Sassy Does It

I’ve been holding off to see if Sissy B is gonna have this kid already before I post my hurrah-it’s-done Summer Baby Blanket FO.

Her due date has passed, so she’s been left to wait patiently for el laboro.  And she’s not the only one.  Maizy and E-dot are all over this baby thing.

There’s no way in heckfire I’m posting the FO yet; it seems jinxy.  Good to have the gift done before baby is born, good to bestow soon after baby is born, which also seems a good time to post the FO.

In the mean time, I’ve had a couple of posts come and go in my head without actually posting them.  The most elaborate one involved a rant about being grumpy on an airplane; slightly peeved to find a bunch of colleagues boarding a plane to the same place I was going.  This was unfortunate because I suspected my plans to knit obsessively for several hours (and maybe even finish an elusive crochet border) could be thwarted by the need to appear more committed to productivity.

It was also unfortunate because I was caught unprepared in the Looking Professional department. 

I’d rolled out of bed and proceeded to the airport looking very greasy indeed.  No shower, so the hair was a bit wild; in fact, I don’t think I even brushed it.  Straight to the messy but functional ponytail.

And, I’m not quite sure my make-up remover from the night before had done the complete job; I seem to remember a bit of smudged eyeliner lingering near one eye.  It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Anyway, there I am, looking ship-shape for promotion in my I’m-sure-no-one-will-see-me travel outfit.

I really should have known they’d be on the same flight with me since there was a big conference happening, but sadly, this did not cross my mind when I arose at 6AM to head to the airport.  The scary thing is that this has happened before.  Recently.

I’m an idiot.

It’s not a huge problem, really, knitting on a plane in the presence of colleagues, but it’s true that I had work to do (yeah, like the kind they pay me for) and my laptop was right there.  So I was forced to abandon the productivity-eschewing ways of my D hook to do stupid work.

Until my battery ran out.

Well.

OK, it didn’t actually run out, per se, since I just got a new extended life battery (curses!), but it was plausible that it could have run out after two hours, especially when I shut it down and said (to whoever might hear), “Wow, this battery is really losing its mojo.”

Then I got my blankie out and powered through another row of the border.

I love the way the crochet turned out, but I’ll save that report for the FO post.  Suffice it to say that there were a few bumps in the road with this part, because I’m an idiot (see above) who reads directions, understands them completely, and then ignores them.  But more on that another time. 

It’s fun, the crocheting.  It’s a yarn hog, though.  I think I knew this before about crochet but had forgotten. It does make sense as there’s a lot of stitching before much is produced. Crochet fabric, made out of simple stitches, is definitely denser than the average stockinette.

I ran out of yarn about two-thirds of the way through the border; or at least what seemed like two-thirds of the way.

I couldn’t believe one skein didn’t do it. I mean, it’s a trim, right?

Point is, I needed to make an emergency run to get another skein.  I had to call six LYSes to find anyone even carrying Blue Sky Alpacas, let alone my Skinny Organic.  Love it.

As much as I complain about the quality of my LYSes (not even all local, but within a 30-mile radius), it was sad to learn in the course of these calls that two of the shops I’d visited before had closed since the last time I went a-calling.  I feel bad – even though it was, in all honesty, probably because they sucked that they closed.

Right, so Summer Baby Blanket - that’s where things are until that new baby comes out to receive it.

After the blanket was off the needles, on the last leg of my return trip home (I did shower before getting on that plane), Fifi, bless her heart, got a few more inches added to her.  She’s been so patient.  She just wants to be loved.  And I do love her.  She now has my full attention, and really, I should be able to knock this out over the weekend.  Should.

One more thing to share before I close.  Back on that flight from earlier (the one where I was stinky): after we’d all boarded and were more or less seated comfortably in our little rows and things had gotten nice and quiet, I hear a voice half-shouting half-singing, “Spank the monkey!”

“Ohhhhhhhh….spank the monkey!” 

