Olivia's Christmas Coat

I'm in a frazzled frenzy to make holiday gifts - so many things on my list and time is extra compressed this year with the presidential election taking up an enormous amount of my husband's time and attention, leaving me basically a single mom until November 4th. 

My biggest holiday undertaking is knitting the Debbie Bliss Smock Coat for Olivia. This is what I'd like her to wear in our family Christmas card picture. I've calculated out the inches I have to knit each day to finish by Thanksgiving. Before I began, I was behind schedule it seemed. Seven inches of the back are finished - endless miles of knit, purl, knit, purl, knit... to go. The pattern is from the Debbie Bliss Simply Baby book, previously featured on this blog. 

The yarn is from KnitPicks. I love this yarn store because it is affordable, especially for projects that require many skeins. The Smock Coat takes 10! The yarn I bought is DK weight CotLin in Moroccan Red, 70% Cotton and 30% Linen. It feels substantial for an over coat (I plan to make a plaid dress for her to wear under it) and knits up nicely and consistently.  The first picture above is from a public flickr album where someone posted their finished garment. The second picture is my coat in progress.

I added another blog to my blog roll - Boston Mamas. If I had time, this is what I would have liked Cool Midwest Mom to be. The writer, Christine, among other contributors, reviews products and services for moms everywhere, not just in Boston. They have regular give-aways, so make sure you check them out.

Finally, we took Olivia to the pumpkin patch last weekend. I experienced the annual trip to Fulton Farms in a whole new light seeing it though Olivia's eyes. Check out the slide show of pictures from our trip on the main page of this blog. It was totally worth the trip to buy pumpkins at a farm and much more meaningful than picking them out of a corrugate bin in our local supermarket. :-)