Well it’s not the surprise you might think it is but I’m excited to be knitting for a baby again. My brother and his longtime partner, Maggie, are expecting a baby in September. The shower is August 1 and hopefully neither one of them is reading this blog.

Mums the word, k?

BTW: You might recognize the wool which has been surprisingly hard to come by lately. Does anyone know where to get Jitterbug these days?

So far this year, in just January and February, I have managed to finish six pairs of socks…albeit *baby* socks. The other orange pair has been given to Baby Reece and the other purple pair were not ribbed (a mistake on my part) and therefore not photographed with the group above.

I decided it is now time to start an adult pair.

The “moss” colored Jitterbug (above) waiting patiently in my stash, was just screaming for another leafy stitch pattern so inspired by the Yarn Harlot’s rendition, I downloaded the Sleepy Hollow sock pattern.  I hope I read the instructions as well as Stephanie did (wink wink).

Feels kind of funny to be knitting a sock from the cuff down…it’s been so long.

I realized I have lots of sock yarn stash.

The lovely Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR came from my good friend Liz Plam who attended the Sock Summit last summer and is in fact a special edition created exclusively for SS09.

And here is some heavenly Malabrigo sock which the ADD knitter used with my favorite sock pattern – Embossed Leaves. I’ve made three pairs with the EL pattern already, even in yellow, that’s how much I love it.

In the meantime, people here in the Bay Area have been grousing about the weather. It’s been rather heavy lately this being an “El Niño” year but I think it’s great. Everything is so beautiful green and growing like mad. Spring blossoms are everywhere. Plus it reminds me of the awesome Pacific Northwest which I miss. So the rain makes it feel like home and it’s wonderful weather for knitting. Liz even got out today and did some weeding.

More rain is on the way!

Thanks to Antwan for taking a few minutes at halftime to model the latest baby sock for me. More to come.

2/8/10: I just learned that Chrissy Gardner has published a book entitled Toe-Up! and you can find out more about the book at its website. I took a class from Chrissy a few years ago in Portland, Oregon and she is a fabulous teacher, sock knitter and designer. So if you’re interested in learning how to knit socks from the toe up, Chrissy’s book would be a good place to start.

Here are my two children, Alice and Max, in 1991, when we first moved to Oregon. Alice was only about six months old in this photo. Seems like yesterday.

*sigh*

If you are a parent of young children, go and hug your child right now. Go. Now. I’ll wait for you. The one thing I wish I had done more, was to hug them and hold them while they were still little. You can never give your child too much love.

This shot was taken in July 2003 and many of you will recognize the famous landmark in the background. It was a warm and dry summer evening and even though Alice hates this photo, it’s one of my favorites.

And this is Max and Alice from two days ago. Yes, Alice is now a high school graduate and I am officially an empty nester. Time for some big adventures…for all of us. With any luck, we’ll have a college graduate by this time next year.

A shout out and big congratulations to a trio of young women who were members of the first graduating class of Union High School in Vancouver, Washington and are now entering the “real world” as my friend Patricia likes to say. From left to right it’s Alice, Gabby and Chelsey. Good Luck to all of you.

So what about knitting? This blog is supposed to be about knitting after all and no, I haven’t forgotten how.

In fact, I finished the May pair of socks and immediately cast on for June’s pair pictured above. They’re the Ribbed Ribbons pattern from Wendy Johnson’s book, Socks from the Toe-Up in lovely Malabrigo sock which I’m enjoying very much. SO utterly soft and stretchy and yummy. The colorway pictured here is #416 “Indiecita”.

Stay tuned. I haven’t given up knitting…not by a long shot! I’m only just starting.

preemie cap, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

Last Friday I went to the Knit and Crochet show at the convention center in Portland, Oregon where I browsed vendors and tried hawking my t-shirts. Among the yarn vendors, stood a quiet little booth for Knit One, Save One, a program sponsored by Save the Children. I was instantly intrigued. It wasn’t long before I had knit my first preemie cap, day before yesterday actually, and wondered to myself “Why have I never made one before?”

They’re fast. They’re easy. They use up leftover yarn. They’re for a good cause. They’re for babies. I mean what’s NOT to love about these little caps. Please get involved if you can.

The campaign requires only three things of you: 1) Knit or crochet a cap. 2) Write a letter to the president elect telling him how much you care about the needs of newborns around the world and 3) donate $10 toward a newborn care kit. The deadline is December 31. Visit the Knit One, Save One website or write me at heavydutydesign (AT) gmail (DOT) com if you have more questions.

baby surprise jacket, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

It takes a lot of faith to make a baby surprise jacket (hereafter know as the bsj). Even though I have made one before, it’s still hard to be sure that you’re doing the right thing. You follow the instructions as closely as you can bearing in mind that they’re written in an offbeat conversational way. You knit away and knit away and end up with an oddly shaped piece of knitted fabric. I’ve heard it described as a manta ray. But then you fold it up like origami and voila! Like magic, you have an adorable little baby jacket.

The only sewing up required are the shoulder seams. oh yeah, and the buttons (read previous post). But seeing as how the baby has already been born, I want to be sure he gets this before he graduates from high school.

The details, such as the pretty little border produced with a bind off in purl, are lovely.

And the best part on this particular jacket was the price. The cost of materials, including buttons – less than $5.

I guess I’m too practical to put an infant in expensive fiber only to have him (or her) spit up all over it. I suppose that’s the German in me.

Speaking of Germany, I’m sending a couple of felted…er…knitted gifts along with Alice who is leaving on the 18th. I’ll post a pic soon.

babyAlice, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

Just trying to get his blog up and running and playing around with Flickr, etc. So yeah, this is test.