Just in the nick of time!

Finished! And what perfect timing. I leave on Thursday and the mother is being induced tonight. So huzzah, all ready to go. One of the guys on my team, Kegan, is having a baby boy and now that baby will be loved with a knitted blanket. Probably the smallest blanket I've ever made, but that means its probably the right size instead of being super big like the others. This blanket was both easy to make and frustrating. Each of the little squares are done seperately which made them easy to complete. Maybe an hour per square, so I could knock them out fast, but even with the slip edge there was a lot of picking up bindoff stiches which was kinda hard. And the multicolor edge was alway un-even. Could never make an actual square! So that was a problem, the overall orange edge (which I couldn't decide to go with the orange light colors or the dark green/purples until the very last minutes) helped to conceal this fact but you can still see it. I'm giving it to him today, I hope he likes it!

This blog seems to have become a knitting for babies blog. But I promise that with my trip to peru coming up super soon, there will be other knitting stories. I have some 8 hour flights and I even have a 10 hour layover, so lots of knitting will get done. I am kinda torn on what to take. There's my sweater which needs the body done...but also it will be finished soon...there's starting my sweater jacket but I would need to select yarn and then there is knitting a lace shawl which takes time and concentratation but the yarn is super light... decisions, decisions.

Oh yeah baby, work it!

Here's what you get when you ask a mom who is a photographer to take a picture of something you knit for them... you get a ton of pictures both showing off the jacket as well as cute baby pictures. It was an awesome photo shoot with the little guy. Like most models he was fussy to, refusing to wear the hats I made for him. Maybe he knew they would clash with the jacket, who knows. Regardless I've selected a few that make me smile. The jacket still looks alittle big, but that will keep him pleanty warm in May with the snow (yes I did say snow) falling outside. Hopefully it warms up so that my plants will survive the two weeks I'm gone without worrying about bring them inside. Stupid Colorado. But on with the fashion show!

Isn't he a cutie? After a month or so of harassing I finally got the picture I was asking for! It's Curtis's little boy, staying warm in a nice knitted jacket. Yay!

(On Another note, my binary blanket has made it to China and back, sadly no pictures got taken by the parents during the trip of the blanket next to something noticable Chinese, but that's okay, we all know it happened)

What starts with the Oscars and ends with St. Patricks day?

A baby jackets! A friend of mine challenged my to knit something during the oscars. I started thinking of hats, then got reminded that yet another co-worker just had a baby. And babies are small, perfect oscar event. Although I did start during the oscars (and maybe a bit before) I didn't finish, wasn't close. Its done now though, right before St. Patty's day, which is perfect because its green. I was trying to help work down the stash, but that didn't work. I ran out of yarn on the second sleeve so I had to buy more yarn...boo. Definatly not a yarn stash reduction (doesn't help that I went to a yarn shop in Boulder and bought some amazing alpaca)

But the jacket is now finished, being blocked, and should be ready for gift giving on Monday!

But Mommy it's cold outside!

As the snow falls softly out the window, every mother is bundling up their little ones. Trying to make sure they stay warm for whatever outting they are off too. Some are the lucky ones, who get adorable hand knit hats to wear. Not only do they stay warm but they are stylish too! Little B Pumpkin, how cute. There's also Little B trying to be a gangsta in his pimp pea hat. I'm tempted to get a cork board and put up all the baby photos I have of little ones with my knitted gifts in my cube. I'm not a mom, but it'll look like I am with that display!

More photos!

 
 Seems like all the baby pictures are coming in at once. This is little Isabella, she's about 3 months. Matt and I got invited to the baby shower, and me being the ambitious, nice, creative knitter that I am, felt that something had to be knit for the shower. I looked around at my Stash and found some nice blue and white colors from the Binary baby blanket. Sat down and knit a little sweater in the round. The sleves looked a bit big and recangular so I went with it being a Kimono. It was super adorable, and now here she is, sporting her lovely had knit items. (Not the best picture of the sweater, but a great one of Isabella).

On other news, I'm almost finished with the skirt I've been working on for probably over a year. It got pushed back for various other projects that had high priority. Sadly, I am not a fearless knitter in this case. The pattern calls for a Picot bind off (its like a scalloped edge) but I fear that between the hours upon hours that it will take to bind it off, and the fact that weird bindoffs never seem to go right for me. I've opted to do a standard bind off. So the skirt will have a flat bottom, who cares, most skirts do. But more on that later. : )

Thing 1 and Thing 2!

I finally have photos of my adorable cousins! (Is that right? I think so...cousin's kids?) Anyway they have grown a great deal and are starting to look a lot like my cousin scott.

Thing 1 is Cordilia, and Thing 2 is Renegade. I really wish I had managed to get the wild and crazy hair hat done, but there was no time. I'll just need some other crazy project for that yarn. A friend suggested that I start putting up all my knitted baby photos in my cube. I've started with these guys, because so many people heard about me working on them. Maybe I'll print the others and have a collection of babies. It'll make me feel old though, like I have tons of grandkids or something. Auntie Katie to the rescue!

