While you were sleeping:

Today we're having M's six-month photos taken, even though he won't technically be six months until Saturday. We're doing it early due in part to the Thanksgiving holiday and in part to having to fit into our photographer's schedule. She's always very busy. Apparently, she's the celebrity photographer of the baby world here in central Arkansas.

For his shoot, I wanted to make something special for him to wear. After a search, I decided on this cowl. I picked up the yarn last week, before heading out of town for work and managed to find an hour or two to work on it while I was away but really got down to work this past weekend.

I followed the instructions pretty closely. There was one part where it says to crochet the button flap on the front, but seeing as how I suck at crocheting, I decided to go rogue. I just picked up a few stitches, knit a small flap, and secured it with a button. Looks good and saved me the grief of having to figure out that whole crochet thing.

I'm very happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to see it on his little face in his photos. For some reason, dressing babies up as animals makes them even cuter -- something that does not work with adults.

Fin:

You guys... It's done. Finally. That damn knitted blanket, the one I've been working on for over a year, is complete.

So, we started with this:

And then it looked like this:

From there it ended up here:

And then it sat there. Forever. I'm not really sure what happened. Maybe I got burned out from knitting over 100 squares (!). Maybe I got sidetracked. Mostly I think it was that I had to crochet each row into strips and then crochet all those strips together. I hate crocheting. But I finally just decided it was time to get it over with, so I did a little each night over the past month and now it looks like this:

Words cannot express how happy I am to be done with this project. I learned a very important life lesson here. I will never make another one of these so long as I live. But at least now we can snuggle up with it in the evenings as the temperature drops.

Someone (okay, more like two someones) are very happy it's done and available for use.

I love:

[photo]

I have been knitting since I was ten. My mom taught me. And I was really into it. I made blankets for all my Barbie's beds. And then in high school, I tackled scarves. In college, I took on life-size blankets. Nothing fancy, though. In my post-grad life, I started learning more complicated patterns. It was a challenge for me, and I enjoyed it. Lately, I've been itching to start making sweaters. This desire stems partly from my need to indulge my creative side and partly from my disappointment with what most retail stores try to pass off as good, quality sweaters. I figure I'd start small; make some sweaters for babies/toddlers. I wanted to get the basics down before I jumped in over my head. You know, really understand how all the pieces come together to form something that you can actually wear and not have people stare at you like a crazy person.

But then. I saw this sweater and I kind of fell in love with it. It's the perfect hybrid of sweater and sweatshirt. I sort of need it in my life. So, I'm thinking this will be my summer knitting project. If I work on it diligently (and don't mess it up too badly), come fall, I will be able to snuggle up in it when the temperature outside starts to drop. I mean, picture this sweater paired with a red plaid shirt, some busted up old blue jeans, and a navy beanie. It screams fall, right? The perfect leaf-raking, cocoa-drinking, apple-picking uniform.

Knitting Projects:

I've got a long list of things that I want to knit. While I knit all year long, around this time of year, I sort of go into overdrive. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's the being cooped up indoors more than any other time of year. Regardless, now that my blanket is done (or almost, the piecing together is killing me!), I've turned my attention to other projects. I've got another blanket in the works, leg warmers for A and I to wear over our running tights to and from early morning winter runs to keep our muscles loose, and leg warmers for Tillie so she can stay nice and toasty while playing outside in the snow with us. And then there are cowls. I'm sort of obsessed with cowls:

Easy to make and oh so comfortable and warm. I love them. Seriously, love. I want to make all these. And I plan to. So, don't be surprised if you get one from me during the holidays. I couldn't possibly wear them all, no matter how much I want to.