Monday, January 05, 2009

Welcome 2009!

I took these pictures on New Year's Eve with the intentions of posting something on New Year's Eve. Yeah, it has been that busy around here. Ever since we got back, I have been on a mission to clean and organize the house. And I got to catch up on my blog reading.2008? What can I say. It went by in a blur. I had Melody on January 14, 2008 and then my life was consumed by her. I really don't remember much. I think I began to resurface when she hit 6 months and the colic went away. People say that you will forget the hardships of taking care of a newborn infant, but I still remember the colicky phase. 2008 was the Year of Melody. (Can you see her teeth? She now has been on a major teeth growth spurt. 4 on top and 3 on the bottom.) So, her FIRST birthday is coming up. Too soon, in fact! I am so unprepared because the holidays kept me really busy. My sister, Jo, will be coming from Boston to attend Melody's birthday party and she will be helping me plan the party. I don't know what I would do without my sister. She has a talent for organizing and planning parties. I sent her a frantic email 2 days ago, and she calmly emailed me back with what we need to decide on first. If you give her a party theme, she will seek out wonderful party decorations and she is a bargain hunter, too. My baby shower was a bird theme and she made the invitations herself.In these pictures, she is wearing a hand knit vest from her grandmother, my MIL. Her grandmother knit her two vests and one cardigan with a matching scarf for Christmas.I couldn't forget about the fur-babies while I was taking photos of Melody on New Year's Eve. Both the dogs rang in the New Year with us when we watched the ball drop in Times Square on the television. I was so glad to be home that night because it was freezing outside. DH has been very busy at work and just wanted to stay home and relax.
I was surprised to see this photo when I uploaded the pictures from my computer. Not sure what I did, but this was not edited at all. It made me laugh. It's like I took a picture of Caesar's aura.

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I still have pictures to take of the projects I finished in 2008. I am slowly entering them in on my Ravelry page and I am trying to take some photos when I have a few spare moments.I call this the Baby Winter Set.
These booties were made with the leftover yarn from the baby shrug. There was barely any yarn leftover to seam up the booties, so it was a close call. The Winter Bootees pattern is from She's Crafty. I bought the the pdf pattern for Issue 2.For the shrug, I made the 6-9 month size and it came out huge. She won't be able to wear it for a while. It looks like it can fit a 2 year old. But Melody is on the petite size.It is knit all in one piece, but there is seaming involved. Lots of mattress stitch. And for the seaming to look nice, you have to be able to mattress stitch in the different directions the knitting changes from the body to the sleeves. Then there is the ardous task of picking up the stitches to make the ribbing for the cuffs, lower back edging and front edging. I felt that this shrug required a lot of finishing, but I am happy with the results.
I thought about embellishing it with some simple embroidered flowers, but decided to leave it plain. I think it's good to have a simple plain shrug that is versatile with her other clothes.

Pattern: Baby Shrug (free pattern from HERE), but it's also in the book, Simply Baby.
Needle: US 8 / 5.0 mm and US 9 / 5.5 mm
Yarn: 2 balls of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Solid in color: Linen #99
The leftover yarn was enough to make the Winter Bootees.

23 comments:

misplacedpom said...

You have a very cute family, dogs included!

Sue said...

The shrug and booties are adorable. Melody always looks so sweet in her pictures. The dogs are so cute and I love the aura pic.

Rebekah said...

Good luck with the party plans! Melody looks so cute with all of her teeth :)

I love the baby shrug that you made and those booties too!

LadyTr0uble said...

Happy New Year!

I'd originally started reading your blog for the knitting, but I swear I have been haunting your blog, even on busy days, just for pix of Melody more often than not. She is SO cute, I want to bite her!

Rima said...

Your kiddo looks lovely with her new teeth. She has grown! And her grandma did do some knitting ;)

Nice shrug. The color is great. Very...calming.

Corrie said...

I swear that shrug turned out huge when I made it for keira...I made a size 2 and its really a size 3 but at least it will get 2 winters out of it!

melody is so cute...oh by the way you totally forget the first few months of a baby otherwise women wouldn't have babies...trust me I totally forget sleepless nights, teething and 24/7 supervision! totally forgot it and look what happened...3 under 3. thankfully once they become little chatterboxes all is forgiven

Corrie:)

rohanknitter said...

Well, I don't think I'll ever forget my oldest's 6 mos of colic - but the pain has faded, lol! ; ) His bday is in January too, and I always feel I've barely recovered from Christmas and it's time for another party!
I love the shrug & booties - I would love to get better at finishing things like that, maybe I need a good book or something.
Love the pics of the pups, too!

Anonymous said...

Love the booties and shrug!
Melody is SUCH a cutie pie!

LittleCanoe said...

I love the picture of your puppy! And Melody, she just gets cuter by the day!

Christy T said...

it's funny... that little girl gets cuter every time I see her!!!

Love the baby set... Very cute :)

Jennie said...

Look at the cute little teeth :)

Micki said...

Cute baby set! And of course, Melody and the boys are always adorable.

flanthrower said...

Happy New Year! Melody looks even cuter with teeth. I can't believe she's going to be one so soon! I guess time really does fly, huh?

Anonymous said...

Wow, I can't believe Melody is almost one already! What a milestone! :)

CynCyn said...

happy new year (round 1)!! melody is so so so stinkin' cute, can't wait for all the 1st b-day pics.

i feel like all of DB's patterns require a lot of finishing. i'm not a big fan of her actual patterns, but the finished objects are simply adorable.

Sam said...

Your daughter is adorable! And the baby set is gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

Melody is just cuter and cuter every day! She looks darling with those teeth!

Happy New Year to you and your family--can't wait to see what cute things you knit up this year :)

hetty said...

Happy 2009, Oiyi! The shrug is lovely and I agree with you. It doesn't need any embellishments. The little booties are nice too. The fur babies are cute and Melody... well, what can I say. She is the cutest!

jacquie said...

you make the most beautiful things. i wish you lived next door and we could sit over tea or coffee and you could teach me all these wonderful skills you have. *sigh*

Anonymous said...

Happy 2009! Melody looks so cute in her vest. Love the new project too - cute booties...

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness. One year old. How time flies.

teresa fsw said...

Melody is such a big girl now! She's such a cutie! We do reminisce the times when my four year old was a little baby. There's more to come. It'll be more interesting and challenging when she starts having her own opinions and you will have a little one talking back to you, bargaining with you, etc! Enjoy your motherhood! ^_^

Anonymous said...

Happy 2009!! What a cute shrug! I can't believe your little girl is almost 1-wow! Happy (early) 1st b-day!!!