Baby Shower Stuff

 A few months ago, my fiancee's mother approached me to ask if I would consider a baby blanket commission for her daughter. I was hesitant at first because the daughter and I don't have the best relationship. She has a common name and it involved her thinking that I was talking about her with her in the room when I was really talking about my friend. But I agreed under certain conditions: that she would buy the yarn and that I would at least receive the TARDIS mug that I first saw on Round the Twist with Carin.

After I got the yarn, I started to get excited. I wanted to do something special because I am an overachiever and I had been wanting to make baby stuff because it is tiny and cute. The only reason why I wasn't was because I didn't want people to think that I was the one that was pregnant. So, knitting for this baby really unlocked my creativity.

I saw a couple of blankets that were knit in strips and I wanted to try that on a miniature scale before doing it on a larger scale. I also wanted to do several different textures because it is supposed to be good for a baby's developing brain. (at least the articles I have read for my education classes tell me so)

I did a panel of seed stitch, a panel of basket weave stitch, and then a panel of vertical garter stitch. When I got to the border I was going to do a simple i-cord border, but I decided to make a complete horizontal garter stitch border. The top and bottom came out a little bit crooked, but I think it still looks good. The only reason why it is crooked is because I attached the panel together using a single crochet stitch instead of sewing them all together by hand. I thought it would be easier, but I didn't get things lined up correctly. Short rows basically saved me because it allowed me to get the edges mostly straight. Learn how to short row and don't be afraid of it. It is a very useful technique to have up your sleeve.

I did have to double strand the yarn that my fiancee's mother got because she went for the color instead of for the weight of yarn like I suggested. But I think it made the center panel blend in even better together with the blanket because there is a strand of white and a strand of white/pink variegated yarn. I hope the sister likes it. By the time this posts I will be in the baby shower, so I will probably know if she likes it or not.

If I had to do it again, I think I would have sewn the panels together by hand. Or I might have knit the first panel and then pick up all of the stitches around the side and then knit the next panels so they would be guaranteed to be the right length.

I had some yarn left and I knew I didn't have enough time to add a small i-cord border around the blanket, so I decided to make some booties. These were made with the Eco Baby Booties pattern and they are so fast and fun. I was able to knit them in about an hour. The most complicated part was sewing the booties together and putting the little ribbons on them.

The only bad thing about knitting all of this baby stuff is that I kinda want to make another baby blanket. My mom's coworker is pregnant again and my mom usually knits something for her, but I almost want to knit the moderne baby blanket for her. Almost. We will see what happens.

Later: My future sister-in-law did like the blanket and booties. She said that she didn't know if the baby would wear the booties, but they were awfully cute.

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

I'm back from my family vacation to Ohio. It was nice to see my family again. We ended up camping right beside one of our aunts and uncles. Our camper looked so big compared to their smaller camper, but ours was made to sleep nine people. It was pretty nice to be without any internet except for the connection on my phone for emergencies.

I figured out that I can knit in the car again. It used to give me really bad motion sickness to do anything in the car. Ever since I got my gallbladder out, my bad motion sickness has gone away. I still have a little bit of it but not that much.

I finished the Hermione for Him socks. My fiancee loves them. He had to wait until I got back to get them even though I finished them right before we all loaded into the car. He even called me when it was time to wash them to make sure that he washed them correctly. It was adorable! I have a feeling he might have handwashed them if I told him they needed to be. He is a keeper.

Dad found a local quilt shop for mom and me to go to called Sew Happy. Mom and I have been thinking about learning how to quilt. The ladies there were so friendly and gave us advice about how to start. While we were there mom found a pile of fiber balls. I got four balls (what I thought was enough for a pair of socks) and proceeded to spin it all up in Ohio. My relatives were very impressed to see me spinning on the drop spindle that I had brought with me.

I finished plying the skein at home and soaked it in hot water for a few hours while I cleaned the house. It was the gentlest I had ever set the twist because I didn't whack it. Unfortunately, I didn't end up with enough yardage for a pair of socks. The shop might have mis-labled the amount of fiber in each of the balls of fiber. This means that I have a few choices: see if I can match the fiber with another fiber from another store and spin more of it, make something different out of it, or match it up with another yarn in my stash.

It doesn't really match any of the other yarn in my stash. I do have two other handspun skeins of yarn that I managed to get down to sock weight that I could possibly blend it with, but I don't think the colors would go together that well. I haven't gone through the rest of my commercial sock yarn to see if I have any coordinating colors yet. I think I am leaning towards making something else with it right now. One day I will get handspun socks.

The last thing that I have been up to is knitting on a commissioned baby blanket for my fiancee's sister. His mom contacted me a while ago and asked if I would make a blanket. I agreed as long as she sent me the yarn and understood that I was about to enter a busy time at schools with graduation and finals.

I am knitting the blanket in three strips. The garter stitch strip and the seed stitch strip will be on the outside while the checkerboard white strip will be in the middle. It will also have an i-cord border to match the center.

The only problem that the yarn she sent me was thinner than I expected. So I am using the yarn with two strands held together. She sent me two balls of pink, one ball of white, and one ball of a white/pink variegated. I wound the two pink balls together, but I had to wind the white and variegated yarn together. It is creating a nice effect and will tie the whole blanket together. Luckily, the yarn has a lot of yardage so I will have more than enough to finish the blanket.

As a surprise, I think I will take any leftovers from the blanket and make a pair of matching baby booties or make a matching toy. I will have to see how much yarn I will have when it is finished. I just hope the sister likes it and uses it for her baby when she is born.