A mile in these shoes

When we moved to the place we currently live the husband knew we had some relatives (on his side) but didn't know who or where. About a month after we moved here my father in law left us a message letting us know it was a cousin and he happened to be in our town! The husband called him up and we've become buddy buddy with them since then. The two grew up together, lived in the same house together (and seperately) at the one point, and went to shool together. They were childhood friends so this was a very nice surprise. When we first met up with them we got to meet his wife and found out they were pregnant with their first! That night after we got home I pulled out my knitting stuff. Naturally this baby needed something knit. They don't cloth diaper so that was out. I thought it presumptuous to knit nursing pads, blankets would take too long 9she was 36ish weeks when we irst met). Too young for toys. I needed something fast. I headed over to ravelry and happened upon the Magic Slippers pattern. It was perfect! I made the first one in a couple of hours one morning while the wee ones slept in. I think I wove in my ends at the 2 hour mark. SUPER fast. I even had yarn left over from my first nugget. That's how little yarn these take. I forgot about the second one (sort of..the first inch or so was done) until last week when we got a call about the blessing. I pulled everything out and finished it up that night. There is a slight difference in the two but I know why and it's easily remedied. I think if I make these again (which is very likely as they were a big hit!) I will add some length to them. These fit like ballet slippers and will very wuickly be outgrown. They are a tad on the short side in the back too. They are easy for a newborn to kick off and newborns don't kick a whole lot. This wee one kicked off the smaller one (the back is shorter on one) two or three times before we managed to get a decent shot.

Pattern: Magic Slippers

Needles: Size 1 dpn's

Yarn: Leftover Trekking XXL (from the husband's socks that he lost and is now on permanent no knit goods status for)

You can see the difference in height in that picture. When I did the first one I picked up a few too many stitches so I had extra decrease rounds in there. The second one I did correctly and didn't even think about it until it was too late. Oh well. I explained to the mama that if she gets it wet and then stretches it out and lets it dry she should be good to go.

I've picked up my Master's knitting stuff again. I whipped out 6 swatches so quickly I kind of got burnt out on it. I did one alst night and am working on one right now. I forgot how quickly these go! I'm debating how to go about these. Should I jsut knit them how I normally would and expect some resubmits? I mean part of this is having the chance of being told what you're doing wrong and fixing it. Or should I knit them to be as perfect/dead on as I can and send them int hat way and hope that minimizes my resubmits? I'm inclined to do both. The first because I want this to be a learning experience and I'd rather have them tell me what I need to fix based off how I currently knit. This is a tool to evaluate my current knitting style. If I always use a long tail cast on even when it's not the right one to use I should use that one for all my swatches unless it says not to. Use this to the fullest advantage you know? BUT I don't want to resubmit anything or have them think I'm a knitting idiot. The nervous school kid in me just wants to fit in and be told I'm cool and I knit well. :) But that's not an accurate portrayal of my knitting. I don't research various things. I do what works for me the same way every time. :)

I finished a sock the other day. I'm debating making it's mate. It was a top down and while it fits and I'm pleased with it I'm looking to change it. I want a perfect pattern and have yet to find it. I got to thinking the other day about doing one that did both top down and toe up techniques and was trying to figure out the logistics when I stumbled on a pattern that does just that! It wasn't a free pattern so I didn't pick it up but it just reaffirms I'm not crazy. :)

Down and Up Lace socks Funny thing is I've been working on a sock pattern witha very similar stitch pattern. Great minds think alike. ;)