So busy!

I've been so busy with the Big Project (which is almost ready to show!) that Cassie has jumped in to help out. She was up half the night knitting cuffs for some booties we promised. Poor kitty. There ought to be laws about feline forced labour, don't you think?

Even tinier

A friend of a friend has a new granddaughter who was born early.  They named her Ivy, and something about the story touched my heart. I imagined all the people who were worrying about her, and wishing her their best, hoping she'd be OK.

I graded my booties down from a new-born size to a preemie size. I hope they fit. You can see how tiny they really are.

The last word I had was that Ivy was home, and doing well. Welcome to the world little Ivy.

Pretty little feetsies

Here's another little pair of baby booties. So cute. So much fun to fuss over ..... as are babies!

I'm offering these up for sale for the benefit of  The Lyndhurst Feral Cat Project. $30 Canadian plus shipping if you're not lucky enough to live in the Kingdom of Coco. With today's exchange rate that's only a little over $22. US (Yikes, that's a real bargain, eh?) plus shipping. For personal shopping, they'll be available at the Lyndhurst Turkey Fair on September 19, 2015 along with a whole bunch of cookies, and some other crafty goodness.

Details on the booties: the foot is 3 1/2 inches long, so according to the size chart I found on this site  http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/size-chart.html#foot  they ought to fit a newborn. They're made of 100% merino felt and the ribbed cuff is Louet Gems 100% merino wool. Hand wash.

Sweet enough to eat

Tiny little booties. All done. So sweet.

100% merino wool felt and 100% Alpaca yarn, with cotton embroidery floss

Today, in a photo

We made it through a pretty miserable heat wave where we were treated to really high humidity along with the high temperatures.  I thought for a while I might do injury to Mr. Coco, 'cuz he loves the heat, and he was disgustingly chipper through the entire week. No harm came to him however. The heat wave has finally broken, and all is well again.

And now I can get back to all the things I normally like doing. I'm working on more baby booties (See the chickies?) and I'm starting a project for a not-yet-born baby girl (a sweater, maybe?) and I've got prototype cookies goin' on for a sale next month.  Lots of fun stuff.

In this photo, you can also see the lovely bags that my friends have made for me. The black one on the left is by my friend Karen. It's the perfect size for a pair of socks (or baby booties). I know she has more bags for sale. The pink one up top is one my friend Kate made for me. (Kate is somewhat of a bag-making expert. She can't seem to stop making them.) Kate's bag is perfect for my baby girl project which I've just barely begun.

If I get bored with all these, I still have the Smiley Sweater waiting in the wings. It's good to have options.

Tiny toes

I can't quite remember now how I got here, but I seem to be making baby booties. Now that the cookie commitments are fulfilled (for the moment), the Smiley Sweater beckons, and yet, I'm making boots for babies. I blame it on the heat.

I put the quarters in the photo, so you'd see exactly how small and precious these boots are. I think they'd fit a baby of about 6 to 9 months. 100% merino wool felt and some truly scrumptious 70% wool/20% angora/10% silk for the cuffs. So soft and special.

I guess it all started when I saw a pile of knitting books in some yarn shop's newsletter. I was quite taken by the photo on the cover of Baby Love: Knitted Booties for Tiny Feet.  All I could see was the cover and title, but the photo was intriguing enough for me to go into search mode. The book is by Catherine Bouquerel.

Further searching led me to a fabulous deal on the very last copy at http://bookoutlet.ca/ at the very moment when they had a promotion going on. It was meant to be. I just love the way she has reduced for the instep of the bootie.

Here's my take on Peter Pan which is one of the designs in the book which also uses that clever decrease. These are made from Heritage 150 Paints by Cascade Yarns. It's a 75% merino superwash with 25% nylon. The booties are knit flat, and seamed up the back of the heel, but next time, I'm going to knit them in the round, once I've finished the sole. I also have some ideas for variations on the felt booties, so I guess I'm riding a baby bootie wave for a while.