Striped socks

These socks were started so long ago that I can't actually remember when. I was pregnant, so it was in the last 13 months they were started. I think there may even be a hospital/delivery room picture that includes the socks. Regardless, they are now done. I even slipped them on long enough to take one picture, seeing as how these are awesomely striped WOOL socks and the sun finally decided to shine on Western Washington-

I can't exactly perfect my Chaco top of the foot Z-strap tan if I am wearing wool socks. They were made from Stitch Nation Washable Ewe, knit on size 4,5, and 6 needles, loosely based on the Pricilla's Dream Socks pattern. I say loosely based on because I used her gauge chart to guess at how many stitches I should start with, but then I went crazy from there changing needles sizes to accomodate the fat and skinny parts of my ankles and feet, switching the short row toe for two different types (like I said, it was so long between knitting each sock, and I never take notes!) and I made the cuff significantly shorter, because people with cankles should never cuff their socks. Ever.
And once again, I will need at least two years to recuperate from knitting this pair and will only be able to knit small child socks because the time commitment is much less.
Now I am on a mission to figure out how to make my own knitting chart for the Washington State University logo, since my youngest brother was just accepted as of Friday. This means that I have at least four years to make something with the logo, and most likely it's gonna be a hat. I should just say that it will definitely be a hat. Also, it's his birthday TODAY. 18 years old! 8 years ago some overeducated unbelieving oncologist told my parents that he wouldn't live to 11 because his cancer was too advanced-and now he's going to college! I love him more than he would probably want me to tell the annonymous blogger world, but here's a picture of him with Sureya.

Happy Birthday Gabe!

As promised, here are some pictures of my little darling.

And wouldn't you know, I thumbed my nose at Mother Nature and she responded by sending the sun to 98368....but Sureya did wear her entire bunny suit for about 10 minutes.

Then she was stripped down to the sweater and the hat, because she wouldn't let go of the ears. Finally she ended in just the sweater, her tights, and a onesie.

This last pic is to give you an idea of why it is that I always talk about my nieces and my nephews-there is honestly a dozen+ of them! That's my step-dad Paul holding Sureya and Owen, and my Mom is on the left trying to tame Olivia with her Easter/Halloween bucket. It's a wonder that they can remember everyone's names!

I also finished knitting a bonnet that I keep forgetting to photograph, and I am down to the heel of the second sock-this pair might be done before the end of the month.

the Easter outfit

I finished knitting Sureya's Easter sweater. For the second time. The first one wasn't nearly as cute as the current one, and in her own spazzy little way, Sureya kind of chose the one that I am making. I was initially working on a bolero type sweater, an old Debbie Bliss pattern that I found online and it was taking FOREVER to finish. In my 7+ years of knitting I have learned many things, but the one thing that I always seem to ignore is whether or not I am really excited about a project. If I LOVE LUV love a project, I can't sleep until its done. If I am kind of ehh about a project, I let it sit in the project basket for months. That is what kind of what was happening with the first Easter sweater, 2 months in and still not done with a baby sweater? ridiculous, I know. But last week I was holding a sleepy Sureya and forcing myself to knit this sweater when the phone rang. Naturally, I moved the knitting to the same hand that was holding Sureya and answered the phone with the other hand. I was looking away and could feel Sureya wiggling about, but I was trying to see the calendar on the wall without getting out of the rocking chair. Well, my clever little darling was sliding the stitches one by one off the end of the needle with her tiny fingers, and using her foot to apply pressure to the dropped stitches to create some really giant ladders. Yes, she did it all on her own. I looked at the stitch marker swinging on one of the ladders, realized I didn't care, and then frogged the entire thing with a little help from the little one. Now, where is the rambling story going and how did Sureya choose the current sweater pattern, you ask? Well, ten minutes later we are standing in front of a bookcase where I am choosing a bedtime story for her while she is using her new-found grabbing powers to pull my knitting magazines off the other shelves. I watched them thud, and then flutter open to various pages-where I of course saw a cute simple little raglan that shows off the yarn more than the shaping-perfect for this bright Fancy Image yarn. And ta-da, the First Easter sweater was born!
As for the rest of her Easter outfit, we in Washington are often fooled by the Easter advertisements of adorable pastel Spring-ish dresses and tend to overlook the reality that it will probably rain, it likely rained the day before, and the temperature will never rise above 60. Dresses, tights and white shoes are a ridiculous way to dress a little girl who will likely be cold, wet, and muddy while hunting eggs-and what BABY needs all of that? Well, I have this old jacket that was ruined by bleach that I saved because of its awesome white faux fur interior-and this will become bunny pants for my little bunny.
Check back next week for pictures, I am only awake right now because I am waiting for Sureya's diapers in the washing machine....