Bit by bit

So it is Wednesday, a day for Yarn Along, and pretty much all I am reading this past week is Lorelai's books and the blogs. My attention span is quite possibly the lowest it has ever been - actually what I have been "reading" the most is to keep my computer next to me while I knit and I can keep an eye on the Ravelry Radar. I started a new project as well - a very long-term project, without any sort of goal at this point in time, and no specific deadline - this is a selfish project for me, The Beekeeper's Quilt. When I first saw it on Ravelry I thought it was cute and clever - especially because it uses sock yarn leftovers! I have a basket full of sock leftovers and sock minis that have made their way into my stash either through trades or swaps or whatever.

I decided to ignore the fact that I am already working on a blanket (the Neon Nightmare) for me and just recognize that I could not stop thinking about this project. I have a lot of sock scraps, I am expecting a new baby any day now and between that and my 3.5 yr old daughter I think I need to have a more portable project for snuggling / waiting in the car / etc, just to keep the knitting going. I've been at it for about a week, and my word, these are addictive little buggers to work up. I can't quite tell if it the addictiveness is due to being able to make a hexipuff in ~45minutes (more or less depending on the amount of distractions going on), the thrill of getting to see the different color changes in the sock yarns work up, or the ease of having such a portable project.

I think I have about 11 done in the last week. For now I'm just keeping them in a clear glass vase on the mantle. I have also been going back through the sock scraps and pulling out some for my own use, some for trade / swap. It is a lot of fun to work with some familiar yarns again, and I look forward to swaps and trades to get exposure to new-to-me-yarns as well.

I am going for a very scrappy look, though I can see how easy it would be to get ultra obsessed and create a picture / pattern with these. The estimates for size run from ~1000 hexipuffs for a bed-size blanket to several hundred for a lapghan / baby size. Right now I'm not sure where I will end up. For now this is a great project and I'm loving it!

Embracing Imperfection (or Not).

I've been working on a baby blanket, the babysquared pattern in particular, designed and shared by WifeMomKnitter. Last night I noticed that over the last 30 rows or so I had messed up the pattern. It was all my fault - I was decreasing at the wrong spot. I took a close look at the blanket and thought hard.

The pattern is a scallop-lace style in a rainbow-striping yarn. The mistakes were sort of hidden in a darker part of the rainbow. The mom-to-be is a non-knitter, would she even notice? For two or three rows I thought it over - the blanket would not be cast aside for such a silly reason (I hope), the baby is not going to mind (I hope - though maybe it will help with pattern recognition later on in life? That's thinking it over too much!) - and decided to leave it. But then, I no longer saw the pretty scallop-lace pattern and the lovely rainbow stripes! My eye went straight to the mistakes. Rrrrrrriiiiiiiiipppppppppppppp. I was able to insert a lifeline and that was a huge help. This pattern is quite enjoyable to knit, so I do not mind having to redo a section. After I got going again I noticed something else, do you see it?

One side of the blanket has a 5 stitch border, the other side has a 7 stitch border. Again, all user error. At least I'm consistent and that error bothers me less.

For today's thing-a-day, since I am working on re-doing some of the blanket, I'm going to share someone else's creative endeavors, go check out the Attention!Employees blog, especially today's post - you will see someone I work with.
And a little silly story: A few weeks back the Lorax and I went to visit Dan at work. We said hello to a few people, checked out where his cube is, etc. After we went out to eat. In the car on the way to eat, the Lorax piped up "Mommy, that was fun to see Daddy's work. Tomorrow Mommy can we see where you work?" Ummmm, my work is currently in the kitchen and great room and bathrooms - you're there every day!! :)

I Can't Stop.

It's more practice, so that's good. Yesterday while the Lorax was splashing about in her kiddie pool, I whipped up a "10 minute Crochet Preemie Hat (in about 25 minutes).

I'm quite pleased, though I still can't get over the size of it. I had spotted on Facebook a "Call to Knitters" for purple hats to benefit a charity in Canada. (Here's a link - scroll down to July 1 for more info. Certainly there are places in need of baby hats here in the US as well, so I hope this is the first of many hats.

