Here's what Frances (from Laines du Nord Simple Knits #5) looked like in November 2007:

Yes, you read right: two thousand SEVEN. That was over three years ago. That was so long ago that this is what wee looked like then:

This little cutie was to some extent responsible for the disappearance of this lovely pink sweater. When she started walking and grabbing things, I had to move my yarn stash out of her room. And in that process, a lot of things got stuffed in bags and into a closet. Bye, bye Frances.

After recently going through my chest of knitted sweaters, I remembered Frances and started a search for what was left of her. I dug up a bag of unfinished projects and there she was, untouched, looking exactly like she did back in 2007. Now, however, she looks like this:

Front and back complete. And I've cast on for a sleeve. Let's see if I can finish her in this decade.

When wee turned one (almost two years ago now), I knit her a doll from Clare Garland's Knitted Babes. I named her Sally and made her two dresses and little pair of undies.

Sally in her underwear two years ago

No idea where Sally is now (toy chest, maybe?) but now that wee is almost three and is potty training, underwear is a big deal in our house. Wee wears her underwear all day while at home and only changes into a diaper for sleeptime or when we're off somewhere where I'm not sure of reliable facilities. And when wee one puts on her underwear, dolly, wee's constant companion, has to put on hers. Um, well, Sally's.

(this week, wee's sporting a flute tattoo!)

click to see the WHOLE blankie!

Here it is, the second thing I ever knit, eight years old now and undeniably approaching the end of its days. B isn't quite ready to accept this fact so our conversations about blankie tend to go like the Monty Python dead parrot sketch:

"It's time to give up your blankie."
"Why, what's wrong with it?!"
"It's falling apart. Look at all the holes."
"No, I can put my arms through the holes and wear it like a cape. Zooooom. Plus it's softer with all these strings."
"The plumage don't enter in to it. This blanket has ceased to be. It is an ex-blanket!"

The not-quite-dead-yet blanket is recovering now from its first wash in a long time. B wouldn't let me wash it before, as both of us feared it might not survive the washing. But in the night after our exciting weekend, B ended up with a little tummy ache and his bed ended up with a lot of yuck in it. Blankie took a serious hit and has had to be washed. It's held together so far and is almost dry, but I still think it's time for B to move on.

Poor guy. Poor me, giving him the blankie and now having to tell him that he'll have to give it up someday. Listen, I didn't want to be a knitter...

I wanted to be... a Lumberjack....

I made Sally (a Knitted Babe) for wee one last February for her first birthday, along with two little outfits for Sally to wear. Sadly, Sally was neglected for many months. But when wee one received a Haba Lilli doll from Oma and Opa this Christmas, I realized that Lilli's clothes fit Sally and some of Sally's clothes fit Lilli. Wee one had so far only been interested in removing their clothes, so I tossed their little clothes together in a bag next to them. Today, she found it and decided to dress them.

She insisted that the pink and white striped dress was a hat, so I popped the bodice part to the inside and slipped it on Sally like that. She had me put Lilli's overdress over Sally's dress and Sally's undies on Lilli.

She was so proud of her creations, she wanted to be in the picture with them.

Such a girl!

The dolly I made for wee one when she was still a little wee embryo in my belly has been her constant companion now for over a year. She sleeps with dolly every night, cuddles with dolly after naptime and whenever she's feeling sad, she brings dolly along in the car for long rides. It goes without saying that dolly's gotten quite dirty in that time. Baby love can be pretty messy, you know. To complicate matters, it's impossible to get such a beloved toy away from said baby to wash it. Well, this week wee one has contracted a nasty stomach virus that's been sweeping through our neighborhood. And poor dolly found herself in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time, if you know what I mean. There was no putting off the bath any more.

I'm gonna wash that vomit right outta my hair....

This was wee S, almost five years ago in the little bear hat I made him from Zoe Mellor's Double Knits book, one of the first knitting books I ever got - in fact, hubby bought this for me the first Christmas after the boys were born. Awwww. Well, guess who's wearing the bear hat now?

Wee one! Who, by the way, is nowhere near as wee as S and B were - she's 8 months old and he was a year and a half when he wore this hat. Yes, our so-called wee one has simply outgrown all the little hats I've made for her, so until I get some new ones on the needles, if I want her ears to be covered, it's gotta be boys' hand-me-downs. I love this one on her though. Those little pink ears are so adorable! And on her grumpy days maybe she can wear B's tiger hat - hee hee.

And speaking of fun baby hats, have you heard that Susan B. Anderson of Itty-Bitty Hats and Itty-Bitty Nursery is coming to Black Sheep Knitting in Needham for a trunk show and book signing?! (She's doing a whole east coast book tour this week - you can check out this post on her blog to see if she's coming to your town and LYS.) Come on Boston-area knitmoms, you know that the cutest hats you've ever made for your kids are from Susan's book, so come on out Monday night to see her! See ya there!

Update: Susan Anderson's trunk show and book signing at Black Sheep Knitting is going to be on Monday from 1pm to 3pm, and NOT later in the evening as previously appeared on her blog.

