Better Baby Blanket Photos

I don't have any new knitting to show, but I do have updated photos of the washed baby blanket that show it a lot better than the previous pics:

Now it actually looks like a blanket -- spreading it out while it was damp helped to open up the pattern and flatten the whole thing out so that it doesn't look so lumpy.  (I didn't bother with pinning it down or measuring it or making sure every side matched perfectly, I just eyeballed it.)

The variegated yarn does fight with/obscure the pattern, but I'm still happy with how it came out.

It's soft and squishy and something I made especially for the baby, so it will definitely get used.  And now it's all washed and folded and waiting patiently with some of the other baby knits.  It also has the distinct advantage of being completely finished and not stuck in the pile of things that need to be seamed or have buttons attached.  More on those later when I finally make some progress on them, I hope!

Vacation Knitting

Even though it was a short, direct flight and a hot weather beach vacation, I wanted to bring along some simple knitting.  And, since it's hard to resist baby knitting at this point, I went back to the One-Skein Wonders book (Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders: 101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks!) and worked through a lot of this little number while I was gone:

It's a sweet little baby dress and it is rather wooly and fuzzy, but it will be worn over a onesie or something similar anyway.  It was fun to watch the colors fade in and out and they worked really well with the pattern.  I made more progress on it last night and at this point all it needs is buttons for the shoulder and a little soak, so I should be able to provide some better pictures later.

I did finally get around to soaking some of the previous projects, too (the blanket really needed it and the blob might actually turn into a sweater after being pinned out flat), so hopefully I can get some updated photos of a few other things to share again soon.

A Parade of Cookies

Okay.  Due to my crazy personal commitment to Cookie A earlier this year (the Cookie A sock club and the knit.sock.love knitalong), I have knit a lot of Cookie A socks this year.  And here they are!

January knit.sock.love Knitalong:

Hedera by Cookie A

Malabrigo Sock yarn

Colorway:  Caribeno

February knit.sock.love Knitalong:

Monkey by Cookie A

Blue Moon Fiber Art Socks That Rock Lightweight

Colorway:  Pride

February Cookie A Sock Club:

Ripple Leaf Socks by Cookie A

String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn Caper Sock

Colorway:  Solas

March knit.sock.love Knitalong:

Thelonius Socks by Cookie A

String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn Caper Sock

Colorway:  Bye Bye Blues

April knit.sock.love Knitalong:

Mona by Cookie A

Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash

Colorway:  Jultomte (We're Different)

Whew!  And I'm almost done with the Cookie A Sock Club April shipment.  I hope you'll see that one soon!

It's My Turn

For months now I haven't been knitting as often or as quickly, which also means I haven't been blogging as often.  Xandermommy jumped in with a sock club update (and will hopefully keep posting!), but I finally have some progress to show, too.  I just finished a little baby blanket:

And I finally feel comfortable revealing that there is a reason for the abundance of baby knits beyond just the simple desire for some smaller, quicker knits: I'm pregnant!  That's also the reason I've been knitting and blogging less.  The first trimester really sapped a lot of my energy and my desire to knit.  There's a seemingly endless amount of cute knitting patterns for baby stuff out there and I just didn't feel like picking up my needles to work on anything.  Knitting suddenly seemed to take so much longer to accomplish anything than it did before.

A Little More Knitting

I'm still not knitting as much as I once was, but I do have a little something to show.  I'm still working small projects on larger needles, so a little baby sweater named "Presto Chango" fit right in.

Now I'm a fan of avoiding unnecessary seaming, but I think this particular pattern could benefit from some photos or diagrams that give you and idea how the construction is going to work out.  This is not what I expected a little sweater to turn into along the way:

3-sided bib maybe?  No, a baby sweater?  Interesting...

But I followed the text of the pattern somewhat blindly and ended up with something that looks like it should, once you fold it over.

Certainly looks more like a sweater once it's been folded

I didn't end up with the number of button holes the pattern intended for the center panel, but hopefully it will work fine with 6 buttons instead of 8.

Now it just needs a good soak so that the edges aren't so curly.  I don't have a lot of good seaming experience as it is and I don't want to fight to line things up any more than I have to.

So yes, I'm still alive and still picking up the knitting every now and then.