Ooo Baby Knits

We have heat!

Temporarily, anyway. The heat man showed me where the reset button is, but thankfully we made it through the night without it going out again. Looks like we'll be getting a new heat pump soon. Bummer. The sun is out today, but the wind is gusting. Not a good day for a picnic. Knitting, however......

The girls are back in school and hubby's at work, so I'm back to my lonesome again. Well, there's Max, but he's not real chatty today. I finished 3 hats yesterday and plan to do a couple more today. along with a few more rows of my Adult Surprise Jacket. And don't I have a list of things to finish somewhere? Hmm... Starting new things is just so much more fun.

I'm also going to the fabric store to look for beads for a cotton hat pattern I'm working on. Walmart didn't have what I needed, so I'm hoping I have better luck at Hancocks.

Things to do when the heat is out:

1. Bake cookies!

DROP SUGAR COOKIES

Cream together:
1 C sugar
1 C butter
Add and mix well:
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
Sift together and add:
2 1/2 C flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda

Drop by teaspoons on ungreased baking sheet and bake at 400 for 8-10 min. You can put sprinkles on top or add 3 squares melted unsweatened chocolate or chocolate chips and orange rind or lemon flavoring and chopped pecans and ice with lemon juice stirred into powdered sugar, or crushed peppermint candy and drizzle melted chocolate chips on top or whatever you want.

2. Pull out all the blankets and pillows you can find, snuggle up and watch Finding Nemo for the 20th time.

3. Go to the mall and do some damage at winter clearance sales.

4. Do all three. (That's what we opted for.)

Happy knitting!

Max

January 29, 2004

Ta Da! Here he is, Maxwell Smart, wonder dog extrordinaire in his new sweater. The sweater is green and black striped, but doesn't show up well in the photo. He actually like it! It didn't take him long to realize that putting sweater on= going out to play and getting lots of attention. Our next door neighbors, the Hopkins (Max's second parents), invited Max over for a treat when they saw how handsome he looked.

DD#1 insisted on using 100% wool to keep Maxie warm, and that's all I had on hand. I did remedy the problem with a little help from Ebay since I need wool to knit for Afghans for Afghans and I want to knit something for CIC I'm glad everyone will be back at school and work when the boxes start coming in. I'm so bad.

We're freezing here today- the temperature is up to 33 dergees, but our heat pump died last night! Brrrr.... I'm waiting on the heat pump man to come fix it, so I can't go anywhere warm. We have gas logs in the living room, one small space heater upstairs, and a propane heater in the kitchen, but I'm still cold! Back to a nice, warm cup of Earl Gray tea and knitting hats.

Snow Days!

January 27, 2004

Well, I’m starting out the day in the doghouse. My husband, who refuses to let a few measly inches of snow and ice on the roads and the pictures of SUVs and pickup trucks in ditches on the front page of today’s paper keep him in, decided to run a couple of errands this morning before the ice starts again. Of course, we just have a little Geo Prism. Being the good little wife that I am, I went out to start the car for him to let the fresh ice melt. When I pulled up on the door handle, it snapped off in my hand. No good deed goes unpunished.

I finished two baby sweaters for Bundles of Love:

I found the pattern for the red sweater on the Knitlist The pink sweater is from "Kids to Grownups Seamless Sweaters" by Mary Rich Goodwin.

Today I'm finishing up a sweater for our pooch, Max (I'll let him model it for you when I'm through) and clicking away at the Adult Surprise Jacket. I'd planned to knit a few more ridges before I switched colors, but couldn't hold out any longer. DD #1 is standing over my shoulder waiting for me to finish Max's sweater- impatient brat- so enough jabbering for today! Stay warm and keep knitting.

Knitting for Babies

January 23, 2004

There’s a chickadee scrounging the last crumbs from the bird feeder. I’m a real sissy in cold weather- I put on a hat just to go in the laundry room- but I’ve got to feed my birdies today. We’re supposed to get bad weather Sunday, and that’s when they come in droves. (Or should I say flocks?)

