A WIP ... with a problem ...

Thank you to all of you who take the time to leave such lovely comments on my blog! It is such a pleasure to read them all.

It's hard to believe that Christmas is already past ... I hope yours was enjoyable. I got one of those once-in-a-lifetime gifts where you open it up and absolutely freak out! Firstly, I was handed a package from our daughter which contained the new Celine Dion CD ... I thought "sweet", I'll enjoy that. Then came another package and it nearly blew my mind ... a ticket to her concert next October in Vancouver!!!!!! I couldn't believe it ... talk about doing the 'happy dance'! The best part will be the anticipation as it's still a ways off. She bought a ticket for herself, too, so we're going together, which is the other 'best part'. What a great kid.

I've started (and restarted!) the sleeve on my "Silver Belle" at least 3 times ... I thought I'd cracked it the 2nd time and was motoring along thinking this wasn't so bad :) until I got up this a.m. and looked at my progress, only to discover I'd wrongly crossed the cable on the left ... big fat raspberry :P********!

Phooey! There's no disguising that boo boo ... it's quite apparent. A frogging we will go ...

Anyhow, got that all sorted out and then knit about another 6 inches on it this evening. Hopefully, I won't have a repeat performance.
Our dog could be in a full 'coma' down the hall and all you have to do to wake him up is open a bag of chips somewhere in the house and he springs into action. Don't plan on opening one unless you plan on sharing! Hubby had the chip bag out, laying on the couch beside him. The dog stuck his head inside and was intently licking the salt out of the bag when it became attached to his face! It was on so tight that it would expand and contract with his breathing which gave him quite a fright, but didn't deter him from extracting every possible grain of salt.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

"For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given,
And his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace ..."

Isaiah 9:6

"Silver Belle's, Silver Belle's"

No, that is not a spelling error ... I'm referring to VK Debbie Bliss Silver Belle pattern. Go here to see and download the free pattern. Stacey at Crimson Purl let me know that she has a KAL for this amazing sweater ... so heads up girl, I'll be joining!

Last week I did a little online ebay Christmas shopping for myself :) and discovered this fabulous deal from one of my fave British vendors. Although the pattern calls for Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (my all time favorite!) this is a comparable quality yarn at half the price and, wait for it ... the shipping cost was included!

The yarn is called: "Jaeger Extra Fine Merino" and the colour is "Blue Star". Best of all, because it is extra fine merino, I can happily knit with wool without getting the sneezy, itchy, runny nose grumpies! Could life be any better? My sister is likely reading this and shaking her head. Not a knitter herself, she sometimes thinks I'm 'a brick short' ... when I 'wax eloquent' about my wool scores.

Oh, and a pair of Christmas 'Christine's booties' to go with the hat previously shown here. We're still waiting for the arrival of our son-in-law's, brother's first baby, who is actually due today. We don't know the sex, but I thought, being Christmas and all, that red would work for either and be kinda cute.

Specs:

approx. 1/2 ball Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in red
Set of size 3mm metal sock needles
Pattern: Christine's Booties
Changes: 2 x 2 rib for cuff
Crocheted a chain stitch for ribbon. Used yarn doubled.

As you know, I've made this same pattern several times over in the past few months :) and have to say that this yarn beats out any other to date. The stitch definition is incredible; the softness you want to drown in and best of all, it's machine washable! Just don't put it in the dryer. Also, it's the perfect size for newborn, but will stretch to fit to at least 3 months +, so they'll at least wear it longer than it took me to knit it!

Well, you may or may not hear from me again until after Christmas, so I'll take a moment now to wish you a happy holiday season as we celebrate the birth of the Saviour.
"May the Spirit of Christmas fill your heart with love and joy; and may the joy of the season last all year."

Here's a card I designed this morning to go along with the pinwheel blanket shown below in last entry. As my cousin is from Scotland, I thought the argyle paper appropriate! The baby is named after his grandfather, who passed away at the young age of 33, so it makes it even more special.

Guess who came to visit for a couple of hours last night, while mom and dad went to the dentist?

Here he is with grandma, modelling his new hat on which I embroidered a snowflake. I got the idea for the pattern from my christmas tea towel. I basically just eyeballed it and stitched it onto the front of the hat. Pretty cute, huh! BTW, how do you like my new 'do'?

That was the last smile we saw for over an hour ... he basically screamed, at full volume, until his parents returned. What a pleasure?! The dog was very agitated and kept running up to me as if to say 'can't you fix this'???

He hasn't been away from his mom much and he was positive that I wasn't her! My husband and I took turns walking the hall and I sang every Christmas carol (all the verses, too) I knew ... no go. Finally, after he'd worked himself into a real state, barfed on me & had a diaper change, here we are, 5 minutes before his parents returned ... out cold! Grandma needs a drink! And, guess what? We get to do this all over again on Saturday evening and maybe even overnight :) All you moms have my utmost respect. I was shattered after 2 hours and you all deal with this 24/7 ... wow.

Baby Pinwheel Blanket ... at last!

THE DETAILS:

Baby Pinwheel Blanket Pattern
Edging pattern from Debbie Bliss 'Special Knits'
"Marble" yarn - 3 balls + 1 ball for edging ('Autumn' shade)
Denise Needles: Size 5mm
Susan Bates Bamboo sock needles: Size 5mm


Here's a reminder of where I was at with the blanket the last time you saw it.

This blanket is started in the middle and then you work your way out. I had such a dickens of a time getting this thing started in the round, until I tried bamboo needles and had success. They aren't as slippery as metal and made the job much easier. Once I reached the point where I could switch over to circular needles, I used my Denise needle kit, plus the extra cable accessory kit I found on ebay, which goes up to 52" around! The Denise needles made it so easy to change to a larger cable, when necessary. Love them!

The Debbie Bliss edging pattern finished off the blanket perfectly, without being too frilly, as the recipient is my cousin's new baby boy.

Here it is in it's entirety! While the colour is pretty close in the above pics, this one is looking a bit 'halloweeny' instead of more accurately, autumny. Oh well, you get the idea :)

Christmas Knitting

A knitting pal sent me the following link to a new pattern every day for the month of December ... too fun! Hope you all enjoy!

More Baby Hats ...

With the recent chilly weather and a huge snowfall to top it off, the requests for hats from my stepdaughter and her 'new mom' friends keep rolling in. The red one (debbie bliss baby cashmerino) is for a baby yet to be born, but due in the next couple of weeks. Thought it would be appropriate for the Christmas Season and would work for either a girl or boy ... Christine's Booties yet to to started/completed.

The green one (Elann 'Espirit') is for my growing grandson and will eventually be accompanied by another pair of Christine's Booties (which my step-daughter loves because they stay on so well) . I'll be embroidering a huge snowflake in cream yarn on the front of the hat, with matching tiny snowflakes on the toes of the booties :)

This hat is for a 5 month old, who has a massive head! To my mind, it looks as though it would fit a 2 year old ... I love the olive and pumpkin combo ... yarn: Scheepjes 'Donna' (love this stuff!)

My new camera (Canon S5IS) has arrived, along with 3, (count them!) instruction manuals :( ... I so-o am not good with manuals. So far, I've figured out how to turn it on (there are actually 2 'ons'!) and use the zoom and have taken a couple of pics, but I really need to spend some time with the dreaded manuals. The guys at work promised me there would be an intro to photography course for dummies in the New Year, so I'll be first on the list.