Ooo Baby Knits

Lookie What I Can Do!

Behold my Christmas present.

No further words are needed, but that’s never stopped me before. Actually, I knew I was getting it. I picked it out. I watched the lovely sales lady at Holly Bee Yarns demonstrate how to use it. I carried it to the car. Then I had to give it back to Dad so he could wrap it up and give it to me for Christmas which we didn’t have with my family until Thursday. It was a long wait. I’m trying to make up for lost time.

This is as far as I got. After I wound a skein of the Knit Picks Sock Landscape, I had to start knitting with it. This yarn puts most of what I have in the Sock Yarn Hall o' Shame. This is soft. Really soft. It’ll will have to be hand washed, but it will be oh so worth it.

My poor sister. I have more unfinished knits for her than you could shake a knitting needle at. Add another to the collection. Her sweater sits in a box. Fronts, back, but no sleeves. My code turned into more than a code and I’ve done very little knitting other than small mindless projects. Other knits were finished. My SIL loved her scarf- it’s the first she’s ever owned. Not much scarf weather in Florida. She had to buy a coat here because she couldn't find one there. I'll have to knit her another one to go with her new coat.

I finished a purse for my niece. It’s on its way to Florida to be gifted. But guess what. Looking through my archives, I found that I knit her a purse last year. Doh. I came across the yarn I dyed and thought I must have forgotten it. I didn’t. Now she has two.

I even finished a present for me. I spent most of the day Wednesday waiting to see a doctor who took a quick glance at me, declared me sick, wrote prescriptions, and sent me on my way. I finished the toe of sock #1 and half of sock #2 in the waiting room, the rest watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy Thursday while the rest of my family gathered at my parents house for food and fun and gift giving and more food and more fun. At least I have socks.

I should devote January to finishing DS’s knits. I really should.

Happy New Year to all!

All In a Day's Work

I hab a bad code. As my family puts it, I am cootified. DD#2 had her Christmas lunch yesterday, so in an effort to keep most of the house germ free, I hid out in the den knitting. DD had a friend come early to help out, and they fixed quite a spread! We'll be eating left over cocktail weenies and finger sandwiches until next year. Teenaged girls can put the food away- especially when there are no teenaged boys around- but eight girls cannot eat 15 sandwiches. What you can't see is the punch bowl and dessert- brownies, angel food cake with strawberries and whip cream, and petit fours. My sweet tooth is very happy today.

While they partied, I busied myself with hats for the homeless shelter-

I'll post directions in the photo album. Now back to my sister's sweater. 3 days!

The Big Christmas Countdown!

And I'm not talking about how many days left- even though there are only 5. I'm talking about how many gifts left to knit! Mom's sweater is finished, wrapped, delivered, unwrapped, and worn. (I thought a red and green sweater might come in handy before the big day) SIL's scarf is under the tree as is big brother's hat. My MIL will not be getting the green lace scarf that takes about an hour an inch to knit. She'll be getting the Branching Out scarf I knit earlier this year. I finished the booties to go with the Santa hats and those are mailed off. Knocked off a few more hats for the homeless shelter. Those will be delivered in the next day or two. Now, still on the list: my sister's striped sweater (the back is almost finished) and a purse to felt for a niece. Hmmm. I don't have to have those finished until Thursday. Gee, I have lots of time. What else can I start?

A Walk Down Christmas Lane

The first year my husband and I were married, money was tight to say the least. My job as a day care center director was cut due to lack of funding (contrary to popular opinion, it was not because I ordered too many hunormous cans of green beans), and Hubby was working in a hardware store while going to grad school. We bought a $2 cedar tree from a young boy selling them on the side of the road. I used tin cookie cutters tied with red ribbon for ornaments along with an assortment of other weird household items. I made felt stockings (the hearts and Santa ones) and stamped blank newsprint for wrapping paper using red tempera paint and a potato.  All the bows on gifts we gave were white and silver- left over from wedding gifts.

The next year, I tied red bows to the Norfolk pine we’d been given as a wedding gift and put a disco light behind it. Then for several years, we cut the tree ourselves- and not on Christmas tree farms. (I use the term we loosely as I’m not allowed to know where a couple came from.) Charlie Brown had nothing on us! DDs made lots of paper and glitter ornaments. I strung popcorn, and the star, used until a couple of Christmases ago, was a toilet paper roll sandwiched between two star shapes cut from cardboard, covered with glued on macaroni, and spray painted gold.

We just bought our tree this year. It’s a 7 ½ foot artificial tree with clear and colored lights- and a remote control. How ridiculous is that? (To save face a little amongst my naturalist and crafting friends, we had a real tree last year, fresh cut from the Blue Ridge and smelling so sweet it made DD#2’s allergies flare, and she couldn’t get near it. She had to use the back door. She couldn’t even walk through the same room. At least she couldn’t snoop.)  Most of the ornaments are hand made, although I’m no longer allowed to put on the paper and glitter ornaments. I do the same thing my Mom did- let the kids decorate then sneak back in when no one’s around to rearrange and put on the ones I like.

