April 26, 2008

Full Circle



As promised, here is the completed Circle of Friends Baby Blanket. I have always wanted to knit this blanket, and as luck would have it, Maudie's stepmother -- a lovely person -- is expecting a baby girl at the end of May. I had some of the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, added a few extra colorways, and got to it. So, as Timmy would say, opportunity met preparedness.




A huge thanks to the add knitter, who happily jumped on board, along with her Peeper-lou, to get the job done. And, yes, both of us have ex-husbands who have remarried and are having baby daughters. I don't know if our parallel lives came first or our friendship, but no matter. She's the best!


The lion's share of credit goes to my mom, knitter extraordinaire, who knitted three of the strips, did all the sewing and blocking, straightened out any mismatched gauges, and crocheted the picot edge!!

And finally, to Maudie, who diligently knitted her strip, counted all her ridges correctly, and wanted everything to be just perfect for her new sister.

April 17, 2008

So Big, So Tiny

I don't remember why, but a few Christmases ago, my niece Colleen repeated the phrase "so big, so tiny" about 20 times a minute. She was maybe a year and a half old, and for some reason it just took hold of her. I get it now. Big and tiny just go together.



I've been working on a second Juliet, for myself this time, and I love it. I've been dying to get my hands on this yarn for a while, and having knit a Juliet for Maudie I just had to have my own. But it's so big. The needles are big, the Cashmerino Superchunky is big; the whole endeavor just started to seem big. And heavy.

Enter the Lace Ribbon Scarf, currently the most popular project on Ravelry, and rightly so. It's gorgeous, springy, so light, and those stitches are so tiny! A 3 needle? After the 10.5, that 3 is light as air! I saw that scarf and thought it's just so tiny -- I could take it with me anywhere, keep it in my car, on my nightstand.



Yes, this scarf is now my constant companion. I'm using the rest of the Colinette Jitterbug I have left from the Soba Noodle Bainbridge and love it. When the yarn is gone, the scarf is done. And then back to Juliet...

And speaking of tiny, the Circle of Friends Blanket is finished and has been gifted! Pix to follow soon.

April 2, 2008

Spring Mittens

With everything that's been going on around here -- the return of Spring, school play, talent show, 6th grade graduation frenzy, scrambling to finish the Circle of Friends blanket strips and Snuffy's emergency toenail-ectomy (don't ask), I found myself yearning for a quick and simple knit, one that I could finish in a day or so.

I've been dreaming of white-ish mittens for a while, and had a false start with an EZ Mitered Mitten and Noro Silk Garden.


I love the yarn, love the pattern, but the long cuff modification, while practical, just isn't right for me. I'll be frogging and starting over with a standard cuff. Besides, Timmy told me it looked like an oven mitt, and I have to admit, he's right.

In the meantime, through the magic of Ravelry trades, I found myself with three skeins of Wool-Ease Chunky in Fisherman. These are Super Mittens, from Weekend Knitting, and they're exactly what I had in mind -- finished in two days, and perfect for cool Spring mornings. Next up: a chunky cowl like these to match? Yes, I'm a bandwagon knitter, and proud of it!