Wednesday, October 31, 2007

All about babies......

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Well, the last week has been all about babies - and that's always good! (Caution - long post, very little knitting content!)

Last Wednesday, we picked up my niece Jessica from the airport - she'd flown in from Austin. Yes, it was odd that we didn't recognize her right away, since it has only been 5 months since we've seen her. I have to say in our defense that in those 5 months she's gotten glasses and gotten 5 months pregnant. She's rounder than she used to be!!!

Thursday my parents drove up from Kentucky, and my youngest brother brought his 5-month-old daughter over for supper, which was a lot of fun. (That's how it is when mom & dad are home. My brothers and their families are over for meals and visits and its lots of fun and I love it and I get NOTHING done the whole time. Yay!!) Friday my nephew Zach showed up on his way home to California from the east coast. Since Drew is also home from California right now, it meant that the whole family was actually home at the same time for the first time since Jess's wedding last May.

Saturday was Jessica's baby shower. Somehow between Friday night and Saturday afternoon, I managed to sew 7 baby receiving blankets. These have become my favorite baby gift to give! I simply purchase 1.25 yards of flannel and turn a hem all the way around. They have such cute fabrics, and moms love them because they are heavier and larger than receiving blankets that you buy. Since we know that Jessica is having a girl (Josephine!) I got to pick out 3 girly fabrics for her shower gift. I also made an extra 4 (2 neutral, 1 girl and 1 boy) for her sister Amanda, since at the time I didn't know what her new baby would be.

IMG_3850.JPG

We got a great picture (I'll post a copy when I can) of my 3 oldest nieces - Amanda due 10/29, Amber due in January and Jessica due in March. (Amanda & Jessica are sisters and Amber is their cousin.)

(Did you know that I don't like to sew really? That's the downside of these blankets. I have to sew. I decided to try a fusible webbing for turning the hems under and then sewing, avoiding the tedious process of pinning all that hem. Really, ironing all that hem under twice and fusing the webbing was pretty much as tedious! And even tho I followed the directions and used a pressing cloth, the bottom of my iron got all gooey. Tip: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser cleans that right off!)

Sunday after church my mom and I took my 3-year-old great-niece Grace along to Walmart and ran some other errands. She is so much fun - I especially love hearing her talk to/about my dad "Grandpa Ed." (His name is Ned!) She has somehow not noticed that N yet! Sunday evening I enjoyed a lovely dinner with
RPW's family, celebrating my Godson's 11th birthday - check out her post for pictures of how he's grown!!

Which brings us to Monday, when Amanda gave birth to Whitney Lyne! She's a beauty, 8 lbs 2 oz. Both mother and baby are doing well, and may come home today. Whitney got 3 of the receiving blankets (not the rockets!) and 2 hats, the Louisa Harding angora and the 3rd Fetching Inspired Hat that I made from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino.

IMG_3804.JPG
Finished!

(I cast it on Sunday evening and finished it last night!) (That closes out the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in cream that I used to make Grace's baptismal gown 3 years ago - so that's some stash busted!)

Whew. So, back to the regularly scheduled knitting.

IMG_3851.JPG

It's still baby knitting, of course, but it's all good!

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

2 comments:

RPW said...

Is it just me, or does it seem like there is something in your family's water that is repelling that "Y" chromosome lately?

Just an observation....

By the way, both of you ladies have been tagged at my blog....you'll have to find it...I can never remember to do that href thingy.

Designated Knitter said...

Oh yeah, there is nary a "Y" chromosome to be found! I'm all about the knitting pink, but come on!!!

Right. Tagged. I'll do that - you may have to keep nagging me, I'm notoriously forgetful.

;)