I've been knitting some too.

This sweet hat is for a baby girl born to the block about six weeks ago. Another neighbor of ours threw a shower for her on Sunday.

As sweet as "rosebud" may be, it seems a bit impractical, so I whipped up a plain old stripey to go along. Both hats are from Itty Bity Hats, my current go-to when it comes to knitting for the infant set.

There was a lot of discussion around the hood about what to wear to this baby-shower. I have learned that baby showers in the South are quite the event. What you wear is almost as important as the gift you give. Back last week when it was spring, the general consensus was pretty skirt, tee shirt and flip flops. There was a flurry of e-mails detailing all sorts of outfits (drawn, by me at least, mostly from go fug yourself) and amazing helicopter hairdos. By Sunday it was sleeting and all any of us wanted was to stay home in our sweats.

We persevered though and all wore pants.

There was some concern that a certain former neighbor of ours would be present at said shower, and we all felt that some pre-party fortification was in order. This is where we're discussing all the amazing baby-shower food we had to look forward to.

Gorgeous cake.

Beautiful table. Fruit salad. Cheesecake thingys.

And that's all. No decadent quiche. No chicken salad. No meatballs in sauce in a chafing dish and no crustless sandwiches. And all this time I thought chicken salad was required at baby showers.

Sigh. At least there was champagne. And all our worry about the former neighbor? She never showed.

It was still a really nice shower for a really nice person who had a girl after three rough and tumble boys. And we're really happy for her whole family.

Less than ten minutes home another flurry of e-mails: "Are you in your sweats yet? I am."