Em asked me to make something for one of her summer tutors who is going to have a baby.
Em requested baby socks and picked the pattern, XO for hugs and kisses. The baby is going to be a girl, but I dyed this yarn for Em when she said she wanted the socks to be light blue. The reason? “Ms. X has green eyes, and if the baby has green eyes too then the blue will look good.”
This kid’s got better fashion sense than I do.
FO: Fruit Loop
Pattern: Fruit Loop from PixiePurls.com
Needles: #2US/2.75mm
Yarn: Hempathy by Elsebeth Lavold
Ravelry project page
Notes: This was a cute little project and a nice way to try out Hempathy, a yarn I’d been wanting to try. I added a seed stitch border to prevent rolling, but I guess I didn’t do enough rows because it still flips a bit.
I’m normally a loose knitter. In fact, I was so confident in my loose gauge that I didn’t check it until the bottom half was almost done. The pattern calls for 22 sts = 4″ and I got 28 sts = 4″. Blocking brought that back down to 26. I’m glad I didn’t make the smallest size.
It was a challenge to block, as well. I wound up turning over a cereal canister and using that. The straps weren’t stretched with the body, so it looks a little floppy in the back view, but that was easily taken care of.
This was a fairly easy pattern and I’d make it again, but next time I’d go up a needle size.
I stayed up late last night to work on that sweater, since tomorrow is the last day of school so it really has to be done by then. Opted to split the difference with a lavender stripe.
Unfortunately, I screwed up the sleeve before ever starting that part. See how the diagonal line runs directly to the right armpit on one side? That’s what it’s supposed to look like. On the left, however, the line runs into the body of the sweater. That’s because I didn’t reserve enough stitches for the arm. That sleeve is smaller than the other. The only way this’ll work is if the kid has a tiny arm.
I’ve made this type of sweater several times before without having all these problems. Clearly I just shouldn’t knit when I’m tired. Although, as my husband said, “Then you’d never knit.”
I could do just a hat and some booties, but if I screw that up then there’s no hope of getting anything by deadline. So I give up. I found their baby registry online, I’ll just get something off of that. It’s usual for me to get a token of appreciation for her dream team of experts too, but I think we’ll just go with gift cards this year. I clearly need to save my energy.
I love you all, but you people were zero help on the baby sweater. Half of you like lavender at the edges, half of you like a purple stripe. At least I don’t feel so bad for being indecisive myself.
For the most part, Em slept through the night last night. Weirdly, I am more tired after almost getting a good night’s sleep than I was when I was getting two hours a night. It’s like my body was struggling to get juuuust that little bit more that would help. The doctor gave us Tylenol with codeine but we didn’t have to use it. Apparently Motrin is the wonder drug that we hadn’t tried that helped. The doctor said he thought she was a little swollen along her jaw so there’s probably some referred pain there. She has a dentist appointment tomorrow right after school, which was the earliest we could get in. I’m not entirely satisfied with the level of responsiveness from the dentist’s office, so if you happen to know of a good pediatric dentist in the Charlotte area, send that info my way.
To give myself a little stress relief, I’ve purchased the Sims 3 and have actually found a little time to play. My two roommates, Pravmati Shah and Tiphanee McKenna, are getting along surprisingly well. It’s a fun game, but I have to allot myself a certain amount of time and then stop because it’s easy to get sucked in.
As part of a Girl Scout badge, Em and I put a sweet potato in water and watched it grow. It was doing pretty well before the raccoon started gnawing on it. Here’s a picture of one of its sicklier leaves. I took the picture because of the gold beetle on it. It was so tiny that at first glance I wondered how a jewelry bead had gotten on it. I don’t know what it is, but it’s very pretty. Hopefully it’s not out of a Poe story.
The good news is that Em didn’t complain about her tooth late last night. The bad news is that she did complain about her ear. This morning she even said, “I think I might have to get someone else’s ear.” So apparently it’s bad enough that she wants an ear transplant. This is troubling because we went to the doctor on Monday, so you’d think that in the course of a week it would have healed more. But no, she says it feels just as uncomfortable (she seldom uses “painful”) as before she went, and she feels like she doesn’t have any earwax. I’ve got a call in to the doctor’s office and am waiting for a nurse to call me back. They do have weekend hours so we might be seen today.