The guy on the aisle in my row had piped up with these lyrics, which may have been coming from his own head (no iPod in sight).  I think it might have been Peter Gabriel’s “Shock the Monkey,” except with “spank” in there instead.

At first I thought he might have been trying to embarrass or entertain a friend traveling next to or near him. He got a few glances but I saw no takers in what might have been a little inside joke. One of the dudes in front of me craned around to have a look, but that was about it.  A fancy-pants I-showered-this-morning coworker also sitting in that row didn’t flinch, too professional-looking to be fazed by the oddity.

The freak show continued for a few more minutes, varying between singing, mumbling, and moaning. There were some hand gestures thrown in, too.

After the monkey-spanking, I couldn’t make out much of the song(s), but he was grooving over there to whatever it was.  I felt bad briefly because it occurred to me that this man might be mentally challenged or have Tourette’s or something (although I didn’t hear any swearing) and perhaps I really shouldn’t be laughing…but then he broke out of his reverie and starting maintaining a perfectly lucid conversation with the lady across the aisle.  Not in a we-know-each-other kind of way, but in a strange-weather-we’re-having-isn’t-it kind of way. Then he proceeded to fall asleep before take-off, and the weirdness was suspended.  He piped up again toward landing, and then smiled and nodded at everyone upon de-planing, as if he weren’t a weirdo.

Well.  I may play the role of Stinky on planes these days, but at least I don’t sing out loud and frighten my travel companions.  I don’t.

Pretty sure I don’t.

OK, so since we’re at about a month from blast-off, I’ll go ahead and unveil my Summer Baby Gift in the making.

Not that it’s some huge impressive project, or even that big of a surprise to at least one person reading this, but since it’s for a baby that’s not born yet, it seems worth putting a little drumroll to it, a nice sense of occasion.

Usually I wait until the kid makes an appearance, but ehhh.  Spill the beans.

So Sissy B is having another one; this’ll make three.  She’s already got plenty on her hands with my two little nieces, and this will spice up all 24 of her waking hours come June.  Not sure if this one’s a boy or girl as they’ve elected to wait to find out. 

At least that’s what they’ve told me.  It’s possible they are sneaking around giggling behind everyone’s backs, secretly knowing.

Maizy calls her little brother- or sister-to-be “Cellpho” (as in, yeah, get ready to dial), and she does this with some confidence, as if this common name has already won the contest for her sibling’s playground moniker.  Hence the blog name of this child is born, ahead of the physical debut.

Regardless of whether Cellpho is a girl or a boy, this kid is going to get a lot of girly influence, what with the two older sisters and all.  (It seems weird to call E-dot - pictured here: awwwwww - an older sister, since so far she’s been the little guy.  Girl.  You know.)

So is it weird that I always make blankets when it comes to baby gifts? 

I know it takes much longer than booties or a layette set, but I always think to myself:  if you’re going to knit something, then really knit something.  Something that the little bundle of joy won’t grow out of in five minutes. 

Sweaters for toddlers make more sense to me: you might get a good year out of that before it’s handed down.  But for a baby, a blanket seems like something they can really use (to the extent they can use anything, other than a breast).  They can lay around on it, drool on it, burp up on it (ah, the joy of machine-washable cotton), all for a good little while.  

Then, once they can walk, that blanket can be really used. 

Beat up.  Dragged around for a long time.  Colored on.

Loved.

But.  Am I boring?  Should I branch out?  Put a little more thought into it?  If you had a kid, what would you want to receive?

Too late now on this one - but your opinions would either pacify my concerns that I’m in a rut with baby creativity or spur me on to make interesting-er tiny things in the future.

On the color, as I believe I announced when I started this thing, we have Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed in Pear (yes, that’s another name for green, and I think this may have been the start of what Clumsy Knitter kindly called Greenmersion, rather than a Green Problem).  But this hue seemed a good bet for a maybeboymabyegirl baby.

Here’s a little preview.  The repeats bunch up a bit unless they’re nice and stretched: blocking will help this.  (Yes, that is my new red bedspread behind it.  Oh, glorious red.)

