Baby Surprise Jacket

Elizabeth Zimmermann designed this very clever pattern. For years I have seen different knitter's finished sweaters on their blogs and Ravelry and always wanted to try it. Dave and I went to our local library where I checked out Knitting Workshop under his name and cranked one out in about 2 weeks. Mrs. Zimmermann has some wonderful designs but I have to admit/complain that sometimes her patterns are hard to follow. I finished it alright but the entire time I was wondering if I was following the directions correctly. Part of the charm of this pattern is that there are only 2 seams and the entire thing is knit in one piece. Could you tell from the picture on the left that there was a sweater lurking in that mass of knitted fabric? Once the edges were matched and folded, a sweater emerged.

I used Kudo yarn by Plymouth for this pattern. It is a single ply cotton/rayon/silk blend and a heavy DK/light worsted weight in my opinion. The knitted examples of this sweater I've seen online were very crisp and straight and boxy. I think the yarn I used made mine a little more floppy and not as perpendicular. It still looks OK and is wonderfully soft and drapey for a baby, but I think maybe a consistent and crisper yarn would have made knitting this a little easier. All the increases and decreases for shaping are made on either side of a marked stitch and it was hard to keep track of that marked stitch at times because of the yarn. And of course now that I know what to expect from this pattern, I would totally make another one. I have a grey colorway of this same yarn that would make a nice boy sweater. I used 1 1/4 skeins of this yarn for the sweater. There is a child and adult version of this sweater in The Opinionated Knitter that I'd be interested in trying.

My sister is pregnant with a baby girl and I gave her the finished sweater last weekend when we were home together. She chose pink bunny buttons for the sweater and asked for a pair of booties that would match AND fit at the same time as the sweater so I knit a pair from 60 Quick Baby Knits from the remainder of the yarn. I just love this pattern and how the yarn gradually changes color. These might be a little big to go with the sweater but then again I've never been able to size clothes/people up by looking at them. I was glad to find a use for this yarn. I bought it in Rochester years ago intending to use it for socks or hats because of the cotton content but it really has no recoil to hold up to ribbing.

I had one day off this week because this is my weekend to work, but on my day off I made refried beans. Years ago my friend Michelle showed me how to make them from scratch starting with dried beans and I prefer black beans to pinto beans. They are so much better than anything you get in a can and so easy and inexpensive. I had soaked them overnight and thought they looked so pretty and were very appropriate while I was on a purple theme.

Gift Knitting

These are Amy's mukluk's knit from Malabrigo worsted. I am just loving this project. I finished these towards the end of October and sent them to her in the mail along with a bunch of nic nac paddywacks and old costume jewelery for my nieces that I'd cleaned out of one of my closets.

Dave's niece is having a baby shower this weekend and I was invited but I am working my weekend and I work 12 hour night shifts during that time. I did want to send along a little gift though. I have knit dozens of these baby hats and booties for people because they are such good patterns.
She is having a boy and I have never been a big fan of pastels and I wanted to knit him some manly items. These are 2 pairs of booties from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Happy Late Holidays!

I enjoyed my first Christmas with Dave and his family. He and I enjoyed supper at his parents' home and we brought date puddings with caramel sauce. This is such a simple but elegant dessert and very festive. These are not steamed in a pudding mold like a traditional Christmas or figgy pudding, but simply baked in ramekins or a muffin tin.

One of the first things I wanted to do once we got unpacked was to put up the tree and decorations! I didn't get to put up any of my fall/Halloween decorations because they'd been packed. I picked up a few new ornaments in Iceland this summer and got to hang those up. The one on the left is a simple wood burned ornament of a viking ship. I love the striped ribbon because it is the colors of the Icelandic flag. The one on the right is a miniature pair of fish skin slippers with knitted insoles. I had read about these and we saw a few examples in the museum but I wanted to find a pattern for these! These were quite expensive but I loved them and wanted to have them as an example/guide if I ever get around to trying to make a full size pair.


The ornament on the left is a miniature pair of wool carders with a little wool in them! Instead of tines they have Velcro on them! So cute! The one on the right is a little wood burned laufabraud. Leaf bread was one of my favorite things I learned about in Iceland. I thought it would be a neat family activity to make these but the copper rollers/cutters cost about $80 each!These are Grandpa Maynerd's ornaments and I just love them! I set them out in a wooden bowl and I think about him every time I look at them. Happy Belated Christmas and New Year's!

I'm a Minnesotan!!!

I am now a resident of Minnesota! We rented a U-haul and Dave and I loaded up and rode off into the sunset. I had lived in my old apartment for 11 years and it was a big job! Dave was such a good sport about it too. He and I moved in together 1 year to the day after meeting. This is a lovely Minnesota tea towel I got after our visit to the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis this summer.


Here is just some of the carnage at my old apartment! I can't tell you how upsetting it was having everything packed up in boxes! It took me a couple weeks to get things packed until I ran out of boxes and I had A LOT of boxes. I had been stockpiling them from when I still worked in the nursing home (note all the boxes from incontinence products-I'm sure our new neighbors were wondering about us!) and Deedee gave me quite a few from Kraft. I used plastic shopping bags and newspapers and lots of my fabric as packing material. After the boxes were gone, we quickly used up all my trash bags. I'd even taken carload after carload of stuff to Goodwill in the preceding weeks. In the end we FILLED a 17 foot truck. I have a lot of stuff.

It took us an entire day to load the truck up and we spent the night at Dave's parents' house and parked the truck in their driveway. We moved into the apartment the next day on December 2nd and the weather cooperated with us. It took another entire day to unload and Dave's nephew came halfway through to help. The snowflakes started to fall just as we were carrying in the last few boxes. Our new apartment has an elevator which is awesome since we live on the third floor and an indoor swimming pool! We also have our own balcony which I really like. I loved putting the sewing room/man cave together. Dave has his video games in there with the other TV and I have my craft books and fabric and some of the yarn in there. I organized all of my books and my knitting shelf is one of my favorite things in the apartment! We are also right across the street from the library which I also love.



I donated my old couch and burnt orange Barcalounger recliner weeks before the move because they weren't worth moving. It also motivated me to keep busy and keep on packing because I had no where to sit! One of the last bits of knitting I did before packing up all the needles was Amy's birthday slippers (I'll post that picture later) and a Christmas stocking for Dave. I kept some cotton yarn and dishcloth knitting in a bag so I had something to knit and keep me sane. Now we are here and unpacked and domestic and happy. I've survived orientation at my new hospital and am working on my own. Life is good. I just need to learn how to drive in the city!