Eco baby

Remember the baby waiting? Little Keldan finally arrived and I got to meet him when I was in Canada over Thanksgiving. He is just gorgeous and you can already tell that he has his mom's adorable Icelandic nose.

Even though I'd already sent gifts to welcome him, I knew I couldn't show up empty handed. How else was I going to distract the new parents so that I could hold the baby? I decided to make a pinwheel baby blanket using the Blue Sky Alpaca organic cotton. I'm not sure where the pattern originated, but instructions have been floating around the internet for quite some time. This was such a fun and simple project and I love that the pattern can be adapted to any yarn/gauge. For this blanket I used 5.5 mm needles and the blanket turned out to be so soft and cosy, just perfect for warming a winter baby. I used three skeins of the main color (bone) and just over one skein for the ruffle (nut). The finished blanket was about a meter in diameter, but truth be told I didn't actually measure it.

The ruffle was the source of a bit of angst but resulted in a couple of very cool random encounters. Once the blanket was about as big as I wanted it to be I changed colors, knit one round and then doubled the stitch count by knitting into the front and back of every stitch. It got big very quickly and I had to go out and buy two extra 29" circular needles to hold them all. 

After increasing, I knit in seed stitch for about 5 rounds and then bound off. It wasn't quite finished by the time I left on my trip so I took it on the plane with me. I happened to sit next to a woman who was a knitter and admired the blanket. I gave her my pattern print-out and in return she told me about Addi knitting needles which are my new addiction.

Two days before I was supposed to visit wee Keldan and his parents I realized that I wasn't going to have enough yarn to finish the ruffle. A few panicked phone calls later I ended up in Three Bags Full which was the only semi-local shop I could find that sold the Blue Sky Alpaca yarn. Holy, holy, what an amazing shop! I think I'd be in there every weekend if I lived in Vancouver. When I explained that I was visiting from Boston they told me about the It's a Purl, Man podcast and the Common Cod Fiber Guild, neither of which I was aware of. I can't believe I had to go all the way across the continent to find out what's happening in my own back yard. Of course, I left with a bag full of yummy new wool and an Addi Turbo circular needle (thanks for the early Christmas present, Mom). But the best thing about Three Bags Full is that they have a heavy duty ball winder and will convert all your purchases skeins into tidy balls of yarn at no added charge. Seriously, all yarn shops should offer this service; it's a huge time saver, not to mention quite entertaining to watch.

Good company

This year, actually for the first time ever, we have company for the holidays. My husband's mother & grandmother arrived ten days ago and are staying until the middle of January. I will admit that I was a little apprehensive before their arrival, wondering how we would all amuse each other while cooped up inside our tiny house for so long.

It turns out there was no need to worry. I arrived home from work on Friday in advance of the massive blizzard to find that they had already cleaned the house from top to bottom and done laundry so that we would have a weekend free from household chores. And the two feet of snow that has steadily accumulated was no match for my shovel-wielding mother-in-law who "needed some exercise". Grandma does get a little restless in the afternoons, but it just so happens that she loves to iron and since we do not, our ironing basket did runneth over. Not anymore; even the linens are now neatly pressed and folded.

We have fully converted to the Balkan custom of eating our main meal at midday and then having something light in the evenings. And the food, the food has been amazing. So far my mother-in-law has made sarma, dolma (using collard greens), my favorite eggplant and roasted pepper salad, spinach and eggs, bean soup with smoked pork ribs and fresh mushroom soup. So very, very good. Today was my turn to cook and I prepared mussels steamed with garlic, shallots, white wine and tarragon, a salad of mesclun greens, red onion, Granny Smith apples, blue cheese and fresh garlic bread. Because I mentioned last night that I had a craving for them, Grandma also made pommes frites, which we so didn't need but were all gone in the blink of an eye. The best part is that as soon as the dishes are done from the last meal, we start planning the next one.

So far, best Christmas ever.

Trimmed!

The tree has been assembled and decorated and I love it this year. It's in a different corner of the living room and it works so much better. Plus, I added some new ornaments this year, including a few glass snowflakes and a pretty little glass bird that I picked up the last time I was in Canada.

 This little glass church has been a regular on my tree for years; I love the way it sparkles and glows.

Speaking of trees, I picked up a set of three bottle brush decorations from the end of season sale at Garnet Hill last year. Now my little reindeer has somewhere to hang out.

Months ago I picked up supplies to make holiday cards at Paper Source. Well, last night I finally got to work with my embossing powder and, fueled by a delicious Manhattan, came up with two designs. The red and white one is my favorite but the silver snowflakes place a pretty close second. Today we sat down and wrote notes to our nearest and dearest and they are sitting by the door, stamped and ready to mail. Now, for all those handmade gifts yet to be finished started...

These booties were made for wriggling

Behold, installments #3 and #4 in the "after dinner knitting so that I can justify not painting the basement" series of baby booties using this pattern from Knitting for Baby. See here and here for earlier work. I was delighted that each pair required exactly one skein of this yummy Italian cotton. I never know what to do with those few yards of leftover yarn from a project other than save it to use instead of ribbon when wrapping gifts.

These are already warming the toes of a certain newborn. I experimented with a braided cord instead of the knitted i-cord and really like how it turned out. Just a little daintier, in my opinion.

These are on deck, waiting for the next new arrival. I've already selected yarn for my next two pair. It's an addiction, I tell you.