Now that I look at it (a lot, often), the lace pattern on my Summer Blanket (otherwise known as “24-25-48 Lace Baby Blanket“, which is the catchy name the Japanese designer gave it) does look a bit more feminine than not feminine.  I was shooting for neutral in the beginning.  But hey - even boy babies are all soft and pretty.  I think a daisy-like pattern will probably fly if indeed a penis makes an appearance.

And there is the aforementioned girly factor that will surround this child. 

Right, OK, stop worrying about the lace pattern.  Good thing, since I’m probably about 2/3 through on the length.

I think what sold me on this pattern is the cool crochet border.  Not everyone who made this (and reported back to Ravelry) followed through with the border, but for me the blanket is a bit lukewarm without it.  I’m not usually a crocheter, but I can hold my own, and this border is going to be spectacular.  I hope.

Feefers is chugging along in the few minutes I can find here and there to work on it.

More time lately on Summer Blanket, which tends to get done on planes, when for some reason the monotony doesn’t bother me as much.  And I don’t like hassling with patterns when other people’s elbows are already touching mine in a fight for the armrest.

So this is the state of affairs that leads me into the weekend.  At this point I’m craving quiet:  sweet, still, quiet laziness.

And some fries with that.

The bold red in-your-face knee-highs for Maizy are off the needles, finally.

Official FO post will come once I’ve got proof that they actually fit on the 3-year-old recipient’s feet.  After I’ve sent them off and Sissy B can send me back some glamour shots, I’ll include those with the post, along with my adapted pattern and comments.

I did a Eucalan wash last night and then set these little guys to block.  I didn’t need to pin as it was easy enough to shape to the dimensions to which I’d knit.

After a wash, a few rinses and another wash, the pink water told me that the rinse water might need a smidgen of vinegar to help set the dye.

Did a little research and found nothing terribly convincing one way or the other as to whether this was the right way to go, so I went ahead and tossed about a teaspoon into my (small) bathroom sink full of lukewarm rinse water.

One more rinse and then no color bleed at all in the water.  This fiber (Huntington, from Valley Yarns) is meant to be machine washable and dryable, so I think as long as Sissy B sticks with cold water she’ll be fine.  There’s nothing like a bright red sock in the hot water of that load of whites to ruin your day.

Anyhoo, these puppies are looking and feeling soft and lovely.  I’ll have some closer-up views of the pattern with the FO post.  Right now I’m trying not to fondle them until they’re completely dry.

I’m deep in Cowl Country with my Sheer Poncho.  I really am very near completion.

See?

The cowl neck is a little constrained by the circular needle in this photo, but you get the picture.  I think I need another 2 inches or so on the cowl, at least that’s when I’ll weave through a length of yarn to hold it and do a final fit.

Another 3 inches or so of length in the body I think will do it as well. 

Maybe tonight will be the night I get this done.  OK, maybe not.

In other news…

The yarn fairy made a visit this week.  Hurrah!  Fortunately it was not a random splurge, but the other kind of splurge:  premeditated (it still sounds naughty, doesn’t it?).

It had occurred to me that another baby-induced deadline was creeping up on me and I hadn’t gotten it together to plan my project.  Upon realizing this, it was a minor miracle that it didn’t take me forever to narrow the shortlist of queued patterns in my head and pounce on the yarn.  I’m getting quicker at these sort of not-as-serious-and-lengthy-as-I-try-to-make-them decisions.

My love affair with Blue Sky Alpacas continues, but at least I’m spreading the torrid affection around in that family.

The pattern I’ve landed on - which I will attempt to keep a secret from the receiver of the gift for now - called for a finer gauge than the organically-grown dyed cotton (4-5 st/in) I’d used for my last baby item, so I was looking for something lighter-weight (5-6 st/in).

I didn’t start out considering Blue Sky, thinking I should try to find something entirely new to me.  I liked the organic approach though, for all things baby, and I wanted to stick with cotton for the summer months.

