Stash Buster

My cat, Buttercup, and I have an ongoing war over the rights to my yarn.  I know she's a cat, and she's just doing her cat thing, and that's fine.  I've willingly turned over plenty of yarn to her possession.  But she's a greedy little bugger and always always wants the yarn I've neatly reballed and placed in the yarn cabinet.

She has a deep adoration, or deep hatred, of my Bernat Alpaca Naturals.  She is constantly dragging all of it out of the cabinet.  Doesn't matter how high up I place it, she finds it every time.

I decided I'd either have to throw it all away, or knit it all up.

This is the Growing Leaves Cowl.  I'm not usually a fan of cowls, sometimes having something rubbing against my chin makes me a little twitchy.

To avoid this, I only did the repeat two times.  It has a nice drape, and the yarn is soft and comfortable.

The pattern worked up quickly with no issues at all.  It was started, blocked, and worn in a matter of two days or so.  

I have tons of this in other colors to use before Princess Buttercup claims another skein.  If only I needed 369 cowls. 

Population Growth

Several months ago, right around the time I made the two blankets for her newest grandson, my boss asked me to make another pink blanket for another soon to be born tiny human.  

I had free reign to choose any pattern and yarn I wanted, so I went a little different.  The Circle Baby Blanket is a lot of fun and flew off the needles.

I used Pound of Love for this one.  I generally don't like working with that yarn but it actually fit this project well.  The shade of pink was just right and I only used about half of each color.

I especially liked the way the back of blanket is completely different, but still doesn't look like an eye-sore as some wrong sides can.

Once I attached the tag with the little white ribbon, it all came together better than I would have thought.

At this rate, all the tiny humans in the Tri-State area will be bundled in a Woolly Llama blanket in no time.

I'm okay with that.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

For those of you that read this blog, you know about the yearly battle that is Jack's Christmas Sweater.  There was the year he wanted a vest, no a sweater, no a vest.  There was the year he wanted a Christmas Sweater that wasn't Christmasy.  There was the year he didn't get a Christmas Sweater because there was a blanket that tried to steal my sanity.  

This year I started particularly late and didn't think it would get done.  He knew the sweater needed to be red, but not too red.  He knew it needed a snowflake, or maybe two, but not girly snowflakes.  And he knew it was definitely a sweater, not a vest.

It took some time, and some very generous liberties with a pattern, but we got it done.

Every year I try to remember that it doesn't need to be perfect because it will only fit him for this one season.  Then I long for the time when I can knit him something he won't grow out of so quickly.

Then I quickly remember that when that time does get here, I'll long for this time.  The now time.  The time when he's still my little boy and he still needs me and he still thinks wearing sweaters his mother knit for him is "cool."

So I'll knit him a sweater every year, and socks every birthday, and I'll remember to enjoy it while it lasts.  He's double-digits now.  I don't have much time left.

My Favorite Mother-in-Law

I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful relationship with my Mother-in-Law.  Technically, she hasn't been my MIL for about six years or so, but that's just a matter of paperwork.  She is my MIL because she is still part of my family.  My son adores her, and she adores him.  They have a beautiful relationship.  

As Christmas was coming around, I realized that of all the things I've made for her over the years, I somehow never made her socks.

Just a couple of months later, it was birthday time.  That's right, she had never gotten birthday socks.  

It may not make up for the last decade or so, but two pairs of socks in two months is a pretty good start.

Even More Socks

Last summer I knit some socks for Michael.  He decided that these were his good luck socks, and would not board an airplane without them.  A rule such as that demands more than one option, and so the travel sock plan was hatched.

Michael got birthday socks, as is custom.  He had traveled across the world twice, and so needed two pairs of good luck airplane socks.

 

Then it was Christmas.  Three trips here, three good luck airplane socks.

He'll be getting on another airplane in approximately 4 weeks.  I don't have socks ready for that.  Yet.

The Thrill of Surprise

One of my coworkers is preparing to welcome his first tiny human into his family.  As is the custom, I was asked to make a baby blanket for the wee one.  They have chosen to keep the specifics as to which brand of tiny human will be joining them a surprise.  With this in mind, they have chosen yellow and gray as their colors, and requested something in a chevron.

Everyone has that Grandma, Aunt, Neighbor, etc. who keeps the chevron blanket on the back of their couch since the dawn of time.  And that blanket is almost always yellow, or orange, or brown.  I couldn't, in good conscious, do that to this new child.  I used all my knitterly knowledge to override the request for yellow and went for a gray-scale instead.  The baby will thank me one day.

Within days of being asked to make this blanket, said coworker's mother also requested a blanket, with one caveat.  This blanket had to be gender specific.  And since we don't know the gender, she was actually asking me to make TWO blankets.

So, three blankets later and this baby is covered.

I was struggling with creating the same blanket three times so close to Christmas.  The monotony was eating away my will to live.  The only thing I could do was vary color block size or order.  I got through it.  Now we just need Baby Bean to arrive and see which blanket gets used.

Chevron Baby Blanket knit with Juniper Moon Moonshine in "Dew," "Moonbeam," "Conch Shell," "Charcoal," and "Cotton Candy Blue."

UPDATE: Baby Bean made his arrival shortly after New Years, and the gender specific blanket was his "going home" accessory.  He seems to like it.

It's That Time of Year

Every year I get a few requests for these earwarmers/headbands.  They work up quickly, they're comfortable to wear, and they're durable.

I always use Patons Soy Wool Stripes.  It's discontinued now, but eBay still has plenty.

I have a few of these I've managed to keep for myself over the years.  The pattern is mostly just in my head as I've played with the number of stitches and decreases quite a bit, but the original can still be found on Knitty.



I think I have a few extras stashed away somewhere as well.  You never know when you'll need a last minute gift.