A Little Loopy

There's no end to the baby knits here chez Knit/Wit. The most recent used up the July shipment from the Rockin' Sock Club, which was a bit too bright for my feet:

While I didn't want this for socks for me, I thought the colors would be perfect for a bright and cheerful sweater for Rainbow -- specifically for her going-home-from-the-hospital outfit.

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorway Garden Daze, one skein
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) Knit Picks Options
Started/Completed: October 2/October 10
Mods: omitted the buttonholes and edged the sweater in applied i-cord, including button loops

I love the look of applied i-cord around this sweater, and for this version of the BSJ, I decided to use it to my advantage. I've never been a huge fan of the buttonholes in the sweater as written (mostly because I'm never completely sure which side they should be on), so I used the i-cord to create button loops near the top of the sweater. The buttons came from my big bag of mixed buttons; they're a simple black plastic, nothing fancy.

As you can tell from the photo of the yarn above, the colors are way off in the shots of the sweater. In real life, it's shades of pink, green, and yellow.

I've now knit this pattern more than half a dozen times, yet I still find it enjoyable and I still need the directions. I'm also convinced that I interpret the directions slightly differently every time, but it always seems to come out okay, so I have a feeling that this is not the last BSJ to come off my needles. I'm looking forward to seeing Rainbow in this little jacket in December!

A Happy Blanket

I've been waiting to share this with you for a bit. It was completed a while ago, just before we moved out while the floors were being done. I blocked it during our brief visit home between polyurethane coats and then had to wait until we were back in the house to unpin it. This morning I finally got some good sunlight for the photo shoot.

Pattern: Baby Chalice Blanket (Ravelry link) by Lykkefanten
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy (100% superwash Australian merino), colorway Happy Forest, less than two skeins
Needles: US 8 (5.0 mm) Knit Picks Options
Started/Completed: September 9/October 1
Dimensions: approximately 2' by 3'
Mods: none to the knitting, but I charted the pattern from the written directions to complete it

I'm quite happy with how this turned out. The lace pattern reminds me of thistles or asparagus spears (the latter no doubt because of the color I chose). I followed the pattern as written and blocked it somewhat aggressively to open up the lace, with the resulting finished product measuring just slightly larger than specified in the pattern. This will make a nice stroller blanket for Rainbow, although it's a little lighter than I thought it would be. If I were to do this over again, I'd either use smaller needles (and perhaps add repeats to keep it the same width) or a heavier yarn for a thicker fabric. But that's not to say I'm disappointed with my yarn choice -- DIC Classy remains my favorite worsted weight yarn when I'm up for a bit of a splurge.

As long as we're looking at green things, here's the beginning of another sweater for Rainbow -- Helena -- that I cast on for yesterday at Natural Stitches. I'm through the raglan increases and should be getting to the fun lace part soon. I'm not in too much of a hurry on this one, though, as I'm making the six-month size.

And, it is Sunday, after all, so to keep spinning in the mix, take a look at what finally arrived earlier this week (after I waited only about five months):

Variations on a Theme

It's Wednesday, and unfortunately I didn't make it to knit night tonight, but we are back in our house, so things are good. We won't be able to move the furniture back in until probably the weekend, but at least I can sleep in my own bed.

But you're not here to hear about my house or my furniture, you're here for the knitting, right? Okay, well I have some knitting for you in the form of some finished Man Socks (tm).

This is the first pair of the trio that will be our "family socks" this winter. I decided to start with the Mister's, because his are, of course, the biggest and the most boring. I thought I'd at least jazz up his usual preferred pattern by doing a 2x2 rib all the way down the leg and on the instep.

Because this yarn was a little on the thin side, however, my standard recipe for man socks needed a little tweaking. I started with my usual needles (US 1.5/2.5 mm) for the leg, but the stitches looked a little loose for my taste, so I went down to US 0 (2.0 mm) needle for the foot. I also decreased the total number of stitches from 68 for the leg to 64 for the foot.

I made the heel flap rather long, resulting in what felt like the world's longest gusset.

The full details:
Pattern: 2x2 rib worked over 68 sts for the leg and 64 sts for the foot
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock (100% superwash merino), colorway Boticelli* Red, less than one skein
Needles: two 12" US 1.5 (2.5 mm) and two 16" US 0 (2.0 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: September 21/October 6

This morning I cast on for my socks, which will be exactly the same except smaller (obviously) and with cable twists instead of ribs. Judging from how much yarn was left over after completing this pair, there should be plenty for at least one pair for Rainbow. Perhaps I'll make her a pair to match both variations!

