Snuggly Blanket

Okay, either I've gotten really adept at this particular pattern ... or I managed, somehow, to fall into a rift in time itself! I actually knit this adorable blanket in just 9 days. It may have been that whole giving up sleeping thing. Or perhaps I've memorized the pattern far more than I thought I had. Either way, I think it's gorgeous.



I had a brief moment of pure "oh crap what is wrong with me!!!!" on Saturday thanks to the lovely Dragon, brat that he is. He said that the customer wouldn't have asked for green and purple. I ignored him, climbed back into the middle of my knitting stuff on the bed, and began the border. Three stitches in I remind myself that I checked the order three times before placing it. At 7 stitches I tell myself that I verified the colors again when I got the yarn in. At 15 stitches I give up, shoot him a dirty look, and check my email to verify what the customer ordered. I was right, he was just bugging me ... but then he started giggling. He knew what he'd done alright. Dragon is tricksy like that.

 

 Mr. Rabbit is the only thing I have around here that's close to baby sized. Good thing he's not picky about modeling for me when needed. Isn't he just adorable when he peeks out like that?

Yeah, I know, I'm in a world of my own. That's okay, they know me there and serve me chocolate and supply me with yarn.

I was a little nervous about using cotton yarn since I the yarn I'd used before hadn't been all that great to use. Would it be too harsh on my hands? Would it do as I needed? I should have never worried. This was some 'really' soft yarn. I kept getting side tracked and cuddling it. I'll certainly have to get my hands on more of this stuff and work with it again.

Pattern: Sweet Lullaby Seamless Hooded Blanket by Elizabeth Elliot
Yarn: Knit Picks Simply Cotton Worsted
Ravelry Page
Mods: None that I know of.

Behind Again

Day 18 in A Month of Craft Photos by Untangling Knots is Craft Books.

It somehow seems wrong that the girl with over 1,000 books on her shelves has only 4 craft books. There's an imbalance there and balance is always necessary. 

 Day 19 in A Month of Craft Photos by Untangling Knots is Supplies.

Not all of my creative brain is tied up in knitting. I still have all my supplies for dreamcatchers and even have been working out details on a custom one that's been requested. This is only 2 of the 4 boxes that I have. On the plus side, the seed beads can also be used for knitting. They're useful like that.

 Day 20 in A Month of Craft Photos by Untangling Knots is Finishing.

I try to do quite a lot of my finishing while the work is in progress, like weaving in ends. It makes it so much easier at the end when I've done multiple color changes or used several balls of yarn. Then I'm not staring at a million ends to weave in and feeling the urge to toss the nearly done project into the corner. And yes ... that's the baby blanket in the finishing picture, make of that what you will. *wink*

 Day 21 in A Month of Craft Photos by Untangling Knots is Crafting Accompaniments.

My husband Lynn has been the biggest supporter of this knitting insanity I've dropped into. He accompanies me to yarn stores, listens to me ramble on about fiber content, plays the part of a swift when I'm winding yarn, has attempted to hand wind a ball of yarn for me, makes suggestions on color and design, and handles most of the math for me. I really don't know what I'd do without his support.

Funky Texture

Day 16 in A Month of Craft Photos by Untangling Knots is Texture.

One of the things I love about knitting is the different results I can get by changing between knit and purl or at what angle I create new stitches. There's just so many possibilities.

WIP Wednesday: Baby Blanket and Magic Balance

Writing:

Magic Balance (Working Title) - Rewrites

Previous Word Count: 3,285

Current Word Count: 4,892 (Up 1,607)

Still working on that balance. The adventuring party is about to grow by two and that'll have to change quite a lot from the original writing. I think I know what direction it's going though.

Reading:

Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor. This is an old favorite of mine, one of the few books that has lasted through now since my childhood shelves. My copy is very well loved and has been often read. I've read the preceding story, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry many times as well. I was unaware, until recently, that there was a third book. That's found a place on our shelves and I wanted a small refresher before grabbing that story.

Knitting:
Every time I do this pattern I'm amazed at how it grows so quickly and how fast it seems to go, it's one of those great projects for watching movies and TV while working on. Plus? I think I've found a new favorite yarn. I'm using a cotton yarn from Knit Picks and it's so soft and cuddly. It'll be perfect for wrapping a baby up in.

Finished Baby Things

 I finally got pictures of my recently finished things.

First up was another of those awesome hooded blankets. Man those just fly off the needles now.



I love how they're constructed from the center out and the alternating knit and purl stitches not only give visual interest but mental interest as I'm working on it.



Mr. Bunny just had to get in on the picture taking. I love how it folds all around the wearer and I've heard that the hood is awesome since it stays on the baby's head rather than slipping off like a normal square blanket does when it's folded over.

Pattern: Sweet Lullaby Seamless Hooded Blanket
Project Page: Edisyn's Blanket

As a companion piece I also whipped up a small sweater to go along with the blanket. This was my first clothing piece and it was more simple than I'd thought it would be. I'm not positive I did the i-cord edging correctly but I think it's close enough and cute enough that it works.



I even managed to get the buttons to line up with their respective button holes! And I did a lot of tugging on the buttons to make sure they were on there securely too. Can't have them coming off.

Pattern: Hello Baby Cardigan
Project Page: Baby Cardigan"

Now to figure out what else I'm going to do with all this yarn I still have left over.