Top 9 Pros and Cons of Working at Home with Your Spouse

K has been working on his top-secret creative project with his brother for the past 2-3 months, and most of it involves crunching on a laptop either in the living room or Starbucks. Not only is that a huge life change, but our cash flow has suddenly gone from a game developer's salary to an entrepreneur's salary when you're first starting out (aka ≤ $0). With K being a huge extrovert and a lover of video games and HeroClix, being stuck at home all the time been hard on him/us, and we sometimes find ourselves doubting if we're hearing God's direction correctly. But He's gotten us out of sticker messes before, so we continue to trust in His plan and timing (Isaiah 55:8-9). ^_^

Anyway, I had a lot of fun making my little image map last week, so here's my creative way of listing my top 9 likes and dislikes (yes, I mixed them together) of working at home with my husband. See if you can guess what each image means, then scroll your mouse over each box to view the answer.

Question:

If you have a significant other, are you two always glued to the hip or do you tend to make some time away from each other?

Happy Year of the Dragon!

During a Chinese New Year party with friends, I found out that apparently Chinese parents will deliberately wait till the year of the dragon to have kids because it's considered the luckiest of all the zodiac animals. Wow, I guess that means we're going to have a little dragon baby on our hands... maybe I should make a little dragon plushie in preparation? Unlike my search for geeky baby outfits, I found tons of amigurumi patterns on Ravelry to make. They're all so cute! I may have to make a trio of them, one zodiac animal for each family member. :) Of course, that would be after I finish the doggy black dress and the Link costume and... yeah.

(click the image to view each pattern)

Question:
Any guesses on whether we're going to have a dragon boy or a dragon girl? (K's family had all boys, while my family had one of each.)

The Gift of Shame

Ever have one of those crafts that, as you saw the pattern, you were immediately inspired to make it for someone because it's perfect for him? And in your excitement, you tell said friend in front of other related friends about your plans to make the craft as a Christmas gift. Then once you begin the project, you run into some snags. Ravelry commenters say the pattern has some sizing flaws, your yarn size isn't perfectly matched, and your knitting gauge has always been fairly wonky compared to standard instructions.

But it's ok, right? You can do this. Crocheter for 3 years, knitter for 2, and comfortable with a certain degree of improvisation. So you measure your wonky gauge using the wrong sized yarn and compensate the best you can. But by the time you are 80% done with making the seemingly awesome Space Invaders hat, you realize that it looks more like a head accessory for a Conehead than a human. You've gone too far to undo the whole thing (or rather, are unwilling to give up all that work), so in a last ditch effort, you attempt to decrease the diameter of the hat in half the number of rows, creating some kind of wrinkly, stumpy crown. Great.

K says it looks fine, but I know better. I have a really high standard for myself, and it just looks so... homemade! I want it to appear store-bought, meticulously manufactured... flat out spectacular. But I guess I shouldn't be so hard on myself because that's the charm of getting something made by hand. It does have mistakes and character and, well, heartfelt love and affection behind it. So yeah, it's not my best work (I still struggle with stranding), but it's functional, well-meaning and, best of all, geeky. :)

Question:
Have you ever been so embarrassed of a finished project that you didn't want to give it to the intended receiver? Did you end up giving it anyway?

Finally, A Friend!

After over 1.5 years since moving to K's hometown, I am finally going my first date... with a female friend! Not a double date, not a family function, but a real, live outing all by myself with someone of the same gender who enjoys my company. ^_____^ I don't know what's up with this city, but back in my hometown, they had a little something called "Southern hospitality" and boy, do I miss it. K and I have tried everything from baking cookies for neighbors to joining Bible studies for married couples to attending local community events, but it's like everyone's dance card is already full and no one is interested in taking the step beyond small talk.

