He's here!

Benjamin Walter is here!  

Mister now has a name! 

  Saturday at 11 PM.  7 lbs 7 oz.  19" long.  

Welcome to the world, newest grandchild!

Needless to say, we are beyond excited.  This is our last grand, we think.  So now we have 3 girls, 3 boys, 2 grand cats, 1 grand dog, 3 grand hermit crabs, and 1 grand bird.  Pretty good, huh?

I have to finish all the baby gear I've started, although he does have tons of baby clothing.  They got clothing from family, friends, neighbors, and leftover stuff from Miss P.  But he needs new Grammie stuff, doesn't he?

Yippee!

End of Year Sale!

Ta da!

It's the PennyRose Yarns End of Year Sale!  Amazing prices with everything reduced.  Yarns that were previously on sale, are now further reduced!

http://fritzl.etsy.com

Go forth and buy yarn!  I need to make space to dye up more goodies.  

 

Sale ends Dec. 31, 2012

Baby sweater in progress

Mister is getting a cuddly sweater.  Cheapy Brava sport yarn from KnitPicks (100% acrylic).  I think this is far more a DK weight than a sport.  Works up nicely.  How it will wear is the question, but newborns are not exactly climbing trees, so that doesn't much matter.

The body is a slip stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's first treasury of knitting patterns.  This book has served me so well.  No charts, but the instructions are impeccable.  If you don't own it, hunt it down; it is a masterpiece of stitches!

The bodice is garter stitch.  I'll pick up the sleeves in cream and work down, reversing the pattern, so the little garter blocks will be in cream, and the lines in blue.  Garter border and neckline.  I'll also make a matching hat and maybe booties.

She's due in 4 1/2 weeks, so time is of the essence here. 

In other news, I'm have a Year End Sale in my Etsy shop starting Wed, Dec. 26!  Everything will be marked down, including yarn already on sale.  I haven't done much Etsy dyeing for a long time; mostly I've been doing clubs and large orders on Etsy.  So this is a change for me. I really need to do some clubs again, especially lace.  I have tubs of lace yarn begging to be dyed. 

What's on my design floor Monday 12/17/2012

"Rustic" quilting in progress.  If you look closely, you'll see some rather crummy hand quilting, but I like the wonkiness of it.  It I stopped and took out every stitch that was off, I'd never get past the first block.  anyhow, it's fun, and the baby will like it at some point in his life. 

Look at my new fabric purchases:

The first one is begging to be some sort of Valentine quilt.  The second one will be a card trick quilt, and I have no idea on the batiks, except that I'm in love with them.  All English paper pieced in something of other.

Done!

Done!

Miss P's crochet afghan.  This started out as a blankie for Mister, but then Pen told me that her room was going to be in green, red, purple, and white.  So, naturally she's getting this.  The thing weighs a ton!  Gotta mail it out to her.

In progress:  One baby quilt.  I started hand quilting it yesterday.  I'm going through flannel as the backing, and it's hard on my hands!!!!  So, big stitches, but I like the way those stitches play off the quilt design.  Kind of wonky and  free.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.  It's awfully hard to get the needle to catch that heavy flannel.  I'm doing this freehand, not marking the quilt at all.  It adds to the general goofiness.

And one baby sweater.  As you can see, I've started a sleeve.  I do these things on 2 circs; it's so much easier than trying to manage with dpns.  This is how I make sleeves:  pick up and knit stitches, top down, no seams.

As you can also see, the sweater needs finishing, but it will be cute.  I need to find 3 buttons.  Size?  I have no idea; at some point it will fit the baby.

Nuts and Bolts is finished. Well, the flimsy is done.

Last Monday, I announced that Mister's little baby quilt flimsy was finished.  I forgot that I wanted to put on a simple border.  So here it is, totally finished as a flimsy.  Yay!

You'll have to forgive the crummy exposure.  It's gloomy here and drizzly, and no way am I going out to photograph my little quilt.

