Gifts from Aunt Emma

Baby Helen received some amazing handmade gifts, before she was even born!

Emma crocheted not one, but two incredible afghans which now adorn the nursery. This beautiful hexagonal one she gave us a while back and we knew someday it would be well loved by our future child.


This super-soft Emma original was a fabulous shower gift. (Emma also hosted the surprise shower!)


Emma's afghans look so gorgeous in the nursery!


And then she knitted her a dress! Here is baby H modeling it (at 17 days old) while cuddling with the knitter herself:


The dress has silver lizard buttons!

(That's me holding her in that one.)

Baby H is so fortunate to have such a talented, generous, and loving Aunt Emma!!!

Rhinebeck 2007

I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it to Rhinebeck this year, seeing as how I had a not-quite-6-week-old baby (this was way back on Oct. 20), but we went and it was a great time! Emma came up for the weekend, and the 4 of us packed into our trusty station wagon and drove up Route 9. Rhinebeck is much closer to where we live now than when we lived in Brooklyn. We didn't get there at the crack of dawn -- it was more like 10am -- but we lucked out and got an awesome parking spot. The day was warm and sunny, full of gorgeous yarn, adorable fiber animals, and decadent food.


Emma and I are overwhelmed by all the pretty yarn...


Baby Helen loves wool; she just doesn't know it yet.


The ever patient husband


Baby Helen hides from the obsessive knitters in her pumpkin hat.

This is pumpkin hat #2. It's a tad big, which is fine because it rolls up (in theory at least) and it will probably still fit her next autumn! (Pumpkin hat #1 I sent to Helen's cousin who was born in August, but ended up fitting the 3-year-old big sister instead! Not sure if it's my own gauge issues, or if the sizing in Itty Bitty Hats is a bit off.)

In the above picture, you can also kind of see the beautiful dress that Emma knit! I have better pictures of the dress, which I will post at a later date.

And here Emma and I are enjoying some of the aforementioned decadent food:


Here are some of my Rhinebeck purchases, which were pretty under control this year:


Two skeins of Brooks Farm Solana, which I'm thinking may become an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Sweater...


One skein of Spirit Trail Fiberworks Superwash Merino, which may be destined to become a baby hat...


Some cute buttons which would look lovely on a baby cardigan...(Getting a bit repetitive here, now that I think of it...)


And a beautiful wooden swift! (Ball winder too, but it's not as photogenic.)

And that's pretty much it, aside from a bottle of lavender Eucalan, which I didn't bother photographing.

Baby Helen's first sweater

Baby Helen's first sweater
Started: July 8, 2007
Finished: November, 2007 (actually I finished the knitting over the summer but finally finished the finishing in November, once I was able to try it on the baby and be sure it would fit)
Pattern: "One Piece, one button, child's seamless pullover," by Nina Shishkoff -- purchased at Knittingsmith
Modifications: Shortened the neck ribbing, put the stripes on both sleeves, made several other changes to make it fit a 20" chest, smaller than the smallest size offered in the pattern (but I didn't take very good notes)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted, in Sunshine (less than 1 skein) and Blackberry (leftovers)
Needles: US 5 Denises, US 5 dpns

Gotta start somewhere...

I've been gone way too long. I've got a lot to blog about, so much in fact, that I'm not sure where to start! Which is probably why I've put it off so long. So finally I've decided to just dive in.

Baby Helen Rose was born on September 10, 2007. 6 lbs., 8 oz. at birth, much bigger now! She is an absolute joy, and I love every moment I spend with her (which is a lot of moments). She keeps me very busy, another reason why I've been such a bad blogger.

Also in the past few months: I went to Rhinebeck; joined Ravelry; knitted another pair and a half of Knucks, several baby hats, tiny baby mitts, and a baby sweater; and bought a fair amount of yarn. More details and pictures to come.