Knits for Babies!

I've been meaning to post, and I've been busy, so it hasn't happened. I run the newsletter AND website AND Facebook page for the CSA to which I belong, which means a LOT of posting and writing weekly. Work is having me move to support a different customer, which means wrapping up things I have done for the current/past customer, waaaay more commuting to Long Island ('scuse me, "Lon GAISland") than I planned, and an ongoing disagreement about whether I would be moving to LI or just occasionally roost in a hotel there.

Meanwhile, I have gotten some knitting and crocheting done. The plans to keep knitting for me, or finish FOs, have gone kinda sideways because I suddenly needed to make a bunch of baby things. I did knit a shawl for myself while on the family trip out west (oh, yeah, I should blog about that, shouldn't I? GREAT photos) out of Bernat's Handicrafter Cotton in a "Summer of Love" shade that isn't on their website. It has white, orange, and purple in it, and I just made a simple shawl until the yarn ran out. Love it! I'll get a picture one of these days.

Most of what I have done is for babies. There seems to be a rash of them and I'm having fun with various patterns. First done was this one, for a young man named Nathan Josiah:

I used the pattern for Evelyn's No-Sew Blankie but in Joann's Sensations Rainbow Classic yarn instead of handspun. Because big sister Judith was getting a baby boy doll at the same time, I used some of the remaining yarn to make a similar appropriately-sized blankie for her doll:

Then I went back to finishing a crocheted blanket my mother asked me to make for a friend of hers who was going to be a grandmother again. I'd made blankets when her twin grandsons were born, and the boys LOVE the blankets. After hearing all the stories, I have no problem with making a blanket for the new baby. I had to put it aside when I found out that Nathan was due at the end of June, not the end of July as I'd mis-remembered. This blanket used two baby-coloured yarns (they aren't sure of the gender) and part of the Circles to Squares Afghan pattern:While on a trip back to Dallas to see friends, and a friend's play (which was TERRIFIC!), I whipped up a quick Father's Day gift for a friend of mine who was surprised to learn that he is committing parenthood again. I'd been wishing that someone would have a girl baby because I found two really cute patterns, one for booties made of a sparkly yarn to look like ruby slippers, and the other for a hat. Since Kari will be born in Kansas, ruby slippers seem the perfect gift!And here's the current project, using the vendor's pattern and the correct yarn, and it's coming along. Not as quickly as I would like, as I haven't as much knitting time as I would like, but it's growing steadily. My grandmother (who is one of the people who taught me to knit and now is having issues with fine needlework) asked if I would help make something special for the coming grandbaby of some dear friends of hers back in Hawai'i. I think this will do, don't you?

I have been baking my own bread, from starter that I've gently nursed. Today's loaf contains a splash of (real, of course) maple syrup as the sugar part of the recipe and while it doesn't add a noticeable taste, my starter seems to love it. The warm kitchen probably helped. I have a few veggies from the last CSA delivery that I was able to collect (my share partners get to divide mine into theirs on the weeks I am on LI) and roasted the root ones while the bread was in the oven, to avoid heating the kitchen any more than necessary.

Dessert tonight is vanilla gelato with fresh blueberries, and fresh cherries that I picked up at a local Farmer's Market last Sunday and left in the 'fridge while I was gone. I shop there because my CSA doesn't deliver fruit, and I love the peaches, cherries, and so on. Last weekend they had four types of cherries on sale - I bought three of them! Along with pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, apricots, and some yummy Italian ice that was perfect to savor while listening to the band that performed. Every week there's some new performer, and the Italian ice stand brings different flavours. See you there?