Everywhere I turn...

Tis the season for babies. Everywhere I turn, bam, someone has had another baby. It's great for me for two reasons. One, I get to craft like crazy and two, I get to live vicariously through these people for the time being. Babies are cool, and I'd really like to have one or two someday, but I still want to go to Vegas for my thirtieth birthday, so for now, I'll settle for knitting bootees for others.
When Biff's brother and his wife announced in November that bam, they were going to have a baby, let's just say I went a bit nuts. Between the announcement and Christmas, I came up with the first pile of stuff, which included a quilt, knitted blanket, wash cloths, a robe for mom-to-be and matching pairs of mom and baby socks (plus one or two purchased items thrown in for good measure). I got the biggest kick out of making all of this stuff.


The quilt has got to be my favorite pattern that I've done so far, and I'll admit I haven't done many quilts. It's quick and easy and I love the sawtooth edge finish. Voila...


Now Biff's sister in law is seven months along and in that time, I've crafted yet another pile of stuff, this time gender specific. I just learned though, that the doctors etc. never will say for 100% sure the sex, so there still is this little bit of lingering doubt as to what the baby will turn out to be once it's born. For the child's sake, I really hope it's a girl, otherwise there will be a very unhappy boy someday looking back at his baby pictures.


These bibs are fantastic for using up remnants of flannel. It takes such small pieces that despite my best efforts, I still have a huge pile of flannel scraps! I used a Simplicity pattern that I had already and cut out a piece of quilt batt and sewed the odd strips (a technique that I am quite fond of at the moment) right to it. Then a whole piece for the back, which I forgot to take a picture of. In any case, these take like an hour, perhaps a little more to make and I'm very pleased with the result.

I must admit however that this is absolutely my favorite piece of the whole package. It was a joy to knit, a joy to stare at and a joy to give away. I hope that there will be, and I'm sure there will be, as much joy in seeing it worn as well (please send photos!). This I believe was a Patons heirloom pattern, knit out of Beehive or Softee baby yarn, can't quite remember which. The bootees came from the Zoe Mellor book and just so happened to have similar detailing on the foot as in the sweater pattern, although I think it may be hard to tell from the photo.

We've seen this sweater somewhere before. Again, I added the bootees from the 50 Baby Bootees book...


And of course, where would a summer baby be without some fancy-schmancy sun dresses?
(I hate how my camera washes out the colour...am I doing something wrong here??? Undoubtedly)
This latest pile of stuff has now been given away, leaving a vacancy for more stuff, which, though it's been little more than 72 hours since this latest set has been out of my hands, I've already started! Perhaps I have a problem? Ah well...keeps me busy.
Until later...