A Story About A Shawl

I started knitting a beaded shawl early last spring for one of my sisters for her birthday (which is in August), because she mentioned to me in passing how much she loved some of the shawls she seen in the stores, but didn't want to pay the exorbitant prices for any of them.  So I searched for a nice pattern that I thought would be easy to follow, but I found reading the chart was not as easy I thought it would be. Somewhere in the very beginning stages I lost a stitch, so I set it aside thinking I would at some point get back to it and fix my mistake.  But I got so busy with other projects that I had deadlines and people waiting for them.  And I never got back around to fixing the lost stitch and well her birthday came and went and I was forced to buy a gift card instead of surprising her with a handmade shawl. Even worse, now a whole year has gone by and my sister's shawl hasn't progressed past what you see below:
 

Beaded Knit Shawl (Swallowtail Lace Shawl
by Evelyn Clark) that I  started last year

As part of my New Year's decision to try to work through my WIP's and as suggested by: stitch.tac.sew, who said on January 24th... "I would alternate for each new project you make finish an old one!" to my post of "Delving into my WIP's Goodie Bag".  I pulled it out of my WIP's bag and decided, instead of trying to fix the lost stitch and figure out how to read what I considered a complicated chart, I would frog it (pull it apart), and look for an easier pattern to follow. I don't want to give up on this design completely, because it is very beautiful and I really need to get over my anxiety of reading charts, maybe after some practice with easier chart designs, I will give it another go.

But in the meantime, I found this really great crochet pattern that I figured I could whip up in no time.

Frogged the first attempt - changed to a crochet design,
Sidewalk Shawl by Kimberly K. McAlindin

And as you can see above that it is coming along and has this really great pattern going that reminds me of a pineapple.  It's quick and easy to follow and I can't wait until I'm done and can send it off to my sister.  I'm really hoping she will like it. And this time around I will get it done before her birthday. 

I like it so much I might even make one for myself or maybe for my other sister who also, has a birthday in August.  If I'm industrious enough, I could probably pull it off, if I don't get sidetracked again.  We'll see...

On a side note:

I just finished another baby set and I had so much fun knitting it for a good friend.  I decided a sweater was too much since she needed it by May 1st and it will probably be too warm for a sweater by the time the baby is born, so I searched Lion Brand's website and came across this cutie:

The Bunny Blanket Buddy
from Lion Brand.

I paired her with another Feather and Fan Baby Bonnet, and Ballerina Booties. You can check my Sweaters page (very last picture at the bottom of page) for links to the patterns for both the bonnet and booties.

The Babies Are Coming!

It seems a new wave of babies are making or have made their way into the Clan.  The next generation is on it's way. My nephew who was born when I was 15 years old is now having a baby with his girlfriend.  My son's twenty-three year old half sister who was about six when my son was born is due in June. My cousin's son just had his third child and my other cousin's daughter who was born when I was a senior in high school had a little boy about three months ago. Whew...the babies are coming! I'm very excited about the new arrivals, but it only points out one thing that I'm just beginning to pay more attention to these last few years...I'm getting old(er), because I can remember when each one of them was born and now they are having babies of their own!

But the fun part about babies that aren't yours is you can hold them, spoil them as much as you like and then hand them back to their parents!  The other fun part about babies is all the great baby knitting I can do in half the time it takes to make an adult size item.

Like these great baby sets I've done over the past month:


For my cousin's baby who was born in January
Sweater: "Sock" It to Me (for Girls) by Vicki K. Byram
Booties: Baby Janes by Valerie Johnson
Hat: Eyelet Baby Hat by Brigitte Lang

As soon as I saw this color I knew I had to use it for what I call the Georgia Peach Baby Set for my new baby cousin who lives in Locust Grove, Georgia. I finished the baby booties and hat this past weekend and I was so happy to mail them off to my cousin and his wife just yesterday.

Aren't these Baby Janes the cutest?

With this eyelet hat to match!



For my girlfriend's baby due next week.
Sweater: Beautiful Baby Bamboo-Merino Sweater by Carol J. Sorsdahl
Booties: Baby's Wool-Tencel Booties by Lind Burt
Hat: Baby Squash Hat by Tamara Del Sonno

This one I call the Little Boy Blue baby set. I made this for my friend who is due any day now.  I can't wait to see her little one wrapped up in this set.

too cute!

so tiny!

Currently, I'm working on the Garden Trellis Dress by Susan Boye for my nephew's baby due in May.  I am using Berocco Weekend in Vanilla 5902.  It is a soft comfortable machine washable blend of 25% Peruvian Cotton and 25% Acrylic that is great for both warm and cool weather.

The feather & fan edge gives it a sweet look.

When I am done with the dress I will be adding a Feather and Fan Baby Bonnet by Sandy Davis that uses the same pattern as the edging on the dress and Page 81 booties (pictured below) by Susan B. Anderson
another pair of Baby Janes by Valerie Johnson.

I embellished them with crochet butterflies by Crocheted Sass

Still to come are a zip-up hooded sweater for another cousin's baby who was born about three months ago and for my son's half sister the Precious Bundle Set (pictured below) in a mercerized cotton called Reynolds Saucy

Can be found on e-Patternscentral

Will make the above hat, cardigan and booties set for my
son's half sister who is due in June

P.S.  I just finished the Garden Trellis Dress this evening:

My little grandniece will be styling in her baby sundress!

The complete set:

Embellished with purple crochet butterflies