Apparently it's been a while

I looked around today and realized two things:
1. It's Thursday. So that means tomorrow is Friday and then its the weekend. This realization is closely related to...
2. I still haven't finished the baby blanket. Luckily for me the baby is late (not so lucky for the pregnant friend but great for unfinished knitting).
I started sewing up the edges together of the different squares--changed my mind--and re-sewed some other blocks. On the bright side I can knit a mean mattress stitch. On the down side, mattress stitching doesn't really work for lace-y and hole-y blocks. I'll just have to work through this little block of mine.

FYI. Went to an Alpaca show last weekend. Pretty animals. All seemed very shy of me. I'll try not to take it personal.

One thought

The thought of the day--well the past week actually-- is "I hate baby blankets. I hate baby blankets." Now this thought could probably be expanded to blankets in general and projects that kinda drag. But since the project of my current frustrations is a baby blanket--"I have to knit how many stupid little squares? "--the " I hate baby blankets" thought remains. I might not dislike them so much if she wasn't due to have the baby "any day now" and I'm trying to finish as many of the squares as I can before then.
I had planned on making matching baby blankets for both this baby and his cousin (both sisters are expecting about a month apart), but I may just make the other baby the Dream in Colors Tulip sweater in a couple shades of blue. Plus a hat and booties--naturally.
I've been thinking a lot about charity knitting and perhaps trying to find a project I could work on for a while now. I was planning on the Red Scarf project but I have some personal deadlines that will keep me busy before the October 15th deadline. I may just move my focus to premmie knitting. I found Sarah's post on how much she loved the gift of handmade hats and clothing helped her and her family. It produced such a pleasant thought in the midst of difficult times that I may just set a couple of project goals for myself. Plus she's running a contest if anyone needs more motivation.
Now I must return to my squares (actually they're rectangles) for the baby blanket. I'll have pictures when I get a bit further along.

One down

Finished baby hat #1. This hat is the closest I've ever come to completing a pattern based on the designers recommendations. I'd like to say this came from careful planning and preparation, but that was not the case. Remember when I mentioned the mega-yarn sale that I drove an 1 and a half for? Well, while there I found some lovely Manos del Uruguay cotton stria (2 skeins in mist, 1 in white, and a skein in pink---the last in the store) and while browsing through my current obsession (Itty-Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson) I found her Cotton Stria Stripes pattern. Of course I deviated from the pattern by changing the color scheme and alternating the row widths for some visual interest and shortening the pear-top shape of the top of the hat and I came up with this:
and next to the original pattern:
I think I'll knit a pair of bootees to go with this and a baby blanket that I already bought the yarn for. I'm keeping the color palette the same for all the projects but I'll switch up the yarn. I read a review of Manos cotton stria and the reviewer commented on the obvious visibility of wear.
Her sister is also having a boy a month later and I think I'll knit up a complementary hat for her baby. Starting with white rather than blue I think. I figured the hats can be cousins, just like the babies.

FYI... Some of my yarn is on sale on my etsy site. I feel like celebrating my thesis approval.

Hmmm...

Is it wrong of me to want this knowing that I don't a) actually know how to sew, b) I don't have time to learn and c) I have three things on needles and two gifts that are still waiting to be knit?

So have you ever?

Ever feel guilty about buying yarn? Yesterday I completed my first ever sneak stash increase. I actually smuggled in some yarn that I needed for a new project in order to avoid unnecessary questions from family members already questioning my stash. Wait until they find out how much worse(according to them)/better(according to me) a stash can actually be.

As for personal stuff, it's the first week of school and baby A is starting his first week of preschool in the AM and three afternoons of PM preschool with, according to him, a really fun play area. My secret project is actually a hat for him, I'll post some pictures once I'm beyond two inches.

Yay

I just got word from my thesis committee that everyone is signing off on my MA thesis. Super yay! All I need to do is format the thesis for the school and fill out some paperwork and I should be all done. This is such a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and I feel that I can really move forward in my life.
Knitting news later.