*Yes, that's the way it's spelled on the label!

The Black Purl

It's Sunday, so it's time to show off my latest spinning. This was a bump of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Wool Top that I picked up at Natural Stitches during the Tour de Fleece spin-in back in July. It was five ounces of superwash merino in a beautiful black/purple/gray colorway called Black Purl. I spun it up into a three ply that's about an aran weight and approximately 235 yards.

I'm pleased with how it turned out if a bit disappointed by the yardage. I was planning on using this yarn for a sweater for Rainbow, though I'm not sure if I have enough. Anyone know a good baby sweater using a little more than 200 yards?

I've recently realized that my spinning time is likely dwindling (I doubt I'll get much time behind the wheel once the baby comes), so I felt I had to be very discerning in what I chose to spin next. I picked a fun one, I think: the All Spun Up merino/bamboo/silk I won during the TdF. I'm aiming for a two-ply laceweight (so I should be busy with this for a while).

I love how this fiber shines, so I'll be enjoying spinning it, even if it does take me what seems like forever.

Now, in the latest chapter of the story I like to call "The Joys of Home Ownership," I think I mentioned that we were having our wood floors refinished. We thought we'd planned it out really well so that we'd only have to be out of the house (and moved in with my parents) for a long weekend. Unfortunately, it seems the workmen didn't plan quite as well as we did. The floors apparently soaked up more polyurethane than they were expecting and they ran out (after finishing the first coat at about 9 p.m. on Friday). Then, it seems there are only two distributors in the city that sell this particular polyurethane, and both of them were closed this weekend. So the guys won't be back until tomorrow to do the second coat, which means that we probably won't be able to move back into the house until Wednesday. The Mister and I went over for a bit earlier today to pick up some more clothes (as well as my computer and camera), and I spent a little bit of time with my wheel. I missed it. I'm looking forward to things getting back to normal this week!

Dear Life: Please Slow Down

I don't know why, but lately life has been flying by at a crazy speed. Last weekend was very busy, despite the fact that we both took Monday off (for Yom Kippur). We had our first baby class Saturday morning, had an engagement party to go to on Saturday night, met the Mister's parents for brunch on Sunday morning, and then spent Sunday evening and most of the day Monday in synagogue. Yesterday we went back to work and had a three-hour baby class in the evening, and now we're preparing to move in with my parents for a few days while we have the wood floors on the first floor of our house refinished (during which time I have a high school reunion, we have a wedding to go to, and the Mister is running a 5K). Are you surprised that I'm exhausted?

Amazingly, in the middle of all this craziness, I did manage to finish my brother's scarf. (The purpose of this crappy picture is only to show you just how long it is after blocking.)

Pattern: my own (see below)
Yarn: Cascade 220 (100% Peruvian highland wool), colors 8393/Navy and 7827/Goldenrod, approximately 2.5 skeins each
Needles: 16" US 7 (4.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: August 27/September 25
Dimensions: 8" wide by approximately 93" long, excluding fringe

My brother rarely requests any hand-knit items, so when he does ask for something, I make sure to deliver. This summer, he asked if I could knit him a Harry Potter-esque scarf in his school colors for his final year at college. Bearing in mind that brother grows a beard in the winter just to keep his face warm, I figured a tube scarf was in order, with a double thickness for maximum warmth.

I kept the pattern really simple: I cast on what seemed like a good number of stitches to fill up the 16" needle (which turned out out to be 90) and purled the middle stitch and the last stitch to create a fold line on either side of the scarf. I changed colors every six inches and knit until I was just about out of yarn and it seemed long enough (that turned out to be 12 stripes). Were it not for the fact that a half skein of the navy yarn went missing somewhere in the middle, I would have made it even longer, but it turned out to be long enough in the end. I found some leftover navy Cascade from my dad's birthday sweater that I used for the fringe, and then I blocked the heck out of it.

It's now long enough that, if I drape it around my neck, it nearly reaches my feet. It should be sufficient to keep my 6'2" brother warm this winter, don't you think?