A Ravelry yarn search for “organic cotton” showed me plenty of choices, but I got distracted by someone’s glowing review of Skinny Organic and it put me right back into bed with Blue Sky Alpacas.

Oh, well - until I’ve tried the whole line, I don’t see the harm in checking out all the different variations of wonderful that they offer, right?  I mean each yarn is unique, right?

So I went for it, although I decided that I’d go for more color than going solely with the 100% naturally-occurring hues of Birch or Clay offered in the Skinny Organic line.  I did pick out a skein of Birch (colorway 30) to use as a trim and selected Pear (colorway 312, a new addition) from the Skinny Dyed collection (organically grown fibers with colors created by low-impact dyes) as my main color.

It arrived this week, and as we all are when the postie drops the care package at our door, I was over the moon.  I love these shades together, and this fiber will make a beautiful baby item.

Here’s a little swatch to tease you.

More deets on on this project as it gets closer to the date I’m ready to gift it.

Over and out.  Starting to get that Sunday-night ick feeling, so I better go eat something to make it all better.

I’m glad Christmas is over, and I’m not sorry I said it.

I had a good Christmas, really, but I’m just so done with it this year.

One excellent byproduct of the holiday nuttiness, however, is a spanking new baby blanket.

Little K was born last week, so this hot potato is ready for assignment overseas.

Pattern: Curlicue

Yarn: Blue Sky Alapacas Dyed Cotton (organically grown) in colorway 617 (Lotus), four skeins (150 yds each)

Needle:  US 3 circulars, 29-inch

Finished dimensions:
28 inches wide, 35 inches long

Modifications: I added a three-stitch garter border to both ends of every row.  To my eye, this was needed to keep the symmetry of the scalloped borders as written.

Clarifications: If this one is in your queue, double-check on how to properly end the even-numbered rows here (the last repeat is finished off with a ssk WHICH REPLACES the final sk2p as written). If you’re clever enough to have worked this out on your own, I hope your prowess is contagious.

Ravelry links: my project, the designer’s pattern

Verdict: Happy.  Easy pattern that doesn’t look super-easy, and it flew on non-Turbo US 3s like you wouldn’t think it would do.  Honestly, I felt like I was knitting on much fatter needles, like 9s.

The finished size was just what I’d hoped it would be (always nice, especially when you go to the trouble of knitting a gauge swatch).

I’m happy with the drape as well - gentle yet consistent.

The fabric is very soft; warm and substantial-feeling while still having the lightness of cotton.  It’s the nice fat feeling of the Blue Sky Alpacas fiber that makes the magic happen.

The finished blanket blossomed nicely with a 20-minute Eucalan soak, and behaved well during the blocking that followed.

The only silly-Amy moment(s) came about in the dash to complete my final rows as my yarn was running out.

Seeing as it’s a baby blanket that lacks the requirement of an exact fit, I should have just stopped when I knew I wasn’t going to squeak out another 5 rows and quit the pattern a bit early to finish gracefully with the final 3 rows of garter stitch.

But I like to live dangerously.

And I figured that blocking would cure all evils if I happened to stretch the yarn (too) tightly to eke out the final rows for a photo finish at the end of my fourth and final skein.

I pulled *really* tightly and finished all rows of the final pattern repetition and the border with only a couple of inches to spare.

Woo-hoo!  I whipped out my Eucalan wash, soaked, patted, and blocked.

But.

There wasn’t enough ease left in the fabric at that far end of the blanket to be able to block any sense back into it:  the width pulled in on itself and started to suck the life out of the rest of the project.

I started having flashbacks to my first baby blanket, a.k.a. The Trapezoid.

No one was ever going to notice that the pattern ended a couple of rows early, not even me.  Duh.

So I blocked all but the crappy end and once the remainder of the blanket was off the board, I frogged back 5 rows and finished with the garter stitch border in a more civilized fashion.

That said, I left out the evidence of my pre-frogged tight end and saved up my photo shoot for the happier times.  Pictured above is the (still sloppy) unblocked but re-knit trouble area which I subsequently prettied up in a second round of targeted blocking.

