Baby Shower for Della Garcia

Baby Shower for Della Garcia
Originally uploaded by >>>WonderMike<<<

My dear friends Holly and Rene just welcomed their second baby into the world and her name is Della Atari Garcia. She was born on February 7, 2009 and I got to see her very soon after her delivery at Kaiser in San Francisco. Della was sporting a full head of beautiful black hair and seemed a bit more chill than her older brother Renecito . Holly seemed much more at ease, this time, too. I suppose you're ready for whatever the delivery process is going to throw at you the second go 'round.

Before Della left her mother's watery citadel, she wasn't quite with the program. The medical term I believe is presenting breech, but with several weeks before her scheduled arrival, everyone was hopeful that she'd come around to the proper exit strategy. Holly endured several weeks of natal "massage" that was supposed to coax the baby into proper alignment, and, in the end, it worked. No C-section was required and it was a relatively complication free procedure.

Della is named in honor of her uncle Daniel Anthony Garcia who sadly passed away last year before he was able to meet her. Della and Daniel have the same initials and I think that Daniela was Della's first name, originally. In fact, it might be her name on the birth certificate but everyone is calling her Della now. Oh, and, in case you're wondering, Atari was not chosen for the video game, but rather, it's an exclamation in Japanese that is used when you've won something big, like the Lotto. Holly & Rene won the Baby Big Scratcher.

I've been working on the knitted love for Della for quite some time now. I've made a punk rawk pony , a Baby Surpise Jacket w/matching booties , several Sproutets , hats w/booties and, my latest obsession, leg warmers . These leg warmers originally were made for Holly because I mistakenly thought she wanted them for herself. When I finished the first one and showed it to her (the day before Della was born)v, she shouted, "Jeez, Baby Della is going to disappear in that legwarmer". Oh, it's for Della.... I thought it was for Holls. Nevermind, they was destined to be matchy-matchy Mother Daughter legwarmers .

I was so jazzed by these ultra-simple 1x1 ribbed tubes, that I proceeded to go a little cuckoo and get all the materials for two more sets with matching hats (hats shown above). When I asked Holl what colors she wanted, she said pink with green. Here you see Pink Heather Cascade 220 with Lime Green Kidsilk Haze (on left) and Green Heather Cascade 220 with Pink Kidsilk Haze (on right). I love the knitted up fabric created by holding these two yarns together. It creates such a rich and super soft texture.

The adult legwarmer pattern is from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson and it's one of my very first "expensive" design and pattern books. The only other books I had purchased before were "Stitch N Bitch" by Debbie Stoller and "Knitting Without Tears" by Elizabeth Zimmerman. Both of these books together were about $20. It was a big leap for me to spend $30 on a single book. How things change when you find yourself chuffed that you got that Alice Starmore out-of-print "Fair Isle Knitting" book for just a little over $100 (retail price in 1986, $30), but that's another post for another day.

Welcome to the World, Baby Della. I can't WAIT to shower you with knitted dresses and tiaras. You're going to be such a girly girl, I can feel it.