One More Time

It has been a busy week of knitting, trying to get some gifts finished and ready to mail off. In the midst of that my big kids have both had the flu. I do not like the flu. It has been lingering around for 2 weeks now. Thankfully Ellie has only had a runny nose and Greg and I haven't gotten sick. Here's hoping it stays that way!

You may recognize this sweater pattern, since I have knit it twice before. It just doesn't get old!

In All My Spare Time

All in all, as a homeschooling mom with a toddler, the only "me" time I get is between 11 PM and midnight (if I'm lucky), so I have to squeeze in the creative stuff wherever I can. It is easy enough to knit or crochet a few rows here and there while the kids do a worksheet or write spelling words. Sometimes it doesn't feel like much since I'm not working in a big chunk of time, but here's proof that it does add up.

More Gifts

These are for another baby girl who hasn't arrived yet...

Outfitted Well

Someone is going to be a well-dressed baby in a few months. The only problem is that she's not born yet.

Zig and Zag Pram Blanket

It appears that I haven't blogged in a few weeks. Nor did I knit during that time. We had a flood here in Nashville (thankfully our house was not in one of the major flood areas), Ellie started crawling and we've been on a big push to get our school year finished. I did pick the needles back up early this week, though, and managed to finish this work-in-progress called the Zig and Zag Pram Blanket. I loved the pattern as soon as I saw it on Ravelry and I am so pleased with how it turned out. Great use of leftover sock yarn - just be prepared to weave in lots of ends if you decide to knit one for yourself! I did mine as I went, so I wasn't overwhelmed with it at the end.

I knew I wanted mine to be blankie-sized - not a big blanket. I think the finished, blocked measurements came out to be about 22"x28", which was right where I wanted it to be. If you ever knit this, I would highly recommend considering the sock yarn before you use it - I have so many that bled like the dickens when I made socks out of them, so I chose to not use those in this blanket.

For Baby

When Natalie and Ethan were born, I wasn't knitting yet so I made them quilts. Now that knitting has taken over my crafty pursuits, I decided to knit something special for the new baby. Obviously, this isn't the type of thing that will be used every day like a quilt would, but it is something we can use as a special wrap when she is tiny and then it can be put away and saved until she grows up.

So here it is - the Queen Anne's Lace Shawl - started in May and finished yesterday. The next time you see it, it will be wrapped around a sweet baby girl!

Finally, I can share

I've had this wee outfit finished for weeks now, but wanted to postpone sharing it until I had given it to our friends, Matt and Holly. They are expecting their first baby in a few weeks (or so) and I knew I wanted to knit something for her. I figured they would be inundated with cute little pink goodies, so I wanted to make it both cute AND cool. Matt is the creative director at our church and happens to be a self-admitted Mac geek.

It didn't take me long to figure out what I wanted to do:
I got a lot of hugs.

Wee Li'l Knits

I've been doing a lot of baby knitting lately. I didn't know how to knit when my own children were babies, so it has been fun making little things for a change.

One friend's baby received booties from me when she was born, but has now outgrown them. Apparently she won't keep regular socks on, so my friend asked me to knit some larger booties. The mary janes are knit out of Schaefer Anne, double-stranded (sorry, no links today - don't have time right now!):
These are knit out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, double-stranded:
This same friend asked if I would also be willing to knit a baby sweater, so I obliged. This is knit with KnitPicks Swish:
There's one more that I'm dying to share, but don't want to post it here until I give it to its intended recipient!

Now I'm not quite sure what to knit. Suggestions?

Baby Knits

A new friend is expecting a baby soon and while I don't know her well enough to merit spending a lot of money on a gift, I would like to give her a little something. Or a few little somethings. I decided to rummage through my stash and see what leftovers I have that might become fun baby gifts.

I've always liked the Baby Genius Burp Cloth pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting...here it is in Sugar 'n Cream dishcloth cotton:
I also wanted to make a pair of fun booties. I've knit plenty of socks but never any booties - and besides, every girl, no matter how tiny, needs some fun shoes, right?
These are the Christine's Baby Booties pattern, knit in Socks That Rock fingering weight (colorway: Space Dust). These were so fun to knit - I'll definitely keep them in mind for future baby gifts!
I still plan to knit a few more little things to go along with these, so keep your eyes peeled...