The good, and the not-so-good

So much to discuss.

Last weekend:
Family life and the end of winter makes for some really cool weekends!
Saturday had a touch of the awesomeness. The whole family ventured out into the warm and beautiful afternoon - went for breakfast at 2pm, just like before Sweet Pea's arrival, bought some cool stuff, played.
We bought Sweet Pea a bubble machine for toddlers. It's a crap tonne of fun! We played with it for a long, long time.
We also bought Mr. Wonderful an 18 foot dragon kite. It wasn't as much fun. Let me explain. Following Great Big Kite's purchase, we made a bee-line for the park. Sweet Pea had a go in the swings while Great Big Kite was being assembled. Turns out Great Big Kite had a manufacturing defect - so we could get it off the ground, but as soon as it started really flying, it would buckle and plummet to the ground. Shitty. We returned Great Big Kite on Sunday. However, on Saturday, as we were attempting to fly Great Big Kite, a HUGE gnarly storm blew in. It was really impressive. We felt the first drops and got into the car - but by the time we got home (a ten minute walk) we couldn't see out the windshield, the yard was covered in small lakes, my car (windows open, of course) had a pond in the driver's seat . . . and so on. Most importantly, our power was out. It stayed out into the evening.
With no power, we put Sweet Pea down for her nap, and then Mr. Wonderful and I tried to remember what we used to do before baby. After a while we gave up. He played games on his cell phone. I knitted.

That was the first knitting I've been able to do for a while. Sweet Pea is very mobile these days. She cruises, she rolls, scoots -- whatever it takes. She also likes to get into things. I am no longer an unstoppable knitting force.
Case in point: I started this sweater a month ago



I managed to finish Sweet Pea's Ruby red swing coat, which has been in progress for ages. Okay, since the end of February. Still.


Details:
Yarn: Sublime Yarns Extra Fine Merino Wool DK. Yummy. Seriously soft.
Pattern: Little Daisy Swing Coat by Sublime Yarns. Big fat pain in the butt. Why oh why is the construction of every Sublime baby sweater so convoluted? This one was in 8 pieces. Sigh.

I have been doing a little lace knitting in the evenings - my nupp-less lily of the valley stole is now 50% through the lacey body. It's only taken 10 months. No worries there though - there's no deadline. It's pressure and guilt-free knitting. The way all knitting should be.

Back to Saturday - following her nap, and with the power still out, Sweet Pea declined to eat any (cold, nasty) dinner, and instead occupied herself with turning out the contents of the diaper bag. A good time, apparently.
I wish I had been able to get a photo of her work in progress. At times, she was head and shoulders inside the bag, scooping things out.

I mentioned previously the bubble machine. Here it is:

That was Sunday morning's diversion. $12.93 - and absolutely worth it. Our girl loves it. Hell, WE love it.

Of course I'm leaving out a lot of details - this post is already insanely long. Suffice it to say it was a perfectly lovely weekend.

Currently, I have a conundrum. I bought this lovely yarn:

It was meant for the expected son of a friend of mine. The baby is due in August. The yarn is Casbah - 80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon. Scrummy, and indescribably soft. Also machine washable. By all accounts, the perfect yarn. Problem: I can't find a 3 month + pattern for the yardage. It's too warm a yarn for a newborn sweater in August . . . I think.
Question: should I just keep it and make something for me? I think I'm looking for absolution here. I'll make my friend's baby a mini short sleeve sweater like Sweet Pea had out of some yarn I have on hand already. Also cashmere, btw. Like this one, only blue and white.

On the flip side, I keep thinking the yarn was purchased for that baby - I should make a hat or something . . but a hat would only negatively impact the yardage for future projects . . . help me out!
I've already cast on the ,Twinkle Cardi (rav link) and knit some of it . . . but I keep waffling.