baby knits

This weekend is the shower for my sister in law. And I spent the last few weeks furiously knitting away to get some projects done. In the end I think I've managed to cobble together a cute little layette.

I just hope the momma to be agrees.

We have a little sweater, and given that the baby is supposed to arrive in mid-March it is little. I figured the newborn size would get some use and I wouldn't guess wrong at to how fast and how much baby might grow over the summer. A matching hat to keep her head warm.
And I have to admit I'm in love with the little knit MaryJanes. A really easy project with some serious awwww factor. I think the pair took me less than 4 hours to churn out.

Then given that I still had some yarn left I made a little toy -- just the right size for a small pint to hold and cuddle.

All of which took a little less than 2 skeins of Caron Simply Soft.

However, the gift I love the most isn't the one which I knit. My grandmother started making feather and fan stitch baby blankets years ago as her nieces and nephews began having children. And she continues making them now for a second generation of babies.

In some cases they are done in white for a Christening blanket, in others varigated yarn. Occassionally they go to people outside of our family -- I've asked for them for my nieces and for my best friend's children.

I also make my grandmother slightly insane with the colors I ask her to do. There was sage green for my best friend's daughter (and now a slate blue for her son). For my own son I requested a bright red. Gram thought I lost my mind. Red for a baby blanket.

(In my defense for everyone thinking "why would you choose red?" The quilt I made for him is primary colors and the fabric I used to re-cover the rocking chair (which has rocked 4 generations of babies to sleep) was a navy blue and red plaid. Trust me in his nursery it works.)

For my sister-in-law it was done in the same varrigated yarn as the rest of the layette. I hope it serves my niece well through childhood, and when she outgrows it I hope it gets put away for her own children to use and love.

pink beaded glory

For severals months I kept seeing the advertisement for a little bit of wonderment in various knitting magazines. Just before Christmas I walked into The Yarn Garden in Meriden seeking some buttons for cardigans I knit for Nikki and my best friend's daughter.

The store had several other people in it, so while the owner was busy I wandered about, and touched, and dreamed. At one point I wandered back up toward the cash register and in a basket there it was. Dusty rose sparkling up at me. I couldn't contain the gasp, but I did manage to stop myself from squeeing outloud.

My little bit of beaded heaven.

Thankfully my sister in law is expecting a baby girl in March, so I actually could knit this up with a purpose. And this is one of those projects that while it's being knit to give away -- it was done for selfish reasons. I just had to knit this.

I think even if I didn't have a baby girl to knit this for that the yarn and pattern would have come home with me -- to be stashed and saved for some future child.

Now for those of you who care about particulars the yarn is Tilli Tomas Flurries (100% Austrailian Merino wool with glass beads) and the pattern is the Tilli Tomas Baby Beanie. It's a really simple project - the hardest part is getting all the beads to the right side of the hat after it's finished.

It's a quick sparkly bit of knitting goodness.

Christmas Wish

It seems the baby has to ask Santa for one thing. He's cutting his first teeth (which explains the rather cranky 5-month-old at some points last week), now the question is will they be up in time for Christmas.

The first has broken through and we can see the bump for the second one - so now it's just a race against time. 9-days and counting

I keep singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" to him. Thankfully he giggles when I sing, unlike his sister who tries to tell me to stop.

Baby giggles are the best.