I got to work on M's nap quilt shortly after he went to bed last night and when he woke up from his nap just now he sat under it for a bit watching tv. I did the cutting and basting last night and the actual quilting over the past few hours while he slept and I'm pretty pleased with it so far. I've decided that the blanket binding I bought isn't going to work as nicely as I'd like it to so I'm going to have a peek for something else when we run out to Walmart tonight so with luck I should have this done tonight or tomorrow sometime. I'm also thinking that a quilt like this might make a really good on-the-fly baby gift. When I haven't sewn for a while I always forget how quickly you can have an FO, it's a great break from knitting where it can takes weeks to months to have something completed.

Not much knitting has been happening outside of the CPH. Right now the back and both fronts are done as is the first sleeve. The second sleeve is on the needles and should be finished tonight and tomorrow. It's so pleasing to look over at a pile of finished pieces and know you're in the home stretch, I'm keeping the pile handy for inspiration. I am, of course, suffering from a bit of second sleeve syndrome. The back is unique and each front a bit different given the "reverse the shaping" instruction but sleeves being identical you can easily fall into the same slump as with second socks, the second is identical to the first therefore you feel like you've been here before but not in an exciting kind of way.

For a break I sat at the sewing machine for a while last night and got some bags churned out so I was able to hit the post office this morning to get them on their way. The sewing bug seems to hit me intermittently from time to time it seems and I'm having more interest again all of a sudden. I have a terrible time convincing myself to get off my rear and get started but as soon as I do I find I can't get up. I have two more projects planned for the very near future: a little M sized backpack and a second crib sized quilt, also for M (more about the reason for these later).

The quilt fabric is flanelette in two adorable boyish prints, bugs and zoo animals. I'm just going to put one fabric on each side and bind them with some satin blanket edging with just a thin sheet of batting in between so the blanket is warm but not stifling. I'll machine quilt it somehow I haven't thought about just yet. The little backpack will be blue courdoroy outside but the lining is the cutest cotton print of bugs and leaves with "I'm an expolorer" written on it here and there. Both will be for M to take when he starts daycare next week.


I finally, at long last, got a full time job so M will be starting daycare fulltime next Monday. I took him for the morning yesterday and after about an hour of being a bit hesitant and nervous he was in there playing with the kids, making animal noises and fingerpainting with the others. We're going for another visit tomorrow (O is coming too) and possibly one more on Friday so he's really comfortable when he's dropped off for a full day. He didn't want to get his coat on to leave yesterday.


I'll still be working my weekend job at least for a bit so the knitting and sewing time will be almost non-existant at least for a while. At least the commute into downtown on transit every day will be some dedicated knitting time.

The secret baby thingy is plugging along and I managed to pick up some trimmings for it yesterday while I was downtown. The knitting is flying by, so much so that I've managed to knit past key sections a few times now and had to frog back to put in what I had forgotten. I tried knitting surgery but I just ended up with a bigger mess than I started with so frogging really is the answer. Luckily I love the yarn and the pattern so it's not too upsetting to have to rip back.


Swatching is finished on the Central Park Hoodie so I cast on for the back on the subway yesterday. I've decided the only way I ever want to knit 4" of 2x2 ribbing is with the girls at SnB, they were a good distraction and I managed to get all of the ribbing and two cable pattern repeats out of the way yesterday. So far it's going along at a pretty good pace that I hope to keep up by taking it as my work knitting this weekend. The pattern is pretty intuitive, as long as you can remember when to cable and you can remember to knit the knits and purl the purls you're laughing.

I'm using the yarn the pattern calls for, some Tahki Donegal Tweed from the stash (yay for stashbusting!). I love the colour and the tweediness of it but it's a bit rough on the hands so far, it's not the softest yarn out there by a long way but it should soften some with a few washings. I'm using my new Denise needles for the first time and really liking them so far, I got them in trade for some stuff I wasn't using and I'm glad I took a chance on the set.

I've made myself a knitting resolution over the past few days (yes, I'm aware new year's was months ago), I can work on my main projects in the mornings and evenings (before noon and after five) and I can only knit on a UFO during the afternoon. So right now afternoons are for dad's socks, O's sweater and Lady E and mornings and nights are for the baby something and the CPH. I'm still getting lots of main project time but it means that I'm also moving some longstanding WIPs in the right direction too.

And here's a pic to cute up the blog today.

No pics of the un-cowl yet, maybe tomorrow. The first baby shower gift is rushing along. Yarn wise I'm about a third of the way through. I'll hopefully be sending more than one item but I don't want to commit to anymore than the one until I know how my time will be. If I have time to knit something else, or a few something elses to add to the package I'll take it as it comes.

I am still working on the things I didn't finish for the FFF Kal as I still want them done and off my plate too though.

So I finished the February is for Finishing KAL with four of the seven projects I had on the needles finished. I finished the un-cowl on Wednesday night at SnB, the ladies pronounced it cute and that was that. I did end up going with the low roll neck like A suggested and I really like the neckline it created; overall this one fits really well and I'm hoping to have some pics to post tonight as soon as I can get O to take a good pic. Dad's socks, O's sweater and Lady E are still in progress.

In the wave of all that finishing I did have an overwhelming urge to cast on something new the minute March began so I've started a secret baby something for one of the baby showers I've been invited to at the end of the month. I'll show it once the gift has been recieved by the parents as I want it to stay a secret until then. It's going nicely so far and should be a nice quick and simple knit that I can take to work with me. I'm also swatching for the Central Park hoodie which I've had the yarn for for quite some time but that's less of a priority as there's no timeline and it's for me.


Turns out all you need to get a reluctant little person to brush his teeth is to do it with a spaceman electric toothbrush. He used to kick and scream like a maniac while I brushed and O restrained him but now he goes into the bathroom five times a day to get the brush. He was playing with it this morning. The shiny spot on his forehead is baby toothpaste.

I couldn't help myself but take this one, he was peeking in on O in the shower and getting ready for his bath. The kneesocks and diaper are a great look. I took some even cuter ones but this is a family blog.