Eerie, Pennsylvania

Some of you may be aware of the fact that the G-20 Summit is going on right now here in Pittsburgh. The Mister and I are both lucky enough not to work downtown, where most of the excitement is, but the city does have a weird sense of shut down about it. He drove me in to work this morning, but things seemed okay this afternoon, so I walked home as usual. It was a truly surreal experience. There was very little traffic but there were several news helicopters hovering over my neighborhood, and a small group of protesters (perhaps broken off from the main event) crossed my path when I was about halfway home.

At times like these, it's always helpful to have some knitting with me, especially some fairly mindless knitting that can be really soothing. My current sock certainly fits the bill.

This would be the first of the Mister's family socks. The Malabrigo sock is a lot thinner than I'd remembered, so I've gone down to a size 0 (2 mm) needle for the heel, gusset, and foot. I'm maintaining the 2x2 rib on the instep, but other than that, it's just a plain sock. The decreased needle size combined with the Mister's big feet make for a rather time-consuming sock, but that's pretty much why I started with his. After finishing these, my socks and Rainbow's socks will be a breeze!

Speaking of mindless knitting, I am finally on the last stripe of my brother's scarf. I'm going to knit as fast as I can this evening to get as much done as I can, and I'm pretty confident in saying that it will be done by this weekend. Expect to see it complete in the next post (and please hold me to that promise!).

A Feeling of Normalcy

It's been quite a weird summer. Those of you who know me or who have been reading this blog a while remember the days when I always had a pair of socks going. Last year, for instance, I completed 22 pairs of adult socks. Summer, in particular, has always been a productive time for my sock knitting. This year, however, has seen only seven pairs of adult socks, the most recent being knit way back in April. I'm not sure where my mojo went in the months that followed, but when the urge to start my sock knitting again hit a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't about to question it.

Presenting my eighth pair of adult socks for 2009:

Pattern: a variation on my usual 64-stitch stockinette sock
Yarn: ONline Supersocke 100 Circle Color (75% superwash wool, 25% polyamide), color 1053
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: September 8/September 17

I say these are a variation on my regular pattern because I added a little extra reinforcement. For instance, I carried the slip stitch pattern of the heel flap through the heel turn. Because of the way the stitches work out in the turn, it has the look of an Eye of Partridge heel.

I added the same reinforcement for the toe by working the "plain" (i.e., non-decreasing) rows as slip 1, knit 1, and working the decrease rows as usual, getting that same pretty Eye of Partridge effect. I think this reinforcement will be especially effective, because the tops of my toes are usually where my handknit socks start to show a little wear and tear.

I picked this yarn mainly because I wanted something fun and self-striping (I knew that I just wanted to knit a plain sock to get back into the groove), but after a few minutes of knitting I remembered that I didn't much care for it. It's a bit on the rough side, though I know it will soften with a couple of washes and wear well in the long run. At least I managed to get the stripes to more or less match up!

And, of course, because I had some leftovers, I had to use them wisely -- in another pair of socks for Rainbow (the usual pattern, sized down a bit to be newborn size, and size 0/2 mm needles):

Slow Spinning

It's been a while since I've done a Spinning Sunday, and for good reason -- my spinning has been going very slowly lately. I'm still working on the Lorna's Laces superwash fiber that I picked up at Natural Stitches way back during the Tour de Fleece. I'm doing a three ply that (yardage permitting) should become yarn for a sweater for Rainbow when I'm done. Two bobbins of singles are spun up (ignore the one in the middle there -- that's just my collection of leftover singles).

I'd really like to finish up the third bobbin and ply this week, but we'll see what happens. At the moment, I'm more concerned with knitting projects than spinning.

And speaking of Natural Stitches and knitting, I made a little stop at the store yesterday afternoon to show off my Mommy Snug and knit with the girls a little bit. At some point in the last week, the Mister (at least I think it was him) suggested that it'd be really cute if I knit matching socks for me, the Mister, and Rainbow for this winter. So as long as I was there, I took a look through the sock yarn to see if I could find something good. Here's what I came home with:

This is the oh-so-yummy Malabrigo Sock in a colorway called Botticelli Red (though I think Titian Red would be a better name). I have to consult with the Mister about patterns, but I'm thinking all three pairs will be something fairly simple to show off the beautiful kettle-dyed color of the yarn. Expect to see a family feet portrait later this year!

