The baby shower for my anesthesiologist's wife was last night. Several people brought hand knit and hand crocheted gifts and there was a quilted wall hanging. After seeing several fine gauge baby sweaters with matching hats and dolls, some with stripes, some with picot edgings, I thought my gift would look a little simple. It got the most oohs and ahhs, however. You see the folks bought the hand knit sweaters, so they didn't know that they took more time and effort than mine did. They were so wowed with the color variations in mine, so it seemed the most impressive of the bunch.

Along with the sweater, I gave her an old fashioned baby photo album with the pockets and vellum between the pages and a coordinating frame. She seemed very happy with them, and I'm sure both she and her husband will be taking lots of photographs with which to fill them. Their daughter is beautiful, half Hispanic, half European, with fair skin and dark hair. She and Jerome were quiet and sweet through the whole party.

In a flutter of finishing, I have made the final iteration of my Shower's This Weekend Baby Sweater, the pattern is posted on the free pattern blog. It is knit in the round at a huge gauge, 3 1/2 spi, with two yarns held together. It's basically a boxy sweater with a huge slash neck for hugely proportioned baby heads.



A Faux Fair Isle newborn hat with one of the leftover yarns,



a matching Shower's in an Hour Baby Hat to match the first Shower Sweater, this pattern is posted as well, though anyone can make it up on his own.



After finishing these three, I picked up seven leftover bits of worsted weight yarn and made a Cap of Many Colors, like Joseph's coat.



This is Jerome modeling it for us:



Babies can get away with wearing loud colors and outlandish designs that wouldn't look all that cute on an older person.

Labels: Design, Free Patterns, Knitting, Patterns

I was waiting eagerly for this issue to be available, and so I headed over to JoAnn's with my 50% off coupon to buy it and found that it was almost all (if not all) patterns that had been published in the magazine before, and that I had all the ones that looked interesting to me. It saved me $4.

I have a question about Knit Picks monthly contest: Has anyone ever won it? They don't announce winners, I've never read on knitting lists or blogs that someone hit the $100 jackpot there.

Also, I have two FOs to announce, both of my own rather simple design. Yesterday, I wove in the final ends on the Shower's This Weekend Baby Sweater and knit up a quick newborn hat out of one of the leftover yarns and another yarn leftover from Little Boy Green, I've called it the Faux Fair Isle Baby Hat. I will post the sweater pattern to the free pattern site as soon as I get the picture taken.

That is Alexander in his birthday sweater, blowing out the candles on his birthday cupcakes. He turned eight on October 8th, and I still remember the morning he was born so much it is hard to believe he is the big boy I see each day.

I don't have a clear shot of Alexander in Joe, so this photo will have to do for now, I'll post his school picture for a better view later. Just for fun, here is a picture of Amira eating pizza at the party as well. His birthday party was the day before his birthday, and also the day that Jerome finally succeeded in rolling over. It scared him so much that he hasn't done it again.



Eight Amazing Things About Alexander

1. He remembered the Greek Festival from the year before and asked that we go there to celebrate his birthday as a family this year. (He remembered the honey soaked doughnuts and the dancing the most.)

2. He eats more than I do, and possibly more than his father!

3. He encourages everyone around him.

4. He is a gentle older brother, and the only one who can hold the baby.



5. He is a reader extraordinaire, and is learning all sorts of things because of that.

6. He wants to do everything that his mother and father do around our home, and is working to learn how to do our jobs.

7. He is teaching his younger siblings responsibility around the home.

8. He loves knitting!

We didn't ever pull our camera out at the Greek Festival (how many almost eight year olds want to do that for their birthday?), but there was a photographer there who took our pictures and approached Rich to get our email so he could send them to us. Unfortunately, none of them were of Alexander, or the other kids. Just us and Jerome. Here are a couple, though.



Jerome looking up at Rich.



Rich and I with Jerome watching the dancers.

On to knitting. Aside from finishing Joe, I've made a baby sweater for a friend who is having a baby soon. I tried to get an artsy shot, but it didn't really work, as you can see.



This is a picture of it on our duct tape colored carpet.



This past Saturday, we found out that my anesthesiologist, who, along with his wife, is a friend of ours, just adopted a daughter. They got there ten minutes before she was born, and are thrilled to pieces. So, I cast on another baby sweater, the more refined design of the one posted above, for them. I will post the pattern to the free pattern site as soon as I finish this one, it's too easy, and anyone can do it in a couple days. I knit slowly and have five children distracting me, so I'm sure all of you out there can finish it faster than I can.

Since I haven't posted pictures of the kids in a while, here is a shot of Dominic, Amira and Elijah at a harvest fair at one of our local farms. We went there right after Alexander's birthday party.



Oh! And Elijah is the only one who has gotten Jerome to laugh. Only once, on the second of October, but I at least was there to hear it. I do have a couple of pictures of Jerome smiling, though. One of them in a pair of socks I knit out of clearance Regia sock yarn for Amira.



And another in the bath just the other night.



That's all for now. I have a couple other posts in me, and hope I will get to them soon.

Labels: Birthday