FO's and the 2 Skein Surprise!

Well, I'm very late in posting these pics, so I appreciate your patience. First the pics from our "2 Skein Surprise Exchange". We had a lovely time at the Northstar Cafe in Beechwold, too!

Kathy got socks from Kay (she's the Sock Princess, afterall).




Kate got a shawl from Gerald - lovely orangey-reds!








Natalie made a lovely bag for Barb, who couldn't join us - I never did find out why.








And she got a great bag from Kate!









I made a bag for Jenn.








Gerald got socks from Kathy. And I got a really cool Mobeus bowl from Kristin (which, for some odd reason I don't have pic of yet - look for one on the blog soon!). Kristin seems to have some "unfortunate exchange juju" because this is our second one in a row where she didn't get anything at the exchange party. Poor KKKKK!







I had to share this pic of Si and our friends, Elizabeth and Laura. E loves, adores, is enchanted by Simon. Si, being a teen, likes this adoration but can't show his appreciation and doesn't quite feel comfortable accepting her fealty. Nevertheless, he did condescend to have his pic taken when we lunched with them a few weeks ago.








And these are the promised FO's! As you can see, I'm still obsessed with the BSJ. LOVE IT! It's such an easy pattern, and it knits up so quickly that I can't resist making more! I made the smaller with sock yarn (Kureyon from Noro, gifted to me by the WONDERFUL KB!) My DH says it's not manly enough for a boy baby, though (unless he's named Joseph), so I knit the worsted one you see in denim. It's nice, too, but the stripes had to have ends woven in. Yuck. Anyway - 2 more sweaters done!

BSJ notes

I am making some more baby sweaters. I guess I'll keep them handy for extra babies . . . or I'll donate them. At any rate, I'm going to put down a few notes for myself for later.

When I do them, instead of marking in the stitches for decreasing and increasing, I'm marking between (starting betw. stitches 36/37, counting in from each end of my 160 cast on stitches). For my decreases, I'm knitting up to the last 2 stitches before the marker, then SSK, move marker, K2tog. I decrease until 90 total stitches remain, as the pattern says, which means that I'll have 23 stitches in each end section and 44 stitches in the middle (if all goes well).

When doing the middle of the back to add length, I never do 10 ridges, but rather 5. I think it gives a nicer proportion to the jacket. I love doing this on a circular needle, too, about 16"-20" long.

The rainbow sweater is done with Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn on size 2 needles. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

P.S. My husband has confirmation for a new position. He gets to stay with the State, and he's even still in ODNR! Strangely, he's going back to his original degree (Petroleum Engineering) and will be starting as a Geologist in mid-July. Ahh, isn't God gracious to us?

Christmas Knitting Begun!

Well, I think I've figured out why I'm not posting as much. My son has been on the computer! Darn him! Anyway, he's at school now, and I've taken some time (rather than going immediately back to bed for a nippy-nap) to take some WIP pics so I can fill you in on my recent knitting escapades.



I've started a sweater vest for someone very special - and it's lovely wool, but I think it is sort of exacerbating my sinus problems, so I'm going to have to limit myself to just an hour or so a day on this.

I've finished another Baby Surprise Jacket. Love it! This pattern is so easy and so fun, it just flows off the needles. I also have to admit to some sick pleasure in seeing someone else trying to figure out how to make the glob of knitting turn into a smooth, cool sweater - my husband hates me for this teasing!

This is another update on the socks for my son. I'm just about out of yarn, and I'm waiting for some more yarn from my buddy, Don. He purchased the same yarn with me at the knitter's connection, and said he'd score me some more of it. You can kind of almost see the cabling going up the sides. I really hope these still fit the little (not so little!) monster at Christmas!

And finally, some slippers for another person very special to me. I like this pattern - it's exactly what Gramma used to use. Don't be surprised when you see more of these little ditties on the blog (and under the Xmas tree!).