Monday, April 13, 2009

Springtime!

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. It's been rather a busy couple of months!

First of all, about 5 days after my last post, I was offered a great job in a small law firm! So now I'm a legal secretary and in charge of all the personal injury and medical malpractice cases. I'm really loving it so far, especially the small size and friendliness of the firm. The only downside is that work really cuts into my knitting time, so I don't have much to show for the last two months of not posting.

Second of all, Walker and I adopted a new kitty! We adopted her from a shelter, she's about seven months old and her name is Branwen:

Isn't she adorable? We're hoping she'll make a good playmate for Jericho and are working on the adjustment phase while Walker's looking for a job. (He's been having a little bit of luck with that lately, actually! He had a substitute teaching gig last week and is editing a book for a family friend, yay!) So far, she's still a little skittish, but she's getting more adventurous by the day and we suspect that she actually plays with Jericho at night, when she knows were not there to see it happen. She tries to be dignified, but we know the truth!

Thirdly, wedding plans are coming along nicely! We hit the 6-month mark last week and booked a photographer and picked a florist. We've also received the finished invitations, so you should be expecting your save-the-dates soon! So exciting!

Now, knitting:

Because I promised Charlotte a hat, here it is:It's a little bit long, but I really love the pattern! If you love it, I will be very happy to send it to you (you might have to tell me what your address is again). If you don't, I can try to make my first sale on the website that was recently brought to my attention: http://www.etsy.com/ (I hope to also sell the baby sweater I'm working on here when I finish it). The yarn I used is also a little bit yucky, since I thought I'd try acrylic again to see if I was being a snob over nothing. Turns out I still don't like acrylic yarn.

Which is too bad since I bought enough of it to make me a lovely pink sweater:

This is a slight variation on the Ramona sweater in the Sensual Knits book. The original design is by (Yahaira Ferreira), but I changed the center seam to a cable instead of having to knit it like a cardigan and then sew the front together. That was more me being lazy and not wanting to spend too much time working with acrylics since knitting in the round goes a lot faster for me. I also brought the armpits up a little and nipped the waist in a bit. I really like the way the sweater turned out--it fits really well. I just wish I'd used a different yarn.The other reason I bought the acrylic yarn is that it's a really good choice for baby clothing since very often wool irritates their sensitive skin. I'm trying my hand at a little designing, leaning heavily on The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Interweave Press for measurement suggestions since I have no idea how big babies are. The rest of it, including the little boat pattern, is all me, though:

I hope this turns out to be cute and fits some adorable baby! I finished the back of it and am about halfway through the front and then the sleeves and finishing should be pretty easy. There should also be plenty for making matching booties! I have no idea how I would set a price for a handknit baby sweater--by the hour would be too much since I'm already at 4 hours and not even done with the torso. Any suggestions; I am fairly new at this selling game?

I'm also really sorry I haven't mailed you guys the items you've claimed. With the compiling of guest list addresses, they were handed over to my mother before I got the chance to mail them. So Christina and Sunmi, you might have to remind me where to send your things.

One more cute kitty picture:


-Allie