The lovely emli bonnet that I made for wee one in my embossed leaves knitting mania is now gone. It was in her suitcase that was lost by Al Italia and Air France on our trip back from Italy. All of her little summer clothes are gone now and I'm starting to really miss the particularly special things that were in there.

Like the emli bonnet.

Like this silly yellow sun hat that was big brother B's when he was a baby.

Like this handsewn baby doll that wee one really loved.

I know it's just clothes and stuff, but still I'm going through all the stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, and finally, shopping!

UPDATE 8/15: Emli bonnet is back!

Remember ol' jess, which I knit for my mother but she didn't end up liking the fit of? At the beginning of my pregnancy, I was looking forward to wearing it as a maternity sweater and now it's just perfect!

I wear it all the time. I have a couple of other sweaters that are still big enough for me to fit into (all store-bought sweaters from the big sweater era of the 90's!) but this is the only sweater that doesn't make me feel all bulky and big and blechy. The shape is more like a shawl than a some tent-like sweater and the cotton angora is light but still cozy warm.

I'm so glad that jess finally found her calling!

And I thought they'd outgrown them!

The boys' weasley sweaters from two Christmases ago still fit. They seemed like the perfect thing for them to wear on the coldest day of winter so far. Warm but light, that Rowan Felted Tweed was just right! (And so was a trip to the neighborhood Dunkin' Donuts where I snapped these pics with my camera phone.) The boys still love the sweaters too: "Oh, look my H sweater!" And two days later: "Are we wearing our H shirts again?"

And did I mention that they still fit?!

Are you getting ready? Sockapalooza 4 has a new button! That's all I've had time to do so far (I am in design work crunch right now and it just won't stop), but in another week or two, I should be able to start getting organized. Keep an eye on the sidebar for details and updates!

I haven't knit socks in ages and am so excited about getting back into it! I even picked up some Yarn for Sox for socks for poor neglected hubby at this morning's Wild & Wooly semi-annual clearance sale.

Hubby may have been neglected in the last few months as far as knitting goes, but his socks haven't! Check out the heels on his last pair of Yarn for Sox socks.

I made these for him back in 2002, because he loves wearing thick socks over regular socks when it's cold. He still wears these, even without heels. And why not, they're in way better shape than the Peace Fleece socks from 2004.

Oh yes, it's time to make socks!

NYC was great! I got all my Christmas shopping done (and boy are my arms tired!). And I even squeezed in a few minutes of shopping for myself at Purl.

There's some Mission Falls cotton for one of those LMKG children's cotton hats (I never actually made one of them with cotton!) and some pretty pink yarn I've never heard of before (Pear Tree Merino) for another sweet baby hat for wee one (check out the super cute Tante Sophie patterns! I got the last one shown on that page. How can you resist that baby face?). I even picked up a few fat quarters of fun, girly fabric from the the new Purl Patchwork store.

That place was so nice, I momentarily started dreaming of taking up quilting (but of course, I don't have the room or the patience for quilting so that will remain a dream).

I visited my mom while I was in the city and look, she wore her native sweater!

We had yummy comfort food at Sparky's.

I like my new camera phone - can you tell?

And then she let me raid her sock drawer for socks for the stupid sock creatures.

A red argyle sock creature for S and blue/yellow argyle creature for B - they couldn't be more perfect!

Another year older means another winter coat. But luckily, the boys' favorite colors are still the same so the new coats match the kool aid caps I made last year.

And they still love them! B is going to bring his for show and tell. Awwww.

Time for a belly shot, don't you think?

Fourteen weeks along and I've definitely got a baby belly. I've been going through the closet seeing what's wearable and what's not. And you know what's wearable? My Rosebud sweater, which, if you recall, was inspired by a maternity top I had when I was pregnant with the boys.

Poor Rosebud never got any wear. After I knit it and wore it the first time, I felt like I must have knit one sleeve a smidge longer than the other. I had always planned to cut one of the sleeves, take out a few rows, and graft it back together, but it never happened. But now, I'm thinking, who cares?! It's got just enough extra room for my early second trimester belly, so I'm wearing it!

And when I outgrow Rosebud, the Jess sweater I knit for my mom (which she gave back to me because she didn't like the fit of it) will be perfect, don't you think?!

The last time we saw my purple t-shirt sweater it was just a poor neglected front. Where is it now? Well, back in May, I finished the back (now I remember, this pattern has you do the front first, weird!) and even seamed the two pieces together.

I always sew the body pieces of a sweater together to get a sense of the fit before I continue on to the sleeves. When I tried this on, it was waaaay big. Now, my synchronicity top (knit from the same pattern) is also roomy, but there's so much shaping to the sweater that it hadn't bothered me. Somehow however in the cotton angora, this one felt freakishly large. So I stuffed it in the back of the knitting basket for a month.

I tried it on again last week and decided it was okay after all (I figure if I want something snug, I should find a more elastic yarn and knit another nothing but a t-shirt!). So this one's back on the knitting shelf, ready for when I need a break from all that lace and silk. Simple stockinette to the rescue!

Be sure to tune in next week for a new installment of Where Are They Now?! See what's happened to your favorite blue blog knits. Are they being worn? Are they packed away? Are they slated for ripping? Any requests?