Let's just pretend...

Let's just pretend those last three months didn't happen...

or rather, that they did happen, and got posted about, and life moves on! (I obviously can't do a good job posting regularly right now, I'll work on posting randomly for now, and work on regularly later!)

When I last left you I mentioned I had finished a sweater for my oldest daughter.

Since then I have made at least 4 baby shower gifts:

I learned a new technique for ragrugs and made a little trivet...

and I also finished spinning some yarn.

Each of these may or may not get a post of their own soon.

Another Baby Gift

I almost never sell my knitting.  I usually gift it, I sometimes barter it, but I usually feel that selling it makes it less of a hobby and less fun.  It tends to make my free time stressful.  However, I had a friend attend many baby showers with me and kept commenting that she would love to have me make something for her daughter who was expecting.  She mentioned it early enough that I had plenty of time to think about it, get her opinion on some things, and make it while not being rushed. 

She had asked for a bear and vest....

I had a little extra time though, and really wanted to use the matching yarn to make something quick (and crocheted).  I gave her the option of buying this also, or just what she had asked for.  She snapped it up!

Her daughter just had the baby this past week - hope she and the little boy enjoy these!

Baby Girl

My husband asked if I would make a gift for a co-worker who had a new daughter.  Of course, he asked in plenty of time and I kept putting it off.  Finally I got this done just a week or so after the baby was born.  It was fun to make a girly bear after all the recent boy ones (and more boy ones coming!)

I'm wondering how many people are still reading this after my long vacation - so the fun way to find out is to have a contest - details to be posted soon!

Baby Shower during Blog silence

During the early part of my blog vacation I attended a baby shower.  This was a gift for the new little boy.  Complete with buttons on the shoulder so it should go on and off easily.
 

Baby Outfit

 Not only did I finish the outfit for my niece before she outgrew it, but I also mailed to them so they received it also before she outgrew it.

It's a shirt/sweater, a diaper cover, and a flower headband. 

The back of the diaper cover has a cute flower on it too!

Those of you who know her can see a picture of her in the outfit on her mom's facebook page.  Those of you who don't will just have to image a really cute baby who fits these pretty well right now!

Another Baby Gift

This has finally started turning into something for my new niece. I know her parents sometimes read this blog, so I won't be posting anything else until it's done and received, but it's such a pretty color and nice yarn that I couldn't skip posting something about it!

Baby Shower!

I finished the baby shower gift!


I've been wanting to make this vest for a long time, but I wasn't with it enough to make it for my son when he was that small, and we didn't know ahead of time we were having a boy anyway. I might now make this same pattern larger for him. It turned out really cute.

I loved that the 6 month and the 12 month sizes both had buttons on the shoulder to make it easier to take on and off:


And it's tradition now that I make a bear. I should make some up ahead of time and have them ready, but I never plan to make them until I need a baby gift.



I think the baby will fit better than the bear did though...

Rainbow Shawl

I still had a couple of slippers to finish for Christmas, so of course I pulled out the Rainbow yarn and shawl pattern I wanted to make for one of my girls and started that instead.

I did end up finishing this on the Wednesday *after* christmas, but since Curly didn't know it was for her that was not a problem. She had commented how much she liked it several times while I was making it. I had implied that the finished shawl would be for me.



I wove in the two ends and was planning to block it this week, but she *Really* wanted to wear it January 1st to church, and she seems to like it unblocked, so I don't know if I will. I'll plan to leave it for now. (For those who don't knit lace, blocking is when you would wet the shawl and stretch it out, pinning it to something and let it dry that way. It really helps to finish it off and let you see the pattern and enjoy a flat (rather than chinese noodle looking) shawl.

Four more Baby Showers

I posted the first of five baby showers I knew were coming and then I dropped off the face of the earth... or of the blog....

Between September and October I made gifts for 4 more showers (and attended three of them, darn allergies).



Each new baby got a blanket and a coordinating bear.



I usually try to make each baby gift unique, and these are... kindof. I did, however, follow the same basic pattern for each in an effort to save my brain (and my time).



I grabbed two random strands of yarn (boucle, homespun, left over teddy bear yarn, etc) and did seed stitch through the blanket. Lovely. It worked up thick and cushy and quickly, with much love and not much thought.



It seems that the yarn I usually like to use to make teddy bears is not available for sale any more. Thanks to ravelry I was able to find a nice bunch of skeins, so for now they will still be made with the traditional yarn, but I might have to look for a replacement soon!


Hopefully more blog posts about my fall and winter will be popping up soon, just not tonight!

Baby Shower and Spinning

Some time over the summer I just gave up on the blog. I do have something to finally post today through, and we'll see what happens when school starts up again.

