Babies Everywhere

I finished two baby sweaters last night. Both are from Berroco's Comfort DK yarn, and the patterns were from a Berroco Comfort DK #274 booklet. The first, Caleb, was on the cover and was the reason I bought the booklet. I bought the recommended number of balls of yarn for it and found I had nearly 1 1/2 left over at the end, so I went ahead and made Caisey, which was similar, but a cardigan instead of a pullover. I needed to buy one more ball of yarn, but got two baby sweaters out of 5 balls of very reasonably priced yarn.

While I was sewing on the buttons, my older cat came and kept me company. She has developed a habit of perching on the back of whatever chair or couch I'm sitting on and snuggling with my head. In the winter she likes to be in my lap, but when it warms up she wants to be close, but not too close. Plus, she's always had a thing for people's hair and she gets to nuzzle mine in this position.
These two sweaters are going to two colleagues who are both having boys -- one is due in July and the other's wife is due in December, I think. They work in the same office, so it will be fun to give them "matching" sweaters, though that wasn't my intention when I started the second sweater. I just figured I'd have a sweater "on hand" for future gift-giving, but found out last week that the second colleague had just found out they were having a boy. Just good timing, I guess!

I have another baby to start knitting for, though. My sister-in-law and Don's brother are officially pregnant, due in January. We got to see them on Saturday and I pulled a baby hat out of the bag and sewed in the ends on the way there so I could give them an early gift. I didn't get a picture, but it is out of Lorna's Laces variegated sport weight and has 5 little corkscrews sticking out at the top. I got two out of one skein and gave the first away about 2 years ago. And, I have two nieces who are likely to have children soon, so having some sweaters in reserve would be a good idea. Luckily, I love knitting baby sweaters -- they are fun, and quick, and I like to make them colorful. The blue of the two sweaters I just finished is one of my favorite colors and I didn't get tired of knitting with it.

On other needles, I am making progress on the Bitterroot Shawl - I've moved to the second chart out of 6 or 7. The yarn is so soft and lovely to knit with. Once I get started, I hate to put it down. I'll get lots of time with it this weekend when I travel with one of my sons to visit the other. We'll have time for knitting and conversation - my favorite combination.