Baby Blanket: Honey

For this blanket I went through my huge and varied boxes of yarn and pulled out yellow, neutral, and white tones.  I ended up paring together six yarns: three Red Heart SuperSaver (white, yellow and buttercup) and three Lion Brand Homespun (cream, rococo, and a yellow white dapple that I don't know the name for).

The picture below is of the blanket folded in half and being held by a helpful hand.  As you can see the width of the stripes varied depending on my mood and it is done entirely in seed/moss stitch (k1, p1, each row opposite).  The order of the colors changed as well but i think the piece has a nice balance and charm.

Needles: 9 US
CO 105 st
Row 1: *k1, p1* repeat to end
Row 2: *k1, p1* repeat to end
Change colors at will and bind off when desired length is reached.  Remember that you want to stay on odd numbers so that you don't accidentally slip into a rib pattern rather than a seed stitch.

Yarn Buster Blanket

So if you're like me you have a huge amount of yarn you have passingly bought, been given as friends and family clean out their own space, and the dribs and drabs of left overs once a project is complete.  This can grow to be a large pile of boxes at the foot of your bed--if you're me that is.  One great way I have discovered to start getting rid of these various bits is thanks to the supernova of infants being born into my life (none of which are mine).

Baby blanket after baby blanket left me with half used colorful and fluffy skeins and I began to see a lovely mixture emerging from the pile of yarn growing on my couch.  And so I decided that the next baby blanket would only use these bits.

I knocked off eight yarn remnants with this act of infant directed altruism/shameless baby pandering. EIGHT!  That's half the space of the stash I inherited from a friend who is moving to California.  A victory in anyone's book.

It's hard to see the navy trim on dark gray upholstery.

I used garter stitch on the bias, increasing with a k1fb on the last stitch of every row and once the edge was the right size for my purposes (30"), started k2tog at the end of every row.  Then I stitched on an i-cord trim (my first ever and I really like the way it turned out).

I used each color until it was completely gone, which is why there are such short stripes of certain colors.  I thought I would have enough with the yellows and neutrals left over from the honey themed blanket I made but I didn't and I really wanted to put a nave trim on those bright yellows so I went for the left over blue bits I had about.  I think it worked out really well and I am excited to see the little Belgian who will be born in December wrapped up in it.

One issue I did have in the beginning was remembering to increase on every row.  As you will see in some of the pictures one corner is more acute than right angled.  Such is life.  Before I ship the blanket off to Belgium I will attempt to block it, but, as I have said before, I don't generally have a lot of success with blocking.

Nevertheless, this sucker is pretty cool and the little lady who will be bundled in it come the new year will be even cooler!

Return of the Mack

Not just a pop song from the 90's! It is also a delicious mac and cheese dish at a restaurant in my neighborhood that I frequent.

Things have changed a lol since my last blog post and I would apologize but I am pretty sure no one reading this now was reading this then (except maybe Ian [waves at Ian]).

I don't get a lot of opportunity to knit these days, but, as summer draws to a close, I am wrapping up a serious bout of knitting (sweaters, baby blankets, and scarves; oh, my). My intention is to post some pictures and basic (very basic) patterns for what I have done.

My general goal has been to cut down hugely on the amount of yarn I have just chilling in boxes at the foot of my bed. I am determined to get my apartment in order and somehow corral my craft materials into one book shelf in the library (yes, I live in an apartment and I have a library; if you knew my address and my rent you would want to do away with me and assume my identity).

So, there may be actual stuff posted here again before I return to the mind and soul consuming work of educating the next generation (you're welcome for that, by the way).

And also, PODCASTS.