Bringing Home Baby

I need opinions.

When I first got pregnant, I envisioned making the Yarn Harlot's Baby Mine or Baby Yours (see her blog here for pictures of both). The sweaters are so sweet and cry out to be put on a brand new baby for newborn pictures and coming home from the hospital.

But my baby is going to be a late May baby. And I have less than eight weeks to go and I haven't even watched for this sweater. Plus I made this:

The Gift Wrap Romper in the now sadly out-of-business Mission Falls 1824 Cotton.

A few Wednesdays ago, I was sick with that creeping crud that was going around, so I took to my bed with yarn and Downton Abbey. Despite the pain that knitting with cotton causes, I finished this in less than a week. I think it is so cute, but is it special enough for the Coming Home Outfit?

Tell me what you would do. In exchange, I'll pick a random commenter to win a skein of sock yarn from my stash.

More Deep Stash Diving and Malabrigo March

I bought three skeins of this Amaroso Malabrigo at least three years ago in the first flush of my love affair with Malabrigo.

 

It tried to be a Juliet, but after three false starts, it went back into the stash.

When Blogless Brooke found out she was having a second little girl, the Malabrigo cried out to become two In Threes. I never get to knit little girl patterns, and the match between pattern and yarn was undeniable.

 

I made a 0-6 month size and an 18-24 month size (which looks like it could fit up to a three year old). I used two and a half skeins, and both sweaters took under a week. 

Happy Malabrigo March!

Deepest Stash

I have, inadvertently, been knitting from my deepest, darkest stash lately. I bought one solitary skein of Brooks Farm Four Play, a wool and silk blend, at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival at least three years ago. The put-up at 270 yards per skein is generous, but the "perfect" project never came along, and it's been languishing ever since. The yarn has a delicate sheen from the silk, and the tonal dye is beautiful and subtle.

On Oscar night, I decided that I was just going to use this yarn, and I cast on for 198 Yards of Heaven.  Because I had extra yardage, I did an extra pattern repeat, but ran out halfway through the edging. I also realized one row into the edging, that the pattern made no sense, and when I checked Ravelry, I saw that the pattern I'd printed out a year ago had been revised with a completely different edge. So much for printing and organizing patterns when I see them. I ran out of yarn halfway through the edging, but I like the final results better than the original edging, which looks heavy and takes away from the main motif.

iPhone photo

The whole thing

Obligatory Hipstamatic Shot

Unfortunately, because it's only 270 yards, it doesn't count for 11 Shawls in 2011. Still, other than the pattern discrepancy, it was a quick and easy project and an excellent match of Deepest Stash to pattern.

In the Waiting Room

No, this isn't an analysis of the Elizabeth Bishop poem.  Pregnancy is accompanied by more waiting room time than I ever imagined, and I guess I'm glad that I have more than Elizabeth Bishop's one copy of National Geographic to look at, although with all the electronic diversions we have, there's little chance of the introspective epiphany offered in the poem.

Anyway, I've spent a lot of time waiting. In the past five days alone, I've

• waited over an hour for my OB/GYN to get out of surgery.
• endured a three hour glucose test (at which I FORGOT my iPhone at home, which made me all twitchy. Who knew I had such a need to check Facebook at all times?
• and coincidentally, had two totally pregnancy unrelated doctor's appointments.

The upside is that's a lot of knitting time. The product so far is a "Waiting Room Sock," a plain vanilla top down 64 stitch deal, knit in Hazel Knits sockyarn. I'm trying out Kollage square needles and liking them pretty well so far.

More for that Poor Second Baby

Really, the poor dear. My mother and I started to go through the newborn clothes I'd saved from Henry and we found sleepers with the tags still on them. Still, with twelve weeks to go, I feel like time is running out. I made a huge list of things I wanted to knit for the new baby, and I haven't gotten to so many of them. I'm also feeling like I want to do some complex lace work before Newborn Sleep Deprivation takes over.

But so far, this is my favorite thing I've made for the new baby: Cosy's Baby Eggplant, in the 6 month size, from Malabrigo Worsted in Glazed Carrot and Lettuce.

The Plight of the Poor Second Baby

Poor Second Baby. Traditionally doomed to wearing elder siblings' hand-me-downs and playing with gently used baby toys, they have nothing to call their own.

Except knitwear.

I seem to have managed the fantastic feat of having children of the same gender at the same time of the year, and because I am a hoarder saver, Happyface Hello doesn't need a single stitch of clothing. I went up to our attic the other day to sort through Henry's baby clothes, and it was an embarrassment of riches, thanks to my Gymboree and Hanna Andersson addiction and my mother's exuberance over being a first-time grandma.

But where this kid is going to win out is in the knitwear department. My knitting when Henry was born was embarrassingly basic. I made him a blanket, some simple hats and sweaters, and of course, all of those Mason Dixon Baby Bibs. Happyface Hello is already reaping the benefits of a much more experienced knitter for a mother.

First, pants. My husband has run away screaming from the idea of cloth diapering, but I have been avidly stalking all kinds of patterns for diaper covers, soakers, and longies. Neither of these two projects would actually work for cloth diapering, which requires non-superwash wool, but who can resist knitted pants?

A newborn adaptation of the Milo Soaker, from Vintage Baby Knits, knit in Berroco Comfort DK:

February Baby Leggings, from Elizabeth Zimmermann's A Knitter's Almanac in Malabrigo Rios. I shortened the torso and ended the leg after decreasing to 48 inches. I have no idea if these proportions will actually work on a baby, but the end result is still pretty cute:

Next, sweaters. I bought three skeins of Cumberland Sport at the Miss Babs booth ("Where did Anna go? She's at the Miss Babs booth AGAIN?")  at Maryland Sheep and Wool with the express purpose of knitting the Harvey Kimono from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding, and I'm proud to say, I actually followed through! Check out the cute turtle buttons:

 

More to come!