Baby G's blessing gown

I've told how I learned to knit here. I love to make lovely things for my children and grandchildren. When my first grandson was born 5 years ago, I was only just beginning to knit, but he had a few sweaters and blankets that I'd made for him. Two summers ago, my daughter Amber was pregnant with her second child and she asked me to knit her a christening gown, in the hopes that her baby would be a girl. Then she told me to make 5 more christening gowns so that if I died before her siblings had children, she wouldn't have to share with them. Such a kidder, that Amber! Ha ha. (I'm pretty sure to this day that she wasn't kidding).


So I made a lovely little gown and baby girl "I" was born in February of 2010. She was oh so sweet in her little gown, but had a hard time expressing just how much she loved it.

The week that "baby I" was born, my older daughter had an ultrasound and learned that her first baby was a boy. I had 5 months to come up with a blessing suit for baby M who was born in July.

When Amber learned that baby #3 was another girl, she asked me to make another blessing gown for her. I wanted to make something a little more ambitious (because I have a bit more experience now). Amber selected this pattern and I was able to get a wonderful bamboo/silk blend yarn. Since I live in Hawaii, I buy most of my yarns online and I was slightly disappointed when the yarn arrived and it wasn't pure white, but a bit of an ivory. But the dress turned out so pretty, I wasn't disappointed long. I'll be going back to Hawaii before her blessing, so we had a little fashion show a bit early. Here is our newest family member, Baby G, modeling her gown.

And, of course, the outfit isn't complete without the shoes.

 I loved making this for my baby granddaughter! I imagined Amber saving the dress for G's daughter to wear in 25 years!

-Lorie

Creamy Pesto Shrimp Linguine

13 oz. box of linguine pasta
8 Tbls. butter, seperated
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 -5 sliced mushrooms
2 chopped green onions, optional
2 cups half and half, I used fat free
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pesto - Thanks Amber for the homemade!
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

~Cook linguine until al dente and drain.
~In a skillet, melt 2Tbls. butter and saute mushrooms. As soon as they are done, pour shrimp on top of mushrooms, remove from heat and cover with a lid. Set aside for now.

~In another skillet, melt the 6 Tbls. butter and saute minced garlic and green onions, then stir in half and half, season with pepper. Stirring constantly, cook about 6 minutes on medium heat. Stir in Parmesan cheese and pesto, cook until thickened.
~Stir in the shrimp and mushrooms,the shrimp will be mostly pink from the steam of the mushrooms, but if not cook, (this will be only a minute or 2) until shrimp are all cooked through and pink. Spoon over the hot linguine. Sprinkle with a little fresh Parmesan and sea salt.

No picture of this because we are forgetful. But it is so good. I used whole wheat pasta and my teen-ager loved it despite it having additional fiber :)