The titles, they fly right out of my head well before their time.

Catchy, hunh? And tells you just what the post will be about? That was my goal. :^)

I finished the knit hat for the whipper-snapper. Well, except for weaving in the ends and making the pom-poms. Instead of figuring out the decreases in pattern, which believe me, I did try, I ended up with a square hat. I can't help but think they're darn cute.



I've been tackling the pile of fabric on the sewing dining table too. The souvenier pillow cases are done.


From L to R: for the whippersnapper, La, and the monkey. La and the Monkey have already put theirs to use. Reports are the fabric is soft.

Also, another pair of shorts with pockets for La. Clearance fabric from Joann's. Seersucker. Has a silver thread running through it every so often. This really reminds me of my mom for some reason.



Here's a closeup of the closing for the elastic casing. I've started sewing it with contrast thread (project thread still in the bobbin - the contrast only shows on the inside). This way 4 year olds and their mothers can tell which side is the front. Without having to think back to the pattern and that the "big notches" were in the back.



Well, DH's socks are really almost done. 1 or 2 rows until the toe decreases so maybe I can get them done tonight. Have a good day tonight.

A hat for the whippersnapper

Last week there was a baby shower for a lady at work, who is having a boy. I made her 3 recieving blankets, a little spiral rib hat (like this one - same yarn and everything), baby tylenol and gas drops (cause you don't want to have to argue about who gets to run out and get them.) The hat was a big hit.

At the same time when I was knitting the hat for the work friend baby, I was also consulting with DH about what color hat to make for the whippersnapper - gave him some choices of purple yarns I had on hand and he picked one - a lavender cotton-ease. But later I asked him what color yarn for a hat, and he said pink. Later, as I was knitting the blue hat, he was confused by my choice of yarns for the whippersnapper. Smart man didn't say anything about it as I was knitting it and when I told him it was for the work friend, when it was nearly done, it all became clear.

So, the whippersnapper will have two hats (so far):
A plain lavender cotton-ease one, and a pink one. The pink is some Bernat Cashmere Blend that I picked up at Joann's last week. I had a lot of trouble finding what I was looking for, and I'm still not sure that I did. Turns out the "blend" is only 5% cashmere, 95% man-made fibers. It's still very soft. I'm winging it on the pattern. 60 seems like a great number, but it is not divisible by 8. (I wanted to do 4 stitch cables + 4 reverse stockinette). I haven't quite come up with a strategy for the decreases yet. We'll see.


In the pregnancy woes department we have two things:

1. I messed up the sweater for the whippersnapper tonight at Boy Scouts. It was the parent's committee meeting. I got to a part where I should have read the directions. I didn't. I need to work up the courage to get it back to a good spot. Not like a zillion rows or anything. But still. I'm not sure why exactly I'm blaming this on pregnancy, but I am (cause otherwise I wouldn't be knitting a baby sweater? Cause otherwise I would have stopped when I got to the part with the directions? Probably not.)

2. Maternity pants have major usability issues - A. Mine seem to have a lot of trouble staying up. And with the shorter maternity t-shirts these days, that is a classy look. With normal pants, this can be mitigated by wearing a belt. Maternity pants do not have belt loops. B. Frequently they don't have pockets. Even the jeans. Luckily most of my pants have pockets (from the Gap). It's just the jeans that don't (from Penney's), which I find to be ironic in a very annoying way.

In sewing news, I tried sewing shorts for myself again. I used a pajama pattern. I took measurements. I did not believe them. I made a size XXL (XXXL?) when the measurements said L was OK. I figured I would need the room down the line. I got upset when the pattern pieces did not fit on the half-width of fabric (the actual size I probably need would have fit). They're fine for pajama shorts. I'm calling this one a success. They are probably the most unflattering things I own. But now I know and can make them in actual shorts material and have "nice" shorts. I'm toying with the idea of using the pocket piece for the robe in the pattern to make myself shorts with pockets (and/or pants with pockets).

School started today. The monkey started 8th grade and La started VPK (state subsidized voluntary pre-k). Sounds like everyone had a good day.

Whipper-snapper round-up

Well, we had the big ultrasound. Everything is where it should be, there are no soft markers for anything, we are still on target for December 22, and it looks like we're having a little girl. I really want to cast on for a hat now. :^) I have lavender cotton-ease that is calling my name!