The List

First, I have to thank you all for your comments on the Mommy Snug. I'm really quite pleased with how it turned out, and not just because it fits. I think I did a better job than normal on the finishing, which is my least favorite part of sweater knitting. I can't say I like sewing up a sweater any better now, but at least I know I can do a decent job of it when I need to.

Now, on to the list. For a while now, I've had a mental checklist of knitting projects I want to get done before Rainbow arrives, but I thought it would be good for me (and my pregnancy brain) to get it in writing. So let's review what's in the queue, shall we?

First on the list is the scarf for my brother, which has been my main evening knitting project this week and seems to be never ending.

It's just a tad longer than four and a half feet long at this point. I'd originally thought that I'd make it about seven feet long (long enough to suit my 6'2" brother), but it's taking so long -- not to mention that I seem to have misplaced a partial skein of the navy -- that I'm now thinking six feet, plus fringe, might be better. I know I can stretch it out a little more when I block it, and it's so thick and wide that I doubt my brother will wrap it more than once at most, so that should suffice.

Also on the needles is a project you haven't seen, and (surprise!) it's another one for Rainbow. This is the Baby Chalice Blanket (available here as a free Ravelry download) in Dream in Color Classy, colorway Happy Forest. It's not very big right now, but the lace knits up quickly and this will stretch a lot when it's blocked.

What else is on the list (but not cast on yet)?

I'd like to knit two Baby Surprise Jackets for Rainbow, one with the rainbow yarn I spun up during the Tour de Fleece, which is likely to knit up on the big side and so probably will be a sweater for next winter, and one with some Socks That Rock that I'm hoping will come out the right size to be part of her going-home-from-the-hospital outfit. I also want to knit her a Helena with the green Crystal Palace Merino 5 I picked up when I bought the yarn for my Mommy Snug.

For myself, I'd really like to make another Lady Eleanor Wrap with that haul of Noro I brought home way back in April, and I have plans to make myself a Koolhaas with the yarn that came in my last Intentions Yarn club shipment.

And, of course, in between all these bigger projects I'm probably going to be knitting some baby socks, some adult socks, and maybe some burp cloths or teddy bears.

So what do you think -- am I being too ambitious?

Ribbed, for Our Pleasure

It took three days to dry after it was blocked, but it was worth it!

Pattern: Mommy Snug [Ravelry link] by Kate Gilbert, summer 2006 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% merino), colorway 710/Prosperous Plum, 6.5 skeins (approximately 1,398 yards)
Needles: 32" US 4 (3.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: August 15/September 8
Mods: I eliminated some plain rows in the front and mirrored the directions for the cuff of the left sleeve when I got to the right sleeve

I thought that I might go crazy from knitting nothing but 2x2 rib, but as you can tell from the span of time it took me to complete the sweater, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Yes, there were days when I had to stop and rest when my hands got tired of knitting rib with a mostly cotton yarn, but the knitting went surprisingly quickly.

I really can't say enough about this pattern; it's so, so clever. The ribbing makes the garment extremely stretchy as it is, but there are little touches that make the sweater so flattering on an expanding belly.

For starters, there's a series of short rows worked just below the bustline to shape the front piece to fit the top of the belly and prevent it from riding up (because while some people think it's fashionable to show off a bare pregnant stomach, I am not one of them).

Then, for the later months and weeks of pregnancy, there is a button placket along each side of the sweater, allowing you to open it up for even more room.

In addition to these very functional features, there are some really nice touches that add a bit of dressiness -- like the button plackets on the cuffs of the sleeves that are more decorative than functional and the columns of twisted stitches/faux cables at the bottoms of the ribs.

The ribs on either side of the neckline are twisted as well, and the collar is finished off with six rows of stockinette and live stitches that are grafted to the base of where they were picked up.

I wouldn't say that I'm in a hurry to knit a lot of 2x2 ribbing in the near future, but I can say that I absolutely loved knitting this sweater. The yarn wasn't the easiest on my hands at times, but I enjoyed working with it and like the finished fabric. The pattern is very well written and results in an extremely wearable garment. I know I'm going to get a lot of use out of this sweater this fall and likely for a little while after Rainbow is born.

Best of all? I still have two and a half skeins of the yarn to make something for Rainbow! Think I should do a ribbed sweater so we can match?

