knitting - baby, selfish and both

today starts the february segment of PSOTMC11:



i plan on knitting sweetheart socks from a back issue of simply knitting.  the yarn is jitterbug by collinette, in "tapis".  i couldn't even find the colorwave on ravelry to link it - guess it's an old colorwave.  i got it at loop when we went to philly 3 years ago.

i tried to knit a pair of two at a time toe-ups with this yarn but frogged it when i couldn't muster the desire to complete them.  i remember i was so excited about this yarn that i cast them on during vacay.  i don't know if it was the method (i was using magic loop to knit them, and remember i have a horrible mental block regarding magic loop) or the yarn (the clerk at loop was flirting with hubby as i was fondling the yarn**).  anyway, for some reason, the yarn feels like it has bad juju.  heart lace socks seem like a good way to KO that juju, don't you think?

these socks are for me.  can't wait to start them!  but first, i'm driven to finish this:


 


is that what i think it is?  hell must be freezing over, becos that is a baby sweater i'm knitting.  actually i lie.  hell didn't freeze over yet (altho the weather outside would indicate otherwise) but i bet it will when i sew in the zipper in the back (and you know how i feel about sewing, especially with zippers).

this is the zip up the back baby sweater that a lady at my church knit for the boy.  i cried when he outgrew that sweater.  i was so happy it got a second life with freddie, and she knit another one for petunia.  anyway, mrs. R was so gracious to pass a copy of the pattern to me, so i could knit my own zip up the back sweater.

this sweater is for my cousin's baby.  mrs. R used acrylic yarn for my kids' sweaters, but i found this KP swish in delft heather in my stash, and i'm all about stash busting right now.  i thought initially that this was worsted weight, but to my surprise, it's DK weight.  that changed my game plan a bit, so i'm using the large size directions to size up the sweater.  as it is, i think the sweater is going to wind up newborn size.  not great, as baby H is due late spring/early summer.  but it'll be nice for a chilly summer day, and we do get them occasionally.  i can always knit a bigger sweater for baby H.


then i knocked off this sweet little hat in a matter of hours:

 

this is baby who.  it's knit with plymouth yarn jelli beenz in chartreuse, on size 7 and 6 needles.  i had this pattern in my ravelry favorites list for ages, wanting to knit it for my own kids but forgot.  this hat is so easy.  don't let the cable scare you - there's only a couple rows with cabling.  for some reason, i thought there were owls all over the hat, but not so - only one owl, in the front.  i suppose you could tinker with the pattern to make more cable owls, but i have a mental block about cables too (hence why dad's scarf sits so lonely in my knitting basket) so one owl was enough for me.

here's a secret - i wanted to keep this hat.  it is so doggone adorable.  petunia wore the hat to church becos i was an absolute show off hoar.  it fits, but barely.  it made its brief debut so now i'll squirrel it away for whom it was intended.  i have another skein of yarn so i can always make another one, but i should really use that yarn to make a pair of matching booties.  the hat would look cute in a smoother yarn - more "big kid" for the kiddos.


it's snowing - we got a few inches of snow last night, school and work was canceled, and we're waiting to get hit with round 2 of stormy weather.  so far i spent it working on the sweater (i'm knitting the arms), making crayon gems for the boy's valentines and now blogging.  a cozy day.


**poor hubby.  he was oblivious to the fact that the clerk was flirting with him.