The border is black with little bits of color that match the colors in the quilt.  You can't see it from the photograph.  I love that it ties it all together. 

Yesterday, I got a package via the post office.  On Sunday!  Can you believe it?  I ordered a queen size Thermore batting from Connecting Threads, and that's what came.  So, today I make my quilt sandwich and then start hand quilting it.  At first I thought I'd tie the layers together, but this is going to a newborn, and you know that as he grows older, his little fingers are going to find the ties and he's going to try to eat them.  So, I'm quilting instead.  Nothing much, just outlining the white boxes.  It would be fun to put french knots in the middle of the little octagons, but he'll find those knots, too.  Don't want him eating knots.

What's on your needles Friday

Baby Gear!

Panic has set in.  Mister is due in less than 7 weeks, and I'm betting he comes early.  So, lots of knitting for him this week.

Sweater needs the ties sewn on and blocking.  The hat just needs a bit of blocking.  Given that this is going to a newborn, I'll give it a good wash for the blocking.  Booties are in progress.

This is going to be a baby sweater/jacket.  I'm working it in a DK wt yarn with 5.5 sts/inch, so it's nice and solid.  Mister will live in Minnesota, so he needs warm baby gear.  January in MN is brrrrr!  I know; for some reason, I'm always out there in the coldest month of the year.  My SIL swears that I bring the coldest week of the winter whenever I arrive.  So, we have to keep little Mister very warm and toasty.  I'm thinking a modified drop with sleeves picked up and worked down.  Border on the sleeve, and maybe a collar in the border.  I'm not yet sure about that.  If I have enough, I'll toss in booties and a baby blankie.  I want Mister to be seriously in style, here.

Did you read that Pantone's color of the year is emerald?  Maybe Mister needs an emerald green outfit.  I have some lovely SW DK for dyeing, so he just might get clothing in the color of the year.  As if he cares.  Babies!  I'm so excited.  I can't wait to meet him.

Deep Rich Color

The Latest and Greatest Colors

Etsy!

Heather yarn.  100% merino.  Hand wash in cold water only.

3 skeins of Carrie Lace yarn.  80/20 merino/silk.  Hand wash in cold water only.

Another sweater for Mister and a New Yarn

I think I have a way to go.  Good thing Mister incubates for another 7 weeks.  Grow, Little Mister, grow!  Kick your mommie!  Yay, Little Mister!

A new yarn!  Rachel Sparkle

75/20/5 SW merino/nylon/stellina

430+ yards 100 gm 

This is my Rachel yarn with sparkle.

This is a yarn that I bought a couple of years ago.  Dyed up one skein for me, and fell in love with it, but then I never dyed any more.  It's a beautiful yarn, and why I didn't dye and sell is beyond me, but I didn't.  The other day, I was going through my yarn tubs, and found it.  Here are 2 skeins:  Magenta and Plums.

The sparkle comes from the stellina.  It's not outrageously glitzy, rather very elegant.  Knits up beautifully; you will not feel the stellina as you knit.  Lovely for fancy socks and pretty shawlettes.  I feel a shawl design coming on, but not until I'm done with Mister knitting.  Grandsons come first.

In case you can't tell, I'm quite in love with Mister.  Can't wait to see him.  He's the last of the grands, so that gives him some sort of specialness.  Between the 2 of us, we have 5 grands, 2 boys, and 3 girls.  Mister will make the 6th. 

Nuts & Bolts flimsy

It's finished.  The flimsy is finished. 

Here it is:  Mister's little quilt:

The other day, I flopped down on the living room couch to take a nap and I grabbed Mister's quilt and tossed it over my legs.  It was quite cozy, so I think, once it's actually quilted, it'll be cuddly for him.

Getting bigger, just like Mister

Remember this from yesterday?

It's getting bigger.

Almost done with the body, about 2" to go.  then I'll pick up the sleeves with 2 circs and work downward.  Finish the neck and then it should be done.  Next a matching hat and booties.

I suspect that Mister is also growing nicely.  I'm one very excited and nervous Grammie!