knit parade: in which there is much rambling about all the knitting

as you can imagine (though many of you probably don't) my knitting needles have been, as my friend from nook often says, "clicking away." rather nonstop, in fact.

for 6 weeks straight - until the end of the month in fact, i was working on this graphite beauty.

i can't show it to you yet because the pattern is yet to be released. but oh, it is my pride and joy. i think i've shown it to anyone who's visited my house at least twice, forgetting that i showed it to them already.  

8 skeins later, after all the seaming was done (and there wasn't too much), i only had this much yarn left.

it's by no means perfect. but when i was on a button search for this very thing, a fellow knitter window-shopping for buttons, apparently, asked me if the pattern was available on ravelry! 

AND it fits! it fits me! i get to wear it in the fall! 

there was much drama as i knit my precious. there was mismatching skeins of the variegated yarn. there was some really horrible mistakes. and there was some seriously epic tinking involved. but it's oh so worth it. 

there will be a good and proper show and tell once the pattern is released, i tell you.

this sweater's made me a sweater knitter. as in, i want to buy only sweater quantity yarn from now on. which means i need to burn through my predominantly single skein stash and save my pennies so i can live the dream of mostly wearing my very own handmade sweaters.  

grand plans, i tell you. i has'em. i has'em lots. like setting a goal of knitting at least 1 sweater for each member of my little family every year. there's only 4 of us, after all. it's doable. i've already knit 2 for the girl. the boy's up next. but first, the burning through my stash part.

and there happens to be a baby boom around me. i'm not having any more babies, alas. but a few dear friends and some of my cousins are. and babies are the best reason to knit like the wind and use up the stash.

babies are delicious all by themselves. i never pass up the chance to hold a sweet little babe. the littler the better. if i could bottle up that new baby smell, i totally would. what's more delicious and cozy and sweet is a baby covered in knits. 

this pile belongs to my cousin's little girl to be. she's due in september. she will need to be warm. 

pattern: stay-on baby booties
yarn: sweet georgia cashluxe fine

sadly, i won't be around to see these knits in action, in person. i am a faraway auntie. and it is my fervent hope that somehow that little baby feels a great big hug of love every time she wears my knits. 

those booties replace my cheeks where her teeny feet would've have clapped with my help. 

pattern: quynn
yarn: baby cashmerino aran

that hat is a kiss from me on her forehead. 

the sweaters are my surrogate arms enfolding her in her first 6 months...

pattern: baby surprise jacket
pattern: mystery yarn + debbie bliss cashmerino aran for the yarn

and in the second half of her first year.

pattern: in threes
yarn: spud and chloe sweater

i'll meet her someday soon. sooner than i expect, i hope. but i'm guessing that it won't be until she's outgrown one or more of my handmade gifts. 

(a new nephew was born just 2 days ago but he lives in the philippines, where, even cotton knits will be far too hot to wear. also, i did not have foreknowledge of his due date so i could not plan ahead. but i assure you that someday he will be smothered by me in the knitterliest (new word) of ways. )

in the mean time, the knitting continues to be a daily, nightly, stolen moment. an opportunity to collect myself, to reflect, to feel creative, and connected to whomever i am knitting for  - including myself. and believe me when i tell you, there's so much more where this little pile came from.