Well, Knitting Updates!

Well, I did feel better about the Bruins when I woke up this morning, or at least not as bad as I did last night (I went to bed and dreamed that they lost the game by a score of 16-0; ouch!). Still, the only bright side I can come up with is that if they keep playing this badly, it won't go on for much longer: they only have to lose two more games and they're out for the summer. More likely, they will win a game or two to raise my hopes, before tanking spectacularly again. Sigh. Let's talk about something else.

I feel as if I haven't talked about knitting much lately, and goodness knows I've been doing it! I did mention one current project, the furry neck pillow, and that's coming nicely. It feels so wonderful. Make that SO WONDERFUL. I want to finish it so I can start using it immediately.

• The latest Socks That Rock skyp sock, my purse knitting, is just past the heel (of sock one), and I still love the yarn, yes I do.

• I started a new sock to be my bike knitting. I'm using yarn I got at Rhinebeck in 2009, Foot Notes from Fiber Optic Yarn, so pretty. I'm doing the skyp sock pattern again, of course (is there another?), but I tried a new-to-me cast-on method that's supposed to be very stretchy (it's too early to tell). I had to sit in front of the computer and watch the video as I tried it, and it was mighty frustrating, for I couldn't tell that I was doing any differently the times it worked and the times it didn't. However, if it's nice and stretchy for the tops of my socks, I will practice. I would just prefer to pick up the new technique instantly, you know? Pft, learning curves.

I split the yarn into two balls, and re-winding half resulted in very different looking tightness. Can you believe they weigh the same? They do!

• I made two swatches for the sweater project, but I only washed them today, so that's waiting for me to Get Around To It--measuring them, deciding if either needle size will do, etcetera.

• Oh, and baby knitting!
  

Yes, the stealthy baby knitting can be revealed now that the baby shower has happened. Ta da!

The Making of A Secret Item
I started making a blanket for my pregnant friend who reads my blog (MPFWRMB) on Wednesday, February 16th. I had been considering various items, mostly blankets and sweaters, and decided that while I still may make a sweater, I was going with blanket first.

I wanted a really simple pattern, nothing too fussy to make, because working on the Frost Diamonds shawl was enough fussy, unsocial knitting for me at one time. I wanted something I didn't have to work too hard at*, that I could simply enjoy making and filling with happy-baby thoughts for good karma. (It seems to me like wrapping an innocent baby in an item that's been much cussed over is asking for trouble.)

*You understand, right, PFWRMB? It's nothing against you! I wanted to make you something lovely, just not something complicated.

I settled on the Garter Rib Baby Blanket pattern in mid-February, liking both the look of it and the incredible simplicity. Basically, it's knit every other row, and the other every other row, K3P3. Yes, it requires counting to 3 repeatedly, but once the pattern gets going, you can see at a glance if you've gotten it lined up correctly*, which is a nice math-check (if you can call counting to three actual math). So it was the winner, and I was struck on that Wednesday with a strong urge to go to a store and get yarn, start, now! (I had already checked the stash, but I didn't have anything in enough quantity that would do.)

*Unlike that "simple" basketweave pattern in Lion Brand Homespun, which still haunts me years later. That was a mistake.

I went to Michaels, since there was one near-ish to the place where I was meeting a friend (a different one, obviously) at her stitch and bitch after work. I wandered around the yarn area, squeezing this and considering the colors of that. I came down to two choices, and since I couldn't decide and both were on sale, I got both: Caron Simply Soft, a smooth-feeling acrylic in a lovely shade of yellow, and Lion Brand Wool-Ease in a beautiful blue (a little stereotypical for a baby boy, but it's a color I'd use for myself). Enough yarn for a blanket of each was just under $13 total, quite a deal, and I was handed a coupon for the chain's Presidents Day sale the upcoming weekend, for 25% off my entire purchase including sale prices. Whew!

Now, I didn't actually start the project at the stitch and bitch that night (I couldn't, I didn't have the needles with me). I did a little on the Frost Diamonds (the purl rows being social knitting, as long as I count the stitches before working the next pattern row to catch any mistakes), then worked on my sock a while before heading home ... and casting on for the blanket. I couldn't stop myself! I wanted to see how it would feel! I don't know that I'd ever knit on three different projects in the same day; cross that experience off the list*.

*I didn't know I had a list until I found myself knitting by bonfire light, just so I could say I had done it. Apparently this is a list of things I don't know I wanted to do until the opportunity presents itself. It's a nice peaceful list that way.

The yellow Simply Soft is what I chose, and it's a nice, soft yarn (I mean, obviously it should be with a name like that, but I'm reporting it anyway). Each row took about five minutes to knit, meaning:

• it seemed very fast compared to the ever-increasing rows on the Frost Diamonds Shawl I was also working on, where the rows took about half an hour
• it was the perfect length for "I'll just do a few minutes" on the exercise bike
  

On Saturday, March 26, I cast on for another secret project: a hat to match. Very cute, and very fast! The pattern is the Rib-knit Baby Hat, by Sorella and Company, and being a 3x3 rib means it matches the blanket very well. I used size 6 needles, instead of the 7 the pattern calls for, since I can't find two of my size 7 DPNs. The last time I used them was for Christmas 2009, so they could honestly be anywhere. They'll turn up someday, but until they do, you just can't make a circle with three needles. I was hopeful that the hat would be big enough on 6s; otherwise, I knew I could make another, bigger one.

You basically knit a long tube, then tie the top off with i-cord.

Cute, right?

I finished it while I was at Grandma's (the blanket and the hat, in fact), and decided to make a larger hat as well. Finished it the same day! Peaceful family visiting time being conducive to lots of knitting.

I don't seem to have a picture with both hats (could have sworn I took one), but anyway it's just the same as the first one, just slightly larger. I'm happy with how it all turned out!


The shower was Saturday, and MPFWRMB seemed to like them. Yay! Knit on.