Modern Striped Baby Blanket

Knitting this blanket was a joy. A breeze. Oh, the tactile pleasure of clicking needles with that gorgeous Rowan Cashsoft Aran.

But stitching the four panels together was like tying me down and sticking needles in my eyes.

Striped Baby Beanie

I wanted to use up some Rowan cotton wool yarn and knit this baby beanie to go with the sweater Cousin Aidan inherited last weekend. Virtually all the baby hat patterns I have call for yarn with No 7 or 8 needles. Rowan cotton wool needs No 5 or 6 needles. I followed One Girls' baby beanie pattern and added a topper for fun.



The bottom rib came out quite loose, unlike One Girls'. I'm not sure it will stay on the kid's head. If I redo it, I'll use a smaller needle for the rib. The other problem is it looks like it's sized for a preemie. (5" high; 16" round)

After knitting this I can see why most patterns call for yarns using a No 7 or 8 needle. This hat feels flimsy.

On this little project, I learned how to knit in ends with this video. It's a technique well worth learning.

Bargain Cashmere Yarn = Socks

The price of cashmere yarn is astounding. So when I found this cashmere yarn at the bottom on the clearance bin and it happened to be in my favorite red, I had to have it. I've never understood the knitting socks phenomena. It seems like an awful lot of work for a pair of socks. But cashmere socks. That's another story. Look at those tiny double-pointed needles. (Yarn: 50% cashmere/50% mohair.)



So far so good:



I've done a lot of ripping out to get this far.



The spiral part of this pattern takes a bit of concentration. Jeff was channel surfing the other night and stopped on a gender bending show on Taboo. My confusion spun out of control. The person talking looks like a woman, but she's really a man and she's getting a sex change. Wait, that's a purl instead of a knit. And her boyfriend is a man. Or is he/she a woman? Wait, that's knit 3 then purl 1. And he's not sure whether he wants to be a man or a woman? Oh, jeez, I'm missing a stitch.

There's much less ripping out when I stick to mindless guilty-pleasure shows like Jon & Kate Plus Eight and Supernanny.

The Baby Sweater with Baggage

Here's a baby sweater I finally completed. I've been meaning to finish it for five years. I started it for my half brother's baby before Jeff and I were married. But when my grandfather died a few months later and my half brothers were not included in his will, all hell broke loose and the family split up. (Too bad they missed out on this adorable sweater.)



Three years later, enough time had passed and I decided to finish the sweater. But like a lot of knitters, I abhor the finishing process. Seeking a little help, I got it to this stage. But without a baby as a deadline, I let it sit unfinished.



Two years later, on February 20, 2009, Cousin Aidan was born. I pulled out the sweater to take a look. What I saw was a mess with the collar in the picture below.



Oy! I put it down thinking I'd have to rip it out and redo it, but would probably need help again.

Last weekend while I was at the knit shop for V's bowls, I took this albatross of a project to get some help. I showed it to the woman to ask a question. On a side note, I told her the pattern was meant to have button holes, but I didn't make them and wasn't planning to add buttons. She took a closer look and said, "You made button holes." Really? Take a look at that "messy" knitting above. Apparently, those are button holes. I came home thinking "what am I going to do myself!" Then I declared to Jeff that I was finishing this damn sweater even if it killed me.

The woman at the knit store also mentioned that she loves finishing. So while I worked on weaving in ends and assembling, I paid a lot of attention to my body process wondering if it might be possible for me to enjoy the process. While it was pleasant to be very conscious, the entire time (over 2-3 sitting sessions) I felt anxious. I have decided I need to learn a few more techniques, but I'm also not sure I'll ever enjoy this part of the process. Knitting is relaxing to me. I like the rhythm; it calms me. It also quells my guilt for "wasting" precious time watching mindless TV with my husband. But finishing is a much different process. It lacks flow, and I don't do it often enough for it to feel like second nature.

Meanwhile six weeks later, Cousin Aidan has grown up enough that he'll be able to wear this sweater for about 30 seconds. I sent an email to another pregnant cousin, and thank goodness, she's having a boy in June.

Never mind that this cousin lives in the desert and her baby will have no need for a sweater in the summer. I cannot be distracted by such details. This sweater needs a home.

First Felt: Nesting bowls

V insisted I make her something for her birthday. So in honor of her birthday, I learned all about felting.



I decided to felt bowls and was inspired by painted fish studio who was inspired by design sponge diy.



I learned about all the details of felting through lots of people's blogs (gathering the details about how to do it was the hardest part), so thought I'd contribute to the blogosphere with a bit of detail on my process.

I did buy the book, One Skein, where you can find the pattern, but as with most knitting patterns, I'm challenged to find a yarn I like that also fits the pattern. The pattern called for bulky/chunky weight yarn, and, of course, I couldn't find any in the colors I wanted in a bulky knit. Instead I doubled a worsted wool weight yarn, and it worked great.

Lots of people talked about having problems getting their 100% wool to felt, so I tried a swatch. This started as a 4 x 3 rectangle and felted at 2 x 3 1/4. I put it in my front-load washing machine with a pair of jeans and had no problem. Of course, all the instructions for checking your piece every five minutes in the washing machine are useless for a front load. For me, it worked to just throw it in and forget about it. Here's the swatch:



Here's what they looked like before I felted them: Medium bowl: CO 45 sts, knit for 5 1/2 inches and decrease.



That's Jeff watching the Master's and that's Ray Parker on the big screen at his last hole of his golf career. (I learned way more than a non-golfer should ever know about golf this weekend.)

One Skein has a pattern for only two bowls, so I guestimated my third small orange ball. CO 35 sts and knit for 3 1/2 inches.



For the big bowl, I used Lamb's Pride Wool, but unfortunately, by doubling the yarn, I needed more than one skein. CO 55 sts, knit for 9 3/4 inches and decrease.



Here's how a bowl came out of the washing machine before I shaped it. Btw, all the bowls went through the cycle including spin, and despite what Ms. One Skein says in her book, they were fine. It was easy to shape the bowls with my hands, and I found it unnecessary to use bowls as a mold.



Thanks to V, I have a renewed interest in knitting and look forward to doing some more felting. Feling is great for grunge knitting, and it's a nice change from another scarf, hat, or baby something.

Notes on felting:
--No superwash wool
--Only 100% wool will felt.
--You can mix non-felting yarns with felting yarns for fun.
--People recommend washing your knitted item with a shoe, a tennis ball, or a pair of jeans. Some people say it's unnecessary.