Both Sides of Craigslist.com

(Peanut's about 5 weeks old here)
Within a 24 hr period, our family was on both sides of www.craigslist.com. On Saturday, we purchased a washing machine to replace the one that I talked about last week. So far so good. It made it through a marathon session of 2 weeks worth of laundry. On Sunday, Peanut's crib went to a new family. A very, very young couple bought her crib for this little darling due in July. I'm so glad it went to a family that really needed it. It's strange to have Peanut in the house but know the crib isn't here. Mister was a little upset about it going, but we both know we won't be expanding the family any time soon. Peanut just waved and said, "Bye crib!! Big Girl BED!!" We installed a safety rail on the side of the big girl bed to prevent anymore late night acrobatics out of it. I think I'll sleep easier now. Funny, the washer and the crib were the same price so it was a wash. (Oh, that was bad...sorry 'bout that.)

Here's a photo of the purple & white blanket I recently gifted to my cousin having twin girls in April. A pink & white blanket also went with this one. I didn't get a chance to photograph it before it was wrapped. Same pattern, just a bright pink instead of purple. I also included 3 washcloths in variegated pink and white Lion cotton. I believe it was the Strawberry colorway. I can't seem to find it on their site. This was done on the USM. I e-wrapped 129 sts, k3r, then did an eyelet row continuing with and eyelet border every 2 rows. 3 rows from the top, did another eyelet row and did a back stitch bind off. The stripes were done every 20 rows. The whole thing was 200 rows and was about 33"x38" when all was said and done. This is the very first blanket I have ever made. I'm quite proud of it. I have matching hats on the machine at the moment, but they're kind of in limbo while I'm training for the Knitting Olympics.

The training is going well. With each row, I'm reminded of how much I adore Cotton Ease and how sad I am that Lion didn't see it for the beauty that it is. I noticed on their main yarn page, they have yet to come out and say it's discontinued. They lure you into the actual page for Cotton Ease before they drop the bomb. Don't toy with me! I fall for it every time. I see the main page and think, Oh! Maybe they changed their mind!..click...let down. Anyway, back to the training project. The Larry The Trapper Guy scarf is coming along well. I have 12 repeats done of the Irish Hiking Scarf. I love this pattern. It's simple, I don't have to use a row counter (just a well placed safety pin) and I've got it memorized. If you know me, that's huge. Since Peanut came along, my short term memory is nothing to brag about. I rely heavily upon row counters and patterns. Not so much with this one. I'm hoping I can do the same with Branching Out, but I'm thinking probably not. No problem, if it were easy it wouldn't be Olympic worthy.