A Baby Shower Gift

I'm working on this little banner for my friend Erin's baby shower. It's so much easier to make gifts for people who a.) know what they're having, or b.) know how they're decorating. In Erin's case, both are true. She's having a boy and decorating in a vintage toy style with red and cream as her main colors. So this should work (I hope so!). I simply love the idea of her decorating scheme, although I haven't seen it yet. I thought of decorating our nursery in red and white but didn't because it was so darn difficult to find anything in those colors for baby. That, of course, was just slightly before I realized that I can make the stuff myself.

My mother-in-law did make Emily's bedding, but it was not easy finding the right fabric, and I don't recall seeing anything red and white that I loved. We were limited to decorator fabric and a small budget too, which certainly made a difference in our options. All-in-all, the price came to just a little more than $100, and I do like the colors. I had difficulty matching sheets to the bumper pad and still feel that the color is off. But I have 3 (!) of these Amy Coe green sheets and feel that at this point I just have to get over my dreams of perfect color coordination. However, if I ever do buy new sheets for the crib, I might just find a pink that looks nice with the other colors. Why didn't I think of that sooner? I will tell you why: I thought that when Baby came home from hospital, Baby might just choose to throw up on the sheets every day, thus meaning that I needed several changes of sheets for Baby of unknown gender. That's right. I knew there was a reason for this.

Back to the baby shower stuff: I estimate that there are at least 5 baby showers in my near future. Most of the ladies I know are having boys, and I haven't figured out exactly what to make all these little guys. I saw a cuddle pirate on One Good Bumblebee, which inspires me. Evan suggested little cuddle ninjas in the same vein.

An Account of Colorbars and Excited Anticipation

Admittedly, it is getting too warm in these parts to crochet or knit without sticky fingers, but I'm still casually working on this colorbars blanket (from Happy Hooker) for Evan. He's an editor for a production company, and his office gets quite cold all year round. So what could possibly be more appropriate for him to drape over his legs than this? OK, images of a little old grampa in a rocking chair still come to mind. Really though. He has this tiny little space heater that burns his legs while the rest of him stays chilly. He simply needs this. And I need the excuse to make it. It certainly wouldn't look right in our home, so it must go to the office. End of story.

So we found a home. Our home. With a backyard. And a tree. And a roof. And a porch. We close on March 29. Count 'em... That's 10 days away.

A Late Start

My Sweet Evan took this picture so I could share my finished Kerchief with the world. You can see the color better here than in the previous post. Now I can practically cover myself in green from head to toe. Which looks pretty silly. But gives me great delight all the same.

Last night, we finally got around to watching the first 4 episodes of The Sopranos. We've had the DVD from Blockbuster Online for nearly a month now and simply haven't been in the mood. Well, it was just as dark as I imagined and even more graphic. We got interested enough in the characters to finish the DVD, but we won't be watching anymore. The truth is, there wasn't one person with any redemptive characteristics in the entire show (except maybe the therapist and her boyfriend). It was an exercise in total depravity, which is interesting and even enlightening, but just not what we want to fill our heads with. I had all kinds of weird dreams last night involving guns and fearing my husband would have us all killed and other troubled thoughts. Ugly dreams + Sinus problems = Missed church this morning. I just couldn't pull myself out of bed in time for the early service and then awoke too late for the second one.

So now that my day has finally begun, I think I'm going to skip over to JoAnn's and pick up a couple pairs of knitting needles. I missed the 2-day sale they were having, but I still need a pair, so I'm whipping out the coupon.

A March Kerchief

I simply needed something green and fabulous for March. Thus, the Spring Kerchief is born! The pattern is from Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick, and I adore almost everything in this book. I boldly wore the finished Kerchief out last night to see our realtor and then to enjoy Border's, though I feared I would have to endure snickers behind my back and whispers including the word homely. But to my surprise, I didn't! This is the most interesting thing I've knitted yet - it has an actual design on it! I figured it wouldn't be too ambitious for me, and it certainly wasn't once I learned how to read the pattern and do a couple new stitches.

A Little Red Riding Hood

This would be my most ambitious knitting project yet, and I actually started and ended in time for the Knitting Olympics. Unfortunately, I never officially joined. Knowing that I was making something for Emily encouraged me to Really Get To It. The jacket doesn't fit her now--it's definitely too big. Especially the hood. I'm hoping that next Fall it will fit properly. I also learned a thing or two about deceptive photography. Okay. I love the pictures in every Debbie Bliss book I've ever flipped through. Notwithstanding is the above picture of a genderless sweet baby in Hooded Jacket. But notice how the top of the hood is not visible. Know this: it was not visible in any picture of Hooded Jacket. All I had to help me visualize this appendage was the directions, which meant little to me because I am a Novice. All of this to say that I was not particularly happy with the outcome of the hood and would have done it differently if I suspected that it would look huge and strange or actually knew how to make it better. It looks okay in the above picture of Emily, but I had to do some arranging and took several shots before I had a fine presentation of Hooded Jacket. Alas, it may look quite fetching next Fall. Perhaps.

On the up-side, I finallly learned how to do the mattress stitch, which is simply amazing. I had no idea I could make invisible seams! It felt like magic. I showed it to Evan, and even he was impressed. I love the light-catching button too. It's hard to see in the pictures, but it looks like a giant, plastic diamond.