It's coming, it's coming!

The first clue for the Secret of the Stole II is coming out on Friday. My KnitPicks order arrived with my laceweight yarn on Monday and I have been swatching. First up, the yarn...1760 yards of laceweight merino wool:

The swatch, fresh off the needles (Hey mom, pay attention here...you asked about why blocking)

Here is the swatch pinned to a bulletin board to block.

And, yes, I am aware that it really isn't a rectangle and the edges are all scallop-y. I just did a quick and dirty blocking to get an idea of how I felt about the needle size. And here it is, post-blocking (like every blog in the world, click to enbiggen):

I'm pretty sure I will be going with the size 3 needles. I don't think I would want to go any bigger. Just for kicks, I am doing another swatch with the next size smaller. I doubt it will change my mind though.

Beeb had about two days of being in a perfect baby phase. Over the weekend, he discovered the siblings and decided that he is absolutely transfixed. So other than some little inchwormy stuff, he stayed where you put him and watched big brother and sister with rapt attention. Then last night, he discovered toys and hands! He is completely taken by the plastic key rings. However, he needs a little help to get a good grip and still isn't in complete control of the little handies, so he drops it frequently. And when it drops, it is the end of the world, so the little dude is back to being pretty high maintenance again. Sigh. It was nice while it lasted. Maybe I can train Bug and Bean to fetch his keys.

Oh, and I loaded up on coupons and ran to JoAnn's to get another skein of Paton's Classic Wool for the princess hat and they were completely sold out of the color I needed. Crud. I had already picked out some buttons for the princess shoes, but no way I was going to wait in a humongous line with three little ones for a lousy card of buttons.