FO: What will be known from now on as "My Standard Baby Sweater"

I've found the perfect pattern for the perfect baby sweater.

It is knit entirely in one piece, the pattern is easy to follow, it doesn't get boring to knit and it's cuter than the picture of my dog that concludes this post.

On top of this, it really only took me a few weeks of intermittent knitting to finish it up. This is very encouraging for me because, quite frankly, it is baby fever around here (not me, everyone else is pregnant, though) and this pattern just might save my butt when it comes to thinking of the perfect gift.

In addition to this, it only requires that I seam up the sleeves and weave in the ends. Of course, due to my excellent procrastination skills, it will inevitably take me a few weeks to do this very small part that would probably only take 30 minutes to complete if I actually made the effort.


I was lucky enough to find this little gem of a pattern from a stash of pattern books that my aunt saved for me when she moved my Grandmother to a senior citizen's complex. My grandmother used to be a very accomplished crafter (knitting, crocheting, sewing, ceramics, etc) and I feel so fortunate to have something that was hers to carry on her tradition of crafting. I have no idea how old the book is, but the price tag says 35 cents, so I'm betting it's older than me....! Even so, it doesn't matter how old a knitting pattern is, it still creates something classically adorable. Check the pic:

So, I have officially dubbed this"My Standard Baby Sweater" and it just may appear on a baby near you sometime soon. I used Sirdar "Snuggly" DK, shade 0347 on 4 mm needles (Addi turbo circulars). I thought the red was a good choice for either a boy or a girl, especially because I don't know the sex of the baby it has been knit for. However, I will not use this yarn again because it split constantly, and I found that very frustrating. In the end, though, it didn't even use 1.5 balls, so I will not say anything more because that now means I have 5 more balls of this stuff to knit up!

And so, it wouldn't be a post without the latest picture of MY baby and his newest toy. Honestly, have you ever seen anything cuter than this?

FO: Stashbuster Neckwarmer

It all started with this very pretty yarn by Debbie Bliss. I think it's called Maya. I loooooooooooooved the colorway and kept it in my stash for a long time because I only had one skein and wanted to do something special with it.

Then I finally realized that time was going to pass quicker than finding something "good" to knit this with and went out and found this neckwarmer pattern from here.

Very handy... verrrrrrry easy to knit. Perfect for me during exam time when I'm marking like a whirling dervish, like a woman possessed, like a cat on a hot tin roof, like a street with no name...(oops, wrong simile.... anyway...). I must admit, though, it was my first time working in the round on circular needles and let's just say that some areas will need to be cleverly camouflaged with some creative piecing. Notice also (scroll down), however, that I ran out of the Maya ( I didn't have as much as I thought - another rookie mistake) and I had to find a complementary colour that was going to provide a solid colour border as well as not look like poop on a plate.

Hence, the choice of Natural Charcoal in Paton's SWS. Quite possibly one of my favourite yarns ever. Look at my finished project here, wrapped around a candle so that it stands up and looks pretty:

But, you see, I didn't really feel like the candle was the best model, so I set my sights to finding a more appropriate model.... like something/ someone with a neck. First - I considered myself, but nixed that because it was only 7 a.m., I had been up since 5 and had not yet had a shower or put on makeup, so I was looking pretty hideous. Second - I considered going upstairs and putting it over my sleeping husband's head and snapping a picture, but nixed that... I mean, he was asleep, for God's sake, and he'd look worse than I did, not to mention the ill effects that would be brought on our (new and loving) marriage because I had the bright idea of pulling a multi-colored, handknit neckwarmer down over his head while he was sleeping. This would clearly be one of those Mars/Venus things where the woman thinks her idea is innocently fantastic and the man not only thinks she's from another planet, but threatens to put her on one with his bare hands.

So, I took a good look around the room and couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of the most perfect model ever. He never talks back, he's generally good humoured and he's cuter than my husband and I put together on our most loving day. Cue the dog wearing the neckwarmer:


What a pose! What poise! What control! What style!! He wears it and he wears it well!

And no, despite what it looks like in this picture, I'm not one of those crazy people who dresses up their dog in hats and sweaters. I have standards.... kind of..... let's just say that I won't mention Titus' winter jacket anytime soon.









And on a "new favorite books" note, you should really make every effort to read this book that my friend Jena lent me. Jena found it hilarious, I found it incredibly sad, but at the very least, it made us both think about life a little more than usual. Read it. I couldn't put it down.