Fair Isle Baby

I FINALLY found a hat pattern that I thought would be cute for a baby boy but it was fair isle. To date I have not really done much fair isle and have not been very good at it. But the hat was so darn cute I just had to give it a try. I even had colors in my stash pretty close to the ones in the pattern which I really liked. So here it is - my first ever fair isle baby hat. I must say that this is really easy peasy fair isle in that the colors change every other stitch when you are doing the pattern so therefore you don't have the long color runs that mess me up. I even learned to "pick" and "throw" having a different color in both hands. There are definitely more of these hats in my future!

To see something much more impressive than another hat - go on over to Jen's blog and see her beautiful Ulmus! Now I'm really put to shame since I suggested we both make an Ulmus, mine is about 6-8 inches big at this point and hers is all done and oh, so gorgeous! Way to go Jennifer! I'm so impressed (and quite envious).

Finally - I haven't shown you a photo of Miss Molly in awhile. She is almost 8 months now and a rambucous puppy. She is growing like a weed and is a long leggy "super model" as the vet said. She remains a sweet pup who loves to be around people and has the best sad puppy dog look of any dog on the planet (and therefore gets her way a lot!) She has become such a member of the family it's hard to remember a time without her.

Surprise Jacket

I had to be careful as I thought of the title for this post. I am making the famous Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket but when I sent an e-mail to Bonnie about it I ended up with an unintended consequence. You see she read it on her blackberry/trio/handheld and only part of the title of my message could be seen. Well I think she just about had a heart attack when she got a message from me titled, "Baby Surprise!" No Bonnie - no more babies in my future but plenty of knitting for other people's babies!

This jacket has intriqued me for a long time so I finally decided to make one. The pattern comes on an extra long piece of paper with lots of writing, diagrams, etc. But then when you start to make it you realize there are only two paragraphs of instructions and I've got to tell you they are NOT THAT CLEAR! I got started just fine but then I had several questions. Thank goodness for the internet. There are several sites that offer some help (glad to know I'm not the only one who had these issues) and even a 6 part video instructions on You Tube! I love the internet! I'm using some Socks that Rock Heavyweight so we'll see just how big this sucker turns out. I'll keep you posted. In the meanwhile, if anyone else has made this and has some tips for me please send them my way.

Where Have I BEE'n?

HELLO everyone! Long time no "talk". I look at my last entry and I can't believe it has been almost two months since I have posted. Where have I been you ask? I wish I had a tale of fabulous travels that kept me away from the computer but it was really just every day life. We did have a nice vacation in Oregon the end of July/beginning of August but other than that I've really just been very busy at work and dealing with three kids going back to school, starting soccer, horses, hip-hop, learning to drive, and the like. I have been stalking your blogs though and enjoying your posts (to the extent you're not delinquent like me!)
My main project of late has been the Girasol shawl which I showed you earlier. I am now at the point where the rows are 640 stitches long so they take FOREVER! I feel like I'm nearing the end but then I realize that I can only get through about 1 to 1.5 rows per night and I have about 33 rows until the edging so that's about 1 month more!! I also continue to suffer from my major knitting A.D.D. and have many other projects going as well. Lots of babies being born so I have been making hats (there's a surprise!) The guy who grows the organic garden near me (where most of my flower photos come from) just had a baby girl. So I made him a tomato hat and also a bumble bee hat. I couldn't find a pattern I liked for the bee hat so I made one up. I am so tickled with how it came out. He named her Eden which I think is so perfect!


The problem with most of the other babies are that they are boys. Not that I have anything against boys but I'm having a really hard time finding cute baby boy hat patterns. I find tons and tons of cute patterns for little girls but not for boys. In fact I've even made several for baby girls with no one in particular to give them too! Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

On a non-knitting note, the Little Man's school had a cake walk at the back-to-school BBQ. People are supposed to bring cakes which are then judged. After that the kids play something akin to musical chairs and when the music stops they jump on a number. Then a number is called out and that person gets to go pick a cake. Inspired by Janice I made cake balls. The theme was "Kentucky bluegrass" so I made blue and green cake balls. It was something short of a disaster. Trying for colors I went to Michael's and bought candy melts which I thought would be good for dipping but it was really too thick. Then I dropped in some coloring trying to darken the blue and it immediately thickened and was ruined. So I had to make the rest green . . . what you see are the salvaged ones. Anyway - I was totally put to shame by THIS cake. Isn't it amazing? I have no idea what it has to do with bluegrass but it was amazing!

Then sadly at the end of the day the kids picked whichever cake had the most candy or toys on it! When the Little Man finally won it was close to the end and my cake balls were still there . . . . and would you believe that with all these wonderful homemade cakes he picked a carton of cupcakes that came from the grocery store but had little superman decorations on them! I have SO learned my lesson!