Moving forward

Barnaby came back home last weekend:

That's him in the tiny brown box with the mouse on top. My dear friend Cathy had a brilliant suggestion - in the spring when I plant some bushes outside I'm going to bury his ashes. Of course, this will probably mean that said bush will require daily watering, have crazy limbs that need regular trimming, and will probably always be on the verge of catastrophe, but won't that be fitting? If I choose well, maybe the birds will like it and Mr. B. can watch the birds for all time.

On a lighter note, Brant got creative for Valentine's Day, and in a burst of non-commercial energy he made the wonderful blue incense holder you see there in the middle. The box is made from a salvaged piece of some neighbor's fence, and the red incense holder is a smidge of trim from our house. Be careful what you put out for garbage - you never know what people like us are going to do with it.

In knitting news:
Finished up the sweater for my boss' baby. It was quite a hit at the baby shower Friday; everyone wanted to cuddle the bear. I can confess that I carried him around tucked under my chin for a while Thursday evening.

70's Inspired Baby Hoodie
Knit in New Jersey, New York, Grenada, and California, started on my birthday (symbolism, see) and completed in January (except for zipper).
Yarn: 100% cotton, received in a trade at a knitting circle.
Pattern: From an old issue of Women's Day; it has a zipper up the back for easy stuffing of baby into sweater. I improvised the moss stitch, as cables would have been tough with the cotton.
Needles: Size 8 circular
Modifications: My mom uses this pattern often, but I had all kinds of trouble with it. Somehow my numbers didn't add up so I had to fudge, fudge, fudge. Also, the cotton was so not-stretchy that I made up my own method of increasing since knitting through a back loop just wasn't going to happen. I didn't get a photo of the raglan increases, but the improvisation made a nice trail of little eyelets at the shoulder.

Ongoing
The Socken it to the Family received a boost this past week with seven more submissions! And a very clever mom traced hands and feet of her boys, in the event I get tired of socks and want to make mittens for next winter. I have quite a bit of wool lying around (in the box in the closet that does not get mentioned), so some felted mittens may indeed be a nice change of pace.

Parent #1's first sock is finished, and I'm starting into the foot of Cousin #1's first sock. The weather here has been atrocious meaning I've been driving rather than braving the weather to walk to the train, and the knitting has suffered. But with warmer (a-hem) weather predicted, there shall be a return to train knitting and I hope to get back on track.