Blocking Fail

I had hoped to be able to post some modeled photos of my finished Mommy Snug this evening, but, unfortunately, it's still a bit damp and probably needs another day on the drying rack. Would you settle for a photo of some uber-cute baby booties instead?


These were done a few weeks ago, but I didn't get around to sewing on the buttons until the other night, when I pulled out my button collection and sewing box for the sweater. These, of course, are the famous Saartje's Bootees (pdf link) that I think everyone's made at least once by now. I used some of my rainbow handspun and size 2 (2.75 mm) needles and knit the larger size. They came out a little on the big side and the wool was a little scratchy, so after they were sewn up, I fulled them a bit by hand. They're now little bit smaller, much fuzzier and softer, and have a nice bootee shape to them.

The Mister and I have another road trip this weekend (this time to D.C. for a bridal shower), and my brother's scarf will be making the trip with me. Expect to see a finished -- and dry! -- sweater when we get back!

Almost There

The Mister and I had a rare weekend without a lot of plans, so I decided to take full advantage of the situation to make some headway on my Mommy Snug. I spent a couple of hours on Saturday over at Natural Stitches working on the first sleeve while catching up with Yvonne, Anna, and Melissa. I finished it at home later that evening and cast on for the second, which I finished up this morning. Here's how I spent most of today:

I still have to sew up the side and sleeve seams, sew on buttons, and knit the collar, but I'm getting very close to being done. I tried it on like this, and it looks like it will fit perfectly, especially after a good blocking. I only gave the pieces a light steam blocking before I started seaming, but I'm planning a full wet block when the whole thing is done to really even out the stitches.

Meanwhile, when I was at Natural Stitches, I picked up two extra skeins of Cascade 220 for my brother's scarf and got a sudden urge to knit a pair of socks. Shocking, isn't it? I know there's a lot of sock yarn in my stash, but the urge was specifically for a pair of simple stockinette socks, so I thought something self-striping or self-patterning was in order, and I didn't think I had anything like that already. So I picked up this skein of Online Supersocke:

So it's Labor Day and I feel like knitting socks again -- I guess fall must really be here!

The Rib Goes On

I am quite anxious to finish my Mommy Snug if only so I can stop talking about ribbing on the blog. The good news is that, thanks to some car knitting over the weekend, I finished the back:

Clearly I have a lot of ends to weave in still. The left sleeve is started as well and moving along at a good pace. I'm hoping to use some of the holiday weekend to make some good progress.

I've also been working on my brother's "school spirit scarf," though I don't have a picture for you, as it's not very exciting. It's at a little more than two feet long right now; I have to check in with the recipient to see what his preferences are in terms of length and fringe.

Finally, I just realized that I have some handspun that I've neglected to show you. You saw it being plied last week. It was finished on Thursday night and dried over the weekend while we were away. As usual, I started with some superwash merino from my favorite fiber pusher:

I did a traditional three ply, hoping for my usual sock yarn, but something didn't go quite as planned. It looks great, in my opinion, but the finished yardage leaves a little something to be desired. It's a heavy fingering weight, somewhere in the neighborhood of 220 yards.

Seems that all the effort I put into spinning thicker yarns during the Tour de Fleece hasn't left me yet. I'm putting that to good use to spin up some yarn to knit Rainbow another sweater next (using this fiber).

Under-the-Radar Knitting

You may have caught a reference I made last week to untangling some purple yarn and noticed that I never mentioned what it was for. That's because I was doing some secret gift knitting; now that the gift has been received, I can finally reveal just what that purple yarn became.

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark
Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock (90% superwash merino, 10% nylon), colorway 208/Plum Glace, one skein
Needles: 32" US 5 (3.75 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Dimensions: 60" x 30"
Started/Completed: August 20/August 26
Mods: substituted beads for the nupps and omitted four rows from the border chart

You may remember that Jess sent me a very generous package of purple yarn scraps to help me finish my sock yarn blanket. Included in that package was an entire skein of Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in a beautiful plummy purple. When I didn't need to break into it to finish a square for my blanket, I knew that I had to use it to knit something for Jess. You see, she's had a very difficult year, and I was so touched by her generosity that I wanted to send her a little something pretty in return in the hopes that it would brighten her day a bit. I was itching to knit some more lace, and the yardage in this skein of yarn seemed to be right on.

