Baby Things

I love the cute hat. What yarn did you use? I got an email today that a co-worker's wife delivered yesterday so I need to make a baby gift as well. I haven't given much thought about what to knit. What do you think new parents would like to get?
Am finishing the shell that I started with Cascade Fixation. I chose to short row some bust darts since I am ample in that department. It was a challenge, even for a master knitter! ;-) I got the instructions for figuring out how to make them from Margaret Righetti's book on sweater designing. It's a great reference book. The shell is very comfortable because of the elastic in the yarn. I think I'll wear it a lot for work.
I really admire your confidence to experiment and knit without instructions. That is very difficult for me to do, but am trying to stretch my ability and knit freely with just an idea of what I want the finished piece to resemble. I can learn a lot from you about freeing up my knitting.
I'm on the road for several days now. I'm in Youngstown, OH this week, will be in Chicago over the weekend, Mon and Tue then back to Youngstown for the remainder of next week. I'll be in Texas for the first 2 weeks of May which might be good knitting time, if I can decide what to make. If you will be there, maybe we can meet for dinner or something.

I'm No Master Knitter, But...

First, congratulations on completing your work to become a certified Master Knitter. That's so exciting. I have thought about looking into starting this process, but I'm a little nervous. We'll see.

I've been collecting baby patterns over the last couple of weeks. We have friends who are due this summer and I thought I would have time to knit a few little things before their due dates. When we came home from vacation, we found out our friends who were due at the end of April/early May delivered on March 31. Britten Taylor was 6 lbs 10 oz and 18 inches long when she was born - a little on the small side, but can you imagine how big she would have been if she was born five weeks later! I made this little hat by combining several patterns and I'm almost done with the baby socks.



I don't like booties. They look silly and never stay on. And after they come home from the hospital, who puts these things on their kids. I ordered a book on baby socks off of e-bay that should be here any time now. Baby things are so remarkably small. I knew this before I started, but I kept looking at the hat thinking that it would never fit. But, it did.

I hope I can stay ahead of everyone else's birthdays so I will have a gift to take to the hospital. Britten and mom are doing fine and she's been home for over a week now.

Vacation Knitting

I was on vacation two weeks ago and being a road warrior for work last week, so I've not had time to post. In fact, my husband chose a vacation spot with no internet access and very little cell coverage in an effort to make me slow down. I really think it did more harm than good since I almost had a nervous breakdown without my e-mail or web access for a week.

I can admit it. When packing for vacation I had illusions of grandeur. I packed all of the yarn I needed to complete my Somewhat Cowl sweater. I packed enough yarn to make two pair of socks. I also packed some kitchen cotton to make my cute purse. I thought I would have all of this time to lounge around and knit. I guess I also thought that I became the fastest knitter in the world overnight. Needless to say I made progress on all of my projects - some more than others - but progress on each.

Somewhat Cowl Sweater: I've found out that the ragglan sleeve measurements may be off and I'll need to alter this to be sure it isn't too loose.




Mulligan Socks: I've frogged this damn thing four times now. I hate the way the heel is working out and I need to frog it AGAIN.



Polly Purse (Cute Purse): Polly was easy, but hard on my hands. I've got the embroidery to finish (four flowers) and I think I'm going to line this before I seam it up. We'll see how that goes.