Where has the time gone?

I wore Whippoorwill out for the first time the other night and it was perfect for the chilly weather. It's not supposed to be cold out yet, is it? Well, maybe if the view from our place looks like this:

That's right - fall color!

It's nothing on what you lucky New England folks will see over the next couple of weeks but it's not bad for living in the middle of the city. Time is really flying - tadpole will be seven months old tomorrow, she has a tooth (!), and I start my new job in two weeks. Fall is really here.

So what about fall knitting? Deep breath . . . about that. I'm a bit behind.

My mantra these last couple weekends has been "I just want to finish something." I've made progress but don't really have much to show for it.

For starters, I finally finished up three more squares for Elizabeth and her Blankets for Birmingham project. I don't know what my problem was, especially since the first three went so quickly. But this time I ran into difficulty after difficulty. I think I went through three or four stitch patterns until I found one I liked in the cotton yarn. And then I had gauge difficulties. After ripping out more starts than I care to think about, I did the unthinkable: I knit a swatch. My squares were done three days later.

Now I just need to give them a quick steam and iron job and pop them in the mail. They're coming, Elizabeth, I promise!

I also whipped up a quick pair of booties for tadpole - something to keep her socks on when we went outside.

I used some leftover Manos Silk Blend from the stash and modified the Christine's Baby Booties pattern to make a garter footbed that was 2x4 inches. This ended up being rather large (not unwearable) but got the job done.

You know you've got a winner when the guy bagging your groceries thinks it's a great knit.

The booties were wonderful to have on chilly days until one disappeared on a walk this weekend. I've got a skein of tosh vintage in the stash that is slated to become booties, mitts, and a hat but I've been putting off casting on for a few days.

Why? I just want to finish something!

I thought it was going to be this little sweater I'm making up for tadpole out of tosh sock.

It's a baby version of Tea Leaves that I'm making up as I go. Or rather, it's inspired by Tea Leaves since I don't have that pattern.

As I said, I thought that this one was almost done - I was working on the garter stitch hem with just the sleeves left to go when I decided to check and see if I had estimated the length correctly.

Nope, too short. So I frogged several rows this morning. And re-wound the yarn. Something seemed to have happened to the ball during the fitting.

I'll finish the body today (I hope!) and the sleeves should be pretty quick, which bodes well for starting replacement booties soon.

Except that I also want to finish this:

This, dear readers, is Catkin. What a fun knit! It's clever and makes you pay attention, both of which I really appreciate after several months of pretty straightforward knitting. I'm one row away from starting the pattern in the second section and I can't wait to get back to this project.

Maybe working on Catkin will be my reward for finishing the purple sweater. And that means it's time for me to go knit before nap time is over!