First Born

Tagged on Facebook, and I would like to share the chatters with my blog friends too. Pick up the tag if you'd like, just leave a comment so I can read your answers. 1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Let's assume that's Henry and I'd say he's semi planned. I stopped the pills but he came earlier than planned. A bit of passion after a game of tennis and one of us said "it'll be ok"... 2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes, six years 3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Happy, nervous. Bill said he had a sense of accomplishment. 4. HOW DID YOU TELL YOUR PARENTS? Called my mom when I was about five months pregnant, and wrote letter to my dad couple months before Henry was born. 6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? I felt it and I knew it. Scientifically I put in a test at Kaiser and waited till the next morning for the result. I made Bill stay home with me in the morning so we can call Kaiser together. 7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Bill 8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Of course. 9. DUE DATE? 2/22/99 10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Not much, just nauseated from time to time, never threw up. 11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Almost nothing, which was a big disappointment for Bill. He heard about all these horror stories how wives would send the husband on some wild snack run in the middle of the night, and he was ready to go any moment. 12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? People at work. I didn't tell them till the end of first trimester, so had to tough it out for the first seven weeks when I was feeling totally out of sorts. After that people treated me like a princess. 13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? All boy. We have an ultrasound picture taken from right above him with his legs apart. The technician put an arrow pointing at the little penis. Very thoughtful. 14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? I wanted a boy since the moment I knew I wanted kids, and I only know how to bring up little boys. 15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 40+ I was underweight to start off, then just ballooned at six months. 16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes. The ladies at work were mostly much older than me, many of them grandmothers, so they had a lot of fun watching my belly grow and they threw me a huge shower, made me look much more popular than I actually was. 17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? They were going to surprise me, but decided Bill should be invited so they had to tell me. 18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Not much at all. Pregnancy was the most enjoyable part of my child bearing/rearing so far. I wouldn't mind doing it all over, if not for the labor, delivery, first year, second year ..... 19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Kaiser Santa Clara 20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 27 hours with 3.5 hours of pushing 21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Bill 22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Bill was there but I don't know if he watched. I went through three shifts of doctors and nurses. In the end we ended up with the best team. It was an older doctor, instead of the Aussie surfer dude or old witch that were there earlier in my stay. The nurse's name was Marianne. For years I wanted to go back to Kaiser and find that nurse. She's the only person took care of ME during the whole ordeal. 23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural, a surprise for a few people in my life. I had rheumatic fever when I was young and there were suspected damage to heart valves. I had everything thoroughly checked out at Kaiser during my pregnancy, and apparently I was healthy enough to give birth. 24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? More than I want to admit. For a few hours during the night I was hallucinating and asked Bill to take me home. I remember wondering who this Henry person was, the name sounded rather familiar! 25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 7 lb 14 oz, glad he came out when he did! 26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? 9:24am, Monday, February 15, 1999, my very first day of maternity leave. I worked till 3pm the prior Friday, only left early for a doctor's appt. Bill missed his 9am meeting. 27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Henry 28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 10 years in 5 days

Bust Enhancer Finale

Pattern: Heather by Joan McGowan-Michael of White Lies Designs
Yarn: Joy from White Lies Designs, handdyed merino wool. 8 skeins
Needles: US size 6
Size: Medium
Cost: About $75 for the kit (pattern, yarn pack and the glass dangles) and an extra skein that I bought later to add couple inches to the body
Previous post: here
Notes: The pattern name Heather does not do justice to this lovely design. Someone on Ravelry noted that this sweater is a good bust enhancer, so I adopted the name. Certainly can use the help. The extra skein is slightly darker than the yarn pack and it's incorporated into the garter stitch ridges on the bust line.

Trinket Is 14

M Is For Mutt

Picking up this game from my fellow CIC knitter Lynn, who blogs at Never A Dull Moment. She assigned me the letter M to write ten things I like that starts with the letter M.

1. Money, in any form, shape, size and currency

2. Mid night, cuddled in warm blanket, watching Boston Legal, knitting

3. Mute button, wish it comes with most people and objects

4. Mutts like Trinket, who will turn fourteen years old tomorrow

5. Memories start with "when Trinket/Bucky/Henry was little ....

6. Magazines: love to read them and always wanted to be an editor

7. Moonlight: symbol of romance and peace in Chinese literature

8. Merino yarn, preferrably handspun handdyed

9. Massage, helps me go to sleep and wake up every morning

10. Mama, Henry's first word at five months old

If you'd like to play the word game, just leave a comment and I'll assign you a letter.

Twenty Five Things About Me

My friend Lori tagged me on Facebook to write twenty five things about myself and pass on the tag. It's a rather tall order, but pick up the tag if you like the challenge.