So how did friendship #1 come into development? Well, most of the guy friends that K knew before moving away seem to be stuck in perpetual singleness, but one of them happened to pick up this energetic firecracker of a woman and we totally connected! After several group events, K kept encouraging me to invite her to coffee and hang out with her one-on-one, but then everyone got caught up with Christmas activities so I decided to bide my time till after New Year's. Lo and behold, I find out that K's friend had broken up with her over the holidays! O_O Not to be deterred, I emailed her anyway and asked if she wanted to talk over lunch and she said yes! YAAAYYY! (Hehe, I totally know how guys feel now when they ask girls on dates. ^_~)

Anyway, firecracker woman (let's call her Cindy) has two little Chihuahuas that she loves to dress up so I decided to make her the "Little Black Dress With Pearls" Dog Sweater. Sorry, it's not a very geeky craft, but Cindy's a very girly-girl. She's very enthused about going maternity clothing shopping with me (eww, shopping), but I'll unfortunately have to break it to her at some point that I already bought my entire pregnancy wardrobe on Craigslist for less than $100. ^_^;;

Property of savannahkay

Ideas for Geeky Baby Outfits

With K out of work, I've been researching "bargain baby budget" articles and trying to buy things secondhand whenever possible. However, I had almost forgotten that, as a yarn crafter, there are some items that I can actually make myself. Mittens, booties, etc. When I asked K if he had any requests, he immediately thought of the Futurama brain slug hat I'd made for Sara's first kiddo:

Mmm, baby brains...

That got me thinking about if there were any other geeky baby patterns out there, specifically for clothing or outfits. Surprisingly, I didn't actually find that many in Ravelry, but here's a smattering of creations that caught my attention and got the creative juices flowing. (Click on the images to view the pattern.)

My absolute favorite pattern so far has got to be The Legend of Baby Link, which uses both knitting and crochet! As much as I hate the monotony of stockinette stitch, I think I may have to make this, no matter what gender the baby turns out to be.

Question:
Any suggestions what kind of geeky "coming home" outfit I should make? I might be willing to design something new...

Resisting the Urge to Correct My Karate Sensei

The first karate kata, or set of forms, I got to learn as a white belt was the pinan ninan, and one of the very last moves is ma shomen nekoashi dachi, or front facing cat stance. "Neko," or cat, is a fairly common word in Japanese anime, so I was surprised when my sensei called it "nikoashi dashi." To be fair, Sensei is not Japanese by birth and learned karate as a kid here in the United States. And... he probably doesn't watch anime in his free time either, so it's forgivable. I decided not to correct him because I didn't want to openly admit to viewing foreign animated cartoons. ^_^;;

To be fair, it's not like I'm the expert on all things Japan either. After 2 months of coming to class, Sensei pulled me aside one day and said, "Your gi (uniform) should be worn left side over right. The reverse way you have it right now is only worn by the dead." Awesome! I've been practicing zombie karate. ^_~

Anyway, I'm reminiscing about these little stories because my doctor said no more hand-to-hand combat after the first trimester. When I emailed my sensei about it, he wrote back, "Please let me know when you would like to come back, as I would love for you to join us again. Someone with your energy is always nice to have." I think that's his gentle way of saying I'm a tad more... excitable than his average student. ^_^;;

"Shrinking" AllAboutAmi's Teddy Ornaments

If you like to knit or crochet amigurumi, you know there's a severe lacking in yarn color choices. It's so hard to match that exact shade of Pac-Man ghost #3, but throughout the years, I've settled on Red Heart Super Saver as my cheap and readily available default. Which means I have tons and tons of random leftover Red Heart yarn scraps in my collection.

So whenever I come upon an amigurumi pattern that calls for non-worsted weight yarn, I can either a) buy new yarn (no way, I need to use up my stash!), b) make the pattern as is, gauge be darned, or c) alter the pattern to keep the original size. Normally I choose option B, but for AllAboutAmi's Teddy Ornament pattern, I went with option C because well, I didn't want the bears to become super-giant-sized compared to the rest of my Christmas ornaments. Here are my edits in case you're interested!

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver (worsted)
Safety Eyes: 6 mm for the eyes and 9 mm for the triangular nose
Hook Size: 3.25 mm (D)

HEAD/BODY

• Complete Rows 1-6 of the instructions (36 sts).
• Skip to Row 9. Sc around for 8 rows. (If you’re creating the panda, switch colors after completing 2 rows of sc around.) When finished, skip to Row 23 of the instructions and finish the rest as written.

