Thank You Jenn!!!

Dear USPS: I love coming home from Thanksgiving to find that the darling mailman has left a cardboard box on the edge of the porch in the pouring rain, instead of sticking it under the porch bench, or in the carport, or anywhere underneath the 2 foot eaves overhang that is in front of my house. Thanks!



None the less, under that soggy, finger-blackening outer layer of cardboard, I found an awesome gift. Nay, make that some awesome GIFTS for my little darling. And ME! My obviously very talented cousin sent Sureya some adorable burp cloths, leggings, and a slightly-phallic rattle PLUS sent me some excellent leather earrings! Seriously. She knits, sews, and makes her own jewelry despite a debilitating fear of ugly dolls.

(not a real baby, I was hiding the ugly doll. I am not THAT bad of a parent.)

As for me, myself, and I, I have been slightly less productive but did finally manage to finish sewing my first set of tri-fold diapers. I used a flannel top sheet that was taking up space in the linen closet ( I personally hate top sheets on my bed, so they are generally cut up into other, better things...)and a flea-market purchased Indian cotton tapestry. Because this was the first go of things, I cut up my least favorite but softest tapestry, and made six 4x6x4 trifolds, plus the four flannel with soaker trifolds. The soaker was a bath towel I cut up because the pattern recommended using terry cloth for superb absorbency-BUT-if you are at all irritable I would NEVER recommend cutting a terry cloth towel and then shaking it inside of your house-I still have fluffy green towel bits all over my house a week later.

I did also manage to finish the little socks made from the left over Maile yarn, and I probably still have enough for a cute hat...

AND- this photo was actually taken last month while I was still knitting the Maile sweater, and my baby bump was significantly less-pronounced than it is right now (at 38.5 weeks)
Isn't my bestie an incredibly talented photographer? If we are really truly friends (as in you are one of the 200 people on my Facebook account), you can see some more of the pictures on my profile!

This last little pic is a fantastic example of why you should pay attention to the yarn requirements for a pattern before you start knitting. I was so gung-ho as I knit this wrap/kimono sweater that I wasn't paying attention to the rapidly-dwindling ball inside my knitting bag, and I completely finished the sweater body, knit an entire sleeve, and then realized I only had about 10 yards of yarn left for the second sleeve. Hence, stripes. With furry yarn. Now my daughter has a flamenco-esque bolero kimono to sport for as long as it will fit!

Add another one to the Sureya stack

Here is yet another example of what happens when I get bored with a pattern- it becomes something different ENTIRELY! I started out making the adorable Baby Onesie, got tired of stockinette stitch just past the armpits, decided to add a couple of stitches and turn it into a pullover version of the Helena Baby Cardigan. I think it was a successful morph, just need to add some buttons or snaps to close the neckline. The colors of the sweater are closest to the pictures without the doll, but a post wouldn't be complete without an opportunity to show Jenn my ugly doll again. I used a little more than one 50 gram skein of Inti Alpaca Alpaca Soft, the super luxurious stuff I picked up in Miraflores on my last trip to Peru.

As soon as the sweater was done I cast on for some toe up socks for Sureya using the leftover Maile sweater yarn...I never finish the socks that I start in a small amount of time, so we'll see how this goes. I am leaving bright and early tomorrow morning to a three day conference in Portland, so hopefully I will have time to get the socks, and maybe another project done.

beware the doll!

I finally finished the Maile sweater, it looks absolutely adorable and now I just need to find the perfect buttons. When I make this sweater again (which I know I will) I will figure out how to do it from the top down because the joining the sleeves at the underarms made me INSANE. And pregnant women can't afford to be any more off kilter than they already are. Seriously. This tiny little sweater took weeks, because after joining the underarms I was so irritated I couldn't look at the sweater. BUT, finally, it is finished, and now I have about a month to find the buttons!