I am thankful for....

I am thankful for a happy and healthy baby niece.



Wearing handknits that are just a little too big still.



I am also thankful for plentiful yarn. And being ready to start the sleeves of my sweater. (I know it's hard to see, but photographing black yarn is a bitch!).



I send out my swap package on Monday, then I can post all the stuff I knit for that! What are you thankful for?

distracting you with baby pictures

I have no new pictures of knitting to show you. I've finished a few things to mail to my stocking swap pal (see last post for details). However, I cannot show pictures of that stuff until it's been received. So I'll distract everyone with cute baby pictures.






Bud News: Liver function has shown to be much worse now, then before he went on the antibiotics and the pills for his liver. He's being referred to a specialist and it looks like he will need to have a liver biopsy, which the Dr. is saying is very risky because of his current state...Depressing? Yes, go look at cute baby pictures!

My niece

My niece and my sister are doing wonderfully. Kaitlyn weighs in at 7lbs 3 ounces, is 19.75 inches long and has a head that is 13 inches in circumference. (measurements for future reference, in case I need a newborns head size). I think she's a cutie. She seems so tiny to me! I am totally not a baby person. I am not one of those people that needs to hold every baby I see, or thinks that every baby is cute. I am so glad that she is finally here and healthy. I think she looks a lot like my sister. Someone said that she actually looks a lot like me, which is not too strange since a lot of people mistake my sister and I for twins. I feel weird holding her. Like I could break her at any moment. I'm sure I'll get better with time. This all goes back to how I am just not a baby person.



Bud's Update: he's still on pills. 8-9 pills a day. Yeah it's a pain in the ass. I wish he could be a normal dog and just gobble down any treat he gets. But he's not. He now runs and hides in my room if I try to give him a treat of any sort. He also runs and hides when I try to get him to go out. He's pretty good at the limping on three legs thing. He will be going in next week (I think that's when the pills will be gone), and get his blood retested to see if anything has improved. They are going to test the liver function and his clotting ability and hopefully he'll be able to get his surgery. The one day he came in from outside and he slipped on the tile floor in the kitchen. His back legs went out from under him and he fell and I could just see how his knee popped out in a totally not right way. And he cried. When he stood up it luckily popped back into place. But it just reemphasizes that he really needs to get this surgery. I'm thinking good thoughts, praying that he'll be at least good enough to get the surgery.

Baby!

My sister had her baby this morning! It's official, I'm now an aunt! Pictures later perhaps.

I'm overjoyed. Mom and Baby are both doing well.

It's all about me!

I'm sick to death of making baby things so I'm working on something for me. This is my tree jacket from zephyr style. I am using Valley Yarns Longmeadow, which my mom bought for me at Stitches Midwest this year. I think it's going well. It's basically a top down raglan, so I've customized it to my size and my guage just knitting until it fits the way I want. It's a great way to work. I've elongated the garter stitch area so that it totally covers my boobs. Then if I want I can wear it without a tank underneath and not look totally trashy.

That is the mess of ends from the baby jacket and blanket that I gave at a shower this past weekend. Hopefully it will be the last baby shower I need to go to for a while. No offense to the babymakers in this world, but I am baby showered out!

Speaking of babies, my sister is currently 1 centimeter dilated! I know this doesn't mean the baby is necessarily coming soon, but still its exciting! Her due date is Nov. 5th, but almost all babies in our family are born early (between a month and a week early).



That's me (on the far left) making a rare appearance on my own blog with my siblings at my sister's baby shower. Here's another lovely picture of me, my sister and mom at the shower. (isn't my sister a cute little pregnant lady?)



I'll have an update on bud later this week! Click the pictures to make bigger.

Best Dressed Baby-to-be...

I am already crazy about my sister's baby and it's not even done cooking yet. The baby shower was this past weekend on Sunday. In preparation I have been knitting until my fingers want to fall off. I had to do all those irritating things that I had put off. Like sewing in ends and putting on buttons. So naturally, there are some new FOs to report around here:

Pattern: Tulips, A Colorful Cardigan for Baby by Dream in Color.
Yarn: Cotton-Ease in white, purple, pink, and lime green.
Needles: US 7
Modifications: I used garter stitch instead of the seed stitch. I removed the i-cord edging. And I added a little collar on to it. I had my mom (thanks mom!) add on this snap tape as a closure. It worked out good.

Pattern: Flower baby hat.
Yarn: Cotton-Ease leftovers.
Needles: US 7
Modifications: This is a made up pattern. I based my numbers on the umbilical cord hat, then I added a flower and stem to the top of it. I was inspired by a hat in Itty-Bitty Hats but I didn't want to go and buy the book and the book was not available through my library. I think it's pretty cute.

Pattern: Baby Mitts
Yarn: Cotton-Ease
Needles: US 7 and US 4
Modifications: I knit these in the round to avoid a seam. I also grafted the tops in a totally clumsy way to avoid having to seam that as well. Still need to add a ribbon to them. On the pink ones I added an extra set of decreasesto the top and I also used a size bigger needles to make them a tad bigger.

Pattern: Ruffly Baby Hat
Yarn: Cotton-Ease
Needles: US 7
Modifications: I based the numbers on the umbilical cord hat (hey, it's easy...) and then I just multiplied that number by 2 and then that number by 2, then I did 2 rows of k2tog to bring the number down to the right size. Get it? And that caused the ruffle. Then I just added a little ruffly flower to it.