Berry Bryce

Baby Bryce is healthy, home, happy and sporting a lovely berry hat, made by yours truely. Now he can be warm in the cold winter air : )

Visions of Code..oh wait...Sugar Plums..

I still have to post about my christmas stocking adventure, as well as the little turkey...but alas my little camera's batteries were dead and between wrapping presents and trying not to wrap the cat, I was exhausted last night and didn't feel up to it.

But, I give you the cutest thing ever. The nerdling and his blanket, keeping him warm. Apparently he sleeps with it every night, and I'm sure he'll learn his 1's and 0's before any words or letters. Might learn sign language first, but still. So long as he eventually learns to program in some language I'll be proud (I'm sure his parents will be proud regardless, but I get to be picky)

The nerdling has a blanket!

So I'm watching the snow fall, trying to get everything together in my carry on and my suitcase, hoping that I can get out to the airport and takeoff. But this vacation has more fun things in store beyond just getting to travel. I'm going to a wedding in Seattle, I get to see friends, family, and give one of my friends his baby blanket. I started this a long long time ago. Was going to be finished for the due date (July 7th) but things kept getting in the way. My cousin's baby shower (thing 1 and thing 2) and Angie's baby shower (Fruit basket) and of course the normal wear and tears of life. Work, friends, illness. But I finally finished it. We decided that a warm blanket for July isn't that fitting, so I'm bringing it for halloween. :)

Since he was the first one to announce that there would be an addition to the family, I took on a larger project. A baby blanket, which is big and warm to wrap both baby and mother together. The one side (yes there are two sides) is knit in Cadet blue, with white lettering that says "My daddy is a nerd and I love him" in binary. Because the father...is a huge nerd, a very huge nerd, and I love him for it and so will his little boy. Everyone who knows him loves him for that reason. I chose to do two sides because I didn't want to deal with trying to hide the wrong side. So the otherside is done in Teaberry red...I wish it was a darker red but oh well.

The otherside says "My mommy is a knitter and I love her" because the mother is also a knitter. This should be a double thrill. The love of knitting is universal, so I hope she loves getting a knitted item instead of just loving making one. Now that the baby blanket is done, I have no more baby projects (except for one remote one) so I'm not sure what to do for my flight. I think I have settled on doing a shawl using a wonderfully multicolored fall colors. It should keep me occupied on the flight as well as keep me warm at work once its finished. Hurray!

Pretty colors eh? This yarn always reminds me of a jaw breaker :)

The glorious finish!

Thats right, the baby shower happened on Oct. 17th and everything was finished in glorious style! The pumpkin hat went quick, much like the other hats, though I forgot to do my ribbed plan to get the bumpy nature of the pumpkin, but everyone got the idea that it was a pumpkin. I'll make a note to try and remember to do it next time. So with the hats all done...what did I do? I made my own version of a diaper cake. For those who are unaware about what a diaper cake is, here's a brief description: Take diapers, roll them up (securing with rubberbands or string) put them in a circle standing up, basically creating a sheet cake. From there you make several 'cakes' and stick baby items in them. Wrapping blankets around them, sticking in toys, pacifiers, spoons, whatever you want to give.

Well I wanted to make a fruit basket. So I used the rolled diapers to fill the basket, prop up the hats and hold everything together. Additionally I took a bundle of socks and converted them into sock flowers! (In reality I couldn't make the sock roses or sock ribbons, so I had to figure out something else to make, but I think they look good). In the end the basket all came together. A handful of socks, knitted fruit and veggie hats along with a warm and wonderful little sweater. Then of course the non-artsy stuff: bottles, pacifiers, recieving blankets, rockie's onesies, and a Daddy's little wing man shirt. Angie loved them all so mission accomplished! I even have a few people who want their own, so there are now talks of opening a knitting store. Selling hats, small baby items, and maybe even hand warmers or something. The idea is either just baby items or expanding to doing many knitted items as well. Who knows....

Its warm, its blue, its Done!

The finishing touches have been added and everything is looking wonderful. When I asked Angie what she wanted as a knitting present, she answered "Hat" because babies loose heat from thier heads and her little boy is a winter baby. Which is great, and hence created the series of veggie hats. But I love coats and I decided to make her baby the "Baby Einstien Coat" and its finally finished. Starting off with just a few balls of yarn, I ended up with:

Doesn't Really look like a jacket does it? Well its bascially the back, front, sleves all knitted together. This actually hasn't gone through any finishing. Everything was done with a "pickup and knit" which isnt my favorite, but with the slipped stich edging it went easy. So now...then fun part, make it come together and look like an actual jacket! Add the little blue bear buttons and I'm all done! Now ready to finish the pumpkin hat and then Angie's gift is complete.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor day weekend this year wasn't filled with camping or BBQing or the normal stuff. It was filled with sitting around. My kitty, Lilu, has some medical issues and was confined to my room for 2 weeks, Labor day weekend was her first weekend out, so I spent it watching her and hoping that nothing would happen... and of course knitting. What this means is that I finished almost all of my hats during this weekend.

