New Addition

This is my beautiful little sister. With her adorable teeny tiny bundle of adorable. (4lbs 13 oz)
He arrived on Monday, and despite being miniature is perfectly healthy. His mom is doing great too!



Here are all her boys.



It is KILLING me that I have to wait for a month to see him!

OH Boy!

At long last, "W" has arrived. Princess and Prince are delighted with their absolutely too adorable for words addition to the family. They are all doing great. Pictures to follow soon.

I am so happy he made his grand appearance before I end my month long trip. I am exhausted and ready to take a long rest cuddled up next to my Duke and my pups.

I will return to the blogging world after I have recovered.

17-5+1=13

WIP Inventory

Duke's Aran Sweater (Sarah, it's Cascade 220- and you can't tell from the photo, but it's heathered)
Lil Bro Hat
Headband
Duke's Shadow Scarf
Red Felt Bag
Leg Warmer
Baby Surprise
M. Vest
Striped Felt Bag
Green Sweater
Japanese Lace (I just took it off the needles to be used later on as a swatch for something else.)
Go with the Flo Socks
Mitered Baby Blanket
Silk Rumple Wrap
JD Baby Sweater
JD Baby Sweater

I have crossed five of my WIP's off my list in one day, pretty good, no? I rewarded myself for surpassing my goal for the weekend before the weekend even started by - um breaking the moratorium. I know, I'm awful, but I needed something fairly mindless to knit in class and I didn't feel like any of my WIP's were the appropriate project.

So I cast on for Fiber Trend's (Lily Chin) Charlotte's Easy Lace Shawl. Just as the pattern claims, it is probably the easiest lace you can knit, just what I need. I have knit this before with DK weight yarn, and it went so fast I couldn't believe it (the whole shawl in two days- but I should mention it was for my 4'9'' MIL- ie small.)



This time I am knitting it with my own hand dyed sock weight yarn. Even with all that finishing, I got this much done this evening.


I also finished one of the "mystery" projects I was working on. It is a sweater for my soon to be born nephew, W., son of Princess P. I know it's a little plain. Maybe it's the 'practical mom' in me, but I though he could use a nice, plain, jacket. The yarn is Cascade 220.

The real charm of this sweater is in its buttons.


Aren't they so vintage western cool? I just love them, and love that they are so unexpected on a baby's sweater. I think W. will love his chief and buffalo sweater.

This sweater was supposed to be size 6 months (the pattern is based off of Daisy on Knitty.) Even though my gauge is right on, this is actually the appropriate size for an 18 month old. I guess I should have checked the measurements first instead of trusting the sizes. Oh, well, he will eventually be 18 months old, and it will be winter about that time in Utah, so it works out OK.
Also, I won't recommend this pattern because I think it's stupid to piece together a raglan sweater, so I went looking for a different pattern after I finished this one.

And I found a great one. Here is the other "mystery" project, are you surprised? Another baby sweater.


This one was also supposed to be for W., but the Duke loves it so much, if the alien is a boy, I'm afraid it's staying here.
This is a free pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple. I love their patterns and this is no exception. I knit the 6 month old size on this one too, but this time, it is the appropriate size. The yarn is Nashua's Creative Focus Worsted.


Again, the buttons make this. What baby boy (and maybe even a girl?) wouldn't turn even more heads than normal in this cardi? Baby knits are so much FUN!

A Magical Day for the Royal Family

98 Days

Today I have been pregnant for 98 days and Princess P., my lil' sister, has 98 days left in her pregnancy.

All Hail PBTP

All of you click right on over to Princess P.'s blog and see what her amazing husband (PBTB) has made, yes I said MADE. It's amazing!

The Year of the Boar and other Randomness

Happy Chinese New Year. It's the year of the boar. While I was not born in a year of the boar (I in fact am a sheep, evidently, although I know little to nothing about the Chinese zodiac,) I do have a special place in my heart for pigs. And now I will have a little piglet nephew to love. Yes, the royal little baby of Princess P. and Prince B. will be a little bouncing baby boy! I all ready have projects lined up for him, starting with this, only in a nice brown. This book is adorable, I'm sure he will be getting other knitting goodness out of it.



Continuing, for the moment along the pig thread, the Duke and I have this print hanging our our wall. It is called Kohler's Pig by Michael Sowa and at our house we like to think that it is pig heaven, where pigs come when they die. It is here that they can fly.

