Gifts for my Soon-To-Be-Born Niece

It's been a long time. In fact, I don't think that I've ever taken such a long break between blog entries! Oh well. I've been busy.

This is the sweater and hat set that I made for the new baby who is due to make her premiere appearance on Christmas day. I was afraid to commit to a more gender-specific color because the first sonogram my brother and sister-in-law were told they were having a boy, the second one they were told it was a girl and the the last 2 they baby wouldn't move it's legs to get a good enough look. I figured that yellow was a safe bet-- I could always change the buttons if I have to!

Bec's Baby Hat

Awwww...wish it fit me!

Never-ending Hats!

I finished my Verity hat that I rescued from it's hibernation! The only modification that I made was the band. I hated the instructions for the band in the patterns and I hated (even more!) how it was turning out. So I frog it and just knit a K2P2 ribbing and it worked out well. I washed and blocked this piece over a dinner plate and it is turned out truly lovely.

I've been promising my Dad a hat for years....yes, years. I made him mittens a few years ago and he has worn them all winter, every winter. He even had me darn a little hole that he got from shoveling snow!

So I got some semi-matching yarn and knit him a hat to go with his mittens. I've been lazy about knitting it all week but last night I was determined to finish it. And I did. I didn't go to bed until the last end was woven in!

I have about half the skein left over and my friends just had a baby boy...so I will be casting on for the Fresh Pick Baby hat for Baby Sam. I plan to cast on today.

I'm Ba-ack!

I've never taken a month and a half break from my blog since I started in 2006 (not that I can remember anyway). Well, there has been a LOT going on.

The largest of which is that my company that I was with for 8 years basically was going under so it had to be taken over by a larger organization in order to "survive". Sadly, a lot has changed our organizational structure and staffing needs. We lost tons of staff and a few doctors in the transition.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to apply for the practice manager position. The job is much more demanding and I have a lot more responsibility than before. It's been really hard but I'm keeping my head above the water, so far.

So, along with everything going on, I've had a few weekend visits: one with my mom, one with my dad, and one with Jorge's family down in Virginia for his sister's Quincenera. This didn't leave me with tons of time to knit or craft but I have made a few things since last I posted.

When my dad visited he decided that I needed an electric sander. So we went to Home Depot and got this lovely:

I primarily needed it because I was refinishing a piece of furniture and sanding it by hand which sucked. The piece was an old phonograph cabinet from the '30s. We stripped off the brown finish, then stained it black and added a coat of polyurethane for a bit of sheen. It turned out beautiful and now serves as the home for our stereo and turn table.

For Jorge's sister's Quincenera, I made her an aquamarine (her birthstone) necklace.

Not sure if she actually liked it because I didn't see her open it but she's pretty ungrateful in general so I guess it doesn't matter. I liked it.

My bff, Rebecca, is having a baby. She just had her 21 week ultrasound and found out that she's having a boy. Even though I'm pretty anti-baby in general, I still want to be supportive of her. This is something that she's always wanted so I've been making stuff for her to show how much I care.

So far, I've only made a few things. I made a couple of rock'n'roll onesies and a light blue hat for Jr.


This oughta tide her over for a bit. I also want to make a sweater and some booties, but I have time. She's not due until the end of October. But since she'll be in town this week, I'd like to give her what I have for Jr. so far.

And that's it folks! I've also been altering clothes but no pics yet. Hopefully I do not disappear again for any length of time. I really want to continue being crafty as often as possible. Just have to keep my motivation up and hope that I have the time to create.

Vested, I mean Gifted!

I finished the Mangyle vest for Jorge the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He was thrilled-- I don't think he realized how much I did NOT enjoy knitting this vest. It was a total chore. I did already assure him (selfishly) that I will not make another no matter how much he likes his vest.

I also gifted the Fleegle socks to my mom who LOVED them. She went on and on about how much she loved then, how soft they were to wear and how she would like more in different colors. Of course, I created a monster!

