The main color for one hat becomes the contrast for the next hat, and on and on...There are so many beautiful colors to play around with. There are 3 women at work having babies around the same time and there is going to be a joint shower in May. I can't believe I finished these with time to spare!
This past week has been winter break and I have started referring to myself as the Sherpa. My job is to schlepp everyone around to their fun activities, wait as long as it takes until they are finished, then bring them home hungry and tired where I tend to their needs for food, rest and shelter. At the end of the day, I am exhausted! I was lamenting this fact to my friend who works full-time, and she looked at me wistfully, saying that she is wracked with guilt this week because her kids are home and she is at work. We laughed - you're either spent or guilty.
This little blanket has been my own refuge. It's the Fiber Trends Easy Knit Baby Blankets 2 in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in "Celery". I cast on for this right after I had just told my shop friends that I just don't feel like knitting for babies anymore. That night my husband told me about a co-worker's new baby that just arrived that day. I remembered Katy's version in Cotton Fleece in this pattern and spotted this color in the shop. Who am I kidding - baby knitting is just the best!
I have never been a big fan of baby clothes that are shrunk-down versions of what adults wear. You know, the leather bomber jacket in size 3-6 months, or the Nikes for newborns. I loved soft things that let the baby be a baby with all their wonderful roundness.
The whole time I was knitting this jacket, I kept thinking "what kind of person comes up with something like this??" But just trust EZ, when the knitting is done, it just flops into position - add a couple quick shoulder seams and some buttons and you have a soft, thick, warm jacket in the perfect baby shape.
Along the lines of my last post, wouldn't it be fun to see the many, many versions of this popular jacket which has been knitted for so many years? I wonder what EZ would have thought of my yarn choice. I think, I hope she would have been pleased.
Opptuna was a great travel project and a quick knit! This is a christening gift for my newest nephew, Spencer. I used up the scraps for my ongoing square collection. The diagonal square was fun - just cast on 1, next and every row, y/o and knit to the end. When the sides measure 8", KSP and knit to the end every row. I borrowed the idea from the colorful afghan in Handknit Holidays.
Another reason to knit squares - they are like a little souvenir of the project, especially when it is a gift you may never see again!
After finishing Heirloom on Monday, I decided to whip this up. Kidding! The knitting was done by my LYS owner. Isn't it sweet? She finished it last January, and it sat in a bag, languishing in the back of her closet since then. As I was admiring the Jaeger pattern book (JB04), she told me about the sweater in need of finishing. We agreed that I would seam it up for her, and she would give me the pattern book. I think this is how people worked things out in "the olden days".
Finishing someone else's work felt like such a priviledge. Here was someone willing to hand over their hours of handiwork to me - this made me want to be meticulous with my seaming. At least at the outset. Once I start seaming, I just want it to be over, quite honestly.
It also gave me a "preview" of a sweater from that book and in that yarn. I liked the Merino DK, but I think the hearts and stitch detail would have looked crisper in cotton as it is shown on the cover of the book. I would love to try any sweater in the book. My baby knitting, however, has gotten a bit out of hand of late. Of the 4 baby items I have finished recently, only one had an intended recipient.
Heirloom was a joy to knit! I worked the whole sweater on one 32" Addi, all cuffs and neckband were 10 rows. I counted the X's and O's in the pattern photo, worked that many, and was pleased to get the exact pattern measurement for length. The middle photo shows the sweater with a notebook for scale.
Lisa thought of so many clever details in this design. For example, when you work the hat, the pattern says to decrease 8 stitches evenly around - just the number of the cables, so you can decrease in each cable and not have to figure out the number of stitches in between the decreases. All cables were a variation of the C4F or C4B - it's hard to explain, but you could always tell which row you were on by what was happening with the braided cable. And there are the lovely details like the saddle shoulders and crochet button loops.
I must admit I am tempted to put this away for a grandchild who may come in well over a decade! I decided that would be bad luck, so it will be gifted later this week to the friend it was intended for, and her new baby, Michael William.
Heirloom gets a neckband. I don't want it to end. So much so, that I decided to make the matching hat. But I ran out of yarn, Rowan Wool/Cotton, which has been discontinued - so I ordered one more ball from The Elegant Ewe, where the first extra ball came from.
I used more yarn than the pattern required. (My sweater is measuring the same as the pattern - not a gauge issue.) The pattern called for 2 skeins of yarn, 187 yards each, 374 yards. I used the better part of 4 skeins of Wool/Cotton, which would be 492 yards, total! So I asked Lisa about this fairly significant difference, and she mentioned that it might be due to the "grist". (Now of course I acted like I knew exactly what that meant.) So then I looked it up...
Grist
The yards (or meters) per pound (YPP). So if you had a finished yarn that came up 890 YPP, one pound of yarn would equal 890 yards. The grist may range from 300 yds/lb to 3,000,000 yd/lb for a single filament of silk (theoretically).
Oh yeah, now I get it....the pattern yarn was 187yds/50 grams, while mine was 123 yds/50 grams, so my yarn is heavier, less yardage for the weight. Hmm, why does that mean I need more yardage? Ok, so I don't get it....
Could it be the cotton? (Lisa mentioned another knitter who substituted cotton for wool and needed more yarn than expected.) I substituted a yarn with 50% cotton content. Cotton has less give. As you knit with wool, especially cables without a cable needle, you stretch the yarn as you work it. When the cable is done, the yarn tends to spring back. I think this happens less with cotton. You have to work harder to cable without the needle, because the yarn doesn't give. But would that account for the difference?
It's amazing to me that I find endless fascination in the minutia of knitting. I'm always very conservative about yarn quantities (buy extra!) and careful about gauge (most of the time). Still, there is the mystery of substituting yarns with a different fiber content. The learning just never ends. I can't wait to hear what you all have to say on the topic.
"Heirloom" by Lisa Lloyd, from IK Spring 2004. I am using Rowan Wool Cotton (US 1 needles) from my stash, supplemented by an angel who sent me a ball when I said I was nervous about being short. All this beautiful cabling is achieved with variations of the simple "Cable 4 Front (C4F) or Cable 4 Back (C4B)". It seems fitting that the first cable that we all learn is used in various ways to make a baby sweater. Plus, the X/O pattern is so sweet, wrapping the baby in hugs and kisses.
Knitting friends are the most generous people. The stitch markers were handcrafted by Lynette, sent to me on the first round of Secret Pals. I really don't need them at this point in the process, but my daughter told me to leave them on because they look so pretty.
Thank you all for your wonderful ideas for the Water Mark. My mind has been expanded - I'm thinking some sort of scarf. For now, "Heirloom" is keeping me happily knitting away while I decide.
As the school year ends, I am feeling a bit nostalgic, noticing how much my children have grown this year, both physically and mentally - how their world grows larger with each year. Every bit of independance means a bit more freedom for me, but the fact that they need me less and less takes some getting used to. I am realizing how fast time is going, how I need to do the things I really want to do, instead of putting things off for another day.
I have a list of knits, not a written list, but a little mental list of things I have always wanted to try. Sometimes it's a yarn I want to work with, sometimes a pattern just intrigues me. When I saw this soft celadon green manos hanging in the shop, I got in touch with my inner list and up came the the classic "Baby Surprise" by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I thought "now is the time." I am hoping the rustic manos and ingenious baby surprise will make a charming combination. Once again, no baby in mind...
I would love to hear what others have on their inner list. I am still waiting for the day to start an authentic guernsey for my husband, in guernsey wool. The short version of Inishmore. Something lacey from Fiddlesticks. Work with more koigu. How about you?
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