1. I've been blogging for almost three years, and there are still new material every day.
2. When I joined Facebook last year I thought I wouldn't spend much time on it since I already have a blog. Famous last words.
3. Our first house on Bufkin was my longest residence. We brought up three kids there, two of them walk on all fours, and at one point had four dogs. I miss living in a ranch house.
4. We now live in an imitation Arts and Crafts style home. After four years I still think of it as "our new house".
5. Walking down West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, which curves along the Pacific Ocean, is one of my most cherished enjoyments.
6. One of my friends at work introduced me to Buttery in Santa Cruz, which is now my favorite bakery.
7. I belong to a book club that has been running for seven years. Lately people are bailing out. Don't!
8. I met my husband through a dating service, when he was getting ready to sue them and ask me to be the witness.
9. We got married instead. The full story is here.
10. We got married on my husband's birthday and now we celebrate the anniversary a month later.
11. I've been doing this online social networking thing since 1995. We adopted Trinket in April 1995 and Bill joined a dog group at work, and they referred him to an online terrier group, Terrier-L. I'm still part of Terrier-L.
12. Bucky and I are spiritually connected.
13. For years I only drank coffee from Columbia. Now I almost don't drink coffee at all.
14. I like almost all chocolate, especially hand crafted truffles.
15. I'm far more comfortable writing than talking, in any language.
16. Although my formal Chinese language education ended in high school, I'd like to think that my Chinese is on par with grad students.
17. I baked cookies from scratch for the first time during the holidays.
18. I came to America with one suit case and a carry-on bag. Most of my belongings were lost when I left China.
19. I ran away from home when I was fourteen, only for a day, but successfully scared everyone.
20. Bill and I have been watching Boston Legal reruns. I want to grow old like Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen), not afraid of my age, with grace and dignity.
21. I learned to knit, crochet, embroider, type on a Spanish typewriter, read and write in Chinese, both in characters and in Pin Yin (Chinese spelling system) between the age of five to seven. I was very ill and had to be kept at home. My parents home schooled me on all these subjects instead of letting me "sit around and do nothing".
22. The only vegetable I don't like is eggplant.
23. I force feed all of my children, including the crab. For a few nights I put the crab in his food dish instead of leaving him alone to hide next to the heater; now he appears in the food dish at midnight looking for food.
24. I never knew I was a dog person until we got Trinket, now I can't imagine ever living without a dog.
25. In the summer of 2006 Henry and I flew to Indiana to meet up with our Feb99 friends. It was our first and only venture out by ourselves and I'm so glad we went. I have known the ladies in Feb99 group for over ten years. This is an amazing group of women.

Trinket's T Shirt

The only sweater I knitted for Trinket. I downloaded a free pattern and added an intarsia T on the chest, just in case Bucky wanted to steal the sweater.

Trinket had surgery to remove three tumors from his chest, side and leg (cancerous mast cell tumors) in October 1998. After the surgery he was wrapped in gauze around the chest and stomach, with the tumor site shaved clean. He looked pitiful. It took me a good day and half to crank out this sweater to cover up the gauze and later the shaved area. Made him look rather cute if I might say. Trinket was about three years old in the picture, and Bucky about two.

Dragon Square

Knitted this square for my friend Cris. Cris organizes the South Bay Knitter group, schedules all the meetings, sends out all the reminders, and oh yeah, she pulls together our annual retreat in January. She's the heart and soul of the group. Cris loves dragons. So when one of our members, the talented spinner/knitter/weaver/instructor Nancy, suggested that each of us to contribute a square for an afghan, I thought something in the shape or theme of a dragon would be proper.

The intarsia flying dragon stitch pattern was found on Ravelry. I reversed the original pattern so the dragon would fly both ways, and enlarged it for the big dragon in the middle.

Nancy and Cris both love this square, and Nancy put it as the center piece of the afghan. It's a huge honor for them to consider my knitting worthwhile, and I'm not saying this to make anyone feel good, as I know most of the South Bay Knitters don't read my blog. It was eleven years ago that I picked up knitting again and joined the group. For years I was intimidated by the talent and creativity in this group, yet at the same time I couldn't drag myself away. I needed this group to push me to constantly pursue the next knitting challenge.

Thank you Cris for keeping us together.

Thank you South Bay Knitters for being there.

Bucky Stumbles into 2009

Thanks to all who asked about Bucky and wished him well. Bucky had another episode of back problem over the holidays. For couple of days he had a terrible limp and had trouble getting up. This picture was taken on new year's day. I was able to get him go outside on his own, but it seemed that he could no longer get his legs through the doggie door. Sometimes we had to carry him all the way out to the backyard, put him down gently so he could do his business. Poor guy can't keep the back leg up any more, how humiliating.

This is the third year in a row he has back or neck problem during the winter, I'm beginning to think maybe the cold and wet weather is doing a number on the old bones. We need a winter home in Vegas.

Charity Knitting

Henry and I went to visit my mom in Carmel over the holidays. She had heart surgery right before Christmas. One of her arteries was 90% blocked and they put in stents so it would expand, which hopefully will help prevent any future blockage. She's recovering nicely, with some help from friends around her and couple of on and off home care ladies. Thank you to those who sent good wishes for my mom. Her birthday is coming up next Tuesday. If anyone wants to send her a card just email me: vhkeys at yahoo dot com, so I can send you her snail mail address. She lives alone in a senior community away from any other neighborhood, sometimes she doesn't get out for days. Any outside communication is always welcome. Here are some of the knitting she'd done in the last couple of months. They are going to various charity groups in our local hospitals and shelters.

Irish Diamond Shawl Finale

Pattern: Irish Diamond Shawl from Folk Shawl by Cheryl Oberle
Yarn: Newton Yarn Country Cashmere Merino, 50% merino wool, 50% cashmere, fingering weight, about 2,000 yards, purchased at Stitches West a few years ago
Needle: US size 7
Color: Olive green, looks a little darker in life than in these pictures
Cast on: July 2008
Finished: November 2008
Precious entry: in progress
Cost: about $60
Notes: This is a beautiful shawl! The pattern is straight forward. The two lace sections are fairly simple yet not boring. Cast on starts at the neck edge, increase between each section, and cast off at the bottom long edge. The end result is a square with opening diagonally in one of the sections. The yarn is very nice to work with -- it's the same yarn I used for Muir and Chinese Red Vest -- and gives the shawl a nice drape.