Still knitting, not so much typing

I've been making time for knitting fairly frequently in the evenings, especially over the last few months, but since I've become a stay-at-home Mom I very rarely have time in front of a computer.  That's quite a shift from the working me that was in front of a computer at least 8 hours per day, even if only part-time.  But, we recently splurged on a nifty Chromebook that's super lightweight and quick to boot, so we'll see if I can make a little more blogging time for myself now.

Hop, hop!

My knitting photography has obviously suffered a bit, too, and rarely happens in the daylight or with the fancy camera.  Sometimes it's just the little point and shoot with a flash or an iPad photo, but so it goes.

It's still enough to be able to show off some cute little bunny cubes and the little helper that gets a big smile when they hop around the house.  And just in time for Easter.

A Return to Knitting

Hello again!  I know it's dusty and gathering cobwebs around here and no one has been posting, but I have... *gasp*... a little knitting to share.  Now that the baby has a pretty set bed time and it's a relatively early one, I sometimes get a little time to myself before I collapse into bed, too.  In the past few weeks I've even used a little of that time to pick up some knitting again.

Because my little niece was born when our little one was only a few months old I hadn't had the chance to knit for her yet, so I decided to make her a sweet little girly hat for a baptism gift.  I wasn't sure her parents would use it right away, but I thought I'd keep it white anyway.  And since I have a history of knitting things that weren't forgiving enough for larger baby heads, I decided to try to make it fit our little one's noggin so that Miss K could grow into it and maybe even use it through next winter.

It did end up a bit larger than I expected, but fits a little loosely on our little one already:

And although the pattern called for a rolled edge, I was going for something a little frillier, so I started with a picot edge instead.

The picot edge makes the bottom flip outward a bit, but I'm still happy with it.  It was a fun little project and it was really nice to be able to whip up a quick little handmade item for a gift again.

Pattern: Simple newborn hat with a touch of lace by Ginny Sheller
Yarn:  Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light - Winter White
Needles: US 4 - 3.5 mm
Completed: April 7, 2012
Mods: Cast on 99 stitches (for 2 more pattern repeats) to size up from newborn and worked a picot edge instead of letting the stockinette roll.

I'm still slowly whittling away at the Tin Man socks that got dropped at the beginning of the second sock, too, but this little hat was much cuter to share.  Now we'll see if I can keep up with a bit of knitting here and there enough to have something more to share before another 10 months pass me by!

Better Baby Blanket Photos

I don't have any new knitting to show, but I do have updated photos of the washed baby blanket that show it a lot better than the previous pics:

Now it actually looks like a blanket -- spreading it out while it was damp helped to open up the pattern and flatten the whole thing out so that it doesn't look so lumpy.  (I didn't bother with pinning it down or measuring it or making sure every side matched perfectly, I just eyeballed it.)

The variegated yarn does fight with/obscure the pattern, but I'm still happy with how it came out.

It's soft and squishy and something I made especially for the baby, so it will definitely get used.  And now it's all washed and folded and waiting patiently with some of the other baby knits.  It also has the distinct advantage of being completely finished and not stuck in the pile of things that need to be seamed or have buttons attached.  More on those later when I finally make some progress on them, I hope!

Vacation Knitting

Even though it was a short, direct flight and a hot weather beach vacation, I wanted to bring along some simple knitting.  And, since it's hard to resist baby knitting at this point, I went back to the One-Skein Wonders book (Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders: 101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks!) and worked through a lot of this little number while I was gone:

It's a sweet little baby dress and it is rather wooly and fuzzy, but it will be worn over a onesie or something similar anyway.  It was fun to watch the colors fade in and out and they worked really well with the pattern.  I made more progress on it last night and at this point all it needs is buttons for the shoulder and a little soak, so I should be able to provide some better pictures later.

I did finally get around to soaking some of the previous projects, too (the blanket really needed it and the blob might actually turn into a sweater after being pinned out flat), so hopefully I can get some updated photos of a few other things to share again soon.

A Parade of Cookies

Okay.  Due to my crazy personal commitment to Cookie A earlier this year (the Cookie A sock club and the knit.sock.love knitalong), I have knit a lot of Cookie A socks this year.  And here they are!

January knit.sock.love Knitalong:

Hedera by Cookie A

Malabrigo Sock yarn

Colorway:  Caribeno

February knit.sock.love Knitalong:

Monkey by Cookie A

Blue Moon Fiber Art Socks That Rock Lightweight

Colorway:  Pride

February Cookie A Sock Club:

Ripple Leaf Socks by Cookie A

String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn Caper Sock

Colorway:  Solas

March knit.sock.love Knitalong:

Thelonius Socks by Cookie A

String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn Caper Sock

Colorway:  Bye Bye Blues

April knit.sock.love Knitalong:

Mona by Cookie A

Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash

Colorway:  Jultomte (We're Different)

Whew!  And I'm almost done with the Cookie A Sock Club April shipment.  I hope you'll see that one soon!