In non-sad news, I’m knitting a baby sweater from my handdyed yarn. It’s knitting up well and looking great for a nice traditional pastel blue sweater for a baby boy. The problem is that I don’t think there’ll be quite enough to make it as big as I’d like. I’m going to have to stretch it by adding something else.
I’m really tired after a couple of days of no sleep, so I don’t know that I trust my judgement. I knitted it too small at left and added this purple stripe to see how the colors looked together. Then I ripped it out and started it over again at the proper size, and am considering using lavender for a 1×1 ribbed edge at the cuffs/collar/hem.
In your opinion:
The husband has ventured out for a treat we haven’t gotten in a couple of years: Waffle House waffles. Em and I love these. It’ll be a nice comfort food for her. He just got back, so it’s waffle time.
ETA: We’re seeing the doctor today. I’ll keep you posted.
FO: Toddler hat
Yarn: 3/4 of one ball of Adriafil Knitcol
Needles: US Size 4/3.5mm
Pattern: CO 84, 2×2 rib for base, 12×7 decreases.
Gauge: 6 sts = 1″
Ravelry project page here.
Notes: Modeled on a McCann’s Irish Oatmeal tin. Man I love that stuff. The hat was going to be for Afghans for Afghans, but I’m skeptical that I can get it there by the Friday deadline.
The reason it’s so late in getting done is that I had to remake most of the hat twice. The first time, I used size 5 needles and wasn’t satisfied with the fabric. Too loose. The second time, I was knitting on it during the trailers at a Star Trek IMAX show. In the darkness and conversation with the non-Trekkie friend I brought with me, I lost a stitch in the ribbing. I didn’t notice until the decreases when the stitch count was off. Pulling it up with a crochet hook just puckered the fabric oddly. Rrrrip!
Fortunately, now it’s just fine. I could have gone down to a three, but this is good enough and I’m not doing it again.
I really like this yarn, Adriafil Knitcol. Click the link for the yarn description. You can tell it’s an Italian company because English is definitely not their first language. It’s all correct, just stilted, which makes me smile. I picture lots of fashionable people wearing black and smoking cigarettes and gesturing. My mental image of Italy may be just a wee bit stereotypical, but at least it’s “Roman Holiday” and not “Godfather.”
I never would have bought this yarn based on the way it looked on the ball, but I saw a shop model knitted up last time I visited The Needlecraft Center in Davidson and I really liked it. It’s superwash and sport weight, so it would be great for baby things, socks, or little legwarmers. I’d use this yarn again.
FO: A4A Lorna’s Laces baby hat
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces worsted in denim and Lorna’s Laces Shepeherd Sock in Lakeview
Needles: Size 9 US/5.5mm
Pattern: CO 42, 1×1 rib four rows, stockinette until piece measures about 3.5″
decrease round 1: *k4, k2tog*, round 2: K1 plain, round 3: *k3, k2tog*, round 4: K1 plain, etc.
Ravelry project page
Notes: This is essentially the baby spiral hat pattern I’ve got up on Ravelry. Although I noticed yesterday that it has a typo and I accidentally overwrote the original, so if you use it before I recreate it, just remember that 8×8=64 and not 65. Ahem.
The hat is modeled on a grapefruit. I didn’t omit plain rounds near the top so it’s a bit peaked, but that’s intentional. It’ll make it easier to pluck it off the top of the head. The yarn is about 40-45 yards leftover from a baby sweater a few years ago.
This is going to Afghans for Afghans, which has a deadline of May 15th for baby through child items for their Spring campaign. It’s a cause I’ve wanted to contribute to for a while now. Sometimes a quick and easy project is just what’s needed to raise one’s spirits, and if it also clears clutter from the house, so much the better.
FO: Little Spring legwarmers
Yarn: About 95 yards handdyed Dale Falk superwash wool.
Needles: Size 3US / 3.25mm
Pattern: CO 30. k1p1 for 3/4″, stockinette for about 8.5 inches, k1p1 for 3/4″. Bind off.
Ravelry project page.
Notes: These were for
This was my second stab at this yarn. The first is the ball at left, which was too fluorescent for what I was looking for, and the second was the ball on the right. Also, the stripe repeats were too long as seen in this post. The second take turned out just as I hoped. So
These legwarmers are a fun little project and I always enjoy making them.
