Prepping for baby

I'm trying to get a lot of stuff on the big to-do list checked off this weekend. On the knitting front, I'm pleased to say that I have finished two of the three midwife gifts. (And the third just has to be blocked.)

For my backup midwife:

For one of my primary midwives:

Mind you, I'd rather have DD2's new room finished so I could start getting the nursery ready, but it's better than nothing. At least our bedroom is tidy, the pool is set up, and the equipment to allow us to hook up a hose to a sink faucet has been found. It's a start.

Fixing things

Well, first of all, I made a mistake in my last post. I said that our last vacation had been our honeymoon in Cozumel, which was not true. Somehow I had managed to forget about the trip to Australia that my husband and I took the year after we got married! (Probably because it was winter there when we went, which makes it seem less like a "vacation" in my head; also, my father's family is all over there, which makes it seem more like a "visit" than a "holiday".)

But still, nine years is a long time between vacations. Unless you count Pennsic, which we also haven't been to in ages. (And which I have been experiencing regret about recently as my friends have started making their way down there.)

I've been working almost exclusively on my sample piece (still going along well, I'm close to finishing using up ball #2), but yesterday I got really tired of it and switched to something else to break the tedium.

I made a decision on what to do about the Brambles beret project I'm working on as a gift for whomever my backup midwife ends up being. (You may recall that I ran out of yarn about 1200 stitches short of finishing.) I decided not to gain more yardage by sizing it down or getting more yarn. Instead, I turned to a skein of Briggs & Little Regal that I had left over from a scarf project for my dad. There was more than enough there, and the colour was extremely similar (and very nice). I usually have serious problems photographing red things, but happily, this shot worked out very very well:

As you can see, I still need to weave in ends and I really, REALLY need to block it.

This was a super-quick knit. As in, I cast on last night slightly before supper, worked on it last night, and did the last round this morning. The only criticism I have is with the yarn - I don't think I've ever had to pick so much vegetable matter out of a yarn before! But, as you can see, it certainly did its job. I suspect I wouldn't use it again, though. In addition to being VM-filled, it's also more scratchy than I like.

So that's two midwife gifts all knitted (albeit not blocked) and one to go. Which is a bit of a relief. Would that my house was more ready for the birth than my midwife gift projects...

Rats

This is where the yarn pooped out on the Brambles beret:

That's with 15 rows and 11 stitches left to go. I calculated it - I need enough yarn for 1,262 more stitches.

Now, I could of course go out and get another skein to achieve this. But this is supposed to be a stashbuster, not a stash enhancer, and if I get a whole new skein, I'll end up with more yarn than I had to begin with. Another possibility is to scrap the idea of using the Cascade, and instead turn to a full skein of red Briggs & Little Regal that is also in the stash. However, the downside to that idea is that the Regal is kind of scratchy, not at all like the yummy smoothness and squishiness that you get with the Cascade.

So I whipped out my pencil. I calculated that if I ripped out a bunch of it and followed the instructions for the short length instead, I would save myself 1,064 stitches. Good, but not enough. I could then reduce the height of the band by two rows, and that (accounting for the fact that the band is done on smaller needles) would get me another 182 stitches, for a total of 1,246. That leaves me 16 stitches short of my goal, which I can probably achieve just by making my stitches a little more snug throughout.

On the other hand, I actually do want to have the medium-length version, not the short-length version. So my ideal solution is really to find someone with a little bit more Cascade 220, colour 9422, (hopefully) dyelot 708, in their stash.

I guess it's off to search Ravelry. I wonder if I can type and cross my fingers at the same time...

Whew

The cardigan was indeed completed on time.

Front:

Back:

The recipient loved it, and it received many compliments from other shower guests. Hooray! :)

If you like it too, I've made the pattern available as a free download. You can get more information by following the link for it in the "My Designs" section on the left, or just go right ahead and...

So now...what to do next?

Well, before the cardigan panic occurred, I had cast on for the Colonnade shawl I was talking about. This is how it looked last Monday:

However, by this point it's all done except for the weaving in of ends. I shamelessly copied the way Croline finished hers off and used this border instead of the garter stitch one specified in the pattern. It looks very nice - I'll post pictures once all the ends are woven in and it's done.

And speaking of midwife gifts, I started casting on for the Brambles Beret yesterday evening. However, I was about halfway through the cast-on when my husband called me for supper, so that's as far as I've gotten. :) I'm using the leftover red Cascade 220 from my Quadrat sweater, and I think there will be enough.

I've also been futzing around with a new pattern idea. Swatch is coming along nicely, but that's about all I can say at this point.

What I really need to be concentrating on right now, however, is doing a formal write-up of another pattern which has been accepted, because I believe yarn support is on its way to me as we speak! (Although I am concerned that it will fall into the black hole that is our current postal strike over here.) All very exciting stuff. Again, I can't say more than that yet.

Stay tuned!

Motoring along at a good pace

Lots of good knitting progress going on these days.

Maria Sings for DD1

Finished!

from the front:


from the back:
being worn, from the front:


being worn, from the back: (the peace signs were totally her idea)


endearing photoshoot outtake:

Parfait for Shoshana

Went to my LYS this weekend and picked up the yarn, and got started:

Midwife gifts

I think I have made some decisions.

For the woman I think is going to end up being the primary midwife present at the birth, I will be making Frilly Scarf by Tove Backhammar, out of some of my light brown Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed from the stash, which I picked up at a super sale a few years back from The Studio's online store (which is staffed by unbelievably nice people, if my shopping experience was any indication):



For the other member of my primary care team, I will be making the Colonnade Shawl by Stephen West, out of some more yarn picked up at that same sale from The Studio, this time Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran:


(the colour there is unfortunately not too accurate - it's actually lighter and less pinkish)

And finally, whoever shows up as my backup midwife at the birth will be receiving the Brambles Beret by Amanda Muscha, in I-don't-know-what-still-need-to-figure-that-one-out. I'll probably go stash-diving once again because I'm getting a real "wow, I'm being so responsible" kick these days about working through the stash.