Baby is here

Hello everyone!

Sorry for my LOOOOONG delay. I was too wiped out to blog towards the end of my pregnancy and now I'm really busy taking care of the baby! He arrived 6 days early, on December 18th. He's the most precious baby ever!

I packed some knitting for the hospital. Obviously I was delusional. I haven't knit a stitch since December 17th. I miss it, but sleeping, eating, and brushing my teeth are more important than knitting right now!

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 This photo is out of date-I really only have about an inch of collar left to go.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!

Eeek

Yeah, it's been a looong time. I have been knitting, just too lazy/busy/have better things to do (sleep) than update the blog.

• Pregnancy, Week 29: All is well. Minor hiccup: I failed my first glucose test so I had to go in for the 3 hour "we're going to draw blood 4 times and you have to pee in a cup 4 times, and don't eat anything past 10 PM the night before" test. Thankfully I passed. Otherwise the pregnancy is pretty uneventful except for being tired.
• Had a birthday last month.
• Went on a camping trip. The first night was about 38 degrees. Found out that sleeping with a hat on is a pretty good idea.
• Attended a fondue class with friends.
• Finished a sock for Socktoberfest. Hope to get the second one done this month, too.
• Found out that my company is going to be laying off a significant number of people. Yay. Was pretty bummed for a couple of weeks, but realized there is nothing I can do except hope that things turn out for me. Not a good time for me to look for a job.
• Had a class reunion. It was really a good time. Most of my classmates turned out really well. I graduated with around 80 people, and many of us have known each other since kindergarten. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about all those people.
• Framed my very own cross stitch piece. Yay, me!

OK, enough babble. I'll check in again when I can get off my lazy butt and upload some photos.

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.

Happy Birthday, Mom

I finished this cat scrapbook just in time for my mom's birthday. I didn't know what to give her , so I decided that a cat scrapbook would be perfect. Way back in April I raided her house to find some pictures (they are scattered all over the place) and then added some of my own. I've been working on the book itself for the past month or so. I found it pretty enjoyable because I used a prepackaged slab of paper and coordinated dodads. Less decision making for me! Easy to stay focused! Plus I found that I enjoy the 8 x 8 format much better than 12 x 12. Here are a few shots of the finished product.

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!

Easiest baby bib ever

Baby Bib o'Love from Mason Dixon Knitting

Lily Sugar 'n Cream, summer splash

Started: 21 July 2007

Finished: 22 July 2007

The opening on the bib seems really small. Is it really going to fit around a kid's neck?

Here's another post that has been sitting in my blogger account. I'm going to have to take some new pictures one of these days and show you what's I've been knitting.

Today is the one year anniversary of starting my new job. Time flies!