big doin's..

my sister called this afternoon to announce her engagement. :)

this is kinda exciting and a little weird at the same time, she was married before, lost her first husband a couple weeks after their 25th wedding anniversary, last july. july '05, and she met this man a little over a year ago and says she's spent a year tryin' to find something wrong with him and hasn't managed to do it so this seems like the right thing to so. :) I'm happy for her. I don't know the man well, only met him at thanksgiving but he seems nice enough, he's got the most adorable granddaughter :) and he managed to withstand the stress of thanksgiving.. which was plenty stressful.. and stay in good humor so.. I need to spend more time with him but she likes him and that's good enough for me.

going to be a busy year though, her younger son is graduating college in may, her older one is getting married in june, her future husband is going to be a grandfather again in september and sometime after that they're gonna get married..

it's that baby I just snuck in there that has me writing about this here though.. a baby! to knit for!!

what should I knit for this baby? a blanket maybe? I might be good enough at knitting now that I could knit a blanket that had almost straight edges.. socks? maybe a hat? bibs.. I think I saw some really cute bibs somewhere.. a blanket, maybe? what? suggestions please.. something cool.. I don't want to knit a traditional yellow or mint green layette, pram jacket bonnet and booties thing.. something jazzy/funky/genderless.. whatever happened to knitpicks simple stripes yarn? I never saw that one go on sale.. how'd I miss that?? shoot. self-patterning sock yarn would make a nice sturdy holds up in the wash warm jazzy baby sweater.. and the price of that was right..

what should I knit for this baby? I've tried knitting for babies before.. in 1981 I attempted to knit a hat and sweater set for my first nephew.. he got the hat. I finished the sweater.. which was supposed to be a checkerboard thing but wound up stripes because I couldn't do checkerboard.. for the second nephew in 1984. I started knitting a blanket for a baby that's going to be 13 in june, but never finished that.. (I did crochet that first nephew a blanket though..and finished it on time. :)). I think I'm determined enough and addicted enough and adept enough to make something for this baby, though..

what should I make? :-D