked for about two inches and then cuff and Jeny's super stretchy bind off.

I am absolutely in love with this pattern! It kept me interested the whole way through because each finished lattice was a mini instant grat moment and the yarn kept things interesting because I was always excited to see what color was going to carry over. The lattice pattern was uber easy to memorize so I could take the project with me anywhere.

...and now for the baby :D

I was knitting these socks with a fair amount of urgency because our newest little one was due on the 23rd. I was fully prepared (and actually looking forward) to having our baby after his due date. With only the cuffs to go... B had other ideas.



On March 14th (only two days after my birthday mind you) I was woken up at 4:30am by a fairly strong contraction. After going to the bathroom (yay baby who's dropped) and crawling back in couch (I'd been sleeping there since the snoring started... yet another joy of pregnancy) I had another contraction and realised that they were definitely not braxton hicks. After getting over the, 'No, I can't have him yet, it's too close to my birthday' thoughts, I woke the hubby and told him to get ready because today was the day. After he shaved, showered, and packed and I got my stuff gathered up, we got the kids up, told them what was going on and took them to the neighbor's where they quickly fell back asleep. Contractions were 5 minutes apart exactly while we were driving and I was really thinking that if they got much harder (which I was expecting them to) I was really going to want drugs. We arrived at the hospital around 6:40am and were given a room. We arrived in the middle of a shift change so the nurses were sparse. After sitting around for a while and getting through some pretty gnarly contractions, the nurse finally came in to check on everything. After hooking me up to the heart rate and contraction monitors she checked how far along we were and to both our surprise I was already 8cm dilated and pretty much fully effaced. In a slight panic she called for a bit more assistance, reminded me to keep breathing through contractions and to not push. The doctor moseyed in around 7:40, tried to lay me back in the prone position o_O which I was not having and I'm pretty sure that frustrated him a bit, broke the sack of water, told me I could push on the next contraction, so I did, and in that one push, Baby B's head was eased out and when I the nurse helped me pull one leg up (cause it wasn't going to happen in prone... good grief) the shoulders came out and B was born before 7:45am (yeah, it really was cut that close).

We've been home and happy for about a week now and life is adjusting quite well. Lulu is absolutely enamoured with B and the older two are enjoying him too. For now he had an amazingly chill disposition which I pray will continue on and not morph into a devious and mischievous personality :lol: