You can spot a knitter's baby anywhere.

And possibly a spinner's too.





See the hat and sweater on Ravelry. Can you believe she's 7 months old? I can't.

Does this mean I'm returning to blogging? I don't know. I'm crafting at a slower pace these days. Or at least finishing at a slower pace; I seem to be starting things at the same rate and then feeling overwhelmed.

Meet baby Eliza

Born Wednesday, March 11, 2009 10:28 am
8 lbs 5 oz
19 1/2 in long

Likes: breastmilk, handknits
Dislikes: diaper changes, socks

Everything but the baby.

At last, everything is done, purchased, washed, sorted, and put away! It feels so good.

Here's kind of a walking tour of the nursery. It's a little crowded (there was much measuring and rearranging to get all of this furniture to fit!), but I prefer to think of it as cozy.

I'll be spending lots of time here! The chair is a rocker/recliner. The lever is cleverly hidden in between the right arm and the seat cushion. The upholstery was the inspiration for the whole room.





All supplies on hand: cloth wipes, meds, toys, books...



Cloth diapers (prefolds and fitteds with covers) all ready to go.



Diaper pail (with waterproof liner) and another basket we received as a gift. I'm not sure if I'll use it for laundry or toys or what, but it's super cute.



Birds above the window -- pattern from Spool Sewing (link to pdf). Branch from our front yard.



There's a trundle under that bed, but nowhere to pull it out! The twin bed and dressers were already in the room.



Tons of tiny clothes!



This dresser and the matching night stand were in my room growing up.


That's it!

Oh, and I did manage to knit a couple more soakers, this time from Peace Fleece.

I started spinning yarn for another one, but it looks like I need to order a new bearing for the Schacht before I can finish. :(

January Recap: Soakers are the new socks.

Sorry to be so silent. I have been knitting and spinning quite a lot, but if I had blogged it play-by-play, you would all be drooling right now from all the redundancy. So let's just round it all up into one post, shall we?

Soakers are the new socks around here. They're quick, they're easy, they will actually get used (unlike a lot of woolens in Texas weather), and I can satisfy my nesting urge while sitting on my butt, which is much easier on my very pregnant body than, say, steam cleaning the carpets.

For those of you thinking, "what's a soaker?" it's a cover that you put over cloth diapers to make them waterproof. We all know the wonders of wool, but when used for this purpose, it really is like magic. When treated with lanolin, it makes a breathable layer that absolutely stops leaks. So, while knitting this March baby a bunch of sweaters would be a little pointless, knitting soakers is downright practical.

I spent all of New Years Eve and New Years Day spinning, and off I went. I haven't really stopped since. I have 4 newborn size, 6 smalls, and 4.5 mediums so far.

1. globe soaker, 2. Red Velvet Soaker, 3. Red Velvet Soaker, 4. Acadia Soaker, 5. E soaker, 6. Raisin Wannabe Soaker, 7. Raisin Wannabe Soaker, 8. Rainbow Ruffle Soaker, 9. Rosebud Soaker, 10. All-Star Soaker, 11. Hive Soaker, 12. Hive Soaker, 13. Forces of Nature Soaker, 14. Forces of Nature Soaker, 15. In progress

I did manage to churn out a couple of hats as well, one baby-sized and one daddy-sized.

Cubba, by Woolly Wormhead


Thorpe, by Kirsten Kapur, felted because apparently even a top-down hat isn't completely foolproof!

Given my to-be-soaker stash, I predict more of the same for February.

In other news, the nursery is 99% complete, but I can't really show you yet because the 1% that is incomplete is the lighting. We installed the ceiling fan and the blades turn, but the lights don't work. And the outlet where I was going to plug in a lamp on the changing table is also dead. So we need to do some troubleshooting. In the meantime, it's a little dark!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Thanks, everyone, for all the complements on my sewing. I'll show you the rest of it when the nursery is finished, which should be next month sometime!

I went out in the 80 degree weather this weekend and strung lights on the house, and we picked out a fresh tree and brought it home and I decorated it, and whaddyaknow, it's been cold and wintery all week. I've even been listening to a little Christmas music.

I've even done a little Christmas knitting and spinning. First, an ornament for a gift exchange.

It's the Cabled Globe Ornament from Knitting Daily, knit out of some handspun BFL and improvised with some Rauma Finullgarn holly leaves and berries. To make the leaves, follow the instructions for the Christmas tree in the August chapter of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac, but three-needle bind off down the center instead of knitting the trunk. The berries are just tapered I-cord that's folded over and sewn on.

And you may remember that last year I knit stockings for all of the dogs based on mitten patterns. And then we traded Bruneaux to my MIL for Smiley? Well, sure enough, we were one stocking short. No longer!

Since she's a blue and white Aussie, it made sense to knit her a grey and white stocking, and I even found a chart in Selbuvotter that kind of looks like her. This was my first time using Dale Baby Ull (ack! superwash!) for colorwork, and at first I thought it was way too soft (give me my sticky Finullgarn!), but it all turned out ok in the end. Like the other dogs, her name and the year are knit into the cuff of her stocking.

Now, time to get back to that Christmas spinning!

Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone. I'll see you on the other side.