What's been going on

First off, a very belated thank you to Parikha of the brown sheep for sending me this book. I won it in a blog contest several weeks ago. I've been reading Parikha's blog for a long time now, check it out if you've never read it. The book isn't very inspiring, but it will be good to refer to if I'm in the mood for a good basic knit. Plus you can never have too many knitting books, right?

I've got two sleeves for the Pea Pod baby sweater. This project has been sitting around for awhile while I've been working on other things.

Ariann is almost finished! You may remember that I screwed up and wasn't actually making the raglan decreases because I was still increasing in pattern. I had to rip out several inches. This photo is out of date-I really only have about an inch of collar left to go.

I actually finished a pair of socks for Soctoberfest! Let's see if I can get a picture of them up by the end of the month!

FO: Baby Sweater #2

Daisy by Stephanie Pearl McPhee, 6-12 month size
Started: 23Jul07 (?)
"Finished": 18Aug07
Buttons on: 23Aug07
2 entire skeins of Bernat Cotton Tots in Sweet Cream
Sz 5 Addi Turbos

The verdict: Cute sweater, easy, and no stress except for almost running out of yarn. A good TV knit.

Today is the last day of the MN State Fair. That means summer's over, people. Time to start thinking about pumpkins, apples, leaves, and wooly sweaters. We went to the fair last Saturday. The first place we went was the craft building to check out the knits. There was a gorgeous Lizard Ridge there (it won a special award), plus a Pea Pod baby sweater, Fetching wristwarmers, and some Nancy Bush socks, and lots of other beautiful items.

Baby's First Gift

Baby Z got his (yes, it’s a boy!) first gift in the mail. Isn’t it appropriate that it’s an adorable handknit sweater and hat? It was made by my in-laws next door neighbor. I discovered she was a knitter when I unveiled my FIL’s birthday gift at his party a couple of years ago.

One of my employees is going to have a baby any day. Of course I gave her a hat. It got high marks from her mom, a knitter visiting from Algeria . She was impressed that I knit it in the round. Maybe I need to give her a circular knitting lesson! If she only knew how wonderful it is! I also gave away another baby hat to a coworker a couple of weeks ago (2007 is a big year for babies in my department). My stash hats are dwindling, especially the boy or gender neutral ones. I don’t know anyone who has had a girl in over a year!

Question

Q: What would inspire this baby hat knitter to branch out into making a baby sweater?
A: You're right! A little one on the way!

Yep, Baby #1 (currently being called Zeke or Zoe by our friends) is expected to arrive on December 24th! My husband and I are still a bit in shock.

Expect to see a lot of baby knits in the future!

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting
Lion Brand Cotton Ease, almond, a little over one skein
Started: 20 May 2007
Finished: 21 July 2007
I would have been done sooner, but seaming up the garter stitch was giving me problems, especially the sleeves. Ugh! But after several tries, I think it looks pretty good.