Trish Knits.com

Tag: baby

  • Baby Knitting

    Today I finally received the book, 50 Baby Bootees to Knit by Zoe Mellor. I love, love, LOVE the adorable and interesting designs. There is everything from basic booties to Mary Jane shoes, to cute little baby socks. I also love Ann Budd’s Better than Booties Baby Socks and so am trying to come up with some combination of socks, hat, and sweater or jacket. The Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting : The Curious Knitters’ Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures is also on my short list.

    Here’s the thing: I’ve managed all this time to be a decent but limited knitter, without having to do a lot of math. I’ve never knit a project that truly required a gauge swatch. Now, though, I have some specific yarns I want to use:

    Lisa Souza Sock Merino Yarn, spumoni colorway

    Lisa Souza Sock Merino Yarn, pumpkin colorway

    Lisa Souza Sock Merino Yarn, peacock colorway

    These are Lisa Souza Sock! Merino in the Spumoni, Pumpkin, and Peacock colorways. I don’t know the gender of the baby I’m knitting for, but he or she is due to arrive in the fall, which prompted the pumpkin colors. (The others I just liked for a baby.)

    Maybe the big problem for now is that I have too many choices! I’ll give myself a week or so to narrow it down. Then I’ve got to get busy knitting!

  • Pool Season

    brown ripple blanket in process

    Believe it or not, today was the first day of the swim club being open. It was too cold to swim unless you were a totally insane person (like my daughter), but we enjoy going there and hanging out, so we went for lunch. Didn’t stay long because my little guy wanted to get in, too, only he’s too young to get in the pool by himself and there was no way my DH was going. But it was great chatting with friends who we only seem to be able to get together with in the summer months. Every summer it’s always amazing to see how much each other’s kids have grown, and it’s fun to catch up on a winter’s full of activities that we always somehow miss hearing about until now.

    I’ve actually had a rotten cold that started up on Thursday afternoon. I called in sick Friday and went to the doctor. It’s just a rotten cold, but I mean, ROTTEN. I don’t even have much energy for knitting. But at long last, I have been working on the brown ripple afghan again. I actually switched colors today for the first time in a while, and will probably be able to do that again tomorrow already. I haven’t been knitting at that pace, on ANYTHING, in quite a while. But… there’s been lots of napping in between, too. I guess I’ve needed it.

    Since joining the Summer of Socks 2008, I have since learned that our pool manager is expecting her first. This is happy news! She and her sister used to babysit for me when my daughter was a baby. So, it looks like baby socks and hats will be in order! I’ve been looking around the interwebs, and I’ve found quite a few patterns and resources to check out:

    Baby Keep Your Socks On — by Amy King

    Just Your Basic Baby Sock (PDF) — by P2 designs

    Tiny Toe-ups — by Patti Pierce Stone

    Chart of Baby Foot Sizes (PDF) — from WendyKnits.net

    Tie One On Baby SocksThe Keyboard Biologist

    Baby Jays — by April K

    Ribbed Lace Toe-up Baby Sock — by P2 Designs

    Baby Life Ring Socks — by Cat Bordhi — by P2 Designs

    If I knit a bunch of these then I’ll have the whole sock thing down before I know it. Now, I’m on a quest for ultra soft and washable sock yarns. I know, I know… Socks That Rock comes to mind immediately, but would also love other ideas. Hopefully things that aren’t too expensive, but also high yardage AND washable. Oh, and soft. Very soft. Soft enough for a baby’s, well, you know…

    I’m thinking that if I can find balls of yarn with high yardage then there would be enough to make socks for my size 6 feet and have enough left over to do baby socks. Do-able? I’d love some feedback…

    Ciao for now, gotta go blow my nose. Yuck.

  • Change of Plans and Prayers for Z.

    brown afghan beginnings

    Ok, I’ve said to more than one person recently that I would probably never knit another afghan. Now, watch how fast I am going to eat my words! I’ve mentioned in a recent post that I am knitting with a heavy heart lately. Now I can say why, at least some, and then the afghan will make some sense.

    I have this friend. A co-worker, actually, and I don’t think she knows that I adore her as much as I do. This fall she surprised us with the happy news that she was expecting her third child. Soon after though she began complaining of a pain in her side that would not stop. (She was due at Christmas, so by telling us in the early fall she was already quite far along.) It was difficult to do too many tests, because of course, she was very pregnant and they didn’t want to hurt the baby. However, soon the doctors began to suspect the possibility of colon cancer. They wouldn’t know, of course, until after the baby’s birth, but the situation began to take on some urgency.

    The baby was born after Thanksgiving, about 5 weeks early, and had to spend some time in the NICU at the hospital, but is fine now and at home. About two weeks later mom had surgery and the diagnosis was unfortunately confirmed. She will recuperate for about 8 weeks or so and then begin treatment for cancer.

    I did have all sorts of plans to make tons of things for her new baby, and had even bought mountains of yarn and had started knitting on a baby hat for the baby. As it turns out I made a yucky mistake with the hat and need to start over anyway (my color changes look awful, and I forgot to do the jogless jog, AND I made a mistake on the decreases at the top so have to rip those out anyway). So I need to rip that hat back to before the first color change and start over. While I’m at it, I might as well make the next biggest size, too… so baby won’t outgrow it too soon.

    But anyway, the problem with knitting for Baby, (though I can’t wait to do it someday soon) is that every time I did knit for the baby I would think of mom and start crying. So instead I decided to pour my efforts into knitting for mom. And what did I decide on? A snuggly throw, knit on very LARGE needles so hopefully it will go lots faster this time. I am already having some doubts, but I’m determined to do this for my Miss Z.


