All change for the New Year

Well - no posts for about a week, and a life-changing week at that...My little daughter Darcy was born last Wednesday (New Year's Eve)

Here she is, wearing a little hat I knit for her yesterday, under the blanket I made for her brother years ago. She is just the sweetest little thing.

I am still working on the babette, which will now be an integral part of the decor in her room :)

Last post of the year?

Maybe!

UPDATED TO ADD PICTURES

Though I have been making some progress :)
Finished my Argosy scarf...here it is pinned, blocking

this you have to see - I ran out of yarn mid way through the decreases...so I substituted some other pinkish sock yarn - v obvious I'm afraid. I considered ripping out and making the whole thing shorter, and then decided instead to just finish and block it and see. So after all that blocking and pinning, I discovered some left over original-coloured sock yarn (see there to the left of the orangey bit?)(still with me? Am not explaining this very well). So now I have the option of ripping out and redoing my blocked scarf (still pinned), or wearing it with a big un-matchy bit at the bottom. Hmm. TBD...

Babette is coming along well! I have about 20 4-round squares to go, they are quick in themselves but that's still a lot...an evening or two should knock that out then 'just' sewing and weaving in ends...am determined to finish before baby makes an appearance*. The nursery is shades of blue/lilac, so this blanket would go a long way to 'girling up' the place, if it turns out to be a wee girl.

And seeing as it's coming into frigid season here in Merrilen, I cast on for a hat last night - haven't the patience (or probably time) to make one of those cool slouchy berets, but I thought the Beaufort would be both pretty and quick, dug out some dark red Paton's classic wool Merino, and hope to be done by the weekend. UPDATE - knit this up in a day - and the lace pattern stretches out really nicely :)

*No more false labor scares - am getting tons of exercise walking to and from bathroom and eating loads. Heartburn - check. Bloated - check. Stretch marks - check. Excited - check! Here I am:

more knitting-related stuff you don't need - and scarfapalooza

Been trolling on Zazzle (who have a 10%-off coupon if you use Paypal - woohoo!)

Wouldn't I look smart showing up to S&K with these: knitting themed keds! Might be the only way I'd ever wear a pair - us height-challenged folks need a bit more assistance in the heel department than Keds offer.

Rory got a belated b'day gift from my friend J all the way in sunny (?) Belfast:

And this will be winging its way to her little girl shortly:

I even crocheted little flowers on there - to use up the yarn - see I do crochet sometimes still: this blanket was the first ambitious project I worked on - red heart yarn all the way but hey: Jamie likes it...
She is such a good model.

Here is is showing off my entrelac scarf:

(here it is folded in half - love this pattern)

Here's the clapotis, still not blocked...
Oh, and here's some sweaters I've knit - photo taken from 50ft up obviously...
And finally, the Grandiflora sock. I am now past the heel and into the gusset, but may have to rip waay back as I didn't center the heel in the pattern and so the lacey holes aren't even across the top of the foot. Grrr. The colours are totally mad too. I think these will have to be a keeper, can't see anyone else wanting them ;)

Some FO pics

I already put these up on Ravelry but am nothing is not a showoff ;P

Here's my Grandiflora sock,

Made from the Opal Harry Potter Tonks Yarn - here she is on the label, cute eh:

And donated some knits to charity (daycare 'yard sale' for Make-a-Wish):

this scarf, that was languishing half finshed for over a year...

it started existence as a trial-run for this.

This hat - too big for any normal headed person

And (blush) the beleagured Baby surprise jacket!

Stash acquirement...

So, this week finds me in Fort Collins CO, visiting some coworkers, and loving it here.

There are mountains...
trees...wildlife...

(the Colorado Boston Terrier contingent)...

and yarn stores...

First place I stopped was The Stitchin' Den in Estes Park

Picked up some Lamb's Pride worsted and Mango Moon Chakra for Talia.

That evening hit Lambspun, like a yarny candy store...
Buttons and yarn balls andneedles and weaving supplies...

and this is all I got...some pretty yarn for a scarf (maybe this?) and buttons for Talia.

Finally, visited My Sister Knits (like Lambspun, not someplace you'd stumble across, but well worth finding). No pictures...all I bought was more Lamb's Pride Worsted, for another Hey Teach :)

Anyhoo - the upside of business trips, in addition to guilt-free yarn shopping (it's a souvenir) there is time to knit on cross-country flights and nights in the hotel room. What could be cuter than an eggplant baby cap?

An eggplant baby cap and a strawberry baby cap!

It's not looking good...

I've knit and ripped the Hogwarts sock three times now. I just can't decide on a pattern. The multi-coloured diamonds - forget it - far too many strings to keep a hold of.

Then I decided to do a lace pattern a la purple cardi. Nope - too fiddly on dpns and also too mistake-prone.

Here's where I was at 11 PM last night -

Back to just the cuff. Oh dear.

Yesterday wasn't all bad. I had an hout to kill in the morning so I stopped at Panera for a coffee and some ultimately-ripped knitting. I asked about the Irish soda bread advertised on the door. Not for sale, I was told, but as they were test baking they could give me some. Oh, OK then. I expected a little slice but got...a whole loaf! I couldn't tuck into it there and then, so I bought it to work. Here it is 20 minutes later. My co-workers helped! It was wonderful, sweet but slightly salty. Usually eaten with butter (not I-can't-believe-it's-not-butter, not Flora, BUTTER). But this didn't even need it.

So that's one of the great thing about St. Patrick's day. Yummy baked goods.

What's not so good about St. Patrick's Day -

Apparently St. Patrick was the Patron Saint of cheesy green crap for alcoholics...

And for the Jamie fans:

Wooly pully - modeled!

Finished the helmet liner yesterday - I was worried about the gauge but I think it'll work:
Good for both 3 year olds-
and 39-year olds!
Ready to go.

KnitPicks delivers!

A box of yarn from KnitPicks came this week. Happy Days! Here's my Ravenclaw/Hogwarts swap sock yarn:

Eek! Now I am starting to panic - these colours are not at all what I wanted - and yes I know, I did order them myself and the colours are as described...I thought the variegated yarn would be more blue/brown. Instead it's blue/violet...off to the lys this weekend I guess (darn ;) )

I also got 10 balls of this: Palette in Rainforest Heather

Which is going to be the Printed Silk Cardigan from the current Interweave Knits. That's the plan anyway...

After I opened my lovely KnitPicks box I was inspired so I went along to the Sip n' Knit at Borders. Deb and Lyn had also got yarn in the mail and were similarly stoked. This was posted near the cash registers - now we're official!

I love my knitting group. If you live anywhere within a 50 mile radius, come join.

While there I volunteered to make a wooly pully - helmet liner for the troops. Cascade very generously donated 10 balls of Cascade 220 to our group for this project. Here's my progress:

Purple cardi is still on the go of course. Inching my way up one front. I got to the decreasing part and called it a night at Border's.

I do find it hard to concentrate on knitting/crocheting just one thing at a time. Here's my Noro Transitions scarf I made last weekend:

I like it...but it may get frogged. I don't like the way the ends are very small bands of colour compared to the rest of it. And I have come to dislike the alpaca bits a lot. Too hairy and fuzzy. Maybe I'll make this into a striped vest along with that creamy coloured aran I got in Ireland? Still looking for just the right pattern.

And here's what happens when Mommy is so busy knitting that DS's bedtime sneaks up:

Fell asleep on the kitchen floor, playing with his Lightening McQueen. Ahh.