Found His Mittens

I went to a different yarn store this weekend, Knitting Today. It was fun to see different yarns than I’ve been seeing the past few months. I still can’t get over how amazing yarns can be. They even had a yarn made of 100% bamboo! I can’t wait to go back again. And I got all the help I needed, AND got to show off. Awesome.
On the down side, my countdown is now under 30 days. I have so many projects I want to do and so little time. My eyes are bigger than my time off, as you can see from my pile of new yarn!

Oh, man. So much yarn. I need to figure out how to somehow store my yarn, now that I have so many different types. For now I might buy those new fangled clear ziplock bags, that are meant for storage instead of food. I’ll have to look for that. Soon.

I was so happy with my first design, the jewelry bag, that I forgot that I made something else in January that I haven’t posted yet.  It is also a design I made up: an eyeglasses case made with leftover Cascade Yarns Pima Silk yarns from my Anouk baby dress. I keep it by my bed but I don’t actually use it. It does, however, work well.

Since my last posting, I have been busy. I made another set of denim booties and a baby beanie hat, but they look just like the ones I recently did, so I didn’t take any new pictures. I already gave them away as baby gifts. I still have one sleeve left on my mom’s cardigan to finish. And I’m working on this.

I can’t reveal what it is yet, but it’s my first lace project. It’s made with Koigu. I just love the colors in koigu yarns! I can’t tell how it will look after it is blocked, but I can hardly wait! I have completed 3/4 of it at this point. I can’t decide how to block it. I may take it to work and lay it out on the floor, if I can get pins to stick into the thin carpeting there. I should take a pin to work and test it out.

Well, I’ve made up my first knitted design!  It’s just an easy felted drawstring bag, made to resemble those little drawstring jewelry bags.  Mine is bigger, and I’d like to make a more miniature version when I get some more noro kureyon.  This bag is made with two skeins of #170, and some old leftover chocolate brown acrylic yarn was used for the strings.

The bottom makes a neat pattern, doesn’t it?

It just happens to be the perfect size for a bucket hat, too.  I might have to make this again!

Yep, last week Avery Reese was born. She was 7 pounds, 11 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long, I think. Very healthy, with Apgar scores of 6, 9, 9. She suntanned with a bili light for a day in the hospital before going home.

I hear she already likes to suck her thumb. I wonder where she got THAT from.

I went to the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale this year with my aunt. (Thanks, Aunt!) I had planned on not buying anything, but changed my mind. Some of the patterns are really cute, and the prices were good. I got a sun visor and a Villager satchel for craft projects and a shoulder strap purse and a matching checkbook holder.

As you can see, the purse is not too big, and I think it will be a perfect size for me. And machine washable.

I’ve also finished that baby blanket I was worried about, the one that is a copy of my own baby blanket that I once carried everywhere. This one seems to have worked out after all. It is made with Lion brand Homespun Baby, in pink, with the little-known hairpin lace crochet stitch. It’s soft, looks kind of like pink cotton candy, and is quite thick. Good blanket for cooler weather so I’ll give it to a local baby at a baby shower next weekend. I still wish it were more supple, but that’s probably because of the thicker yarn I used this time. Maybe it will become more pliable with more washings.

A closup of the stitch:

Mmmmmmm. Now I miss my baby blanket.

I’m almost done with the cardigan sweater I am making my mom. It isn’t at all photogenic right now, but it was in the top picture in this post. It’s the stuffing in the Villager bag, the red and blue bag. I am down to the last sleeve, then I’ll be ready to sew it together. I think the sizing is right, if I don’t run out of yarn!