a VIB and my first sale

First things first, my Very Important Blanket...

It may not look all that special, but this is the blankie that will wrap our new baby! That's right, we are due with #2 at the end of October. Lil' b is very excited to be a big brother. His blanket, if you remember, was the same pattern in green and white. The new nursery is going to be orange and cream, thus the cool color combo above.

Second, my first Etsy sale! This quilt is done in the school colors of Notre Dame (Navy and Gold) and its sister school, St. Mary's (Sky and White). I am really pleased with how it turned out.

I won't lie, I'm also really pleased to being making a little money doing something I really love.

ETSY!

www.hookandneedlearts.etsy.com

going bananas

As promised, here are the pictures of my cousin-in-law's baby quilt. I was originally thinking the very unoriginal Noah's Ark (she's very religious) but when I saw this blue monkey flannel my resolve began to crumble...
And then I found cotton monkey fabric AND banana fabric, and I gave in to temptation. It's easier to see if you open the full picture, but yes, we have bananas.

She's having a little boy, and I thought this made a perfect baby boy blankie. She loved it, too, which makes everything worthwhile. Now I am working on a crochet blanket that has been a resting WIP for over a year. Any guesses? I also have two pairs of socks on the needles, and a plan to make my very first sweater. Updates to come!

three years

My lil' b is not so little anymore!

He requested a Bowling/Shark party for his third birthday this past weekend. We had five 2-5 year-olds and five under 12 months. What to do for favors? Why, awesome bowling shirts for the older boys, and plush bowling pins for the babies.

Here's lil' b trying on his own shirt. He was super excited about these gifts and couldn't wait to hand them out as his guests arrived.


I've also been quilting, as my plan for Etsy now includes baby quilts. I made this one for a baby shower I went to a few weeks ago. The Daddy-to-be is a big Ohio State fan, so I went with scarlet and grey.I have another that I made for a cousin's baby shower, but the pictures are still in the camera.

I've been just terrible about blogging and also about making it to my knitting nights at Ewe-Nique. But I have been keeping my needles, sewing machine, and hooks very busy. So I hope to have more updates on a more regular basis as the countdown to Etsy launch begins.

semi-bitty and itty-bitty

I've been in love with Susan B. Anderson's Itty Bitty Hats book. I got it for Christmas and have fixated on the Candy Cane hat. I haven't done the striped look she instructs in the book, but instead went with flecked hats and solid poms. The green one is a recycled old sweater of mine with sparkly forest pom, and the newborn-sized one is knit with double yarn strands - a solid worsted weight white and a sport weight navy with navy pom.

The green one is lil' b's, he loves it and wears it everywhere. I made him a coordinating set of mittens (no pic yet) with a stripe of the green fleck on a cream wool background, also made from a recycled sweater.

I've been really into recycling old sweaters lately. I feel less guilty about knitting all the time when I'm reusing materials rather than buying new yarn all the time. Plus, it's exciting to find new uses for old things.

a little holiday cheer

Would you like to see this year's wine batch? Here it is, wrapped up in a wintery wine cozy that I sewed up as a gift bag.And here it is, showing off one of the three wine tasting sets I made as gifts for my tasting party friends. If you haven't had a wine tasting party, the idea behind these bags is to conceal the label for blind tasting. Each bag has a different lettered label for scoring. This black bag is the example from my sister's gift set.
And here is the gorgeous label my designer friend worked up for us. This year's wine was a Riesling, which we named Liquid Mistletoe.
For Christmas I was lucky enough to get a gift certificate to a LYS near my parents' house, so I've been plotting my purchases. So far I bought two skeins of Plymouth Yarns Encore D.K. in a lovely tan to make some socks (hopefully for Daddy-B, but we'll see). It's my first time knitting socks with a pattern of interest instead of letting the striping do the work. I also bought a Ella Rae Women and Children sweater pattern book, I just need to choose a yarn and decide on a pattern.

lounging around

Here is my handsome model in his tractor lounge pants:And here is the complete set (minus the Christmas pair, which I won't post until the recipient gets to see them):