    Pile of differently colored and textured brown yarns

    I don’t do browns, and of course, browns are what makes Miss Z feel happy. So I went online to Knit Picks, and buy boatloads of brown yarn in different colors and textures. Clockwise from the top, in the 12:00 position:
    Wool of the Andes Bulky Hand Dyed, colorway, Redwood Forest; Suri Dream Hand Dyed, colorway, Falling Leaves; Suri Dream, colorway, Sandstone; Wool of the Andes Bulky, colorway, Taupe; Andean Silk, colorway, Cinnamon; Quarry, colorway, Dakota Mahogany; (center) Andean Silk, colorway, Chocolate.

    I bought two balls of each color, except for the Andean Silk, for which I bought 6 balls of each color, as it will be my dominant two colors with the others in between. I’ve doubled the Andean Silk for a really soft, bulky feel and am doing a simple ripple pattern from Jan Eaton’s book, 200 Ripple Stitches. I’m liking it so far but am finding the Suri Dream to be a bit fussy to work with. Hopefully I’ll survive. It’s for a good cause. And it’s on size 11 needles, too… so hopefully won’t take me a year like the last blanket did.

    With holidays fast approaching, I’m not sure I’ll be able to post much again before the new year. Thanks for reading, and if I don’t get to it before, I’d like to wish everyone now a joyous holiday time and Peace for 2008. Also, if you’re a praying person, please flip a few skyward for my Miss Z. She’s got three kids who need her very, very much. Thanks for reading.

  • Just gotta say…

    It’s done.

    Rainbow striped baby blanket completed

    Off to bed… story tomorrow. Diana went to bed with her pajamas on inside out and backwards. She’s hoping for a snow day. Secretly? Me too. Don’t tell her I said that.

  • Quick Peek!

    Flower Power baby hat in progress

    It’s the middle of the night here, I know, but I’m up with a stomach thing… yuck! and so I decided to snap a quick pic of my Flower Power baby hat in progress. I’m using Knit Picks Shine Sport and the Harmony needles for the very first time. I LOVE this project and the yarn and needles are turning out to be great to work with. Except that the Shine yarn tends to come off the ball in big puddles. Kelley spoke about how to manage this yarn in one of her podcasts, but now I’ll have to go back and find which one. Wish me luck! (I just checked and it is Episode 17. I’ll have to have another listen tonight as I’m going to sleep.)

  • Afterglow…

    trish knitting a baby hat and new hairdo

    Ok, usually I hate putting pics of myself on the blog, but do you see the look of absolute GLEE on my face? You wanna know where that look comes from? That’s me, NOT knitting a baby blanket! I’m doing a teeny, newborn sized baby hat in Knit Picks Shine with a brand new pair of Harmony needles. I love the yarn, which I already knew, but the needles are just perfect for it! Shine can be just a touch slippery so I do prefer to work with it on wooden needles. But because it is also cotton, it doesn’t have a huge amount of give, so the needles are *just* slippery enough to be a good fit for the yarn.

    The pattern is the Flower Power baby hat in Knitty. Can you say totally CUUUUUUTE? It is a quick knit with two strands of yarn held together and I actually thought I might finish it today, but tomorrow, for sure. Can’t wait to post a pic.

    The other reason why I’m looking giddy? I finally got a decent haircut and spent the money to do some highlights. Wednesday is my 15th wedding anniversary and I’m tired of looking 42 and drab. Ok, so I still look drab for now with no makeup and the icky Sunday ’round the house sweatshirt, but I do feel brightened up.

    Yesterday L. from KnitTalk came over and do you know what? She sat on my sofa and wove in my ends on my baby blanket! I still can’t believe that someone would come over and do such a thankless job. While she was here my DD continued her knitterly ways and knit up another small project. The new skill gained in doing the “Amulet Bag” was purling, as the item was knit in a ribbed pattern.

    After the weaving of ends was completed, L. then showed me the secrets of Mattress Stitch. I can’t believe after all this time that I have not understood and mastered this. But this was one thing I needed to see in action to understand how it is done. And, if I can whine for a second, part of that problem, I think, is not having decent access to a LYS where I can consult with an expert and learn what I need to know. Yes there are shops around but most are not wheelchair accessible. I hate that. A new shop opened up near my mom’s house too, and I was looking forward to going there, but it, too, is not wheelchair friendly. Someday I’ll have a million dollars and open my own shop where all will be welcome. Sigh.

    After the sewing lesson I then got a lesson in weaving in my ends as I go, so I never have another issue where I have a bazillion ends to weave in at the end. The method that L. used was not compatible with the way I hold my yarn while knitting, so I watched very closely what was happening with the yarn as she knit, and figured out a way to make it work for myself. So, yet another skill learned. Yay!


    Score!

    Principles of Knitting book cover

    While L. was here yesterday who should show up but my wonderful postman, and what did he bring? THE BOOK. Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons-Hiatt. Knitters in the know, know what the “street value” of this book is. I, of course, was not going to pay that. Not by a long shot. But I am not the type who can scour used book stores and yard sales, and none of our bookstores are actually old enough that they might actually have an out of print book on the shelves. (I did hear of someone who actually found one in a bookstore within the last year or so, but it would have had to be on the shelves for a very long time.) So, I did compromise a little, but mostly in the area of patience. I have been waiting and searching for over a year until I was able to get one where the price was right for me.

    Of course, this is an “old school” knitting book where the author is somewhat rigid in her beliefs as to how things “must” be done with knitting. Since then of course, the knitting explosion has occurred and set just about all of the rules on their ears. So, I accept the snootiness with a grain of salt in favor of the unbelievable amount of knowledge this tome has to offer. I am very glad to at last have this reference on my shelf.