So, we attempted to get a good Christmas photo when the kids were all dressed up cute after church. Well, let’s just say there are a lot of outtakes.

Merry Christmas, from the Tongs.

And Effie’s new owl hat, just for good measure.

Apparently I hadn’t been checking the weather report, so I was pretty shocked when we woke up to 9 inches of snow! Even though Sam had to skip school today, we made up for it by building a snowman and getting to play outside. It’s pretty gorgeous outside right now- completely blue skies and sunny!

Effie was quite a vision in pink. Little marshmallow baby in her snowsuit!

Sam is learning how to make a perfect a snowball.
Much snow was eaten today. Tasty stuff!

Effie, poor girl, we didn’t have any mittens or gloves her size, so she didn’t last long in the snow. But she did have fun sitting in her cozy-coupe car and attempting to use the shovel.

And, of course, our pitiful small snowman. It wasn’t great snow-man building snow, so this was about as far as we got before people lost interest. Snowball throwing is way more fun, anyway.

But for now, it’s perfect “sitting on the couch and finishing the last minute Christmas gift” weather!

I got two commissioned orders for a delicious cashmere headband, and a pixie hat. I used Palouse Yarn Company (Amaaazing yarns dyed here on the Palouse!)

The headband turned out so squishy and wonderful. I used the yarn held 4 strands thick to make it more bulky. 

And I made another one of my favorite baby hats, The Stella Pixie. I used another Palouse Company Yarn for this one, the Merino Fine,in color “Huron”.

I’ve got to get back to my Christmas knitting, but wanted to keep the blog from going into complete radio silence over the Christmas season! (And hopefully soon baby-season, too!)

A little compare and contrast. Top picture is Effie, 18 months wearing the bunny hat. Bottom is Sam I think he was about 8 months old, wearing it. I can’t believe how similar they look!

In other news, seems like winter has hit us. It’s been very chilly out and last week we even got a day of snow! 

It melted pretty quickly, but Sam had a blast playing in it and making snowballs to throw at the house.

I don’t mind the chilly weather though, gives me an excuse to stay inside and knit for the new baby! We don’t know the gender, so I’ve been knitting up some fun gender neutral stuff for him/her!

Just a few more months to go! (I’m 28 weeks right now!) and before I know it, the holidays will be in full swing, so trying to get as much baby-prep stuff done beforehand! Also, in case you didn’t see, I went as Juno for Halloween. Won second place in the costume contest! Hah! Paul even grabbed an extra large Big Gulp cup for me to use as a prop.

I made up a pattern for a quick tunic this weekend in my head, and tried it out, worked pretty well! I’ll try to get it written up very, very soon, because I love this tunic and want to share it with you!

I made it with Cascade Eco wool, because that’s what I had a lot of (I unraveled my Buttony Sweater, because I just never wore it and thought I could do something more fun with the buttons and the yarn!). Anyway, it’ll be a fun quick pattern, since it’s with nice thick yarn and size 8 needles it works up quickly! I think I might make the next one a bit longer, because I think it’ll be more versatile that way, (wearing it with tights, maybe?) but I love a nice wool tunic for the cold winter months!

I made Effie this sweater from KnitPicks Swish Superwash Merino “Pacific Tonal” (Which I think has been discontinued?). The pattern is The Matinee Jacket, from “Vintage Knits for Modern Babies” (A super awesome book, which you should buy. It has a ton of adorable patterns!)

If I were to make it again I’d definitely do it top down (Pattern is written bottom-up) and has you make the pieces separately, then attach them all together then do the yoked neckline, but I found that to be really tedious, so I’ll probably do it again in a top-down fashion instead following the pattern backwards. It shouldn’t be too difficult, and looks as though a few people on Ravelry have had the same idea and put up instructions.

All in all, I really enjoyed the pattern and think the yarn worked well for this project. I’m always a little hesitant to use variegated yarn in sweaters, because sometimes it ends up pooling weirdly, but this yarn didn’t do that, so that’s good! It’s also machine washable, so huge plus there!

Raveled Here. Rabbit plush is from Climbing Vine Crafts (Her shop is temporarily on hold while they’re remodeling their house)

These aren’t terribly new pictures, but I hadn’t shared them on here, so I though I’d put them up. I got a custom request for a Link Costume (From the Zelda video game) And I thought it turned out really cute! They even sent me a few pictures of the newborn recipient wearing it!

And if you hurry, you could even get one in time for Halloween, but you’d need to order it in the next two days!

I know, I know. No excuses for my nine month absence from blogging, life simply got away from me. In case you hadn’t heard, we’re expecting another baby this winter! (Due February 2nd!) And I’ve been knitting lots and lots, custom orders still going strong! (Email me at lexikaye@gmail.com if you’re in need of any special orders for Christmas let me know soon!)

Anyhow, my friend Laureas took some amazing pictures of our family tonight and I made the Clara dress for Effie to wear for our annual fall photos.

I’m going to attempt to be more consistent about blogging from here on out, I’ve got a pretty good backlog of knits to show you. But I’ve been very active on Instagram, so feel free to follow me over there if you’re not already doing so!

And, as always, contact me if you’re interested in any Christmas orders, as I’ll need to get started on them sooner rather than later! Here’s a list of products and prices, although I’m always willing to do custom orders, so if you don’t see something you want, let me know. Also, things are available on my Etsy shop.

Thanks for sticking with me, Knittybutton readers!

I made my mom a sweater this Christmas. I finished it a few hours before we ended up opening gifts on Christmas eve, so I didn’t get a chance to block it or anything before she opened it. Oops!

Im really excited on how it turned out. I loosely based it on the Cadence Sweater,but obviously made some pretty big changes to the pattern, turning it into a cardigan instead of a pullover, and changing the diamond shape into more of a horseshoe shape. My mom had some really amazing rosewood buttons and was kind enough to let me use them to put onto her sweater- they are so smooth and gorgeous!  I used Homestead Yarn, purchased at The Yarn Underground, and for a size small used up almost exactly four full skeins. Raveled here.

A custom stocking order to round out the newest member of this family.