lots of pictures of finished objects...

This is Erin's sweater under construction, with one sleeve done. It's my first attempt at a cable and it's just a simple twist. I am not sure I really like how the two colors are coming together. The pattern had a much more complicated cable, but since this is my first sweater not out of completely bulky yarn, and with shaping, I decided to forgo that element.
It took me a really long time to do the one sleeve, and since I don't love it, I am not putting the cable in the second sleeve. This sweater must be done. I really wanted her to be able to wear it for the kiddush we sponsored for her birthday. By not doing the second sleeve cable, that was a reality.

Here it is all completed. The edge was flat after blocking, but I forgot to take pictures then. I took them after she wore it, so the blocking is gone... now I will wash it and we'll see how it looks. I hope she will wear it more than once. I learned a lot making this. Including why you knit 2 rows of one skein then 2 rows from another skein when you are using hand dyed or kettle dyed yarn... you can totally see where the color shifts. Oh well. Lesson learned. Glad I learned it on a baby sweater! I love the way it came out overall. Now I need to learn how to cable for real so I can make the myriads of projects I see with cables... and I already have a teacher lined up to teach me! Orthofunky from ravelry lives nearby and she is going to teach me!

this was a little cap done with extra yarn... it was an exercise in using DPNs. I really enjoyed it, although I should have cast on a few more stitches as it just barely fit the baby it was made for. NEXT TIME! I am learning a lot about knitting!
Lastly, here we have the blanket I made for my cousin Lisa's son Noah. I had hoped to have it done before he was born, but didn't happen. I will be sending it off in the mail this week. It is made of 100% cotton as they live in Savannah and I wanted something not too hot. Also, it has a little tab that goes over the buckle of either a car seat or stroller so it won't fall on the ground. I hope they like it.

Now, back to finishing up a few other UFO's and trying not to start too many new things until I am caught up!

as promised....

I am posting photos of the hugs and kisses afghan... A far away shot, as well as a close-up so you can really see the stitches. Kim Guzman writes a great pattern. It was easy to follow, even though initially I thought it might be hard with all the "around the back" type stuff. but, I will never shy away from a pattern she has written! If you want the pattern for this, look to the right and find the Hugs and Kisses afghan in the project list...
While I have not paid any attention whatsoever to gauge or anything like that, this blanket is around 3 feet wide and I am not really sure the width at this point... I am basing my guess of 3 feet on the fact that if I hold the edge in my right hand, the blanket comes to the middle of my chest... I have no idea if that is a reasonable way to guess or not... but, I think I am about half way done with it, regardless of the current size.

All I can say is that I have done most of this in semi-dark as I am working on it while I nurse Erin in the evening and late wee hours of the night... however, my SIL did get me a little clip on booklight thing for Channukah and it has worked out really well - it does make it much much much easier to work!

Next is the little cap I made for Erin to sleep in... it's cold in our house and we decided she needed a sleeping cap - after all, I sleep in one many nights, why shouldn't she. Of course, mine is a Hartford Whalers cap that my husband got me for our anniversary, so Erin needed a special one, too. I was going to knit this for her, but, we wanted it done quickly, so I crocheted it. I am still much faster at crocheting.

It is a self-striping yarn. I am not 100% happy with it. The colors didn't change as quickly or as subtly as I would have hoped. It won't fit her much longer anyway, so in the end it won't matter. It was made with Dive yarn. A 50/50 wool acrylic that was nice to work with, and is very soft. Perhaps the problem is really that it has a lot of pink in it. The peach I don't mind. The pink... not loving it... and there's hardly any blue in it - I added rows to get the blue at the bottom edge...

And, this is our little devil trying to see what is going on downstairs in the basement... did I mention she is just 8 monthes old... and is crawling very well, pulling herself up on everything, and walks herself around our furniture as long as she is hanging on.... wearing a dress her Omi made her... how cute!