Saturday, March 15, 2008

Li'l sweaters

I found this sweet little baby cardigan pattern and I liked it so much I had to make a second one. The first one is for our new baby boy, the second will be a girl baby gift.

red hooded baby cardigan

Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple, Easy Baby Cardigan
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino - Rich Red (about 300 yards)
Needles: US7
Size: 6 month


rasberry baby cardigan

Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple, Easy Baby Cardigan
Yarn: Moda Dea Dream - rasberry (about 300 yards)
Needles: US7
Size: 6 month

Cute cute cute. This is a great, easy baby sweater pattern. I'm going to make some booties now to go with the pink one. And if the booties work out, maybe more of them for other baby gifts.

And speaking of baby, all is well with the pregnancy so far. I'm at 20 weeks now, halfway there! My belly is getting big and the baby is strong. We had our 18 week ultrasound and everything looks healthy. We're beginning to collect some baby gear (crib, bassinet, carseat), and are getting more and more excited about our new little one, set to arrive at the end of July.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Hemlock Ring at last

I have been working on the Hemlock Ring blanket since December. For some reason I really struggled with completing this project. I grew bored with it at times, and it just seemed to move so slowly. Then, when I was finally approaching the end, and was feeling motivated to wrap it up, I couldn't get over how long the bind off row took me. 3 days! Blocking was another challenge too! I struggled to make it as symetrical as I could, but it is far from perfect. And still, I love it. It's a very pretty, very soft lap blanket.

Hemlock Ring Blanket
Pattern: Hemlock Ring Blanket
Yarn: Cascade Eco-Wool, color #8063 (about 1.75 skeins)
Needles: US10.5
Modifications: I knit to row 60 of Brooklyn Tweed's chart (106 rows altogether), then did the bind off row. It measures about 54" across.

Hemlock Ring Blanket

Hemlock Ring Blanket

And, since it's been so long since I've posted, I never did post about my birthday. I turned 40 on February 19th. We celebrated with a trip to Santa Cruz and Monterey, which was wonderful as always. One of the highlights was our trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is just so spectacular. So here are some beautiful jellies from their incredible jelly exhibit:

Jellies

Aren't they beautiful!