Startitis Continues...

...but things are getting finished.

This weekend was the second baby shower in the past month. I missed the first one for cooking club, but Geek Boy represented (we were mistakenly informed that it would be a co-ed shower...and the father is a friend of his...unfortunately, he spent that afternoon hearing the word uterus more than he would have liked).

Anyway, after a crisis of yarn shortage, I think Haiku came out quite well.


The sleeves are done in Plymouth Wildflower, my favorite baby yarn. I don't remember what the green yarn was. Something I got when Technicolor Sheep was going out of business. Luckily, with the construction of the sweater, the green rows at the top of the sleeves blend in well with the body of the sweater, making it look intentional.

The hat is my basic baby hat. Plymouth Wildflower, 72 stitches. Quick and easy. If it's for a girl, a little eyelet pattern gets thrown in.

The new mom loved them. And the grandmom, who is my mom's best friend, called my mom the next day to comment on how much they all liked the sweater and hat.

So, with one item off the needles, my rampant spring startitis needed something new. Archiknist recently posted pictures of her purple shawl, from Victorian Lace Today. I was smitten. I checked the book out from the library and spent last night leisurely pouring over the patterns. I have some weddings coming up and thought a nice wrap would come in handy for over-air-conditioned receptions. There's some Sundara silk and fingering silky merino marinating in the stash. I have plans for the silk, but have been trying to figure out what to do with the silky merino. When I got home today (primary elections were today, and we're a polling place, so I was in at 5.45 AM and got to leave around 2.30PM), I mowed our seriously overgrown lawn, and then settled in with the book again and decided to do this:


It's aspiring to be the Handsome Triangle in Sundara fingering silky merino in Blossom (which I think will look lovely with my brown summer wedding dress). This is my first lace. I have the lifeline going already. The benefit to this pattern is that it's one where I can just knit until I run out of yarn. I'm hoping that I'm right in thinking that the magic of lace is in the blocking. Because right now, it just looks like a big old blob. However, I think one of my first tasks tomorrow is to photocopy and seriously enlarge the chart. Otherwise I might go cross-eyed.

I've also finished the first Rustic Arrow sock for Sockdown April. I had hoped to get my electric pear yarn in a good shot with the blossoms on the pear tree out front, but suddenly, they were all blowing off, so I had to go with what was left.

It Is Supposed to Be the Summer of Socks

Well, I started out strong. My first pair of socks done in just under two weeks. A second pair started right away and going strong. Then I got side tracked.

My cousin is expecting her first baby in October. In June, her husband was offered a position in one of his company's foreign offices. Offered is a polite term. There really isn't a choice if he wants his career to keep moving. So this moved up the baby shower time line to mid-August (Dad-to-Be is moving this weekend, New Mama is staying here to have the baby).


Two little hats for the new little one. The blue is the Pea Pod hat from IK. What a great pattern. And I even made it from the recommended yarn. When one of my local shops closed, she had a going out of business sale and I bought up all she had of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere in this color.

The bumble bee hat is based on my favorite baby hat, made with Plymouth Wildflower. There's not real pattern. Just random striping. My cousin really liked it because it turns out black and yellow are her college colors. I just picked them because she's not finding out if she's having a boy or a girl.

Speaking of which, here's my new entry for Summer of Socks.


(Pardon the kinda crappy picture...these are someone else's design, and I was trying to get the color of the yarn, without giving away the pattern, which is a really great pattern...look for it in the SoS Design Contest.) A pair of socks, one pink, one blue, for the New Mama to wear at the hospital. These (obviously) were not ready for the shower. But I'll be seeing her this weekend, right after Dad-to-Be leaves for foreign shores. So, even if she doesn't want to wear mismatched socks, hopefully they will make her smile.

The yarn is the Knit Picks Color Your Own that I dyed while reading Harry Potter. I'm really excited about how it came out. If I didn't already have so much sock yarn, I'd get some more and stock up on Kool-Aid. And I have enough left to make a pair of baby Jaywalkers in each color.

After these are done, I'm going to try and go gangbusters on some socks for me again. After the cool weather last week, I'm really feeling the need to have at least 5 pairs of handknit socks for the approaching cooler seasons.