That big-block quilt that I've been working on? Now it's for the new baby.

I got some advice from my in-house design consultant (my husband the architect), and made narrow stripes of pink. I like it, but I can't help but be reminded of cinderblock construction. So, I'm calling the quilt "Cinderella block" in my head.

This is the fabric that I have for the back. It's a little wild and crazy, but it really picks up a lot of the colors:



And for knitting projects for the whipper-snapper, I've been making some progress. Slow and steady and all that:

The sweater back is done, and I'm starting on the left front. I really like how the yarn is doing. STR Heavyweight in Lemongrass.


And the "ketchup and mustard" baby blanket - I might need to stop having Dh help me. :^)
It's almost to the hypotenuse. Today it's taking the form of a manta ray.


In other projects, I've been whipping up recieving blankets:
For my sister in law, who uses them for privacy when nursing in public:


And for a coworker's baby shower this week. I was going to go in on the group gift, but then I thought of this (and had the fabric on hand).



Oh, and these pieces of hand-dyed fabric were souveniers from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum - destined to be pillow cases for the kids: LTR: the whippersnapper, LaLa, and the Monkey. Now I just need to go back and find that online pattern. Or use an existing pillowcase for dimensions.

Where have I been?

Well. To Denver! La was a flower girl on my 6th anniversary, for my cousin and his new wife. The "ring bear" RJ and La were like peas in a pod - kind of amazing to just happen to find one like that.

We ended up taking a week before the wedding and seeing Denver. Frankly, there is a lot to see there. We went to a bunch of things - Rocky Mountain National Park, the Children's Musuem, Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, lots of family, the Coors brewery, the Rocky Mountain Quilt museum, one of DH's old college buddies, and who knows what else. Although there was plenty of driving, we were using Pregnant Lady Navigation, so there was not much car knitting. Some hotel knitting, though.

While we were in Denver, we found out that my MIL passed away. Dh is the oldest and former guardian, so he was responsible for making lots of decisions, although he couldn't sign anything until we returned. So this week we were brought quickly back to that reality. Here is her memorial web site. Her services were Friday afternoon. 5/6 kids (and their families) were able to be here (one is estranged). The services were nice - I was left with the feeling that all of the kids would be OK. MIL was a feisty one, and she didn't have much, but she tried hard and got the kids what the needed, even if it wasn't all that they wanted - they all probably have stories about the thing they wanted to sign up for, but couldn't - for DH it was JV Soccer, for my SIL it was gymnastics. And they all had stories about being taken care of by the big kids/taking care of the little kids while the parents were out working and the misadventures they had. But for the most part, I agree with DH, that each one of them has what they need to go out there and do well and they'll probably be OK. That was something I hadn't really seen before.

MIL has suffered from Alzheimer's Disease (or some other dementia) for the last several years. She had gotten to a point where there were no good options for her treatment and care - At this point I have some pretty strong feelings about medicaid, medicare, training requirements for nursing home staff, respite requirements for caregivers, and just how difficult dementia can be for the whole family and the patient. So the feeling is (especially by anyone who had been close to her in the last few years) is that she is finally free.

Are you ready for something cute and sweet and completely different?

I got to sew today. Here's a quick sum-up of everything made so far for the whippersnapper. Two of the pants need hemming, and all three need elastic. On the left is an array of recieving blankets for the new baby. 6 seems like a good amount. I probably have ones left from La that I can use too.

And here are the pants for Christmas gifts. For two boy-girl families - one with a big brother and one with a big sister. They just need elastic too. I am thinking about outsourcing the elastic threading to an "intern". I guess the good news is that all of the cut pants are sewn up (the ones for the monkey are currently in use by him as I write). The bad news is that I have a bunch of other projects on the dining room table - I'm going to make more recieving blankets for my SIL - turns out they are good for covering up nursing in public, a quilt that need to be finished, and material I was going to use for easy dresses for the La (but I'm rethinking that). Oh, and I got hand dyed fabric at the Rocky Mountain Quilt museum to make "souvenier" pillow cases for each of the kids. I guess the good news is that none of it is real hard to do.