Thursday, January 26, 2006

A Cure for the Knitting Blues (or Purples as the case may be)

Thank you everyone for your advice and sympathy on my machine washable two-toned purple sheepie problems. As I said, I'm waiting to see what Chester Farms can do for me before doing anything rash. No matter what happens, I'm going to reknit the two-toned sleeve. It is insanely obvious. Peter could see it without me even telling him what he was supposed to be looking for.

So to banish this case of the knitting purples, I've started a new project!

My brother and SIL are expecting their second child in May. As with their first child (the adorable Eva), they are not finding out the gender of the child before it's born. I don't understand this behavior. I couldn't stand the suspense.

Anyway, I've decided to call this baby-to-be my Niecephew until it's born. Clever, huh? Like dear Eva, Niecephew is getting a baby blanket. Eva got a purple and white blanket and Niecephew is getting a teal one.

Curli and the CatsThis is the start of Oat Couture's Curlicue Coverlet. Before you all start leaving comments about Grumperina's problems with this pattern, let me say, "I know." I also know that Betty and Christy have made flat Curlicues. And I also know that Grumperina never attempted to block her Curlicue into submission because she didn't want to force the baby's parents into blocking the blanket after every wash.

This blanket is staying in my family. If it doesn't lay flat after washing, my brother can just ship it back to me and I will block it. Or we can all just live with an imperfect blanket. Niecephew will be getting other handknit stuff for the rest of his/her life. Who cares if this blanket isn't flat? Niecephew won't be flat either.

You'll note that I managed to get Elly into this photo. Some people at my SnB actually thought that I had only one cat because Scout is such a camera ham. But I do have other cats. Elly (on the right of the photo) and Cleo. Scout just gets most of the blog time because she follows me around like a puppy and is always handy when I'm ready for a photo shoot and because she's very good at sitting where I place her and behaving herself during the photo shoots. Elly and Cleo tend to wander off or attack the knitting props.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just as well you had photographic evidence that Elly was not as innocent as she seems because who could resist those big sad eyes...

Jennifer said...

Neicephew... I love it.

Anonymous said...

Looking at Grumperina's pictures, I have to say I kind of like the puckering. It's like a flower petal -- what flower lies perfectly flat?

You're lucky you have ONE cooperative cat. When I try to include any of my three in my knitting photographs, they just come out as furry blurs obscuring the knitting.

Anonymous said...

Niecephew, hahaha! Just don't pick up ALL my bad habits, okay? While giving the Curlicue a try isn't insane, in my opinion, that shawl I'm knitting is not worth anyone's time.

Meredith said...

Wow, you've gotten a lot done on that. And your cats are such cuties!

Valerie said...

You are the short row queen.

I couldn't stand the suspense, either! I would be beating down the doctor's door, trying to find out what sex the baby is. But that's me.

amylovie said...

I'm with you. I had to know the gender for planning purposes if nothing else.

Amy

goodkarma said...

Can I just say that I LOVE your attitude about the Curlique blanket? Knit on, girlfriend.

alltangledup said...

i like this blanket too and think that it would look wonderful even if not perfectly flat. I don't imagine if the flatness of it would even be noticed by the parents let alone the child. You've chosen a lovely green.

With regards to the mismatched yarn with the same dyelot... it's happened to me too. I managed to get another skein from the shop without the problems and finished my project. I'm told these things happen occasionally, so don't let it get to you. As for running short of yarn, the meters for weights tend to me estimates. You might find some companies have more generous estimates than others.