Below are a few pics of my just-off-the-UPS-truck blocking tools in action.

The Fiber Fantasy blockers I described in my last post did not disappoint.

Along with the curly end of a flexible blocker from this set, the tip of one of the straight-edge blockers is pictured here, next to the happy yellow yardstick that comes with the package.

During the first go at blocking, I ran two super-longshanks rigid blockers down the straight sides and T-pinned them 28 inches apart to set an even width.

Then I threaded a flexible blocker down the not-too-tight shorter edge until I ran out of wire (accounting for the extra length consumed by the scalloped edges, this was about 3/4 of the way across).

I finished off weaving this edge with the second flexible blocker and then pinned down the curves to set the shape.  The second scalloped edge (too tightly knitted, wearing the dunce cap) had to wait until I fixed it before it could be similarly guided.

Here’s a close-up of a flexible blocker in action on the second end after the rip-out-and-redo (you can see that I only re-soaked the last few inches).

You weave the blockers through outermost stitch all along each edge, every half inch or so.

And then you hook yourself up with ship-shape corners by pinning squarely at the joining point.

After blocking, even the reverse of the fabric has a nice smooth look.

Beeteedubyuh, did ya notice my sexy new blocking board along the way here?

Ohhh, it’s delicious.  Boy, did I feel professional voodooing my work down into submission with those T-pins.

As you can see, she folds up real nice so that a gal like me can clean up after herself when the blocking’s done.  Or at least have the potential to…do that.

Some call it cluttered, I call it cozy: I’m currently happily surrounded by knitting items, both old and new, and I’m hunkering down to get some things done here.

In spite of my slight tendency toward bah-humbuginess this year, Santa was very kind.

It’s not about the gifts, I know, but my eyes did get all misty when I unwrapped a shiny new ball winder and a gorgeous swift to boot.  Eureka, my heavy hinting worked!

It’s all I really wanted, so I figured the hinting was justified.

If I don’t do it, birthdays get forgotten and it ends in tears.  It’d be easier if gifts weren’t even involved, you know?  But I digress.

I do like gifts.

Oh joy, I felt like a kid - as soon as it seemed socially acceptable to do so when everyone had finished opening gifts (I gave it about 30 seconds), I bee-lined for my knitting bag and whipped out an unballed hank of Mongolian Cashmere and got to work.  I just happened to have this on hand.  Just in case.

That swift spinning away with a steady whir and a gentle breeze was glorious.  After I got it going.

I wasn’t sure quite what to do since I hadn’t done it before, but I figured I’d better just stick the little end into the big end and go for it* (before Tommy came back and hit me over the head with a tack hammer).

I felt like Ralphie on Christmas morning with his new Red Ryder BB gun, with his dad standing over his shoulder asking him if he knows how to load it.  That kid had been dreaming about loading it for so long, he tuned out all extraneous noise, nodding and smiling (maybe drooling?) and just got down to the business of enjoying it.

And then he went outside and (almost) shot his eye out - but thank goodness I didn’t do that.

I did quickly get my fix, however, and then moved the new goodies to the corner (still where I could see them) while I watched Mamma Mia and squealed for nearly two hours like the girl I am.

Now on to the New Year.  I have absolutely no plans whatsoever to ring it in doing anything exciting, but that doesn’t mean that something couldn’t come up.

Right?

I could just knit it in while others are ringing it in.  That would do.  I’ve got a lot of projects coming down the pike (in theory), so that would suit me just fine.

Old. Boring. Lady.

Emphasis on the Lady, thank you very much.

Toodles, dears.  TTYL.

Yippity ding dong, my WEBS yarn arrived!

Isn’t it glorious?

Here, let me get you acquainted.

Jade Sapphire
Mongolian Cashmere
Colorway 50, Driftwood

On the left we have the amazing Mongolian Cashmere, made by Jade Sapphire, in colorway 50, Driftwood. 

