Much Knitting, Little Blogging

I hate to blog about not blogging, but I feel I must at least mention it, but only because I have so much to cover! I've been busy, and have much to document.

First, a million years ago at Easter, I took a trip to St. Louis to visit the old stomping grounds. It was a very short-notice trip, so I didn't get to see a lot of people I should have. Oops. I did get to spend some time with Colleen, who has a very friendly car. You may recall it was a cold weekend for nearly everyone, and when I turned on the seat heater it greeted me:

The next day I stopped by Knitorious, of course, and bought some yarn, of course. The top two skeins are bamboo sock yarn, and the bottom skein I just fell in love with and after telling Gwen "I don't buy enough fun yarn" I decided I had nothing to lose. This picture doesn't do it justice. I planned to make a hat with it, but it's warmed up considerably since then and a hat doesn't seem like a good project to work on just now.

But this was a good project:

"Hugs and Kisses" baby socks for Erin-Who'd-Rather-Be-Quilting. Poor Erin has to knit with us at Barnes & Noble because she can't find a quilting group. Erin is pregnant and we threw her a surprise baby shower. Yes, these socks are made with Koigu.

And speaking of babies, I also crocheted this blanket for The Princess & The Peanut, my niece and nephew.
It is a monument to another argument for swatching. The blanket isn't exactly rectangular. The first ten to fifteen rows are looser than the rest of the blanket. If I had swatched, my tension on the new stitch would have evened out by the time I actually made the blanket. Seriously. Swatch, people.

I have also been working on more beaded stitch markers. I finally broke down and bought round-nose pliers, and I should have done that a long time ago. I had been using only the needle-noses at the top of the picture. See how pretty and round the twist is? I might just re-make some of the old ones; they look pretty bad in comparison.
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And last but not least, last weekend we went to Stitch 'n' Pitch. It was so much fun. It was my first Reds game, and we got a ton of free stuff. Good free stuff. Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and big giant needles, the last issue of Cast On, and a cross-stitch kit I gave to a hospital-bound pregnant friend, and those are just the highlights. I also got a bad sunburn which was also free, and some yummy nachos which were not free. A good time was had by all. I highly recommend it. The season is young; go if you get the chance. I forgot to take pictures.