And to carry on tradition, there is no way I’m going to finish all my knit gifts. As usual, I’ve gotten side tracked. Mittens for the little girl we sponsor and her sister have become an all consuming obsession lately. With a little help from an Internet friend, I’ve discovered the smallest are okay, but the largest are too large. I have more mittens to knit. Santa hats and booties for the hospital are too fun not to knit. I got the idea from Wool Windings but didn’t have the pattern printed so decided to wing it. Too much fun. Just need to finish the booties.

The lace scarf is languishing. One thing I’ve learned about lace knitting- it requires a clear head. I get headaches when the weather changes and we keep going through the four seasons at least once a week. My head is out of whack, so I’ve had to keep my knitting simple. Mom’s sweater is simple- just need to block and sew. The pewter clasps from Schoolhouse Press came today. They are luverly. I can't wait to give it to her.

Now to tackle my sister's sweater. I found this pattern from Garnstudio that I really like. I have to figure out how the do the stripes. These are all the colors I have, but I don't think the pink really works with the rest. And I may leave out the single balls for logistical reasons- how do I divide it for fronts, back, and sleeves? I'm not sure how to figure out a stripe sequence unless I knit a row for each ball of yarn in that color. That way I don't run out of one before another.

SIL’s scarf is a breeze (but we won’t talk about how many times I started the setup rows.) Iris Schreier's patterns are fun to knit. One day I'll try her yarns. My brother’s hat is finished (go Hookies!). One down, elevendy-dozen to go. Two weeks- no problem.

Back to knitting and eating sugar cookies. Have you tried the Chocolate Truffle Kisses? Oh so good with a cup of Cinnamon Viennese Coffee.

The Post With No Title (unless you count this as a title, in which case this is a post with a boring title)

I am at my most creative just before I go to sleep. Catchy titles and witticisms for my blog pop into my head. I design amazing sweaters, compose symphonies, write Pulitzer Prize winning novels. I think to myself (as I have no one else to think to), this is so profound. I know I’ll remember it in the morning. But of course I don’t. I have paper, pencil, and a flashlight in reach, but when I’m perfectly comfortable as I am, why move? So, about all that great stuff I planned to write- forget it.

DD #2’s surgery went well. We spent a long day at the hospital (I’m sure I didn’t become a surgeon because there’s no way I’m awake enough at 5:30 am to perform surgery), but got to come home that night. I took my knitting bag and worked on baby booties. There’s nothing like comfort knitting. DD felt well enough to pig out with the rest of the crew Thanksgiving Day, but that’s about it. She’s still very sore and can’t sleep well, but all is fine.

Christmas knitting is coming along, but not as quickly as it needs to. It keeps getting interrupted by Christmas eating, Christmas baking, Christmas eating, Christmas decorating, Christmas shopping, and did I mention Christmas eating? Don’t you just love all the different flavors of Hershey’s Kisses they come out with for the holidays? We have an assortment in the candy bowl, and I can’t eat just one. I have to eat one of each. Back to knitting. The lace scarf looks like a green blob, but that K7 tog thing- not so bad. Actually, you knit the same 7 tog 3 times with yos in between. Still, not so bad. I may actually finish it. Mom’s sweater will definitely be finished. At 10 st = 4”, it doesn’t take a lot of sts. It’s #25 in the Fall 2006 Vogue. The box of assorted colors will be my sister’s, same pattern in stripes. She likes stripes. Stripes like her. The yarn is Lang Nuvola, 100% washable wool, and incredibly soft. It’s a joy to knit- just feels so good.

I spent a day last week finishing up old stuffs to make room for new stuffs. The fall sweater is sewn and buttoned but with the wrong buttons. That’s what I get for taking so long to get to it. I can’t find one of the floweredy looking clay buttons I had intended to use. These will do for now. If it will get cold again, I’ll wear it. This weekend “they” are calling for temps in the low 30s at night and upper 60s during the day. What’s up with that? I can’t start the day in long johns, strip down to shorts by afternoon, then reverse the process by dinner. I’ll spend all day changing clothes. It’ll be easier to stay inside and knit.

Three baby sweaters are also sewn and buttoned. I do so love knitting baby things, but I’ve got to finish my Christmas knitting before I do more. A friend is having her first grandchild in March, so she’s first on my list. They think it’s a boy, but they aren’t positive- the umbilical cord is in a strategic place, if you know what I mean. I’m thinking mint and white will work either way.

Emergency knitting! I missed the pounding for our new pastor and his wife, so I knit up a few dishcloths to give as a house-warming gift. Other than a hat or two, that would be about all the knitting going on around here. Time to knock out a few rows of the scarf. When DD#2 gets home from school, we’re baking sugar cookies and getting back to the Christmas eating.