Petal Baby Hat

Petal Baby Hat
Originally uploaded by wendymc.

I made This Petal Hat intending it as a baby gift, but as you can see it ended up a bit on the large size. Teagan likes it, and it looks cute on her, so I'm not worried it came out so large. The pattern is written flat but I just knit it in the round. There is a wide plain patch because I forgot to remove the 'seam allowance'. The top came out nicely, too:


I really like this pattern, once I get it started it was easy to remember and just knit away. I started a second hat in some cascade fixation yarn. The yarn is pretty crazy bright, but hopefully ok for a young baby:


I altered the pattern to cut out the seam allowance which eliminated 3 stitches and the cascade is thinner yarn, so even with the same size needles it's coming out smaller. The cascade is knitting up quite stretchy, too. There is a lot of yarn so I may be able to make matching socks or mitts.

I lost my hook. I settled in at the hospital yesterday (waiting for an ultrasound) ready for some time to work on the star blanket, and I didn't have my crochet hook! I looked at home and can't see it, so my only hope is that it't in the car, having fallen out of the bag. I don't know what size I was using so replacing it won't be easy if it's not int he car.

Someone linked to an amazing shawl at http://www.needlebeetle.com/lace/swallow.htm. I have never had any desire to make a lace shawl, but this one is tempting!!

Star Blanket

Star Blanket
Originally uploaded by wendymc.

Got a little farther on the star blanket. I like how it looks framed in blue, though I really REALLY wish I had made the yellow part in the centre bigger. Too late now! I'm not sure how much blue to do, and I was thinking about doing some blue, and then some yellow, or striping back and forth, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

I brought it to work with me, because I had an ultrasound appointment this morning. I knew I'd be waiting so I thought I could get a lot done. (I finished a round and a half doing my glucose test at the lab the other day, over 800stitches!) I get to the waiting room, pull out the blanket and.......no hook! So I had to sit and read out of date magazines and curse myself for not double checking that the hook was in the bag this morning.

Star Blanket

Star Blanket
Originally uploaded by wendymc.

I've been working on my star blanket a bit. It's an easy portable project where I don't need to refer to a pattern, and I can stop and start easily since I'm not counting stitches or anything. It's really slow going, though. I realized why - it's over 400 stitches per 'round' now, and each round only nets me another cm around the blanket. I don't know how big I'm going to make it, but it's going to take me a while.

I'm wishing I'd made the middle yellow part bigger, but I am NOT ripping back now. I'm going to edge it in light blue, but the bulk of it will be white, I think. The pattern is neat, but if I made it again I'd use thicker yarn and a bigger hook. The blanket wouldn't be as fine and soft, but it wouldn't take half a century to finish.

Given it's taking me so darn long to make, I think I'm going to keep this one for our baby boy to use.

I'm very excited, my friend is getting a local Stitch n Bitch organized. There is another group that meets monthly, but I never clicked with them. They're nice, I just didn't connect, plus they meet downtown on weekends, which is harder for me to manage. It's just going to be the two of us this week, but hopefully next week there will be more interest. Lots of folks off the local parenting board are interested, they just couldn't make it tonight. I'm looking forward to dedicated knitting time, out of the house, with a fancy coffee drink :)

The Debbie Bliss sweater is annoying me. The shoulder shaping made NO sense, so I'm adapting it and hoping I can make it all work out. I've just started the second front piece, so there isn't too much more to knit. I need to make the second pocket before I can progress much more, though.