Long time gone

I'm afraid I haven't been as busy with my crafts as I might have been since my last post.  Unfortunately, being a student makes my craft time rather sporadic.  But I have made some progress.

Last post, I was working on socks for the knitting olympics.  Unfortunately, I did not finish them.  As you can see, I still haven't finished them.  I'm a bit stalled on the after-thought heel.  This is actually my third attempt at the heel.  The sock went well until now.  I actually like the pattern, but I think if I do it again, I will include the heel with the rest of it.  The mitered squares are quite addictive and easy to work on in quick bursts between studying.

Over Spring Break, I got some old, acrylic yarn from my grandmother.  I decided I would use some of it to test some theories and make some prototypes for some projects I've been stewing over.  A double knitted swatch with increases, decreases, a yarn-over, and a cable section.  The other sample is a first prototype of a slipper, a double knit sole, no seaming, and an i-cord bind off.  I'm not completely happy with it, and will probably work on another version or two before I'm happy with it.

I am also ecstatic to announce that my sister is pregnant!  I finally have a good reason to knit baby things!  I immediately dug out my cotton yarn stash.  Cotton being easy to care for and less likely for the baby to be allergic to.  My sister and her husband are both BIG Pittsburgh Steelers' fans.  Since we don't know the gender of the baby, I thought I would make a Steelers-themed bib.  So, I created a pattern and made my first stranded knitting project.  I think it turned out well.  I still need to wash it, but I like how it came out.