I'm BAAAAAAAAck~

Sorry for the long absence! Here is the reason I was gone so long:

Introducing, Erin Marie. She was born on 5-4-09. She's less than a week old here in this photo but we still managed to catch a random smile for the camera :-) The pregnancy really wore me out, and most days I just didn't have the energy or inclination to drag out the camera and the cord to hook it to the computer to download pics to upload here. Actually, most days I didn't have the energy or inclination to even knit! LOL. I did manage to get my february lady sweater done, and I know I took pics of me wearing it while pregnant but of course I can't find them. I will find them eventually and post them here. It turned out well. Maybe a bit too wide, but it is a nice big comfy sweater after all. I also made several crochet market bags. My favorite was out of knit picks new organic cotton, but I can't take photos of it b/c my MIL claimed it LOL. And I finished a simple pair of striped socks from knitpicks' felici, the one my hubby got me for Christmas. I just made simple 2x2 ribbed socks with them, toe up with heel flap and gusset. Those were my hospital socks, to wear after I had the baby. I made a lace pair with the new "mermaid lagoon" colorway from knitpicks' inspiration yarn (can you tell I am a big fan of knitpicks??) but they ended up being wayyyyyyy too small for me. I gave them to my MIL (just to show you how badly I messed up the gauge on these, my MIL wears a size 6 shoe, I wear an 8.5, and they fit her almost perfectly! OOPS!). However, my MIL has a sensitivity to wool, and these are alpaca, so she's not sure she'll be able to wear them. I was pretty bummed b/c I really like that yarn and spent a lot of time and brainpower on them but oh well.

This is my latest project. Well, in addition to the 2 pairs I have on the needles (a plain stockinette pair and a lacey patterned/charted pair both made out of Happy Feet), I saw this pattern and just couldn't resist. Plus, I had the perfect yarn for it! The pattern is here: http://mscreate.typepad.com/BoltsFinal.pdf I ended up doing a short row heel instead, just because the striping sequence was going so well I didn't want to have to cut the yarn.

I could not have planned the stripes better if I tried. However, since I actually am only doing one sock at a time (I figured 4 balls of yarn would be too much to deal with!), I doubt I'll be able to duplicate it for the second sock. I may end up cutting the yarn to get the stripes to line up if I have to.

See. the thin purple stripe ended up at the beginning and end and middle of the heel as if I had planned it that way, which I hadn't!

It also ended up at the last row of the toe!

This is the top of the foot.

I meant to get a photo of the inside too, to show how my floats look (not bad, if I do say so myself!) but I forgot. I will when they are finished. They fit too, which is always good! LOL. I'm very very pleased with them. The dark purple is knitpicks kettle dyed in eggplant. The striped one, I can't honestly remember. I think it might have some bamboo in it?? It is stash yarn I've had for a while. I had started another pair of fairisle socks with these two yarns but the difficulty level was too much for my pregnant brain so I frogged them. I'm glad, these are turning out great!

Still recovering from the c-section, so I am missing my knitting buddies. I haven't been able to make it to the last couple weekly meet ups. Hopefully next week, I'm going thru withdrawl LOL. I also hope to post here more often. Thanks for reading!