Just In Time...

For my sister and her family's visit up here for Halloween and the baby's baptism, I knit up not only the little sweater and bootie combo (see previous post), but also a jack-o-lantern hat for my niece, Aubrey and a cool, beanie hat for my nephew, Ethan. Here they are!



I am really happy with how this turned out! I used TLC Cotton Plus yarn, which is a 51% cotton/49% acrylic blend. It's a dream to work with and it's inexpensive and machine washable, which is really a nice feature. The face features were double-knit on after I completely finished the hat. I see more fruit-themed hats in the future!

And here's Ethan's hat:



So, apparently, it's all the rage in London for teens (especially guys) to wear these close-fitting, beanie-type, wool hats. Ethan is just recently in his teens, having turned 13 this past August. However, he's quite tall and broad for a 13-year old. He could pass for 16, if his voice changing wasn't obvious ;-). Anyway, I think this hat is suitable to meet that cool, non-dorky, urban, somewhat-trendy Londoner look, without looking either metrosexual or, as Marsha said, "like a thug." So I knit this in a chocolate brown washable merino wool that Marsha bought for me from the Netherlands when she went to visit her in-laws. Fancy! The green and gray stripe area is wool and alpaca yarn, respectively, which I had here in my stash. I think the stripe looks good too. Not overwhelming in color, but yet not a plain brown hat.

So that's what knitting I've been feverishly working on over the last week or two.

More Baby Knitting

So my sister and her family are coming up here next week. They are spending Halloween here and then having the baby's baptism up here (on November 4) as well, due to a major complication at their parish in Wake Forest: the Pastor died! As a result, baptisms are backlogged until March 2008! ACK! My family is crazy-superstitious about that sort of thing. Not having Aubrey baptized until March 2008 would cause widespread panic through my family. Although, didn't the current pope basically abolish the concept of Limbo recently...sort of? Well anyway...

Todd and I are not the godparents. My brother-in-law's sister and her husband are. So it's their responsibility to purchase the baptismal gown. Having done this for my nephew 13 years ago (I am his godmother), I remember how costly these things are. And in South Philly, holy shit. There are stores that SOLELY sell baby Christening/baptism items. Yeah, it's a big deal over here. I don't get it, really.

So since the baptism is up here, and the weather here has been absolutely insane, I decided to make a baby sweater and booties for Aubrey to wear the day of the baptism. You know, just in case it's suddenly like 40 degrees here. The weather has been crazy here. Cool and autumnal one week, hot and raining the next. Insane.

Anyway, I absolutely LURVE the way the sweater and booties turned out. Here's just the sweater:

This was a free pattern that I got from the Internet somewhere. It's knit from the neck down. And it was so fast and easy. A lovely pattern to knit. I used a worsted-weight yarn called Filatura Lanarota Summer Soft on size 8 needles. I got the yarn from Smiley's. It was CHEAP. I think it was $1.50 or $1.99 a ball. This sweater was made using just about 2 balls. It's a rayon and acrylic blend and, oh my, it IS soft. Perfect for a baby sweater! Machine washable too, a plus.



As for the booties, well, I died in a fire when I saw this pattern. Baby, knit Mary Janes? FLAILING FROM THE CUTE. The pattern for these is in a little pamphlet-type booklet that I found on clearance at the check-out in the supermarket. You know where the TV Guides and such are? Yeah, there. It's strictly patterns for babies and toddlers. I bought it like December or January. These were surprisingly easy to knit. I used about 1/2 a ball of the Filatura Lanarota Summer Soft to make these. And I used size 4 needles. Now I am trying to figure out a way to adapt this pattern into adult-sized Mary Janes. Hmm....


I can't believe October is almost over. Where is the time going? So much to knit, so little time! :-)

Topic Of The Week #6

TOPIC OF THE WEEK #6

How was your experience in the exchange? Did you enjoy the folks you met? Did you just love the cloth and goodies you received? Please share any thoughts, criticism, and things you loved!

Overall, I had a good time! And I will participate in the next one. My downstream spoilee was Cynthia W., in Tennessee. What a sweet lady and a fantastic sock knitter! I mean, seriously! I'm still waiting for my package from my upstream spoiler. It should be coming soon. I enjoy this swap a lot because it is a one-time package. I think that's a super way to get to know more knitters/crocheters, without having to make a huge time and/or financial investment. My only criticism is that I think there needs to be better enforcement of the "rules." Nobody likes a swap with a lot of regulations, rules, and restrictions. I realize that. However, there are some very basic foundations (what I consider to be no-brainers) of swaps that I have seen completely disregarded in this swap and in the one prior to this one.

Titus Every Morning

Notice how much the bed is all scratched up. Yup. Ours too.

TA-DA!

YAY! I got my Ravelry invite last night! So i signed up and began poking around there. OH. MY. DOG. There is a bajillion things to do there. It's the perfect site for someone like me: anal and a knitter. I can actually catalog every item in my stash! Oh why are the days only 24-hours long?

Speaking of stash management, I signed up for DeStash, too. I just have to get around to taking pictures of some stuff that I want to get rid of. And, holy cow, let me tell you, I need to do some serious de-stashing! I re-organized my knitting room last night, to the best of my ability. And you know, my yarn hording has gotten to the point where I can't even fit all the yarn I have into that IKEA cubby-hole shelving unit. I had to leave some of it in one of my rolling storage bags (yes, I actually have 2. Oy vey.) That's un-good.

Anyway, if you want to look me up on Ravelry, my name there is "mirthful."

Woo!