I had the first of several baby showers, so I made this blanket:



...and this bear to go with it:


During July, while the Tour de France is going on some crafty people decide to have a tour de fleece and while they are biking, we spin... I had some grand plans, but it ended up being that I spun just a bit (at least 15 minutes, a handful of times more than an hour) every day. It worked out pretty well since I only missed a couple of days. I do have a spindle of fiber that I managed to spin 2/3 of it, but alas, it is not done, so you don't get to see it.

Here is the one large skein that I did finish. Details are on my ravelry stash page for anyone who cares for that, but basically, I took this:


and this:


and made this:


(only one large skein, I just liked how it looked different on the brown vs the white background)

Secret Knitting revealed

I finished knitting the second sweater last night, woke up this morning only needing to sew on buttons and weave in some ends before the afternoon baby shower. I don't like cutting it this close, but it became difficult to bring this with me to work on it on the go.

The little baby sweater (just missing buttons)


When I made a second hat for a different baby (who is bigger than average) I was given the first hat back and so it made a nice baby set with the sweater.



Then I had lots of this matching yarn left and figured it would be great to make something for the new big brother:


Luckily, my little boy is about a year older, so I figured tight on him would be roomy on the giftee.

I was really happy with how this whole set turned out!


Now, back to my scrap blanket, a shawl I have just barely started, a vest for my boy, and maybe something for my oldest, who is a birthday girl next week (but not done for her birthday, no way)... and if you win the contest, maybe something for you!

The contest ends tonight and I get to start phase two of the South Beach Diet tomorrow morning. So far it's been a success, it is still hard when I crave something, but I am full most of the time from all my vegetables!

Baby Showers and Bread

This past weekend I attended a double baby shower. I was planning to make each of these mothers something, but plans, as I said in my last post, got moved up a little bit (They are both due in the early-middle of november) when I heard when the shower was scheduled for.

One family is have another baby boy, and since it is their fourth child I changed things up a bit and chatted with her ahead of time. All set on making a sweater and hat I went to the store and chose some shades of brown.


I decided to go with my wonderful wallaby sweater pattern (which, in one booklet has sizes 2-48") and I actually dropped and did a size smaller than it had, which involved some math, but thankfully not too much.

I wanted to try out a new hat though, so I looked on Ravelry and chose what I hoped would turn out to be a neat baby hat.



Since I didn't get their gauge I did the largest (three month) size and hoped for the best. This is what the hat looks like when it's worn as the largest it can be.

And this is what it looks like when you take it off:


Hopefully, with that range of sizes, it will fit the new baby this winter!


The other family that this baby shower was for is having a little girl. They seemed like people who could take some color, especially as we enter winter, and so, not finding a pink I liked, I made this blanket:


Bright, eh?

I also made them my more traditional baby shower gift of a bear...


It was a fun time, aside from an unexpected allergy attack earlier that evening....


I have gotten many comments, and questions, about the bread I mentioned in my last post. It was this book which I think is well worth the price, or a trip to your library. It really is the best bread I've found for pasta and soups. Anyone who wants to try just the basic dough, let me know and I'll give you that one recipe (I tried it off of a website review of the book several years ago before I bought the book) or I can lend you my book for a couple of days if you are local. They also have a healthier breads version of it that I haven't looked at yet.


I also spun a little bit today (while I should have been starting to sauce my apples....)

One of my friends is making a secret project and needed just a bit of red/orange yarn. I found this small amount of fiber and now it's ready to go to her!

I'm still plugging along on a couple of the other projects - it was nice to get back to them after finishing the shower gifts. I'm at the point in several of my projects where they are almost done, all the fun stuff is over and I just need to put in the time to finish them - which is a lot less exciting then starting something shiny and new, but I will do my best to finish at least something soon!

Welcome Baby

In the ongoing process of catching up and then trying to keep up, I noticed I hadn't ever posted this blanket/bear combo...



I loved making this blanket. I knew I was going to make something for this new baby, and the mother mentioned that she had been looking through patterns because grandma wanted to make something also, so I asked her to send a pattern she liked my way.



I did spend a tiny bit extra to make this out of cotton, like the pattern called for, and I'm so glad I did. It was fun to work with and made a gorgeous finished baby blanket.




Even though this wasn't a first baby for the family we wanted to welcome her and so we had a casual fun shower, about three weeks after she was born. Since I had all the extra time I had the blanket and bear done ahead of time.



Since I still had time left before the day of the shower, I had a lot of fun embellishing the bear and the outfit. My kids all loved the bear and were sad to see it go.



I think this is one of my favorite combinations...