A Baby Sweater and a Hat

I finished Iced Gem the other day:

I also finally finished Danielle's hat, which is the Fern Glade pattern from Knitty:



Thanks to Rosa for that top photo! It was a quick knit once I got going. Now I'm hoping to get Trellis done quickly (I started yesterday) and start on the test knitting I've got lined up!

Presto Chango, and other baby plans

Second Presto Chango has been mailed out! Here are some pictures:

Buttons, as usual from the loveley Windsor Button.

I've also decided, as I think I mentioned in the previous post, to enter the Stitch House baby sweater competition. I found a really cute pattern, and nice, affordable yarn, and I'm more than halfway done with the sweater now! I'm doing Iced Gem from Louisa Harding's Enchanted. I'm using Cascade 220 heathers in a nice soft purple (so, surprise, surprise, this will be for Nick and Dina's baby). After finding out on Friday about another friend who is expecting, and remembering that I keep forgetting about a cousin who is expecting (really, lots of pregnancies to keep straight!) I'm up to six babies between now and september. A positive baby boom. Let's see what I know about the babies:

• 1 is a girl
• 1 (probably 2) I won't know whether it's a boy or girl until the baby is born. Anyone have good suggestions for gender-neutral baby sweaters?
• 1 I will know in a month if it's a boy or girl.
  
• 4 will live in cold climates! Yay!
• 2 will live in Florida, and might get wool anyway because so much knitting with cotton has been hurting my hands.
• 1 in April, 2 in May, 2 in June, 1 in September

I think there will be little Christmas/Chanukah knitting this year, because between the babies and the weddings, I think I'll be pretty busy!

Ariella hat

I just finished the Ariella Hat, named after my cousin Robin's new baby.

It's definitely not the best picture, and I'll try to take another before wrapping it up. I've put the pattern up on Ravelry because it was requested, although only in one size, and without a ton of proofreading, so there might be some errors.

I also finished my second Presto Chango, for Samuel, yesterday and took some pictures and mailed it off today. I'll post those as soon as I can get them uploaded. James picked out some pretty cute elephant buttons at Windsor Button.

These two projects getting done is leaving me a bit calmer about all the lifecycle knitting I have to do in the next 8 months. Here's what's left in priority order:

• Blanket for Jennifer and James, wedding in June
• Blanket for Sheila and Jim, wedding in June
  
• Sweater for Baby Pena (sex unknown), due in September
  
• Sweater for Baby Mason (sex unknown), due in May
  
• Sweater for Baby Dunn (sex unknown), due in April
• Sweater for Baby Varacalli (girl), due in May
• Blanket for Bianca and Kevin, wedding in May
  

I'm thinking that in order to kickstart the baby knitting, I'll enter the contest that Stitch House just announced. I wonder if I can enter multiple sweaters? That would be pretty good incentive to get them all done by the end of next month! I should be able to do four baby sweaters in two months, right :) ?