While we're waiting...

My friends Greg & Caiti from Theatre-Go-Round are expecting their first child in December.  It's a boy, his name is Christian, and he has already provided me with plenty of knitterly motivation over the past few months.  

I actually finished this blanket back in August but didn't want to post photos of it until after the baby shower, lest the eagerly expectant mother spot it on Facebook!  Don't worry - that hole in the middle is intentional (and a source of a fair amount of pride for me) as this smallish blanket is intended for use with the car seat - the buckle goes through that slot so you can fasten and unfasten the straps without uncovering baby Christian.

I chose the color to coordinate with the parents' choice of car seat, and I had almost a full skein leftover after I finished the blanket, so I figured why not keep the little guy's head warm, too, with a matching hat.  After searching and searching for just the right pattern (cute, free, and not too complicated) I found this one:

Now all that's missing is the baby! 

Fully realizing that these items have an extremely limited useful life - maybe a month or two tops for the hat, and three or four for the car seat blanket if we have an unseasonably cold winter, I also have a baby afghan in the works that will coordinate with the crib set as well as...it pains me to even write it...their Mets fan gear. 

Under the heading "When it rains, it pours,"  I discovered a few weeks ago that my neighbor is expecting her second granddaughter at the end of November.  'Nuff said.  Off to Michael's I went to find just the right pink for new baby/big sister sweaters.  Just as I was about to settle for something not quite what I wanted, I stumbled across the "Pink Ribbon" display in the middle of the aisle, chock full of Bernat 100% cotton in a yummy variegated pink.  I cranked out this baby sweater in no time at all:

Big sister's sweater has been a little exasperating, but I'm making progress.  Took me a while to find a pattern that resembled what I had envisioned in my mind, then took me a while longer to experiment with gauge (remember why I claimed I was going to stick to afghans?).  With the help of the Phillies in the post-season, I've been making steady progress, but now that they've been ousted from World Series contention I fear my needles will slow down.  I also have some serious doubts about things like having the right number of stitches, and is this thing going to fit a 4 1/2 yr old, and is the little girl going to look at it and say, "Ew!"  All that aside, here it is so far:

It's knitted from the top down and thus at this point resembles a lamp shade more than a sweater.  When it was only a neck sitting around on circular needles on the end table, Eddie complemented me, "That's a really cool bowl thingy, Mom." (This reminds me of those who refer to my dinner theatre career as "singing karaoke")  One appeal of the knitted-in-the-round-top-down technique is that the garment is then "seamless."  Now I'm not thinking of the wearer's comfort here, rather I'm attracted to the notion that, since the actual putting together has always been a stumbling block for me, there's a chance that this might one day be a completed project.  And maybe even (dare I dream it?) wearable? But then again, with major league baseball season over for me, I'll have to find other excuses to spend 3 hours at a time "sittin' and knittin'" if this sweater's delivery date is going to be anywhere near the baby's!

You know you knit too much when...

you love your new stash yarn so much you put it on the dashboard on the way home so you can gaze at it lovingly.