finally, my friends are coming through with the babies!



child's geek spiral pullover from Loop-d-Loop in Crystal Palace cotton chenille

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The geek spiral sweater fits! And look at how adorable the baby geek himself looks in it.

Given the intelligence of his MIT-grad parents, this kid's going to be a genius. Which is why this picture is all the more funny!

I'm sure he's contemplating the conservation of matter or something wicked smart like that.

So baby L ended up arriving exactly one day overdue. Just late enough so that I could finish the long overdue geek baby sweater! In fact, I dropped off the package at the post office the morning I started having contractions.

It turned out to be plenty big for fireman doll, so I'm moderately confident that it'll fit the little boy I knit it for.

A word about this Crystal Palace chenille... I do like it. The result is soft and washable and the colors are really awesome. I knit it down on US6's to be sure there wasn't any worming like you get sometimes with chenille when it's not knit tightly. The only thing that bothers me is its tendency to bias. The other baby sweater I've knit with this yarn also had this problem. It really shouldn't be noticeable when the baby is actually wearing the sweater, but it does make measuring and seaming a bit tricky and can make the final product look a little wonky when it's laid down flat.

The Loop-d-Loop pattern was really excellent though. The front was very clearly explained with an extremely helpful chart and the other body pieces were quite simple. I'm really glad that I finally got to make something from this unique book. It was long overdue.

I'm making slow but steady progress on the front of the baby geek sweater and I'll admit, it's getting more and more fun to knit. I line up all my colors in a row just like a kid's watercolor set, dip my needle into one color for one section, then into another for the next section. It even sort of looks like a painting.

Progress is slow because I don't actually have much knitting time these days, as my new job is to is to walk around most of the day and try to show this baby the way out! So no more sitting and checking emails or knitting by numbers for me right now. I'm off to enlist gravity in my quest to have a baby!

This is what I did during the Academy Awards.

Thanks to the long Oscar show, the baby geek spiral sweater is finally nearing the finish line. The last time we saw the front, I'd worked three sets of triangles, just getting the spiral started. Now I'm through 6 of 8 times around and it's really starting to look like a spiral. To be honest, it's actually rather annoying to knit, but the end result is cool so I'm hanging in there and getting it done.

But oh man, am I nervous that this sweater will be too small already for its recipient. I glanced at my archives and was horrified to find that I bought the yarn for this project almost a year ago! It's pathetic how long it's taken me to complete it! I may have to stay on the sofa today watching the replay of E's Pre-Oscar show and finishing this sweater.

The red carpet and blue chenille - a perfect combination, right?

I've picked up the baby geek sweater again finally! The intended recipient is approaching six months now and since he's a big boy, I've got to get this sweater done now!

I'm finally ready to start the final piece - that crazy swirly front. It starts from the center with little triangles in each color and then increasingly larger triangles picked up and knitted off of those.

The tiny center pieces, all the picking up stitches and weaving in ends, uh, not fun. But the larger it gets, the better it's going. I can do it! And I'm hoping that baby sweater class at the store will help me keep me motivated. If only wee one will wait until I finish this little knitting commitment!

I didn't think I had made any progress on the baby geek sweater, but after laying all the pieces out, I can see that I am definitely half way done. The back, the hood and one sleeve are finished, leaving only the second sleeve and that crazy swirly front (can you tell I'm avoiding that?). The baby's already a month old, so if I continue at this pace (uh, what's that, like a piece a month?), I should still be able to get it to him before he's too big for it. Fingers crossed!

Apparently I have not forgotten how to knit (despite a three-week forced knitting pause - it's true, I did no knitting at my in-laws due to 90 degree heat, no air conditioning and not a single fan). What a relief (knitting again, having air conditioning, the mere sound of a fan, all of it!).

blue suede shoes
(Velvet Touch; Fiber Trends pattern CH-36)

While I was not making progress on the baby geek sweater, the mom-to-be made serious progress on the baby, delivering him the last week in July. We got to meet the baby boy this weekend and not wanting to visit empty-handed, I whipped up some chenille booties for the wee one. Velvet Touch makes the softest little booties you ever felt. And they fit his little feet perfectly.

I still got it!

There was just way too much good sports on tv yesterday for me to get myself over to the computer and blog! First, I watched Wimbledon (we know I love watching Wimbledon). I tried explaining the game to the boys and to their credit they really watched and cheered with me for about an hour. ("Go Fed!") Then they went off to practice their penalty kicks in preparation for yesterday's World Cup final.

Knitting group rescued me from seeing the bitter end of that game. And the baby geek sweater kept me from even getting involved in that interminable Red Sox game.

Phew, what a day!

So I go to Knitsmiths yesterday. I bring the child's spiral geek sweater to finally get started (the "geek" baby is due in a matter of weeks!), and our table was missing. Turns out Wil Wheaton (yes, the Wil Wheaton) was using it for a book signing upstairs in the Booksmith.

I must have missed the sign on the way in.

But it really was Wil Wheaton. Using our table!! COOL! (You are a Wil Wheaton fan, right? I'm not talking about Stand by Me or Star Trek: Next Generation. Did you see him on Tech TV's Screen Savers or Call for Help? Follow his über popular blog? He plays poker too and blogs about it. Read all about his post-Star Trek life in his book, Just a Geek!)

We were so tickled by the idea that he was using our table that we asked him to sign it. He was such a good sport about us silly knitting geeks asking for his autograph, especially when you consider the whole clown sweater incident (bad knitters, do not be mean to Wil Wheaton!).

And then he left, we got our table back and we knit on it. How freaking cool is that?! I got my stitch on to the tune of several inches of the baby geek sweater.

And get this, when I got home, TiVo was taping Star Trek: the Next Generation. Totally randomly - it's not one of our WishLists or anything.

Oh, the power of geek.

Getting a late start today because it's Memorial Day here in America. A day for barbeques, sun, and lots of red, white, and blue. We've actually got hazy sun today, we're going to a barbeque later this afternoon and I've even covered blue and white here on the blog in the last few days. That just leaves red.

It's a new baby sweater on the needles! We have this sweater in the store as a model and it is soooo adorable. When I heard that hubby's work colleage was having a girl, I knew I wanted to make this sweater for the baby. Mandarin Petit is the yarn and the pattern is from Sandnes Mandarin Petit book #0407. 166 stitches on US 3's and I'm loving it!

The next baby sweater up to the plate: the child's geek spiral pullover from Loop-d-Loop in Crystal Palace cotton chenille. Finally another boy in my circle of friends to knit for - I was feeling out of my element with all those girl sweaters!