Baby Gifts

I feel like all fall I have been knitting baby gifts! I enjoy making things for babies. I mean the stuff is cute and each item is little so it takes less time to have a nice finished object. However, between school and all the baby showers I haven’t had much time for my own knitting. I also haven’t been blogging because I had to wait for the gifts to be given before I could reveal a lot of these things.

First, this one made me giggle. My friend asked for this hat because her little boy is going to be born around Thanksgiving (still I had to laugh at myself while I knitted each turkey leg). This is the pattern.

The next project I completely forgot to get  a picture of! It was a bib made from this pattern, which is just fabulous. I made the bib yellow with a contrasting orange neck-tie. I added a monarch butterfly appliqué in the left lower corner (ironed and sewn on because a baby bib needs to be durable enough to throw in the washer). I am kicking myself for not getting a picture but I wanted to mention it anyway because I enjoyed the pattern so much.

This was the most recent gift. I think the picture makes it look a little red like a tomato, but in real life it is a beautiful magenta. I was trying to go for a strawberry. I thought about adding seeds but that would require me to carry the yarn in the back which seems uncomfortable for baby’s head, or do a lot of cutting and weaving in of ends, which sounded awful. When I saw the finished product I actually really liked it the way it was, so that is the way it stayed. (here is the pattern)

The shower for the baby getting the strawberry hat had a “sugar and spice” theme (so cute). So I made some sugary cookies to go along with it. Again, almost forgot to take a picture so please forgive the quality of the shot that I took after I had already packed them up to go to the shower.

I have made progress on my other two projects. I am still loving the pendulum although all of the garter stitch is kind of monotonous. I think the fact that I keep changing colors keeps it interesting. I like this project because I can pick it up for a few minutes at a time and not have to put much thought into it.

I am a bit embarrassed about the next one. About a month ago I turned the heel on my first Kalajoki sock and then put it down and haven’t picked it up again. It’s not that I don’t like the pattern, I have actually really enjoyed working it! It just isn’t quite so easy to pick up for a few minutes at a time and so with all of the other projects going on it has gotten neglected.  Maybe by winter break things will calm down and I can finish this sock and its partner.

Catch Up

This may have been the least relaxing summer of my life. I don’t know that I had a single day in the whole month of July to do exactly what I wanted and nothing else. I didn’t completely realize how busy it was until today when I did only things I wanted to do. It was heavenly.

I did squeeze in some things that were fun though.

This was Jack.

This was Liz (deciding she was tired of me taking pictures)

They were some of the best kittens we have had since Cutty. Hopefully they have already found forever homes.

I baked a pie.

It was made from fresh peaches and blueberries from the farmer’s market. I used a tutorial I found on The Pioneer Woman’s website for homemade crust. It was fabulous.

I tried my hand at knitting two socks at a time on two circulars. At first it seemed to be taking forever to make any progress because I was doing everything twice.

But then at the end it was totally worth it because when I finished them I was finished with BOTH of them! I will definitely do this again.

Then I made a pair of socks and coordinating hat for baby J and my friend AO’s baby shower. I totally failed at taking pictures. This is the only one I have of the set. I did my first crocheting in a long time to make the bear. I used a pattern for the socks and hat but the bear I made up as I went along. It is truly one of  a kind. (and this was my first time working with Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino and I am in love with it)

There were cookies at the shower, too. They were the first ones since the graduation. Maybe I have lost my cookie mojo.

I also found some new blogs. This one (fieldwonderful) inspired me to make these Kalajoki socks. You can see the river pattern starting on my first sock. I chose a blue green since the pattern is based on rivers- original I know. But I truly love what fieldwonderful did with the yellow. Plus she is a fellow Kentucky girl! Yay!

I am branching out and have decided to have two projects going at once. This is different for me because I usually make myself finish one before I start another. However, I wanted something simple and mindless going while I was trying to read a charted pattern for the first time so . . .

I cast on for a shawl called pendulum last night.

So how am I going to end my hectic summer? By starting grad school in 10 days. You know, ’cause it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Dino-baby

About a year ago I started making hat and bib sets for friends’ baby showers. However, when I came up with the idea for this hat I just wasn’t sure how to make a matching bib.

So I decided on a little stuffed dino-baby to go with it. It is my loose interpretation of a stegosaurus, but I like it. I actually didn’t know how it was going to turn out most of the time because I was just making it up as I went. But, now I wish I had taken notes because I think I might like to make another one!

This sweet set was for KB and her newest addition. You might remember I made cookies for her family when they found out they were having another little boy.

We had a little work shower for her over the weekend. My friend PW and I made the cake and cupcakes.

It’s always fun to celebrate happy occasions with friends!

Two Questions

I was in a cookie baking mood. I had several days off and was going to take my time and leisurely bake and decorate to my heart’s content. One round of antibiotics later and several days of napping, I was down to one day for all my cookie baking needs. I tell you this because the final results pictures were taken after the sun went down and there wasn’t much I could do about it, but I appologize for the quality.

Ok, first question:

What am I doing with this combination of cookie cutters?

 

They end up making these cookies:

 

And then with the little bit of dough left over I made these hearts (so as not to waste dough)

(and yes I have so little counter space I sometimes have to use my stovetop) Will it help if I show you the colors I used?

 

Here are some of them decorated:

 

Alright I guess I will show you the full set. It might still be a little confusing though.

 

Is it twins? Nope! My friend KB and her family were finding out if their new baby is going to be a girl or a boy. Since I didn’t know when I was making the cookies I made both kinds. I thought it made for a very cute combination. I took all the blue and pink cookies to work and made everyone wait to try them until we got a phone call from KB. Once she made the big announcement I packed up the cookies that matched her new baby and let everyone else eat the cookies in the other color.

So here is the second question. Which cookies did I send to KB and her family?

Her little boy is going to have a baby brother! Congratulations! I am so thrilled for their whole family. (I was totally off, I have been saying for weeks it was a girl) Anyway, the pink cookies were enjoyed by everyone at work so they were not a total waste.

On a side note, I think I am going to keep making mini cookies from my scraps of dough. They always turn out so cute and are pretty quick to decorate. Plus they are perfect when you just want a bite.

 

Congrats KB (and MB and LB)!