FO: Birthday outfit, New Look 6205 and Miss Marple cardi

Our wonderful daughter turns 3 this weekend, and for her birthday, she asked me to make a purple dress.  She asked me this way back in January (when we made a birthday cake together for her dad, and she started getting excited about birthdays), so I'm not sure she'll remember this request, but I wanted the Mom of the Year award, so I followed through.

I used New Look 6205 again (first version here) in a Joel Dewberry print.  This time, I opted for the little strapped sleeves instead of the cap sleeves.

Again, the bodice is lined, but in a sort of weird way that still requires you to finish the neckline with bias tape.

I made a size 3, and the neckline is a bit big on our 3 year old, but at least it gives her room to grow. 

For the sweater, I used a pattern called Miss Marple.

Isn't that the best name for a little girl's cardigan?  Miss Marple was an Agatha Christie character, right?  I used two skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca that I had in my stash.  They were intended for a hat/cowl set, but I didn't like those patterns in this yarn.  So much the better, because it works perfectly for this pattern. Although I'm not sure anyone needs an alpaca/wool sweater in late April. 

The knitting only took a week or so, but it took me forever to finish the cardigan (see my previous confession regarding button anxiety).  I really wanted to practice finishing the cardigan with grosgrain ribbon on the button band.  This was good practice, and came out marginally successful.  In the first place, the grosgrain ribbon is the wrong color, but this shade purple was impossible to match.

The main problem is that my knitted buttonholes were horizontal.  I really wanted them to be vertical, so I machine stitched vertical buttonholes on the ribbon.  I'm not sure why I got such a bee in my bonnet about making the buttonholes vertical, but it seemed very important at the time.  The button holes are a little tight, and actually, the bottom one won't go through at all.  I may have to fix that. 

I found these great buttons on beadfreaky on etsy.  Again, not exactly the right purple, but I think they still work. Raverly page here.

So Happy Birthday, dear daughter!  We love you.  Enjoy your purple dress and your special day!

FO: Patina socks!

These are the best socks I've ever made.  I started with this:

This is the March installment of the Tanis Fiber Arts Year in Colour Club.  This gorgeous perfect-for-Spring colorway is in her Blue Label fingering weight yarn, and it is a perfect sock yarn.  I love it.  Tanis designed a pattern to go with this variegated yarn, something that would help the colors play well together while not totally obscuring the stitch pattern.  That is a very tricky line to walk, but I think Tanis got it just right.  

This yarn is completely amazing, and I am stalking all things Blue Label right now.  I'm dying to order a skein in the pink grapefruit colorway.  I need pink grapefruit socks!

It's (finally finally finallllllly) spring here, so I'm not wearing socks at the moment, but that's okay.  I have these beauties on my dresser, and I'm just admiring them as works of art.  I'll look forward to wearing them when the weather turns cool again.  And maybe by then, I'll have another pair of TFA socks to enjoy, too.

Ravelry page here.  The next installment comes in May!  I can't wait! 

It's a boy!

 He arrived!  And he's a he!  We've been getting to know our new little one for almost three weeks.  He arrived on Friday, March 29, long before the due date, April 9.  Labor was pretty quick.  I had some contractions over night, but I mostly slept through them.  I went in to work to do a couple of quick things before maternity leave (which was to start April 1), but decided I better go home as contractions were increasing.  We went to the hospital at 11:30 am, and he was born just before 5:00 pm! 

We're doing well, with more sleep some nights than others.  Pregnancy is full of anticipation and mystery, and it gives you this false idea that when the little one is born, all the mystery will be revealed.  But I still feel like our little one is pretty mysterious.  What is his personality like?  Who will he become?  What will he do that will make us laugh and make us proud?  What new gifts will he bring us?  What will he teach us?  I will love finding out, and I'm glad that it will take a while.  I'm grateful for all the time to spend getting to know him, and grateful for all the new steps his big sister is constantly taking, and grateful for the time we will all spend growing together as a family.

And am I still knitting?  Oh yes I am!