One Last Hurrah for 2009

Hi there! I hope you had a great Christmas - this break has been pretty chill for me, for the most part, so I'm thankful for that. DH and I were very productive - we did lots of stuff around the house and I've been able to get a lot of knitting done. Although I have no FOs (Finished Objects) to share, here are the UFOs I'm working on:

First - the Baby Blanket. Since we know we're having a boy, I decided to do a blanket with just blue and green colors. I picked this simple Diagonal Comfort Blanket pattern, from Lion Brand. I'd forgotten how boring 160 stitches of garter per row can be! But I still like this simple blanket with the eyelet border. I'm using "crappy [acrylic] yarn" (Bernat), and did recieve some evil-eyes from the LYS groupees, but hey, I did it because it's machine washable, easy to care for, and I'm not THAT much of a yarn snob where I won't use pleb yarn on occassion. I hear it's important to get easy-to-care for stuff with a baby, since there's likely to be spit-up, food, or poop staining things. Originally I thought I could cram all these stitches onto straight needles, but it because pretty heavy, so I switch to circulars and have been off and running ever since. I also bought blue cotton yarn (quality yarn) to do a second blanket, but honestly, I can't fathom doing another blanket at this point. One is too mind numbing. Maybe during maternity leave I'll consider it. But I hope our little bundle of joy enjoys this soft, pastel labor of love!

And Second - the Baby Jacket. It doesn't look like a baby jacket yet - it kinda looks like a sting-ray fluttering at the ocean bottom now that I look at the picture, but it'll take it's proper form soon enough! I just finished the yoke (I don't really know what a "yoke" technically is, but in the patterns I've used, it seems to be the part of the sweater from the collar to the bottom of the armpits, where it expands to form the back and set up for the sleeves). I absolutely love the pattern this yarn makes! It's Schoppel Wolle Ambiente. I'm making this jacket sized for a 1-2 year old. Why knit something now for a 1-2 y/o? Well, #1 I loved the material and couldn't resist starting. And #2, I didn't want to put in all the effort to make this for a 6 month old, only to have him outgrow it in 2 weeks. I think sizing for a 1-2 y/o will last longer. I have 2 quick rows to knit, and then I'll be switching to DPNs and picking up the stitches for the sleeves. And I like this pattern because I think it can be used for all sorts of jackets and outerware for a baby.

So... that's what's "on the sticks" right now. Ever since we found out the sex of the baby and I put a temporary moritorium on non-baby knits, it's been sweat-shop knitting to finish the baby blanket before I return to work on the 4th of January. I plan to make some baby booties and at least one hat, so that'll be coming up too. I received an invite to participate in the Ravelry St. Patrick's Day Swap, but I decided to decline it this year. But next year I'm all over it!

It's really been a wonderful break from work these past few weeks - working on decorating the nursury, hanging out with friends (hey Amar! I'm glad we got to meet up!!) and relaxing has been great! We've been enjoying our house and all the fun that comes along with it. Happy New Year!