No more WIPs...now what!? I want to knit for me but my sister and brother both requested knitted items and I'd like to make my dad a hat to match the mittens that I knit him last winter. My sister wants a pair of Convertible Mittens in black (she wants to blind me apparently). My brother wants a hat with ear flaps, though I couldn't tell if he was just kidding about the ear flaps. Maybe this one? I dunno. I still haven't picked out a pattern for my dad's hat but that should be easy-- something simple to show off the beautiful hand-painted variegation of the yarn. Maybe this one? It's simple enough, right!?

We'll see. I didn't plan on all this holiday knitting. And I'm sure that the fam has no idea how long it will take me to knit them all goodies. What a PIA. What can you do, ya know. If they're all done by the time Christmas rolls around, great. If not, they'll get them when they get them. I'm not going to worry about it. They would be extras at this point since I bought them all gifts already!

What a great way to start the day....

I started my day/ended my night on a red-eye from San Fran (this particular leg was from Las Vegas) to Boston. I didn't get an ounce of sleep thanks to a bratty, shouting, crying child. Don't people have any consideration...who takes a child on a midnight flight out of Vegas? People like to sleep on red-eye flights-- obviously a screaming, un-parented child is going to prevent that from happening. So now I'm in my 37th our of wakefullness and I'm to the point of being so overtired that I can't sleep. A couple of ativans before bed ought to do the trick.

And, yes, my California trip was chock full of fun. We'll see how my return to reality goes tomorrow. Now onto knitting content.

I had a pretty productive trip knitting-wise. I actually finished my Tree Jacket which was long over due! It turned out okay. Like many others, the sleeves are much too big but then again it's supposed to be a loose-fitting sweater. I like it alright. It came in handy while I was in San Francisco-- it was pretty chilly there during our stay. Picturess to come.

This is an exhibit showing that several Alcatraz inmates learned to knit to pass the time. These men had real balls-- pun intended!

I also started and finished two baby hats for a couple of people that I work with. One's tiny, for a preemie and one is maybe 0-3 months size. There's nothing better that coming back from a vacation with presents ;-)

This week in Knitting

I finished and sent off my Dad's mittens. He received them yesterday just in time for 50 degree weather. Tomorrow's supposed to be quite chilly so he'll get to put them to good use then.

After finishing the mittens I finally put the finishing touches on that baby hat. Since the bay has now been home for one week I figured that it'd be nice to finally give it to the mommies.

Then a new project was started last night: fingerless gloves for Jorge. I'm very loosely following a pattern I found on Ravelry. I've modified it so much that I'm considering writing my own pattern up in case anyone's interested. The plan is to use the duplicate stitch technique to make an anchor in white on the top of the mitt, an idea I stole from my friend Carolyn. I've never duplicate stitched before-- hope it's not too hard.

And, finally, I got the perfect buttons for my sister's Juliet yesterday at Windsor Button! I'm so glad-- I feel like I've been looking forever though it's only been 1 week! I think that they are a perfect match. Hope they're fun enough for Kristin.

2008, so far

So far...I mostly finished my sister's Juliet. Still on the hunt for the perfect "glitzy" buttons per Kristin's request. I picked up a few neat silver-tones buttons at A Good Yarn but I'm just not satisfied with them. One of my favorite yarn shops but not the best button selection if you're looking for something truly out of the ordinary. I think that I'll try to hit up Windsor Button sometime this week or next weekend.

Speaking of family knitting, my dad brought it to my attention that I've never knit a stitch for him. So I asked him what he wanted. He wanted mittens. I find this slightly amusing that a grown man, such as my father, wants a pair of mittens. Not a pair of gloves or even fingerless gloves, but mittens. Ok-- can do. I've finished 1 mitten and the cuff of the second so far. They're an easy knit and actually my first pair of mittens. I'm knitting them in this yarn I bought years ago from Circles Knitting Salon (when it was still here in JP). It's a really lovely worsted-weight super-wash wool. The color way is a nice variegated earthy green.

I haven't touched my Tree Jacket in quite some time. I really should work on it but.....sleeves.... They are really dreadful. Especially these sleeves which are garter stitch in the round. Now can you see what I mean by dreadful?

I still have to finish a baby hat for my exec director at work and make two more for a doc and one of my staff members. Seems like everyone is popping out kids about now....yuck.

Well, even though I'm not a fan of babies, I still find their clothing adorable...I'm not totally heartless. Well, at least not for that reason...