what's been developing

First up, Daddy-B's new socks, as modeled by me. :)

Followed by the first serious felting job I've ever done, a little tote for my Mom:

And finally, my latest Etsy sale, the sunny day quilt. I love this quilt!

Other than that, I have two pair of socks on the needles, Sissy's Baptism dress (of course), and a new shawl from the sweet new yarn my mom bought me.

socks alive

No new pictures today, but I thought I'd try to get an update in before we get too close to Sissy's October arrival. I'm in the thick of her Baptism dress, but of course I got distracted with an old WIP. A pair of brown socks.

I started the brown socks right after Christmas for Daddy-B, and I had deserted them after finishing one and a half. They are finally done now, and once I can coax him to try them on, I'll have pictures, but they are this beautiful tweedy brown that I knitted in a boxed pattern. Nice and woolly and warm.

Well, of course that reignited my sock-love. So I just HAD to frog that twined green sock and start a fresh basketweave pattern with it. So now Sissy's little Baptismal dress lies at the bottom of the green project bag, neglected, while I keep telling myself that I'll go right back to it after this next round on the basketweave sock.

Meanwhile, my handmade-loving yet absolutely not crafty mother has assigned me two new projects for her. Which I can't turn down because she also buys not only the yarn and patterns for her projects, but she wins me over by feeding my stash. Gah! Poor, poor Sissy. Being second sucks. At least I did complete the afghan I promised her, painted the letters for her room, and tried (in general) very hard to duplicate the preparations we made for lil' b.

pictures galore

Though without a model until the end of October, here is the completed sweater for Sissy.

It was made in Snuggly Bubbly pink, the pattern is 1618 from Sirdar. It worked up pretty quickly, of course, since it's a newborn size.

On to the Etsy quilts!

This one I am calling Pink Mum since it has a floral pattern and lots of mum fabrics. lil' b actually picked out the fabrics for this almost entirely on his own.

This is the gender-neutral Spartan quilt. It's tough to be gender-neutral when you are working with base colors of hunter green and white, but I think it turned out great!

And finally, this is the Cherries Jubilee quilt with old-fashioned cherry fabric, plaids, sparkles, and flor de lis. I just love how this turned out, so feminine and cute!

I am happy to report that all buyers were delighted with their quilts, so hopefully the good word spreads and I get some more business. Until then, just waiting for the LYS to open so I can start a new in-betweeny project. :)

on a roll

So I have a couple new quilts to show you and a finished baby Snuggly Bubbly sweater in pastel pink. But I haven't uploaded all the pictures yet!

I am visiting my parents at the lake right now, and foolishly thought that one knitting project alone was going to keep me occupied for the week. Like that has EVER happened. So here I am, 6 on Wednesday morning, without a scrap of fabric to quilt or row of knitting to work on. And of course, no yarn shops are open at this hour. Though it seems to me that LYS's should have the same hours as bars. I can't be the only person who has ever had a late-night craving for yarn.

At any rate, due to the hour and the lack of projects to busy my fingers, I thought I'd do an actual blog entry.

With my big brother sweater and accompanying baby sweater complete, I have one more "need to finish" left on my due date list... a white knitted Baptism gown. I have about 64 days remaining before Sissy is due to arrive. And I have a feeling that, unlike last time, I will not have all that down time during naps and nursing to work on any serious project.

I also have to start thinking past due date and forward to Christmas crafting. I am planning to make the ice cream cozy for my mom, finish up a pair of socks for Daddy-B, make a tailgate quilt for my sister, perhaps some new felt pillows for my brother-in-law, and then I need to dream up some other craft projects for the in-laws, lil' b and Sissy. Any suggestions? I am thinking perhaps an Itty Bitty Baby hat for Sissy, and I saw a pretty wicked fish hat pattern that lil' b might love. But the in-laws. Hmmm. Maybe I could make some felt pillows for them as well, they seem to enjoy pillows. I also have a lovely pair of twining vines socks on the needles that I could gift to my mother-in-law, but I so love them for myself!

And now, on to something I haven't had time for in months... reading my favorite blogs!!

a sweater for a big brother

Here it is! My first sweater:And here is the proud big brother-to-be modeling it. It's a bit oversized, on purpose. I want him to get a lot of life out of it. The pattern is from Ella Rae Women & Children Book 4.


How awesome! I can't wait to finish up his little sister's!

stitching away

This is the second etsy purchase I've completed so far! (about 15th sold, but second through Etsy) She wanted a quilt that looked similar to one I'd already done, so this is what I came up with. I also finished this top:

Not sure if I want to complete a quilt and try to sell a completed one, or see if someone wants to choose the border/backing, or keep it for the new baby...

Updates in babyland: We are now just about 26 weeks along, and found out that we are expecting a little GIRL this time! So we will have one of each. :) So far, we are telling everyone that her name is going to be Consuela Juanita Maria. And yes, I'm kidding.

I'm almost finished with lil' b's big brother sweater, too, I can't wait to see it finished and to share it on here! I have two pairs of socks still on the needles, a Baptism dress waiting in the wings, and the start of another quilt and a little sister sweater. Lots going on!

*** ETA: I have to make a note to add THIS to my Christmas knitting.

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.