It's All in the Surprise

OK folks, we're down to one week and counting until we find out whether Baby #3 will be a boy or girl. And there's a lot of pressure, too ... heaven help this child if it has a penis. There are going to be lots of disappointed people who have been praying, divining and just plain hoping that we have a girl. I am, after all, the only female in this house -- even the beagle is a boy. But I'll be happy either way.

I get the questions and comments all the time -- "Are you feeling different with this one?" "Do you have an instinct one way or another?" "Oh, I'm holding out hopes that its a girl this time!" and my own personal, particularly stressful favorite from my husband, "This is the last shot for a girl, so I'm hoping for your sake it is. Personally, the thought of a girl scares me to death."

Seven days and counting.

But on to other surprises -- like some recent knitting. While there are multiple other projects on the sticks these days (including a sock and the Basil baby blanket from Courtney that I finally cracked the code on), last week I had to prepare a gift for my cousin, who had a baby shower on Sunday. (Of course she's having a BOY, which prompted even more discussion over the gender of Baby #3.)

So I knit up this:

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket never ceases to make me squeal in childish delight. It's an amazingly simply pattern that knits up in lightning speed and is just way too cute once you fold the knitting up and sew the seams. With the right buttons, it made a perfect gift for my cousin. She loved it. (Pay close attention to the gift bag at her feet -- I felt particularly clever wrapping the jacket for her "little monster" in a "little monster" bag -- and that made the the Yarn Sniffer squeal with delight because he was the gift bearer and everyone commented on how cute "his" bag was.)

But what else do you get at the baby shower for the daughter of Kniting Auntie of Aran fame? You get one hell of a baby blanket -- hand-designed, and hooded in the shape of a dragon, complete with spikes on the back and fire from the mouth. Lordy, I wish I had better pictures (and selfishly, I'm glad Cat opened mine first because it would have fallen flat after this one ...). I can picture her little boy playing with this blankie for years pretending to be a dragon and curling up on the floor sound asleep wrapped in "scaly" softness.

My aunt said the blanket was "the best gift she ever made for the best gift she ever got."

'Nuf said.