In celebration, I am, appropriately, going to talk about what I have been working on recently. Firstly, there's my oldest daughter's cabled cardigan. I've started sewing it together in earnest, and so far it's looking very nice - I tried it on her, and the fit is great with room to grow.
The only problem is that I'm still bummed I didn't have enough yarn to make full-length sleeves, because honestly, as much as she might say that she's okay with three-quarters, the whole point of making this thing was so she could have complete, cozy, warm, handknit-with-love coverage of everything from her neck to her hips. She should have full-length sleeves, dammit! However, since KnitPicks isn't getting any more of this yarn in this colour in until April, that seemed impossible.
Until I realised that I could use the same trick I used for a cardigan for DD3 a few years ago, and get some of their sock yarn in the same colour, and simply double it up! So I've ordered a single 50g ball and shall cross my fingers that a) this, doubled, will give me juuuust enough yardage for the full sleeves; b) the doubled sock yarn creates the same thickness of fabric as the worsted when done up in stocking stitch; and c) the dyelot isn't ridiculously off what I've already got. My order should arrive this week, so WE SHALL SEE. (I also took advantage of their sale on some Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries. I'm very excited about this order!) Yes, it'll suck knitting the two sleeves all over again, but my kid is worth it and she will look dynamite in this garment, I just know it.
I also started designing a few baby blankets. One of my cousins and his wife are expecting their second baby, so I am once again combining motifs from their ethnic heritages to make something (hopefully) awesome. As well, my brother's best friend (who has been super-supportive of my brother through some tough times) and his wife are expecting after a really, really long and difficult time of trying. So I thought it would be nice if I could make them something special. This second blanket is actually already on the needles and I'm quite happy with how it's turning out. I'm not quite sure where to submit this design once it's done, but I'll figure something out. (I've got so many baby blanket patterns now that I'm actually thinking of bundling them all up into a collection.)
And lastly - a FO! (Yes, those do happen around here occasionally.) I finished the sweater dress for the girl baby twin for my co-worker.
It's not quite as long as I wanted, but when you run out of yarn there's not much you can do. I tried really, really hard to find more of this yarn. I looked in the stash, in the project storage boxes all over the house, and even asked the children if they had any of it hiding out in their rooms. I got really excited when DD2 said yes and handed me a big ball of what looked like the same stuff - but sadly, when I got the two colours side by side they were obviously very different. I did find a few grams of some yarn that was exactly the same colour, but four-ply instead of three-ply. I also found a box full of emergency handknit baby gifts that included a very sweet vest-and-tam set made out of the same yarn, but I just couldn't bring myself to cannibalize it. (Plus, DD1 made the most pathetic hurt-puppy face when I suggested the idea out loud.) Lastly, I mulled over the idea of seeing if I could buy some more, but DH squashed that right away by asking, "Wasn't this supposed to be a stashbuster project?"
So...it's the length you see above, and it's still quite long for a sweater, and it looks adorable and sweet, and I'm pleased. (I did end up using the four-ply yarn at the very end where you can't notice, just to get another two rounds into it.)
Next to do: the matching tuxedo cardigan!
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