Wandering Minds: February 2010

Is pregnancy contagious?

I've come to the conclusion that working at a large pediatric center means you are going to be surrounded by pregnant women.

I've already made (and given)two baby gifts and need six (I think) more in the next four months.

I found washable wool on sale, so I have 10 skeins of blue, 10 of raspberry, 3 of the green and 15 red (DK weight) in the stash at the moment.

Only two of the women know what sex the baby is, so I need a lot of gender neutral designs. I didn't want to make a BSJ out of worsted weight (the last one turned out huge), so I needed to find a few new patterns.

Here's the first of the six. This one is for someone who knows the baby is a boy.

Close up of the cute buttons I got on sale today.

Pattern: Mitred U Baby Jacket - apparently free on her web site, though I used it out of the 2005 calendar (had to use it sometime)

Yarn: Moda Dea Washable Wool

Needles: Size 5 (and it claimed to be worsted weight yarn)

Mods: Couldn't figure out how to make the edging pretty the way it was written, so I used short rows instead.

Vegas

Where else can you find "dream" size chocolate candies?

Fountains to entertain?

Tigers made of flowers? (okay, might have been plastic)

An indoor garden decorated for Chinese New Year..

With lots...

and lots...

of pretty flowers to snap pictures of?

If you didn't get the theme, I was recently in Vegas for a week long conference. It was very informative and I'm glad I went both for the education received and the networking opportunities there.

This was my second trip to Vegas. I managed to get out and walk the strip three times during the week including a show one night. Going by yourself is not nearly as much fun as taking a friend along. Thankfully, knitting once again came to the rescue and I had a great companion to spend the last evening wandering town with.

Look what I found

(I apoligize for the glare, but you don't get to pick where the sun is)

Hrm... what's this?

Smells good.. wonder where it came from.

What do you mean, these are for you?

See Kate, instant cat bed :)

Welcome Home!

Now, this is the way to be welcomed home. I recognized the address on the package, so I knew this one was from my knitty SP. Thanks Kate!

Open it up... (and I had to use a sharp knife, it was taped REALLY well)

Take off the tissue paper. Now.. I almost stopped here. While most knitters seem to have a basic ability to use a sewing machine, I'm not one of them. I look at a sewing machine and it breaks into a million pieces. I _LOVE_ getting hand sewn (or machine sewn as the case may be) projects. (I did take a pic of me with my jaw dropped, but I've been traveling today and it was just too scary to share)

Goodies that were inside the bag. I need to look up the sugar free peeps. I may actually be able to eat these as they weren't made with nutrasweet or splenda as far as I can tell.

iPhone bag pr0n

MMM.. hot chocolate.

Next bag. I actually resisted looking for the yarn in this package. I was so taken with the wrapping "paper".

Both bags together. See how they fold over on the top to show off the lining. I may hand sew that part down so I can put in a drawstring. I'm afraid if I leave them open, I'll find half a cat in it (whole cat wouldn't fit.. yes, I have a fat cat)

Oh wait... this was a knitty swap, so YARN :)

Now, I'm not sure how Kate knew I had just pulled out a skein of Barefoot to make socks with. I may have to substitute this one, the colors are great!

Yarn pr0n via iPhone. CTH superwash worsted merino. This one might have to be mittens, imagine these colors with my orange coat!

By now, I'm totally in shock and completely awed at my box's contents. Did I even think to look for a card? Nope. But as I went to hide the box from the cats (they like the tape), out dropped an envelope with this in it. Hey Kate, did you make the card too????