The Knitted Tie Comes Back

So, my husband and I went on a little day trip today to see our friends Jenn and Jay in Baltimore. They were having a couples baby shower for their baby girl who is due in May. It was a nice day. I gave Jenn the Debbie Bliss Baby Shrug that I knitted a couple of weeks ago. She seemed to like it. I ended up knitting a cute pair of baby socks our of the Rowan Cashmerino yarn that I used to make the shrug and they turned out adorable.

But, the funny part of the trip comes when Jay gets dressed to go to the shower. It all started a couple of years ago when Jay, who is a diehard Florida Gators fan, graduated from UPenn Law School. I, as a joke, knit him this bright orange and blue Gators tie with a Gators patch on it. It turned out really good and now holds its place on the stuffed gator that he has in his basement along with the ear flap hat that I made him. So, Jay gets dressed and as we are leaving, grabs the tie from the Gator and puts it on. This is a huge deal; one, because it is a ridiculous looking tie, and two, because Jay is ultra superstitious. You see, Florida is playing in the semifinals tonight, actually right now, and if they don't win (which of course they will win), it is the end of the tie. So, GOOD LUCK GATORS!

My Lovely Husband Modeling the Tie

Apricot Jacket...the first night

So, I have finished the first night of the Apricot Sweater. It did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. Mostly because I have a 3 month old baby who doesn't take naps anywhere but my arms and doesn't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time at night. Any suggestions? I am pretty exhausted. Anyway, I finished a little bit of the sleeve:

It isn't too bad. I am sure that it isn't perfect, but I like the feel of the yarn. I am knitting in Cotton Fleece on size 7 needles. I decided to do a sleeve first (thanks to Goodkarma) so I could get the diagonal pattern down. I am glad I did because I definitley started over once or twice. I also took down the amount of ribbing...I am pretty short, so I am just assuming that the sleeves will be way to long. Well, I am happy with it so far. It seems like it will be a pretty quick knit. I am liking the pattern, it keeps it interesting. Now I just have to finish it in time to wear it for spring.

The Start of the Apricot Jacket...dun dun dun

All right, so I have started the Apricot Jacket. I know that I am a little behind on this craze, but I have seen the FO on so many blogs and it looks just gorgeous on everyone and seems like a bit of a challenge. Well, I got my Rebecca 27 magazine from Yarnmarket the other day in the mail. I had some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in cream in my yarn stash from years ago that wants so badly to be used and so now I am ready to go. Everything that I have read about the pattern says that it is quite confusing so I have decided to do my research before jumping in. So, thanks to all of the knitting blogs who have posted their hints, they are certainly coming in handy. I started one of the sleeves last night and I think that I have already messed up the pattern, so I am heading for the graph paper to map it out. I will keep you posted. Here I go!

What's New

So, I have finally added another finished piece of work. It is actually a simple one...a pair of socks. It was the first time in a long time that I knitted socks, so I figured I would go simple and just do the traditional style. It was so much easier than I remembered. I guess turning the heel scared me off before, but now, after getting more knitting experience under my belt, the task was not so frightful. I actually can't wait to add some style to my next pair. These socks were for my niece Isabell whose birthday is on Tuesday. She will be six, so I did a lot of guessing at the size. They turned out fine. I used KnitPick's Memories Sock Yarn that I had hidden away in my stash.

Pattern: Just the Classic Sock Pattern
Yarn: KnitPicks's Memories Sock Yarn
Needles: Size 3 dpn's
Start-Finish: March19-March 21

So, now that I am back on the bandwagon for socks, I want to try out cabled socks and dyeing my own yarn for socks....Stay Posted.

Some Thoughts On Past Projects...

All right, so I am a little late on the bandwagon and so I thought that I would post a little about some of the past projects that I have done.

One thing that I have to say is that I love Dale of Norway patterns. They are so intricate and have so many details. Their yarn is so lovely too. I knitted a beautiful hat for my daughter that was in three colors of Dale's Baby Wool. I am blanking on the colors at the moment, but will post when I go upstairs to look. The pattern was a bit confusing at first until I realized that the at had a hem in it which makes it oh so much more comfy. She loves wearing it. It was a first attempt at fairisle as well and it was fun. I enjoyed the continually changing pattern. It keeps it interesting.
The pompom is to die for...probably a little big for the hat, but cute as anything.

Pattern: Baby Hat out of the Dale of Norway Book #110

Yarn: Baby Wool by Dale

Needles: circular and dpn sizes 0 and 2

Getting Back Into It....

Well, I am glad to say that I have gotten the bug for knitting again. It has been 3 months since the birth of my daughter and I am ready. While on maternity leave I have had ample time to browse some fine knitting blogs and it has lit the fire. Believe it or not, this is the first time that I have browsed through any sort have blog and I am amazed at what they have to offer. I can't believe that I am starting my own. I am no computer genius by any stretch, but my husband is and has agreed to help me with the blogging lingo.
So, I had made plenty of baby things prior to Caroline's arrival, but we didn't know that it was a she at that point and I have not had the opportunity to make anything specifically for her yet. First on the list was Baby Shrug shown in Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby. I decided to knit it for my friend Jenn who is due with her first baby girl in May. I just finished this last night. I started it on Saturday morning, so it knit up really fast. It was an easy knit, nothing much to it, but looks adorable when finished. I ended up using some Rowan Cashsoft Aran that I had stashed away and it is now on a favorites list of mine. I loved the feel of it and I know that Jenn's baby will too...it is soooo soft. I had Caroline try it on last night before her bath....it is a little big and Caroline is a little small.

Pattern: Debbie Bliss' Baby Shrug
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft Aran in
Start/Finish: March 10-15
Size: 3-6 months
#skeins: 2 and 1/4

The Start of a Blog

All right, so this is clearly something I never thought that I would do, but, now that there are enough things in my life that I have to talk about, here I am. I am on maternity leave and I like to think that I will have time to blog...we'll see. So, I am sitting here writing my first post as my daughter sits in her rainforest bouncy seat, staring at me out of the corner of her eye. She is 11 weeks old and just now really starting to look at her surroundings. Because of this, I have the ability to put her down for short amounts of time.
My husband Ben and I live in a new house with this new baby and we are starting to get used to this life. Although, can you really ever get used to it. Our beautiful baby girl is the apple of my eye and she is nothing like I expected, especially since we were convinced that SHE was going to be a HE. Nothing of motherhood is as I expected it to be, but it is starting to become much better than I expected.