Sunday, July 16, 2006

Baby stuff, pt. 47

So, while waiting for Henry to be born, I knit some baby jeans--"Blu" from Knitty.com, to be precise. And they were super cute. However, as it turns out, Henry does not like to wear pants. Really, he does not like to wear clothes and is basically a nudist. So I had to try my hand and making some baby clothes that cover a little less skin! This diaper cover was based on a soaker patter from punk_knitters. Since it is not acting as an actual soaker, I made it out of Rowan's All Seasons Cotton, which is v. v. soft. Henry seemed much more comfortable in these:


The next one I make is going to have intarsia on the butt. Intarsia of what? That I do not know.

Also I realize that this pattern of me make stuff for Henry without having any idea if he's willing to wear it or not will continue until he is 34 and I am 65, or thereabouts.

In other news, Henry's dad has asked me (half in jest, I think) if I would make him a sweater for his birthday in October. If I take him up on this challenge, it would be my first sweater ever (I've made a tank top and a sweatervest, but nothing with, you know, sleeves). Intriguing. He might have to chip in for the yarn.

Right now I'm working on socks for a friend's daughters, made out of that Dancing from Knitpicks. Toe-up, as usual. One of these days I'll attempt a toe-down pattern, now that I can do kitchener stitch, but I love toe-up. The figure-8 cast-on is so brilliant in its efficiency. Pictures of the socks to come.

Note: it is supposed to pass 100 degrees in Chicago today, and my roommate and I have not put it the "big" air condiioner. (We have little ACs in each bedroom.) I do not want to put it in because a) it is big and heavy, and b) I'm sick of having conversations that start with, "Robert, could you turn off your air conditioner? I need to use the microwave." So far with the fans and the shades and the two little ACs we've been okay. But today I think I might need to go see a long, cheesy movie to make it through the worst of the afternoon. I'll bring along some really basic knitting.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Clapotis 1 & 2

It seems that almost every knitter I know has either made or attempted to make this pattern, so who I am to be any different?

Clapotis the First: I finished this just before the end of spring, so I actually got to wear it a couple of times. It is surpisingly warm. It's hanging decoratively on my bedroom door now, and I can't wait until summer is over so I can wear it again.

Clapotis the Second: I decided that I wanted a summer-weight version of this, because I have become so accustomed to wearing scarves that it kind of drives me crazy not to, esp. mornings when I'm leaving for work and my hair is still wet (I cannot stand having wet hair touching my neck, but if I leave it up in a rubber band it won't dry until 2 or 3 days later). While spending the rest of my birthday gift certificate at Arcadia, I found this stuff--very, very soft cotton ribbon yarn. I think I'd read somewhere that patterns with dropped stitches are good for showing off ribbon yarn, because the ribbony-ness doesn't just disappear into the stitches. So I bought some (too much) and made a second, thinner scarf out of it. I'm very happy with how it turned out and wear it pretty much all the time, except when JLP steals if from me. (She made her own.
I actually finished the 2nd clapotis while in Arkansas for a family reunion, and my cousin's daughter Cedar was nice enough to model it for me--just seconds after completion!

I've made some more baby stuff, too (being done with classes is great!) but I'll have to post that later.

New Knitpics yarn, and a felting project

What to do with all this Knitpicks yarn?
I went crazy buying a bunch of Wool of the Andes a while back, and while it is a good basic yarn and crazy cheap, I was at a little bit of a loss regarding what to make with it. Plus I had bought all these random colors . . . I'm not really sure what I was thinking. So, I'm attempting to make some felted placemats with it. We'll see how it goes. Here are the two and 1/4 that I have done, pre-felting. They are just plain stockinette, so it's nice and mindless. I actually worked on the first one while watching "X-Men: The Last Stand" in the theatre. I can knit in the dark!



To make matters worse, Knitpicks was having a big sale and I bought a bunch of "Dancing", their cotton/wool/elastic blend sock yarn. I thought I could make some socks for Henry, as well as for the daughters of some friends and coworkers. That sounds fun, right? The yarn is actually great, super pretty in real life and ver soft and stretchy. Hopefully I will follow through with making the socks and it will not become part of my increasingly embarrassing unused yarn collection.