Oh yes, we’re feeling very posh with this splurge for a friend’s b-day gift - it’s a big birthday, so she’s going to get 100% cashmere.  And at a 25% discount for me, thank you very much, Kathy and Co! 

The project of my desire, about which I will blog once I’ve cast on, is the Sheer Poncho. This is a design that I initially drooled over here after having found it on Ravelry here.

Cascade Fixation
Color 3919, Maroon

Next we move into the Cascade Fixation portion of my stash-building order.  There was a closeout on Maroon (color 3919) so I decided to dive in.  I’ve not knitted before with Fixation, but I hear it’s quite unique in its springiness.  I’d like to try some socks with it, so I ordered just a bit…OK, in a second color, too - Yankee Red (color 3628).  Yankers was not on sale - but what the hey - in for a penny, in for a pound.

Cascade Fixation
Color 3628, Yankee Red

The Yankee Red is a bit on the Fire Engine side for me, but I’m thinking it might be really nice for Maizy, who is a Fire Engine Red kind of girl.  The Maroon I really like, because I like…things that are maroon.

Maroon.  Marooooon.  Another word that gets funny if you say or spell it a lot.  Maroooooon. 

It’s been a long day.

On the right you’ll see the nice pile o’ yarn that will be known in the future as Little K’s baby blanket à la Curlicue.  The to-die-for Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton is organically grown and truly luscious, certainly in the vibrance of its color (617, Lotus) but also in the feels-like-your-fingers-are-sinking-into-it plushness.  It’s uber-fabulous, all of it.

I swatched a bit in preparation for Curlicue cast-on; not that a swatch is absolutely necessary for a baby blanket, but I’m a little picky about baby blanket dimensions (I like ‘em intentionally generously-sized and not accidentally teddy-bear sized).

Top third stitched with US 5,
Middle third with US 6,
Bottom third with US 7

The yarn label says US 7-9 will yield 4-5 stitches/inch.  I’m wanting to stitches a bit on the tighter side so that my lace pattern is sure to pop.  I started with a 7 and came in at about 4.5 st/in.  Decided to tighten it up and gave it a shot with a 6, then with a 5.  Although the tension looks more pleasing to my eye with the smaller needle, the fabric didn’t change much in actual gauge; it’s still in the 4.5-4.75 st/in range.

So, I’ll probably go with the US 5.  I’ll run a few inches of the pattern on my swatch and then stick a fork in that decision (I dilly-dally around a lot, don’t I?).

The design calls for a repeating 11+1 pattern, so rather than the 100 stitches called for, I’ll up it to 122 and yield a blanket right around 26-27 inches wide.  Then block it heavily if it’s not big enough in the end to feed my fatty blanket beast.

One more set of yarn introductions will round out my lot this time, all from Valley Yarns.  It’s the sock-weight Huntington, in three hues.  Red (4150), grey (0605), and chocolate (B118): these were the short-sock color possibilities suggested by Squeezer, if I were to knit, say, a gift or three for her. 

Valley Yarns Huntington
Color 4150, Red

I have to say I’m in love with this red.  Really in love with it.  I’d call it a deep red, but not an earthy one.  I’m no color expert, but to my eye it’s got less of the orangey undertone and more of the blue. 

Sidenote:  I probably wouldn’t have said anything about blue undertones if I hadn’t had accidentally and briefly met someone who apparently knows more about undertones that I do, which thereby empowered me with an “eye for color” I don’t really have.  Backstory:  I have an Ann Taylor sweater in this shade that has been a staple in my winter wardrobe for a couple of seasons, and once in an elevator in Boston a woman randomly complimented the color and said, “Oh, honey, the blue undertones in that red really suit your complexion.”  Which was a really nice thing to say.  And this shade of red reminds me of that sweater.

Anyloo-hoo - this is my last planned yarn purchase this year.  I’ve really gotta cool it until next year as I’ve got a nice stash to bust between here and there.

[sigh]

I guess I better get knitting so I don’t get distracted by another yarn sale.