SCARF (I shortened the # of chains and used sc only, no hdc.)

• Chain 51 instead of 62. Try this length out by wrapping it loosely around the bear.
• Row 1: Starting in second chain from hook, sc 50 (not hdc). Fasten off.
• Row 2: Join new color to the first stitch. Ch 1 and sc 50. Fasten off.
• Row 3: Join original color (from Row 1) to the first stitch. Ch 1 and sc 50. Fasten off.
• Follow rest of scarf instructions on attaching fringe, etc.

TEDDY & PANDA EARS (I never made the koala ears, but it's probably similar.)

• Row 1: 5 sc in magic ring.
• Row 2: *Sc 1, 2 sc in next sc* 2 times and sc 1 in the last stitch for a total of 7 sts.
• Row 3: Sc around (7 sts).
• Do not make Row 4. Follow rest of ear instructions.

TIPS & TRICKS
To best hide all the loose ends, I made the teddy ornaments in this order:

• Make the head/body up to Row 23 or 24 and pause (do not fasten off).
• For the panda and koala, cut the eye patches out of felt.
• Place the eyes (and felt pieces) on the ornament without snapping the washer on. Embroider the noise and mouth. If satisfied with the positioning of the face, snap the eye washers on.
• Make the scarf and glue/sew it to the bear just below the mouth.
• Make the ears and sew them on the head.
• Attach the loop to the top of the bear's head.
• Finally, begin stuffing the head and complete the rest of the head/body instructions. You're done!

Since only the outside of the amigurumi is visible, I just knotted the loose ends inside the bear and didn't worry about tucking them in neatly. Some people don't like the "feel" of the knots, but it's packed full of stuffing so I can't really tell.

New Year's Resolutions (or Not)

K doesn't believe in making New Year's Resolutions because, well, if you really want to change, you should just start as soon as possible instead of only at a certain time of the year (and then ignoring it a month later). I never made resolutions because my family didn't make a big deal out of New Year's Day. That being said, I do have an ongoing list of "Things I Want to Do Before I Die" (aka my Bucket List). It was originally my "Things I Want to Do When I Grow Up" list that I started in college. I would dream of all these cool pursuits I could follow once I was making money and no longer had to do homework/studying in my free time.

Then I discovered a website called 43things.com, where you can record, share, and conquer your Bucket List with other fellow adventurers. Here's a sampling of what I've got so far:

Completed

• Take acting lessons - I've determined I suck at playing angry people
• Learn martial arts - yay karate!
• Write a novel - yay NaNoWriMo!
• Share the gospel with someone 

Given Up

• Go scuba diving - I live in a landlocked state and K doesn't prefer beaches
• Run a marathon - I trained up to about 12-13 miles and decided running is too boring

Things to Do

• Read the entire Bible - this is my "unofficial" 2012 New Year's resolution!
• Have a kid - almost there!
• Do the splits
• Visit Japan
• Take voice lessons
• etc...

Question:

Do you believe in making New Year's resolutions? If so, what are yours for 2012?

New Year, New Baby :)

So we're officially announcing it! After 6 months of trying, God has blessed us with a little bundle of joy. I've seen lots of friends post their sonogram on Facebook to share the news, so we decided to do something a little different...

Yes, that would be a little baby Mario if you're wondering. And yes, I digitally erased my actual baby to make this picture. ^_^;; I still like my announcement idea better than K's though, which was to take a picture of my hands around his tummy with the caption "We're pregnant!"

Given that this is our first kiddo, I'd like to say how woefully misinformed I was about this whole pregnancy process. First off, the only symptom I ever heard about was the infamous morning sickness. Not so! It's the extreme fatigue is what gets me. As a type A-er, it's frustrating to no longer have the energy to complete basic chores around the house. Oh, and the crying! I can't stand the hair-trigger tears that seem to spring to my eyes at the slightest provocation. One time I started bawling because K said "ho ho ho" one too many times (don't ask).

Anyway, just wanted to share the good news with you all so you can keep me, K, and our baby geek in your prayers. If you have any baby-related advice to share for us newbie parents, please let me know in the Comments!

Question:
What was the thing you least expected after having children?