Baby hat

(This baby does look weird because it is a doll)

I just finished this baby hat the other day. It is made for a baby that has been having a rough time, but hopefully has gotten through the worst of it. I thought she needed something pretty and soft. I'm pretty happy with it, and I hope the parents love seeing their daughter in it, and the baby wears it in the best of health.
This is the first knit that I have designed and finished. I've seen similar hats before, but I didn't make this one from an existing pattern. It is made out of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, on size 4's. I originally cast on 356 stitches, knitted 5 rows, and then knit 3 together all around to make the ruffle. Then I continued and made a regular hat. The cranberry stripe was added later with duplicate stitch.
It was so nice to finish something. My house seems to be full of UFO's, but these days I'm so beat, I hardly care. To give you just an idea of how crazy life is at our house, today I took my daughter to day care, but didn't realize until I took her out of the car that she wasn't wearing shoes. You just have to laugh!

Happy Spring!
P2k

It's been a while

Sorry it has been so long. Part of the reason is that I am running around like a loon most of the time, and the other problem is that things have not been all that exciting for me lately. Although, I have to say, this past weekend was pretty good. We went with my husband's family to a house up in Vermont. It is definitely the beginning of mud season, so we didn't ski, but his aunt and I went to a sweet yarn shop called Six Loose Ladies. I tried to resist buying yarn, but of course I couldn't. The woman knew her customer, and she showed me all of the stuff by local artisans. So I bought a silk wool blend, and then I went over to feel the handspun alpaca. I put it in my hand and it felt so good, so I kept holding it. By the time I was ready to leave the store the yarn had become a part of me and I just had to have it. I'm glad that I did. I also bought the fiber trends pattern for felted slippers. One day I will make them in my free time. (HA HA HA)

Peace to all,
P2K

I'm still 40

I had a great birthday weekend! The party was terrific. Like all parties it was definitely the people who were there that made it so great, and I really had a great group that came. I feel so lucky. After such a terrific weekend it was really hard to get back into the swing of reality on Monday. I'm sure most kids and teachers in Massachusetts were feeling like last week took forever!
I started a new project. This one I don't feel guilty about starting because it is for my sister's child that will be born in April. It is a modular square baby blanket. I am thrilled with this project. It is so satisfying.
As you can tell, I've got a LONG way to go!
My other big news is that on Friday I started my first lease on a car. I pick up the car on Wednesday, and I am thrilled.
Hope all is well wherever you are.

P2K

P.S. I forgot to write that the bag in the photo was made for me by one of my friends in my Knitting group - It is such a sweet little bag that I wanted to show it off!

OMG - I'm going to be 40!!!!

So tomorrow is the big day. Yep, I'm turning 40! I can't believe it. 40 seems so adult, and really if you talk to many people who know me, I am not that mature. No, really - My reading is "chick lit", my favorite type of humor is potty humor (a good gas joke gets me every time) and I'd rather spend my days playing with my toys. The toys these days are knitting and needlepoint, but they are the same things that I was playing with when I was 12. Fortunately for me there are a lot of other people playing with yarn and needles and I'm not the only one any more! (by the way, you did read that right, I have been cheating on my knitting a little bit with needlepoint, but I'm having fun, and that is the point. I think I needed a mental break from knitting for a little bit.)
Yes, there is a big celebration planned. Tomorrow, my birthday, my sisters, mother and I are going to have a "spa day," and lunch in downtown Boston, and then tomorrow night I am having a PARTY. I am so excited. My parents, sisters and their husbands will be there. My cousins and in-laws are coming. Friends from college and grad school, co-workers, fellow knitters and parents of my daughters' friends will also be there I am so excited. So today I bought wine, beer and stuff to make coffee drinks and all of those great appetizers that you love to eat at parties and never eat anywhere else.
So wherever you are, enjoy Feb. 23rd. I think everyone should be happy on my birthday!

Love,
P2K

Va-ca-tion

Why is it that whenever I think of vacation I can't get the Go-Go's out of my mind? Perhaps because their song just states how I feel at this moment, "Va-ca-tion, all I ever wanted. Vacation, have to get away...." It just doesn't get better than that.

Yep, here comes one of the perks of being a teacher in Massachusetts - February vacation!!!! I just ordered my tea from Upton Teas (I HIGHLY recommend them) , now I'm going to plan my knitting - and I am going to relax for a week.

Ding Dong, I'm dead!!!

As predicted, I did not last long in the "Hat Attack."
At 2:30 today, my husband and I had just sat down to lunch and the doorbell rang. "Who's that?" he asked. "I bet it's my hat - I'm dead." With that I ran upstairs to throw on some clothes, because I did not want to die in my nightgown. (Hey, I had been knitting and cleaning all morning, and the kids were with my mother-in-law, so yes, I was still undressed!) I was right, it was Ana of How to wash a shower curtain. I have to give credit to my dog, who tried her best to kill Ana with kindness before I received the hat. Here is my daughter modeling the very cute instrument of death.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to photograph the hat that I was working on. However, I do feel better that there is a reason that I didn't get to finish that project!
I have to say, that besides being "alive" in the contest for only about 29 hours, I had a really good time. I got to meet another great knitter, who is also a fabulous cartoonist, and had a great time fretting about our impending doom with my friend who also was assassinated in person around the same time today. It is amazing how much being a part of the knitting community is enriching my life. So though I am "dead," I feel incredibly lucky.

P2K

I know you haven't heard from me in a while but .............

The contest begins tomorrow. I have to admit, I am feeling the butterflies. The person that I'm making a hat for lives in Nevada, and the person who is assigned to assassinate me lives 15 minutes away! (The person knitting for her lives in N.C.) Needless to say, I believe I will be "dead" on Monday! (If not sooner!) Oh well.
So you may be wondering why I haven't blogged in a while. It seems to be symbolic of my life right now. I haven't been "producing" much. The vest that I talked about in the last post is in the same condition it was in, and then I have been "working" on knits from my Rockin' Sock Club, and the Webs skein of the month club. For the socks, I have started them about 6 times. The last time I got to the part where you turn the heal, and then I decided that I really should make the small size. For the Webs yarn, the pattern was really difficult to start (for me, at least) and that took me two nights to do.
I will berate myself, to my husband, about my lack of drive to finish my projects and he just says that it is a hobby, and I should be enjoying myself. He does have a point - but boy, what an enabler he is! Am I a lucky girl, or what?!!!

Happy knitting,
P2K