I've had my eye on a few crochet blogs lately - SarahLondon is great for color inspiration and when I read Attic24 I really feel like "I Can Do That!". Lucy, of Attic24, has a "Granny Stripe" blanket that I can't get out of my head. It looks straightforward enough once you get past the massive chain to start with, and she uses acrylic... we have a ton of blankets in this house, but only 2 that I have made. I have an awful lot of acrylic in my stash already, so I'm thinking about making a ridiculously bright and cheery version for the family room - think nearly neon blue ("Blue Mint"), green ("Limelight"), yellow ("Lemonade"), pink ("watermelon"), orange ("mango"), and white ("coconut") in between each color. I made up a little swatch last night to practice the technique and I am in love. I had grabbed the first few balls of cotton that were in reach and the result is this:

(That's with a border. Just to see, though there is plenty of time to think that through)

(And without the border, which right now I think I love just a little bit more).

There are almost 150 projects on Ravelry - so many great color combos!

Thirty-one is done! with a Blanket!

I had a birthday over the weekend - hello thirty-two! It was a good day, low-key in the morning and busy in the afternoon visiting with family on both sides (since it also was Father's Day). I have some new toys, new treats and new clothes... and most importantly I have my health, my family and my friends.

I am very excited to also have a rather large project finished. When my brother and sister-in-law told us they were engaged I knew right away I wanted to make them a blanket. I asked for their color preferences but didn't offer any pattern choices. I had hoped I would have it finished in time for their wedding, or Christmas 2009, or when they moved into their new house, or their house warming party... yeah, that didn't happen. But, one week before their first anniversary, it's done!!

It's the "Moderne Log Cabin" pattern from the first Mason-Dixon Knitting book. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash. I really did enjoy the pattern - it was not difficult, but it does take its toll on you - that's an awful lot of garter stitch - an as blankets grow, they get heavy, so I couldn't take it out to SnB. The end result is wonderful squishy goodness. And they both were quite pleased -

It fits! :) They are too cute. Much love and happiness for them for all the future years of their marriage!

Garter Stitch.

Garter Stitch. It's one of those things every knitter starts out with right? I finally took a picture of my first ever knitting project.

It was an afghan. Red Heart yarn, cranberry I think is the colorway. This project was made for Dan when we were dating (back in 2002 - we had been dating for 6 years at that point. We're married for 5 years this Nov. No such thing as a blanket curse in my opinion) The "pattern" was from a "Teach Yourself to Knit" - which I did, successfully (and left-handed too!). It's two big garter stitch rectangles, "seamed" together. It almost pains me to look at it and I can't wait to make us a new blanket. But, Dan likes it and it does effectively work (imagine that!) - and even covers the bed!

Sometimes, garter stitch is not all that bad. I've had cowls on the brain this week - maybe because it's getting cooler cold outside, and the scarves are driving me a bit crazy with the long tails. And I wanted a new cowl for Rhinebeck. So, I pulled out yarn I got at Rhinebeck last year (from Jamie Harmon) - bulky yarn, great blue-green-white colors - a few hours, some big needles (even Dan commented - so what gauge are those needles? 13s? He was right!) and Wham, Bam, Thank you Lamb! I've got a new cowl and it's awesome.




Love. And I'm so buying more of this yarn this weekend!

Big Bad Baby Blanket

I finished this blanket last week or just before. I bought the yarn back in May when Betsy and I went to Webs. I started it, but stopped because I got superstitious... I picked it up and put it down many times, more so towards the end of my pregnancy, but didn't finish it before Lorelai arrived! I love it - I used blue sky organic cotton. Didn't bother to block it. Great for tv knitting, I would make this again or even make it larger for an adult.



No more photos mom, really!


Here's a cuter picture of her:

See the little thing in her hair? It's a little flower clip from etsy shop PrettyinPaper (she's changing her shop name to PrettyInPosies) - The clips stay in her hair pretty well and they are very cute!