A Hat, a Baby Quilt (Top), and a Good Book

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Just as quickly as my furious "making" fever took hold, it left me.  I've barely knit all week.  I think it's been replaced by the manic cleaning/nesting frenzy that is typical of me at this point in pregnancy.

I did make up this little hat for the new baby.  I'd never tried a fisherman's rib before and it was a fun and quick way to give it a shot.  I won't recommend the pattern, however, because I found it to be incredibly confusing on the decreases.  I made the hat from Pickles' "Sweetie Pie Kit." The pattern only specified directions for 1 decrease round.  I kept going in a similar way until I had 8 stitches and pulled the yarn through, but I was disappointed in how the decreases looked - kind of haphazard and not at all right.  To cover it up, I made a little pompom, which unfortunately gives it a more wintry look than I was going for with this project.  Still, it's a sweet little hat and may just have to sit in my stash until a wintertime baby is born to friends or family.

I finally received my Kona cotton for the baby quilt and it quickly came together, however my sewing machine started screwing up, making a great looping mess on the underside.  I'm taking it over to my Aunt to see if she can work some magic with it.  It seems to be a tension problem, so hopefully a quick and inexpensive fix.  I'd like to get this finished up by the weekend, washed and waiting in the cradle for baby's arrival. (The top still needs to be pressed in the above photo, but you get the idea).

It's been a while since I've shared about a book I've been reading.  I'm actually in the midst of several at the moment, but I just finished "Call the Midwife," the book that the PBS series is adapted from.  I could not put this book down.  I've been wanting to read it for quite a while and finally purchased it on kindle, with plans of loaning it out to my sisters when I'm through.  I loved the book, it was absolutely excellent.  There is, of course, the birth and midwifery aspect of the memoir, which is what I was initially interested in, but there is also so much human interest in the place and time in which the book takes place.  I learned quite a bit that I did not know about postwar London.  After reading about families of 10+ living in flats of 2 rooms with no bathroom or hot water, it's hard not to feel fortunate for the little home that I'm raising my family in, tiny bathrooms and cramped bedrooms and all.  The writing was very well done and the characters sprang to life.  I cannot recommend it enough, even to those who are not particularly interested in midwifery or childbirth.

Linking up today with Ginny and Frontier Dreams

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