the babies are coming!

Everyone I know is pregnant. Everyone. Ok, not everyone, but I know 4 babies that are arriving this spring, all within weeks of each other! Seem like a lot of babies to me.

The best part is, one of these babies is going to be my first niece or nephew—I’m going to be an aunt! I’m reallyreallyreally excited. (reallyreallyreallyreally…) Of course I’m going to knit for the little peanut, but I kinda can’t help shopping in the meantime.

Yes, I bought my niecephew a Small Bird onesie. Turns out, they’ll print anything you want on a onesie. With options like that, my sister and brother-in-law are lucky that my business logo is the only thing I tried to put on their kid! (For now.) And my sister loved it. And this is why I love my sister. Because I can cheapen the miracle of life by attempting to turn her firstborn child into a living business card and she thinks it’s as funny as I do. Actually, she thinks it’s pretty cute, too. But I should really knit this kid something good if I expect to get away with this kind of nonsense.

I’m trying to get my Assemblage cardigan under control before I start my baby garment factory. But I have several patterns all lined up and some of the yarn is already here and I’m having a very hard time NOT casting on. Cuteness…it is hard to resist.

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lace legwarmers

I completed my first finished knit of 2009! Yes, the legwarmers turned out ok. More than ok, actually. I am still aggravated by the yarn requirement issue in the pattern (see mods and gripes in my previous post), but after blocking, they are 16″ in total length, which is just right for how I want to wear them. And the yarn itself is really soft and a very pretty, natural color. So overall, I’m happy with the finished product! The process? Not so much. But as I said before, this project was all about the product anyway. All’s well that ends well. Heh. Legwarmers…who would’ve thought?

More pics on Flickr.

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…it was going so well…

As soon as I saw this pattern I knew I desperately needed legwarmers. (And cowboy boots, please.) The lace pattern is pretty and easily memorized, although this project was really all about product rather than process. I modified the pattern slightly, since I wanted them to be the knee-high, rather than over the knee, so I knit 9 pattern repeats and 1/5″ of ribbing at each end, even though the pattern wanted them to be about 4″ longer. I also eliminated the increases, as the lace pattern seemed stretchy enough. It is important that I point out how much less knitting I did so that you understand how frustrated I was when I realized I was definitely going to run out of yarn after only 8 pattern repeats on the second legwarmer!! Argh! Come ON! And then the yarn circus began. I had to rip out the top of the second legwarmer, take it down to 8 pattern repeats, then divide up the yarn I had left over both legwarmers…oh! but you have to double the yarn just on the ribbed cuffs, so I had long pieces of yarn stretched through my house, then doubled back, which make the cat go berserk, which made me yell. So I reknit the cuffs on both legwarmers, decreasing 10 stitches on the first round, and making them a bit shorter than the pattern called for.

Moral of the Story #1: if you are going to knit these legwarmers, get TWO (2) skeins of Classic Elite Alpaca Sox!!! The one skein that the pattern calls for does not even come close, especially if you want to wear them over the knee, like the pattern photo. I don’t know what they were thinking.

Moral #2: Check the pattern notes from other Ravelers BEFORE you start a project. I looked at other knitters’ projects AFTER I was already frustrated and ripping and reknitting, and it turned out I was not alone; most people were frustrated by the yarn shortage in this pattern.

So they’re blocking, and they look pretty, and I think they’ll be just fine for the way I want to wear them, but we’ll see.

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new year, new shop!

I’m excited to announce that my brand new Small Bird Jewelry site is finally up and running! I’ve been working behind the scenes for a while, and I’m still doing a bit of tweaking here and there, but for the most part, things are good to go and the shop is open for business!

I’ve been selling on Etsy for close to two years, and my time there has been great. I’ve learned a lot and grown a lot, but after considering all the pros and cons, I felt that it was time to move forward. Just a bit. I’m reluctant and even a little sad to leave Etsy. It’s been Small Bird’s first and only home…I’m comfortable there…you know how to find me there…and there’s something rather nice about being part of the Etsy neighborhood. But I’ve already started moving items from the Etsy shop to the Small Bird shop, and soon www.smallbirdjewelry.com will be my new online home. I’m excited to have my own little piece of The Internets, but I’m kind of nervous–I feel like I’m moving to a place where I don’t really know anyone, so I do hope you’ll come visit me in my new digs! Be sure to update your bookmarks and subscribe to the Small Bird RSS feed to see the latest item listings.

I know that you guys–knitters and bloggers–have made up the vast majority of my customers, and I can’t thank you enough for your support and kind words and encouragement as I’ve attempted to grow my little jewelry business.

Happy New Year! I hope 2009 holds good things for you.

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