Pattern: Golden Yellow Brick Road Booties
Yarn: Cotton-Ease (those baby sweaters leave a lot of left-overs...)
Needles: US 7
Modifications: None. I think these ended up kinda square looking, but still cute. Hopefully they will fit baby feet.

You can take your applied i-cord and...

shove it up your bum. Really I hate hate hate the applied i-cord. It takes forever. I find it fussy. Bleh. Obviously I've just done some applied i-cord. Ya wanna see? Well I would hate to disappoint, so here goes:

Pattern: Tulips, A Colorful Cardigan for Baby by Dream in Color.
Yarn: Cotton-Ease by Lionbrand. (white, popsical blue and candy blue (white is the new cotton-ease, the others are the old formula).
Needles: US 7
Modifications: This is the second size which is for 12-18 month olds. I love this sweater. I still need to weave in the ends of this. I hated doing the applied i-cord. It was irritating. On the next sweater I'll try something a little bit different. Because there will be another one, in fact I've already started it...


And then because I had some yarn leftover from the blanket and sweater, I decided to whip up a little matching hat.

( I love this picture! Yes I am a dork.)
I completely admit that the idea for this hat was blatantly stolen from someone on Ravelry.
Pattern: Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch
Yarn: Cotton-Ease leftovers..
Needles: US 7
Modifications: I used the stripe pattern from the sweater. I think I made it a bit longer before starting the decreases then the pattern recommended.


If I have time before the baby shower I will make some of those little mittens. The kind with no thumbs, ya know what I mean? I don't have a pattern picked out yet, so if anyone has a great pattern that they would like to pass on to me, please leave a comment!

Speaking of comments, this week my goal is going to be to comment on more of the blogs that I read. I started yesterday, and I'm determined to change my lurker ways!

you got a bandwagon?

Hello, is that a bandwagon? Well let me jump right on it! I am apparently such a huge freaking follower... I have jumped on several bandwagons started by famous knitbloggers recently. I have recently knit a couple of baby items that I only found because of my obsessive reading of knitblogs. These items are for a baby shower that is in October for a child of unknown sex of a friend of mine. (the pics are showing up kinda weird, click on them to see the whole picture. ok?)

First up, a mostly finished Ribbons Baby Blanket from Fibertrends. I found this from reading Grumperina's blog.



Pattern: Ribbons Baby Blanket
Yarn: Cotton-Ease by Lionbrand. About 1.5 balls of each color (white, popsical blue and candy blue).
Needles: US 7
Modifications: I didn't do the suggested method of joining in the new colors, therefore, I have a billion ends to weave in. This was a surprisingly fast knit. All together it was very easy as well. I would definitely make this again.



Here's my other follower of a knit. This one is a WIP, but is going so incredibly quickly! I got this one from reading the Yarn Harlot's Blog. It is obviously for the same baby as the blanket.



Pattern: Tulips, A Colorful Cardigan for Baby by Dream in Color.
Yarn: Cotton-Ease by Lionbrand. Leftovers from the above blanket. (white, popsical blue and candy blue).
Needles: US 7
Modifications: No modifications besides the yarn substitution. Another knit that is just flying by. I am making the second size which is for 12-18 month olds. I think this pattern is another keeper that will be made time and time again!



One last picture of another work in progress. I'll give the details later! It fits the theme though, I apparently do not have an original thought in my knitting mind..

Knitting Update!

I have been knitting up a storm lately. Lots and lots of baby items. It's fun knitting up all these little items, but I am craving a little bit of "me" knitting. Ya know? I really want to start making myself some sweaters. But, I must finish all the baby stuff by the time of the baby showers! Here's a few of the items I've done lately:

Baby Surprise Jacket

Pattern: BSJ
Yarn: Shine Sport from Knitpicks
Needles: US4
Modifications: No modifications. Still need buttons. I kinda messed up the area where I picked up stitches. All in all, not a bad first try.

Saartje's Bootees

Pattern: Saartje's Bootees
Yarn: Shine Sport from Knitpicks
Needles: US 4
Modifications: None. Still need buttons. Fun and quick little pattern that I would make again and again.

I just finished another baby blanket, but I need to weave in the ends and then I'll take some pictures.

Well I'm Back...

From outer space....

And I've been a workin' oh so hard! For awhile I was in a bit of a knitting funk. Well a creative endeavor of any sort funk. But now I'm back! This post will just be an accounting of my current knitting and FOs. I think I shall spread out my FOs through a couple of postings. Perhaps, later I'll get intimate and post about my life, dreams and desires (ha...). If anyone is on ravelry (which I am totally in love with at the moment!), my name is rebeldaisy over there!

Pattern: Moderne Log Cabin Baby Blanket
Yarn: Shine Sport from Knitpicks
Needles: I think I used US 5.
Modifications: I added an attached/applied I-cord instead of the one recommended in the book (see picture at top of post!). I also changed the last few rectangles. I didn't want to do the intarsia bits that it recommended. This is going to my niece/nephew that will be born in the beginning of November. I am really super excited about baby.

More FOs will be coming soon, I've got a few. I am going to go and continue to photograph my stash for my ravelry account!