Woo Hoo! I just got off the phone with my friend who recently started working at a local Pregnancy Crisis Center to see if they could use some knit baby things- I love knitting for babies. They’re expecting 5 boys and 3 girls to be born in the next 4 months, and I get to knit for them! The center gives each new mom a goodie basket. Guess I’ll start with hats and booties and add sweaters when I can- especially for winter months.

There’s a great hat pattern on p. 124 in Sally Melville’s “Book 2: The Purl Stitch” that I worked out in a baby sized hat and bootie. Think I'll start with these in Woolease Sprinkles. I’ll write it out readably and post with a picture soon. In the mean time, here’s my plain Jane baby hat and booties pattern in preemie to newborn sizes. It’s easy to add in patterns or colorwork to make them all different. http://pens_n_needles.tripod.com/pensnneedles/id1.html

Just to throw in some color here and to break up the monotony of my jabbering, here’s what I’m boxing up to send to the NICU at UVA:

Most of this I knit traveling to and from NY and in the hospital after my surgery in November. (Pretty extreme just to find more knitting time. I don't recommend it.) I planned to send them for Christmas, but got too busy with presents. I'll whip up a few pair of booties to cram in before they go to the PO. If you've never knit for charity, winter is a great time to start, and baby things are so quick and easy. If you don't know who to send things to, check with your local hospital or here: http://www.hood.edu/carewear/

I knit for the NICU at UVA because my DD#2 was there for a few days after she was born. It was so awful seeing her hooked up to all those tubes and wires and not being able to hold her. I went home the first night and knit her booties. She looked more like a little baby, and I felt better.

Okay, off my soap box. Go forth and knit!

Weekend Sweater Complete!

January 17. 2004

I have amazed even myself- two projects completed this weekend, count 'em, TWO! The Weekend Sweater is scrumptously soft, though if I do another I won't make the neck quite as high. If you've never knit an Elizabeth Zimmerman percentage sweater, this is a great first pattern. I loved it- no seams to sew and the only finishing was grafting the underarms and weaving in a few loose ends. The Moccasin Socks came out well, too. Warm and cozy, which my perpetually cold feet will love. They're in EZ's Knitting Around.

My DD #1 took the picture- that's her little orange toe showing. :) I finished these just in time. I have to start EZ's Adult Surprize Jacket today. My knit-along group insists- haha. I have several left over skeins from the Weekend Sweater, that I should probably knit a scarf and hat with, too. And then there are all those other pesky projects on my list... Busy, busy, busy! Also on schedule for today- work on an article for www.restministries.org, taxi children who have the day off school and oh so busy social lives, and mucho laundry. God bless your week!

New WIPs

January 16, 2004

Observe the WIP list:
1. The Weekend Sweater - almost finished.
2. My Mom's Christmas sweater from last year.
3. My sister's Christmas sweater from this year.
4. My younger DD's scarf (Interweave Knit Winter ’03.)
5. Pink baby sweater for Bundles of Love (www.bundlesoflove.org)
6. Hats/booties/blanket for the NICU at UVA.
7. Garter Stitch Cardy in camel, sage, and black mohair/wool/acrylic blend I got on Ebay.
8. Orange wool Trudie sweater- just need to sew up and finish.

Read my knitting resolutions:
1) I will not buy any more yarn until my birthday in April.
2) I will finish at least half my WIPs before I start any more projects.

Now I'll confess what I've been working on this week. My knit-along group started EZs moccasin socks Monday *which I had no intentions of knitting* but I just happened across a couple of skeins of Woolease that exactly match my new sweatsuit. So... Then my oldest DD gave me back several skeins of yarn she had been using in art class. Two skeins were keeping me awake, so I had to- against my will and better judgement- start a scarf. I'll post a picture as soon as I can figure out how. Yee ha- here we go--