Hallelujah, the semester is over. It's been an exhausting one, this spring semester, with a teaching schedule that tied me to campus from 9 am till 8 pm four days a week, leaving me with very little time for my little one. And that sucked. (Luckily I was flexible in the afternoons and able to sneak in a few hours each day for play and cuddle time.) But we did have a fabulous spring break that we spent with the in-laws in Mississippi, and we also worked a family trip to Chicago around one of DH's conferences--so it wasn't all bad. Not that you know him, but if you did know Conrad, well, you wouldn't recognize him anymore. He's gotten big. And is incredibly talkative, both in German and English. He's awesomely amazing. And fabulously wonderful. And so on.
And now to business. I'm happy to report that after the initial post-baby knitting blues, my old knitting self emerged and has been busy (I'm still waiting for the emailing, blogging, telephoning, facebooking self to return. I've turned into a hermit. A hermit with a toddler).
Anyway, here it goes...:
1. Let's begin with an entirely unflattering image of moi wearing Cecily Glowik MacDonald's
Flyer Cap, one of my favorite hats in the great hat collection
Weekend Hats.
Instead of a worsted weight yarn I used two strands of Malabrigo Arroyo (currently my very, very favorite yarn). Love the yarn, but the result is questionable, at least on my head. I think the hat would look better on a long-haired gal. Perhaps I'm hypercritical 'cause DH commented that I looked like I was wearing a
condom. Yeah, well.
2. This is an old FO... I finished it in January and sent it to Tia in Montana, who (almost) shares a birthday with Conrad.
Tia's mom made Conrad a fantastic little elephant in return, and she sent me homespun and -dyed yarn, and a homesewn project bag. Tia's mom is kinda awesome.
Anyway, the "birthday sheep" really is Susan B. Anderson's
Lamb, published in I
tty-Bitty Toys. I used different yarns and had to fiddle with the numbers to get the proportions right, and I omitted the straws that Anderson suggests using to stabilize the legs.
3. After a season of cowls and other small objects (see above), a BIG project. I know!! Unbelievable!
This is Laura Chau's
Amelia, a pattern I picked primarily because I had the yarn in my stash (Lorna's Laces... yummy yum). I modified the pattern slightly to make both body and sleeves longer, as well as to add buttons all the way down. Unfortunately I was delusional to believe that my pre-pregger chest measurements are still valid, and the cardi is, alas, on the small side. Pfff.
4.A baby blanket, again??? Yes. This time it's
my older brother my older brother's girlfriend who's expecting, and she wanted something green. Voilà,
Green Leaves!
I linked the project to Jared Flood's
Wool Leaves, although I stumbled across the leaf pattern in a stitch guide before discovering Flood's design, and made up my own. I love the result; it's such an easy and fast knit and uses only 3 skeins of Cascade 220. Yay!
5.Another baby knit, because I had so much fun knitting the blanket... This is
Lovinia's baby set. Lovinia is an elderly knitter who frequents "my" LYS, and one of the teachers there wrote up the pattern from her baby beret and booties. I used one skein of Shibui Sock and am totally in love with the outcome.
I have two more projects drying on blocking needles, and I'm really,
really excited to start wearing them! And showing them off here tomorrow. :)
