I've been so busy knitting that I haven't had time for blogging. I've also had a hard time actually taking pictures of my knitting so that I could have something to show you.
This is the Mommy Snug sweater from last summer's IK. I made the smallest size and knit one set of short rows for the belly. I figure it's only going to be cold for a few more months so I don't need it to be too big. The only change I made to the pattern was to lengthen the sleeves. Does anyone else always have to do that too? I used Knitpicks Wool of the Andes. It's the 1st time I've used that yarn and I really like it! It's soft enough to wear against my skin. This picture was taken at the dog park but you can't really see the details and I don't even look pregnant!
So, I took another picture. This is a different day and it was really cold and windy and I just wanted to hurry up and get the picture taken. That's why I have a stupid look on my face. But you can see the buttons on the side. When I knitted the sweater, I didn't think about having to sew on 14 buttons. 14! I hate sewing buttons but I managed to get it done.
I also knit Mike a new hat since he claimed his
grey one doesn't match his brown coat. Apparently green is a much more fashionable choice. He wanted a tank on it so that's what he got. It's made with a mystery alpaca yarn. I lost the label. If you need to know, I can probably figure it out but you probably don't care that much. He likes it and now he doesn't have to be a walking fashion faux pas with his grey hat and brown clothes.
I also knit a cardigan for sesame. Well, it started out as a cardigan for my coworkers baby. Her shower is in a few days. I kept thinking of things to add to the cardigan to make it cuter and tonight I realized I needed to keep it. I'm not really that close to this particular coworker and it just seemed too nice to give her. It would have felt awkward to give someone I don't know very well this little cardigan that clearly took a lot of time and effort to make.
So sesame gets it! Since I do need a gift, I'm going to part with the Miss Dashwood I knit for sesame. I have another skein of that yarn so I can knit another for sesame.
I used Bernat cotton tots and followed the pattern for the kimono cardigan in the summer 2005 issue of IK. The Ik cardigan is in garter stitch but I don't really like knitting garter stitch so I altered it for stockinette. To keep the edges from rolling, I sewed satiny blanket binding to the inside edges. It'll be soft against little baby's skin.
Last but not least, little sesame will need socks- cute socks! This pattern was also in the summer 2005 Ik but several similar baby socks are free online at Interweave Knit's website. These are with Wildfoote sock yarn and I used size 0 needles. Before I knit them, I thought these might become my baby shower gift of choice (I have 3 pregnant coworkers!) but that won't be the case. I realized I don't like using size 0 dpns, and I like cabling using size 0 dpns even less.
It sure made for some cute little socks, though!
but little did I know that it would take me a lot longer to turn all those pieces into this!
Sewing, stuffing, sewing some more, taking an ear off, sewing it again. It took so much longer than I thought it would but it's so cute, it was worth it. It's the bigfoot bunny from Zoe Mellor's book Knitted Toys. The main yarn is Lorna's Laces shepherd worsted in the colorway safari. It was given to me by the very nice Sarah. (Go visit her and congratulate her on her good news!) It was lovely to knit with, as all Lorna's Laces yarns are. I wanted something fluffy and soft for the feet and ears so I broke down and bought some icky acrylic. It's Caron Bliss and while it feels kind of wrong to pair such nice yarn with cheap, crappy yarn, the effect is worth it. Hopefully sesame likes it. I did already take the rest of the skein of white fluffy stuff to the goodwill, though. I don't know who was happier about getting it out of the house- me or Mike. I have turned him into a yarn snob.
Speaking of Mike, my newest project is a sweater for him. I have both sleeves done but it wouldn't make for a very exciting picture so I'll wait to show it to you. I've also pulled the frost flowers and leaves shawl/blanket out of the basket and started working on it again. I have added one whole repeat. 
Still a long, long way to go. At this point, each row is almost 1000 stitches long and altogether, I've knitted almost 58,000 stitches on this darn project! No, I didn't count them all. There's a frost flowers and leaves yahoo group and someone figured out all the stitch counts and made a spreadsheet. I'm not that crazy.
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