And this time they aren't even Christmas presents! That's right, both of these are 2007 FOs, although the socks were started back in December.

First! The last pair of socks. My brother-in-law got ordained last week, and when we started thinking about what to get for an ordination, we were kind of stumped. We looked at the official Church of England stores in England (seemed like a natural place to look!) but all the fancy stuff was really damn expensive. Like, insanely so. So that plan was quickly abandoned.

Fortunately, I had a brainwave shortly thereafter, and this idea was born!



They are socks with a little priest collar on the top. I had some help from the Knitty chat on these, and what I ended up doing (after several attempts) was knitting flat black ribbing for a while, then casting on another 12 stitches or so and joining it in the round. Then I did a hem turning row (reverse stockinette so it folded over nicely), then knit ribbing for several rounds. Except the newly cast on stitches, which I knit in white stockinette. I tacked down the folded over part when I finished the socks, and the collar looked like this when they were done:



Here is my brother-in-law with his new socks!



(Isn't his outfit snazzy? He had the second nicest outfit out of all six people who were being ordained.)

So! Once I finished those I turned my attention to the five impending babies. This sweater was originally going to be for the April baby, but once I finished it I decided it was too warm for the April baby and it got reassigned to the February baby. Whose shower, conveniently, was today.



It's for my friend who's from Zimbabwe, who I've known since I was 13. My family went to Zimbabwe that year, and our dads worked together so we met and hung out several times while we were there. When we were 19, she moved to Edmonton for university. (Her dad did a degree here so she was born in Canada and has Canadian citizenship.) We started hanging out again, periodically, and our lives have been remarkably similar since then. Of course now she's having a baby, so I told her she's on her own for this one. (She tried to convince me otherwise, but then I pointed out that my babysitting skills will be much more useful if I don't have my own kid, and she was swiftly convinced.) We don't see each other often but it's always fun when we do - she's one of those friends that I don't need to see often to have an awesome time with.

Here's Mr. Bear's closeup.



It's the Hooded Sweater from Debbie Bliss's Special Knits, and it's kind of a stupid construction but the sweater is SUPER cute. Especially the little pointy hood.



So cute and elfy!

It's knit in Mission Falls 1824 wool, which is superwash merino and deliciously soft. It was very quick to knit - I finished the actual knitting in about five days, and then just needed an hour or two of seaming. My seaming has definitely improved - the hood in particular looks really nice.

Incidentally, I'm really noticing my prevalent fondness for dark reds. I chose this one because it's a great generic gender colour (and will look super cute on this Zimbabwean baby!), but trying to take photos of it on my...dark red furniture was kind of a challenge. My sister's sweater? Burgundy. The shawl I'm knitting? Burgundy. The Kid Silk Haze I just ordered for my Reversible Rib Shawl? Burgundy.

Good thing I'm knitting my Rogue in Light Sheepy Grey. I clearly need to branch out.