Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Yarn Along - More Striped Blanket

The end of the blanket is in sight!
Yesterday I started the final border on the Buckeye Baby Blanket. The rows go so much faster with almost half the number of stitches. Imagine that! Very excited to be nearing the end of this project. I'll even be done in time for the nephew's birthday.

Yesterday I read a graphic novel that explains the new Healthcare Reform Law - the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or just ACA). I understand it SO MUCH better now. This book is making the rounds of my Thursday afternoon knitting group. It seems very timely to read it this week while the Supreme Court is hearing arguments concerning this law. I wish there was a series of books like this explaining other pieces of legislation. What a great way to become informed.

I'm joining up with Ginny's Yarn Along again this week. Please check out her blog to browse all the cool books and projects.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Yarn Along - Striped Blanket


The Striped Buckeye Baby Blanket continues. All of my remaining grey yarn is in the picture above. My LYS has ordered more. While I should be avoiding any delays on this project, I'm actually excited that I may get to knit on something else for a few days while waiting for the yarn to arrive. I know I'm ready to be done with something when I start making detailed mental lists of what I'll knit next, which I have been doing today. I think I'm only about 40 stripes and a 3-inch border away from having a square blanket.

For month two of our bookclub the husband and I are reading Stephen King's The Stand. We're listening to it on audiobook, and we chose to go with the expanded version. It looks in the picture like we're almost half done, but that would be almost half done with Part 2 of 6. I'm really enjoying the book, even though it had me feeling that every cough might mean my death. I really enjoy Stephen King's books when I can bring myself to read them. I'm also really enjoying the new bookclub. I think this month's meeting will be to go to the Hunger Games movie together.

Please check out all the great knitting (and crochet) and books over at Ginny's Yarn Along. I've been loving all the cool projects and blogs that gather there weekly.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Nephew O's Blanket

Here is the final report on the blanket I made for Nephew O. for his first birthday last November.
I believe I mentioned before that this is the third time I've made this pattern - green, blue and now orange - one for each of the boy babies of my husband's siblings. It's made in pieces - 21 squares each of two patterns - then each square gets side edgings, the squares get sewn together into strips, the strips into a rectangle, the two end borders (with bobbles) are knitted then sewn on, and the two long side borders are knitted on.

As you may imagine, this makes for more than a few ends to weave in:
This is why this blanket was late. I just couldn't subdue all those ends quickly enough. But it was finally gifted to the deserving little guy last month.

It is a lot of work, but I'll probably make this pattern again. It's great portable knitting while working on the squares, and I think it's a great size for a kid's blanket. They don't stay very little for very long. Toward the end this time around, I was actually thinking of how to convert it into a double knitting pattern. Almost twice the knitting, but all the ends could just hide between the layers. That idea seems to have taken hold, and I think I'll have to follow through with it.

I bought three huge skeins of orange for this project (the cream was all in the stash already) and this is how much I had left at the end:
A very close call, but having made it twice before, I wasn't really worried. Not too much.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Yarn Along - Overalls


Shortly after the Christmas knitting was done I cast on some overalls for the Lil One. I've had these in my mental queue for a long time now. The pattern is from Dale of Norway - part of set #1 in Dale booklet #135 (as far as I can figure out Dale's naming system). I made the wrap pullover from this set for my cousin's baby as my Olympic Knitting Project during the Vancouver Olympics, so I guess these overalls have been in my mental queue for almost two years now.

The yarn is the discontinued Reynolds Wash Day Wool. I stockpiled it when my LYS had it on closeout sale, but didn't get nearly enough. This has been my go-to yarn for small gauge baby items and I will be very sad when I run out. But before I do, I'm going to use it in something for my Lil One. I have plenty for the overalls, but they will likely get some extra stripes as I run out of some of the colors.

This project has taken a backseat to the current baby blanket project, but I've finished one leg and am over halfway up the second one.

The book is one I just received from my dad: Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman (my apologies for not knowing how to put the accents in bebe). Recently I'd both heard an interview with the author and read an excerpt of the book and was intending to find the book when my dad presented me with a copy. Hooray for parents knowing me so well! So far the book is quite good.

I'm joining Ginny's Yarn Along again this week, and I hope you'll check out more of the projects and books linked up over there!