Yarn Along

This week, a finished hat and a new book.

I finished the leftover sock yarn hat for Lil One. It actually stays on her head! She sometimes even puts it on herself. Major win. It's a simple roll-brim stockinette hat. After decreasing down to four stitches around I did a few inches of i-cord and tied it in a knot. I might still have enough of this yarn left for Lil One socks.

On the husband's recommendation, I have started a new book, Insomnia by Stephen King. He claims it won't make me afraid of any more previously innocuous objects (like mirrors at night, thanks Lisey's Story). So far so good.

For more Yarn Alongs check out Ginny's blog and all the great links there.

Yarn Along

Climbing back on Ginny's Yarn Along wagon this week with a picture of two things I work on in little bits.

The knitting is a hat for the Lil One. If you think you recognize the yarn from an earlier post, you're right. I'm using the yarn left over from the pair of socks I just made for myself. At first I thought I'd make some little toddler socks, but then I realized that we have many more socks than cute warm hats, and there was a lot of yarn left over. I'm using the Yarn Harlot's steps for a basic hat.

This is my diaper bag project. It lives in its own little pocket in the diaper bag and I work on it whenever we're out and about and my hands are free for a few moments.

The book is a collection put together by Harold Bloom called Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages, which seemed like something I should read in preparation for picking out books for the Lil One. It's divided into seasons, and I'm currently in Autumn. Spring seemed much darker somehow.

This is the book I read while brushing my teeth. I don't know how much I've learned in the first year of being a parent, but I have learned this: If I don't work books into distinct little corners of down time in my life, I won't get anything read. So I read a little snippet of this book every time I brush my teeth. Just like diaper bag or purse knitting projects, little snippets add up.

Tiny Hats

We recently got a new nephew! Little Nephew HH was born on my husband's (30th) birthday, and he is very excited to have a birthday buddy. This little guy surprised everyone because (1) best guess had been that he was going to be a she and more significantly (2) he got here three full months ahead of schedule. Weighing in at just over one pound, Little HH is really tiny. He's more than two weeks old now, and he and his mama are in a great hospital. We haven't gotten to see him yet except through Facebook pictures.

So what does a knitter do when she worries? Knit something, of course. In this case, I knit a couple of tiny hats.

I started with the Care Wear Preemie Jester Hat by Cathy Gilroy from the book Knitting for Peace, and worked that as written in some yellow Dalegarn Baby Ull that I had in my stash. It actually ended up a little smaller than the pattern called for -- just a few rows shorter and it used every scrap of the color I had left.

It fit one of my old baby dolls very well, and my Lil One has since been having lots of fun with the doll. Mr. HH's nursery is decorated in a Snoopy theme, and this hat in this color makes me think of the little bird Woodstock.

However, the "Preemie" size as written in this pattern is much too big for the little guy. So I used some blue of the same yarn and made one about 2/3 size -- cast on 40 instead of 60 stitches, and made 14 rows in each part of the pattern instead of 20. Then, because pom-poms would have been overwhelming on this smaller hat, I improvised some tassels instead.

His Grammy believes this one will fit him.

New Year, new dedication

Wow, it's been way too long. I've had this blog for two full years, now, and I'm going to be more dedicated to making better use of it this year. First of all, I think I have a pretty good excuse for being away from this for most of last year:

My lil one born the day after Labor Day, 2010. My universe has re-arranged itself more than a little bit, as I'm sure other parents know well and other people can imagine.

Secondly, some catching up on the knitting:
During my June vacation at the Lake, I worked on a cabled cardigan for me. I have finished the fronts, back, and sleeves. The next step is to block them all, connect them to each other, and work on the huge shawl collar.

What a nice place to sit and knit all day.
I'd really like to finish this soon, because I think it'd be a great sweater to wear this winter while I'm breastfeeding so much. It turns out that nearly all the sweaters I own right now are pullovers.

Then I made two more baby sweaters - a six month and a twelve month size of a lace sweater for a new first-cousin-once-removed and for a new niece.

Then I made my baby a blanket. This is the "Baby Shane Blanket" from Tanis Fiber Arts. I made it with four colors of Baby Boutique, two solids and two variegated. The colors remind me of a sunset at the Lake.

After a bit of a break (see baby picture above), I made a hat and sweater for a new nephew. Here's Strong Bear modeling the hat.

No pictures of the sweater. It wasn't quite done for the baby shower, and then the little guy came early so I had to hurry up and finish it. Christmas green Encore worsted weight in a simple pattern with some cabling. I had to size down what the pattern called newborn size because it was coming out huge. It's still more like a 3-6 month size. I also modified it to add buttons. The pattern called for a drawstring around the neck, and that just seemed like a really, really bad plan.

I also made two pairs of baby mittens, one for Lil One and for Nephew O, out of leftovers from the baby blanket. Those little hands just will not stay in swaddling and get so chilly during the night.
The only Christmas knitting consisted of four stockings. Here are two of them:

There was one more Snowman Head and a Rudolf. These are Mary Maxim stocking patterns of which I have about 60, I think.
I also gave my grandmother a nice pair of fetchings in blue alpaca, but I had that gift idea right after Christmas last year, so those were knit almost one year ago. I'm just glad I found them!

So ends 2010, The Year of Babies.