1//2013 He is here.

Well, he's actually been here for 5 weeks at this point - he's grown quite a bit and lost a lot of hair since this photo was taken. I never imagined the time would go by so quickly, though we do little more than eat, sleep and change nappies (diapers). We are incredibly lucky to have a very chilled little fella who rarely makes a fuss. His mum and dad are completely and utterly in love.

Donnacha was a bigun... 9lbs 11oz, almost 22inches tall, and was too big for many of his clothes from the start. Thankfully all the things I made for him still fit, though I need to get to work on more! The mammy-made object I've been happiest with is the puerperium cardigan, knit with Madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK (in denim and candlewick). Both the pattern and the wool are a joy - I'm going to cast on a larger size as soon as I have a chance! I'll make the next one stripey too; just like babies, I love stripes!

II: A Finally Finished Object

Just before I went home to Ireland I finally finished the cardigan I had been working on for my friend's daughter Molly. It was originally meant as a welcome gift - but by the time I finally finished it, Molly was only a week away from her first birthday!!

I used the Betty Lou Lace Cardigan pattern from this book. In general, the pattern was fairly simple, but I found the lace section very slow-going. The lace body was a bit wonky-shaped in the end - I suppose my gauge must have changed over the 8 (!!) months I was working on it. Overall though, I'm fairly happy with it.

The yarn is Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (commonly known as KPPPM), colorway P136. I foolishly didn’t have a specific project in mind when I bought this wool, so I didn’t have enough, and had to order more after embarking on this project. The dye lot for the second batch of wool was very different. I had already started on the lace body and couldn't bear to start over so I ripped back the body as far as the yoke in the hope that the change in yarns wouldn’t be so noticeable. It's not too bad, I hope!

So, this project taught me two very important lessons:
Lesson Number 1: Do not buy wool without a specific project (and required yardage) in mind.
Lesson Number 2: Do not start a project without necessary yardage.

Lesson 1 should really be altered to read: Do not enter a yarn store without a specific project (and required yardage) in mind. I can never resist the temptations of those walls of color!

In other news, tonight it's so hot in our apartment that we're eating our chocolate biscuits with a spoon!