For today’s giveaway, I would like to send off five skeins of Classic Elite Four Seasons (70% cotton, 30% wool). I overbought this yarn for a project and figured since I have so much remaining that maybe someone else would like it. To enter (sorry international folks, U.S. only), please leave a comment before May 25 and make sure you submit your e-mail address so I can contact you. If you’d like to share something about yourself, perhaps what summer knitting projects you have planned. Thanks for stopping by!

Originally uploaded by PaperDollyGirl.

Things have been quiet around the blog for a good reason. On March 21, 2011, my husband and I met our new baby. We have a sweet little girl! I still can’t believe it. The transition has been challenging, amazingly difficult, wonderful and just such a blessing. I’ve had so much on my mind the past few weeks. Thinking about what I want from my life, what I want from my creative energy. I’m going through a big shift style-wise, and with what I want to spend my time on. Expect things to change around here over the next few months. I anticipate a surge in cooking and home type posts, and of course, I will write about my new adventures in motherhood. I am still sewing and knitting, but since my size is changing so much, most of these creative pursuits will be directed towards home or baby items.

Without further ado, I am learning about a whole new world. I found a recipe online for these cookies, which are basically oatmeal cookies with a nutritional boost from flax seed and brewer’s yeast, all designed to be delicious and improve the milk supply for a nursing mother. Basically, I think it’s an easy way to justify eating plates of cookies when I haven’t lost any baby weight yet. Never fear about the cookie’s name – they did not cause any of my family members to spontaneously lactate. I think not only does my photo look WAY better than the one with the recipe, my ingredients are also better. I used half whole wheat flour and added about 3/4 cup of chopped dried cherries. They really are fantastic. I searched long and far, and finally settled on Lewis Labs’ Brewer’s Yeast. Holy moly, this stuff is packed with nutrition! I will definitely be experimenting with it more in the future.

I have been sewing and knitting and sewing and resting to get ready for this baby. I’m due in TWO days! I feel ready to share some of the special projects I’ve been working on. This is the Scrappy Nap Pillow from Handmade Beginnings. I completely love it. The button in the middle is a vintage button from a specialty shop in NYC. The patchwork pieces are mainly from scraps that I’ve been using for baby items. It’s soft and squishy. And completely at home, waiting in my new glider to hold me and the baby.

This is how it usually looks! Mr. Bubbles is a BlaBla doll, the super soft white bunny is from Pottery Barn KIds, and the awesome brown bunny on the left is handmade by This Is Love Forever.

Things have been quiet around here… this photo shows why! I am expecting a baby in just over seven weeks. I finished this February Lady Sweater just before Christmas. I need to get new buttons for it – the buttons I had just are not large enough. The yarn is the Berroco Ultra Alpaca, and the project used nearly 4 full skeins. I think it’s a bit long, but it’s comfortable, cozy and warm, which is what I wanted. I hope to use it after the baby of course, and it seemed a good alternative to the unattractive maternity sweaters I saw in the stores. I skipped the eyelet increases, and looking at it on me, I wish I had started the lace pattern on the sleeves earlier, even though it would have been annoying to figure out and it would have ruined the symmetry of starting the lace body at the same point.

Wheee!!! It’s December, which means I am officially behind on Christmas knitting. Not too hard to imagine, considering all of the yarn pictured is NOT for Christmas gifts. The top cocoa color is for a fair isle sock. The purple is for a February Lady Sweater I am nearly finished with. The first orange is also for the fair isle sock. The bottom orange is for diaper covers.

Around this time of year, I always feel dismayed that there are just not enough hours in the day to make every precious item I want to make for my family members. I try to pick one each year, but when there are so many beautiful patterns and so many beautiful yarns, it’s really hard to narrow it down!

Do you hand make Christmas gifts? If so, how early do you start? How do you determine who gets something?

This little hat went out to a special newborn last week. I love the pattern! It’s all short row shaping. I added two buttons for sizing options. I used a very lightweight superwash extrafine merino, held double. Size 1 needles for the ribbing and strap, size 5 for the main body. The Aviator/Aviatrix bonnet pattern is a free Ravelry download by Justine Turner. I really enjoyed working on this project, and see it becoming my new favorite baby hat. I know too many babies who pull hats off – the earflaps and strap seem super practical.

Happy late Halloween! Since Halloween fabric is likely now in the bottom of the sale bin at the fabric shop, this is a great project to whip out before the holidaze. I bought the fabric last year, yes, last year. Washed it and neatly put it away. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon this week. I used one package of bias tape and cut my three fabrics into rectangles 7″ x 4″. I sewed them about an inch to an inch and a half apart. I sewed the ends of the bias tape into loops for easy hanging. I double sided mine – so each flag is actually two pieces of fabric, only joined at the top. I liked how this gave movement to the banner and it made it so I can hang it in a window or doorway and appreciate it from either side. The spiderweb fabric is actually glittery and that wound up being a nice effect in twilight on Halloween.

These easy banners are online in many different forms for just about every holiday. My goal was to make a seasonal decoration that was reusable, washable, and indoor-outdoor. Between this and my new felted pumpkin, my home is definitely feeling very festive this fall.

YAY! This must be a record. After a friend bought the kit for needle felted pumpkins from Decadent Fibers at Rhinebeck, I was excited, but doubted I’d get it done in time for Halloween and fall decor. I was wrong! We both made pumpkins and they came out SO darling. It wasn’t hard, once I got the hang of it. I love the shading and dimension to it. They sell prefelted pumpkins on their site, but the kit is great for DIY types. There’s enough orange roving left for a couple of mini pumpkins, once I get more roving to form the base. All in all, I am so pleased with how this came out. It’s my first needle felting project, and I am addicted! I wish I had bought some gorgeous teal roving that I saw at Rhinebeck. I have visions of brilliantly colored pillows…

I can’t believe another Rhinebeck has come and gone! It was windy, but a lovely day on Saturday. I came away with a few special yarns for certain projects I can’t wait to start on. Luckily, nothing is wound into balls yet, so it will help motivate me to finish what I was already working on before diving into this new stuff. I only made one purchase I wasn’t thrilled with – that’s the alpaca in the far left. I bought it, then turned around an saw a color I liked a lot better for a couple dollars less. Oh well, I’m happy anyway. Just thrilled with the sock yarn especially now that fall is finally here. First up, I have to finished my Woodland Hoodlet (did I mention that I’m going to run out of yarn on it? Not sure what I will do) and my Aeolian shawl. And a couple other things that are so close to finished. At least I only have two pairs of size 0 DPNs, so that maxes out the number of socks I can have going at any given time.

It was crowded, but not so much as two years ago, the first time I was there. Again, I brought lunch to avoid time in lines and give myself a chance to rest at the car. Most people were lovely, and I really enjoyed seeing all of the fantastic knitwear on display. Fall is definitely here!

I was making an order from WEBS and decided to pick up a few skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca to make a (hopefully) quick February Lady Sweater. This popular pattern has so many variations. I chose the purple to match the plaid I just bought for a fall skirt.

The Woodland Hoodlet is proceeding as planned, but I have a bad feeling I will be short on yarn and it’s already out of stock. I might take my chances with a different dye lot.