Chimpanzee does the dancy-dance

Oh, look, Jo made another Barbara Walker stitch sampler baby blanket that's impossible to photograph from any angle that does the little textured house and windmill bits justice:








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And, because The Spouse insisted, a picture of me trying to look sexy while simultaneously attempting to hide my gut:



I'm not actually holding up the blanket because, as a knitting pal pointed out this evening when I finished weaving in ends, those bobbles over the door and window are strategically placed on one's chest when one holds up house-shaped block in front of one's torso. My friend did not actually say anything, mind. She just waited until the admirer had walked away from the table, took the blanket from me, held it in front of her own torso, and snickered. Point taken. Er... Um... anyway. I'm posing next to the blanket in the above photo, not behind it, and you're welcome.

Dunno if it comes out, but the house is a pretty neat trick. I'm saving the castle from the same book for a soon-to-be-spawned second cousin, whom if I'm lucky will be born on my birthday.

In other news, I might (maybe?) get to teach a socks class in the fall. So now I'm daydreaming up the most gorgeous pair of socks I can imagine simply for show-off purposes. I'll keep the pattern to myself a)because I want to inspire theoretical and potential students to Think and b)y'all know I'm too lazy to actually write any of my patterns down.

In other OTHER news, Baby A for which the turtle blanket was knit has entered the world with black hair and blonde eyebrows. I can't wait to actually meet the little bugger. I think I've managed to beat Baby B (gingerbread house blanket) into the world by a couple of weeks.

P.S. - the title of this entry is from a dream I had last night about two of my friends showing me an imaginary YouTube video and singing along with it.

Snuggie bankie

My coworker is this ||<---- close to giving birth.

And I want her to hurry up and do it already so I can see her bambino wrapped up in this:



If you can (and I know it's hard), ignore the obvious construction flaws and check out some of the individual stitch patterns.

Barbara Walker may not be someone with whom I would ever like to have a conversation about anything, but she has some damn fine knitting books. My new knitting book policy of trial-by-library has concluded with my having to buy at least two of her stitch collections because I have maxed out my renewal privileges. Dead useful. And I'm getting a lot of stranger admiration, too.

I mean, look at this cable:



And this cute little guy:



I sewed a fabric backing on the blanket; I found children's pajama material (aka nonflammable) in the discount bin at JoAnn's and it had the exact same color stripes. This allowed me to stuff the turtle shell so it wouldn't pucker when you pet him.

Most of the problems with the blanket stem from the fact that a)I had no plan b)cables pull in and no amount of blocking can help you and c)I had no plan. I knit four mitered corners, picked up stitches, flipped through the book until I found something that looked beach-y and could be adapted to match my stitch count, and away I went.







I was exactly a week late for her baby shower, and so I showed up with my gift on Monday and she wasn't at work. Drat thought I, she spawned.

No -- she got in a car wreck. Somebody rear-ended her on the way to work and totaled her car. He didn't even get out to see if she was OK.

Now, I know insurance companies have rules about whether you should apologize, ask the other person if he or she is OK, etc. I know insurance companies have even stricter rules when the person in question is driving a company car.

But.

If I rear-ended a vehicle, and the result was a 9+-month pregnant woman struggling out of a smoking car, I WOULD GET OUT AND ASK IF SHE WERE OK.

We postulated that he didn't get out of the car because he had another sort of accident when he saw her stand up.

She's OK (and bruised) and the Bean is OK. Her brand new car, however, is toast.

But she loved her blanket. It apparently matches her nursery perfectly. Her husband took video of it. I felt special.

Here are some shots of my lovely assistant admiring the work (I'm also posting these in an effort to shame myself into laying off the junk food; look at what's happened to my face since I last posted photos.):












So now I'm working on one for another coworker -- her nursery is Mother Goose themed, so thanks to Barbara Walker I have gingerbread houses and Jack and the Beanstalk cooking on my needles. Again, I'm getting lots of Knitting (and nonknitting) Stranger Love.

The rest of the household?

Not so much.