Laume's Studio

I had planned on bringing some knitting along to do in the early stages of Noel's labor. I packed the needles but no yarn to go on them. Uhm, yeah. That'll work. NOT. So that morning on my way to the hospital, picking up a Starbucks for strength and energy, I spied a Joann's in the shopping center across the street and said "Aha!" Or something similar to that. Maybe it was "Goodie!" or "Hurray!" It's a bit fuzzy now. But anyhoo, I drove on over and the sign said they didn't open for another twenty minutes. TWENTY MINUTES! Do you know how long that is when your daughter is at the hospital and about to go into labor (she was being induced) at any minute!? It felt like two hours. So after the first hour, er, first ten minutes, I got out of my car and stood in front of the glass front doors trying to look as forlorn and damsel-in-distress-like as possible. It worked. The manager opened the door for me.

I discovered that when your brain is all a-buzz with excitement and nervousness over an impending grandchild is not a very good time, on the spur of the moment, to decide on a new project. Scarf? Nah, don't need any more scarf stuff. Hats? Maybe. Baby stuff. Oh, yes, good idea! I looked at the pattern books but they all looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics to me - not because I can't read a knitting pattern but because my brain wouldn't let me settle on any of the words long enough for my eyeballs to understand them. But eventually I decided, even though I have never ever knit a sock in my entire life (I've attempted several but never made it past the cuff), that I should knit baby socks.

I suppose there's some logic to starting out a sock knitting career by knitting a baby sock. They're small. You work your way through all the steps quickly. Of course logic also told me that starting with a Yule Stocking was the best choice because you only had to make one sock and you didn't need to worry about making a second one coming out the same size. I still haven't finished that project, but there are evil cats to blame in large part for that delay.

Here are the colors I picked out and here's how far I got on the first sock before Noel's labor kicked into a more serious gear that necessitated my active involvement. As you can see, it was a very fast labor, lucky her.
I unpacked this project this morning and discovered I have a couple of unexpected problems. First, a small carton of orange juice broke and got the knitting a bit soggy, although a quilting magazine absorbed most of the liquid. The pattern book is missing altogether, which saved it from the orange juice, but I hope it turns up since I hate spending money on patterns. It's probably in another suitcase. One of the needles is also missing and I have less hope that I'll find it since there's no reason it wouldn't be with the other three. The needle that was missing was actually one that had stitches on it. I think I caught up all the stitches again on the empty needle, but I'll have to make sure the stitches are all turned correctly and put back on their proper needle sets, although that's a moot point until I find the missing needle. I'd just pull it all off and start over but I'm feeling sentimental about having done those stitches while at the birth.

If I ever find the needle and ever finish even one pair of socks, they aren't actually very baby sized even though the pattern says they should fit a 6-12 month old. They're obviously more toddler sized. So, good. I'll have more time to work on them.

Moving on.....

I should just change the name of this blog from Laume's Studio to Look at What Laume Bought! Sigh. I know, a studio implies that there's some creative work going on in it. And I will. Eventually. Post England (we leave in 9 days!!!). I promise. I also promise to get back to work on my Nanowrimo Novel. And you don't have to bug me about that one because William is already doing a very good job of harassing ..... er, encouraging me to get back to work on it. In fact, just this morning, I made a deal with him. If he memorized his multiplication tables, I promised to go back to work on my novel and write at least an hour a day. (I'd love if he won this bet, but I'm pretty sure he won't bother.)

Oh, so, anyway - Look at what Laume Bought!

I went back to the same Joann's while on a post birth Starbucks run because they had a huge weekend sale going on and I never ever manage to be in the vicinity of a Joann's during one of their sales.

The bottom row is just quilting fabric that caught my eye for one reason or another.

The top row are all flannels, again, for receiving blankets. Look at the lighthouse and anchor one on the left and the fishies one on the right. Since my next grandchild's daddy is in the Navy, these are perfect! And I couldn't resist the Mexican food one because the whole family loves to go out for Mexican food and besides, when you wrap them up, they so look like little burritos. My favorite though is the sweet little garden pictures and words. It's much cuter then it looks in the photo. And now I really need to stay away from the flannel section for the rest of my DIL's pregnancy. I mean, a baby can only use so many blankets before they outgrow that bundling stage.

Here's some more fabric, this was from a trip up to Lake Almanor to drive around the lake and enjoy the lovely spring weather that finally arrived last week. It's all just "because I liked it". All FQ's except a 3/4 yard of the stripe because I love to use stripes for bindings and sashings and framing stuff. The three on the left go together nicely, although I didn't plan it that way.

That's all. Now I'll go wash it all in my new washing machine and finish unpacking. If you find a lone 2 pointed 3.25 blue metal knitting needle laying about, let me know, wouldja?