A Reprieve from Sock Knitting

Thanks for all of your comments and encouragements about my return to running! I'm pretty excited about it. I know that it will be hard to find the time (not to mention the daylight hours) to run without Beatrix but I'm committed to it. If I get desperate, I can leave her with Aaron and run on the treadmill at the rec center down the street from our house.

I have no finished socks for you. I haven't picked up the socks since I last posted. Instead, I engaged in a few stash-busting projects. Using some Araucania Nature Wool, two wool soakers for Beatrix using the Picky Pants pattern. Note the fancy elastic waist (I learned a new skill)! And look how close I came to running out of yarn! Eek. That's why the 2nd pair ended up as shorts and not pants. I just love the pants but they fit more like capris. I forget that Beatrix is a really long and skinny baby. I'll add a few extra inches to the legs the next time I make a pair.
My second stash-buster was an Odessa hat for Aaron using Lamb's Pride Worsted. I omitted the beads for a more masculine-looking hat. I made him a really basic hat from Henry's Attic Alpaca a few years ago that he wears all the time. It's a bit light for really cold days so I thought I'd make him a hat with something heavier.

Finally, I cast on for another hat using more Lamb's Pride Worsted. I'm not too fond of the hat but I don't have much left so I'm just going to tough it out.

Meuh. As you can see, it's nothing to write home about. I thought I'd use a picot banded edge but it just looks lame in fuzzy gray yarn. I knit much of this hat in the car on the way to buy this:
That's a Dyson DC17 vacuum. Why, you ask?

and

One word: Petunia. Well, that and a baby who will be crawling in a few months, of course!