So I now have (from left to right) a purple berry hat (newbornish), a little pea (newbornish), a tomato (little bigger), and an eggplant (toddler). I fell deeply in love with the purple of the eggplant, I may have to get a lot more of that and make something of it. But for the moment I'm satisified with what I made. I have a pumpkin and blue jacket to make next before I go back to knitting other things.

Almost done with this baby boom. Only a handful of projects to finish before I can go back to knitting some of my other projects. My skirt, blanket, jacket, and shawl that have been on my to-do list for a long time. Oh well... babies have firmer deadlines. :)

Little Pea Sprout

Viva Starbucks!

From Knitting

So between needing to clean my apartment, make dinner, and relax after a long day at work, I know that things come in the way of me knitting when I get home. I can be dedicated, leave other projects untouched but sometimes that's just not possible. So in an effort to complete my fruit basket on time I have started taking my knitting to work. Now unlike checking out sport scores, updating fantasy football or watching you tube, my hobby isn't something I can hide and do at work. Which is expected, I don't need to get paid to knit, though that would be awesome. But when 5 rolls around and I need to babysit a process, then instead of watching it with one eye and writing a report with the other, I watch it with one eye and K1P1 with the other. The bigger aspect however is: Lunchtime at starbucks.

I'm not a big eater at lunch though I love lunch food, so I go to Starbucks, listen to one of my books on my iPod (right now its "The Fallen"  very weird but interesting detective story) and knit away with some tea. Then I grab a bagel or sandwich and go back to work an hour later. Almost all of the little Pea Sprout was done at starbucks, only the crown and cast-on where done at home. Now its on to the Berry Hat!

Fruit and Vegtable Basket

So a friend of mine is in agreement, pastel colors for babies...ich. Yeah, pastel colors are nice, easy to deal with, but so boring. Not every mother wants a thousand light blue baby shirts. Therefore I have gone a different direction: bright colors, interesting patterns, small sizes.

Introducing the fruit basket. If complete it will have:

Green Pea Hat
Berry Hat
Tomato Hat
Eggplant Hat
Pumpkin Hat

and perhaps a little baby coat.  Each hat will be in increasing sizes, or at least slightly, to go with the size of the fruit and the growing child. They all have leaves or stems on the top and should all be knit quickly...at least I hope so. I have until Sept. 26th to complete this gift, and include the other little items I was hoping to purchase (thankfully these have no knitting involved at all, your normal baby gifts)

Ready... Set... Knit!

Baby Boom

It seems to me that all of my friends are having kids right now: my cousin (twin girls), a friend in Seattle (boy), a friend here in CO (boy), and a co-worker (girl). Not to mention other co-workers that I'm not close to, or friends of those people who are also having kids. Its wild! But it means I am knitting like crazy to make homemade personal gifts to give to them. Some haven't made it on time, and some..well I still have a little time to get everything done. Here's the to-do list (I'll post photos soon):

Cousin: Alycee
So she was having twins, hates pink (which I agree with) and wanted some bright colors. I wanted to do something that was twin oriented, so I made little shirts in Dr. Seuss fashion. Thing 1 and Thing 2. It took me FOREVER to get the colorwork done on the front. I keep pulling the carry overs too tight and puckering the front. (It seems that everytime I do multiple colors this happens, need more practice I think) Finally I got something that I liked, finished them and mailed them off. I didn't make the deadline for the baby shower, or for the birth for that matter. But they are warm and I beat winter. Here's a photo of the pattern, I need to harass the mother more for a photo of the girls, they have tons to do without worrying about me right now.

From Knitting

Seattle - Matt
This project was probably the first baby project, the problem with that was I got a little ambitious in terms of size. He's getting a two sided baby blanket. On the one side (which is complete) it says "My daddy is a nerd and I love him" on the other side (incomplete so far) it says "My mommy is a knitter and I love her". His wife knits and should love it. Its soft and pretty, I'll be warm. But other babies keep getting in the way. Right now I have it almost done, just have to grind through the 8 inches of solid color and finish it. The finishing is going to be challenging. Still not sure how I am going to do it, just have to wait and see.

Colorado - Angie
I like to be ambitious and with time constraints it seems. The baby shower is at the end of September and I have ideas. She wants a hat for her baby boy, to keep him warm (due in December). So I found a cute hat that is a main color with green leaves ontop. Which gave me an idea.. a series of fruit/vegtable hats of different sizes. One green pea, one eggplant, one tomato, and one pumpkin. And maybe a little coat to go along with it all. (I know, slap me now) This would be combined with a basket of baby odds and ends: bottles, binkies, sippy cups and whatever else I can find. I just hope I can get it all done. I was going to go to the store and get yarn, but the stores close when I get off work or the closer one isn't open today.. alas I must wait another day.

Co-worker - Steven
I've never met his wife, but he's my lead, therefore he's getting a gift. But I have until December (no baby showers to come early) and its going to be something simple, a hat or coat. Nothing too fancy, and I haven't decided yet... more on this later.