Why do I like pigs you ask? It has to do with the legend of Carcassone

In 760, Pippin the Younger, king of the Franks and father of Charlemagne, had recaptured most of Southern France from the Saracens. But the impregnable fortress of Carcassonne resisted. According to legend, a Saracen princess named Carcas devised a ruse to save the city. After a long siege, she used the last sacks of grain to fatten up a pig, and then threw it over the ramparts. Seeing such a well-fed pig, the assailants gave up, thinking the city had enough food not to surrender for a long time. Carcas rang the bells to celebrate, and the city was named Carcas sonne (Carcas rings).
(http://www.bootsnall.com)

The Duke told me this story at a difficult time in my life. Now, when I am having a hard time, I think of Carcas and her pig who together saved the city. I realize this didn't end so well for the pig, that is why we have the painting in our house where pigs come to live in peace and happiness after they die.

Anywho, moving on. I listened to The Story of Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting. It was sweet and while not the most enthralling of literature, was enjoyable. It has a baby pig name Gub-Gub in it.

So, in honor of the Chinese New Year, which I love because it's like another chance at the fresh start that I always somehow miss in early Jan., I thought I would pull out my various WIPs.


Sebastion- on the needles since Nov. I will get this done soon, I swear.


The Duke's Aran Sweater- considering I've had to do "cable surgery" on it three times now, it's moving along, slowly, but surly.


My Eco Sweater is DONE! YIPEE- it just needs a closure of some sort, I'm undecided as to what it should be.


Green Socks (done in my own hand dyed yarn.)


The Shadow Scarf


My scarf which if I hadn't made myself insane enough knitting endless rows of garter stitch, then I decided it needed a crochet edging. Slowly, yes, but coming.


Here is a simple raglan that I cast on for last night. The Queen Mother Knitter sent me the yarn and the pattern as a b-day gift, and I needed some mindless knitting last night, it was perfect.


Last by not least, here is my nearly finished tote for the International Tote Exchange III. It just needed the bottom ribbon and handles. I hope my exchangee likes it.


And to finish off with some more randomness, this is my latest hand spun, 2 ply, 12 wraps per inch, spun from a Corriedale Grafton Fiber Batt. So nice.





And here are some adorable pictures of my two little beasts. Click here to visit my latest photo set of my cutie pie pups!

Beginnings and Ends

The news is out!
I got this in the mail today from Princess P. and Prince Bertram.


OK, I don't squee very often, but let me just say. . .
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I can't believe my little sister is going to be a mommy!


Of course as soon as I knew (which was not today, just so there are no illusions of super speed knitting) I started knitting. They don't know the gender yet, but I think this would look very smart on either a little princess or a little prince.


Look at those little buttons, is there anything sweeter than than a teeny tiny button on a teeny tiny sweater vest?


So I am preparing a little congratulations and general happiness and take care of the new mommy package. Princess P. is a knitter, so naturally, some fun hand spun yarn is in order. Princes P. picked out the sparkely stuff when she was up here last month. I combined it with orange merino. It makes it softer and I think it spun up very nice. BTW Princess, that stuff was awful to spin, if you weren't my little sister there would be no way I would have finished it, but it did turn out lovely, didn't it?


And this has nothing to do with the new baby, but here is the finished product of the fabric that I showed you all in the last post. It is my design. It is for sale at Hilltop. You can call the shop and have them mail it to you if you just must make one (206-282-1332.) I am also hoping that it will be in the next Storybook Publishing's 101 MORE One Skein Wonders. We'll see.




You will notice that the title of the post is beginnings and ends. With every beginning there is an end. Yesterday as we celebrated the empending arrival of the next bundle of joy, we also mourned the loss of another loved one. The Duke's Grandma Great passed away. That is what her great grand children, which includes my 29 year old Duke, called this wonderful woman. I never really knew her at her full capacity, but the Duke loved her and so I loved her. Any woman who can bring a proud red headed man to tears must have been something special.

The Duke and I have been touched by the power of people who are not even on this earth. The joy a little one not yet arrived can bring, and the longing for and rememberance of someone departed, we must never underestimate how interconected we are. We need to cherish and honor each other as the powerful forces we are in one another's lives.

Thank you Grandma Great and Little Baby P. for impacting mine and the Duke's lives, for giving us the opportunity to acknowledge you and your lives, and at the same time helping us to remember to cherish one another more.