The last time I knit this shawl, I included the nupps and used approximately 400 yards, so I thought the one skein of this yarn would be enough. Unfortunately, as I began the border chart, I began to panic that I was going to run out of yarn. Rather than completing the shawl as written and having to do several rows in a different yarn, I did the first two rows of the border chart and then skipped to the last two rows. That turned out to be a wise decision, because once I was through with the bind off, this is all that was left.

The shawl looked positively tiny immediately off the needles, but I blocked it severely, as per usual. I love the results.

I decided to substitute beads for the nupps in part because I thought it would save yarn, but I also was excited to see how the substitution would look with this particular pattern. I used the crochet hook method and size 6/0 hematite seed beads. They're not nearly as textural as the nupps would be, but they do add a nice bit of shine and just a little bit of weight.

I don't think that the mods to the edging detract too much from the look of the overall shawl. Although I certainly wish I'd had enough yarn to knit the full border, the effect of the scalloped edging is the same, and I think the smaller size of the edging really emphasized the Lily of the Valley section -- my personal favorite.

The pattern was just as fun to knit the second time around as the first, and this time it went even faster. With the exception of a little bit of time at home one evening, doing the cast on and set-up rows, all the knitting on this shawl was done during my prework and lunch hour knitting times -- approximately two hours a day.

Overall, it's a winner. The knitting was fun, the resulting shawl exceeded my expectations, and I got a very surprised note from the recipient that really made my day.

Call me crazy, but I think I need to make another one of these for myself, and soon!

Time to Pack

Tomorrow morning, the Mister and I headed to Ohio for my family's annual reunion. I took today off from work, as well, to run errands and do some cleaning around the house so that I won't have to do it all when we get back.

I also spent a little quality time with my wheel and plied up some yarn:

I also did some packing of my knitting projects for the drive. The Mommy Snug is coming with me, of course, and when I need a break from 2x2 rib, I have an alternate project. My brother, who rarely wants any sort of handknit, specifically requested a tube scarf in his school colors. I thought it was high time I got started, considering he goes back to school in a week.

I hope that the next time you see this yarn, it's in the form of a completed scarf.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Rib It

Contrary to what the title of this post might suggest if you read it out loud, there has been no frogging chez Knit/Wit. There has, however, been a lot of 2x2 rib. I finished the front of my Mommy Snug on Friday night and cast on for the back on Saturday. I'm a little more than six inches in.


I was hoping to get further than this yesterday, but I was a bit distracted by a good book. Seriously, I read something like 300 pages yesterday. I can't remember the last time that happened. Tonight, though, it's back to the ribbing, with the aid of a new movie from Netflix.

Purple Is the New Green

If the theme color for last year's projects was green, this year it's all about the purple.

For starters, there's my Mommy Snug, which I started at Natural Stitches last Saturday and on which I've been working diligently ever since.

While the 2x2 ribbing does get a little tedious, I'm really enjoying this sweater. The design is very clever, and I think it'll be a very flattering sweater when it's done. For starters, that ribbing is incredibly stretchy, so it'll hug my baby curves nicely. Also, you may not be able to see them very well, but there are four buttonholes on each side near the bottom, which will allow me to "let out" the sweater as the baby bump gets larger. The front piece is definitely the most complicated, so if I'm able to knock this out in a week, I'm hoping I'll have a finished sweater in a month to a month and a half -- which should be just in time for it to be cool enough to wear it.

What else is purple? Well, Rainbow's newest pair of socks:

I'm not sure what yarn this is; it came in the care package from Jess and didn't wind up making it into either of the purple blanket squares. Judging from the yarn base, I'm guessing it's either Koigu, Cherry Tree Hill, or Shibui Sock. Or I could be completely off. These are the usual pattern but modified to be a newborn size (size 0 needles and fewer rows on the heel flap and gusset).

Finally, while these aren't purple, they do have purple in them:

A pair of Saartje's Bootees (pdf) for Rainbow, knit with the yarn leftover from her hat, done but for sewing on the buttons. Amazingly, there's still some yarn leftover, so I'm doing a long strip of I-cord until it runs out and I'll use that for some embellishment on something or other one of these days.

On tap for tonight? Untangling some purple yarn and then getting back to the purple sweater.

If She's a Conehead, She'll Be All Set

In the absence of any baby to model my latest finished project, I had to make do with what I could find around the house, so I hope you'll forgive my choice of Elmer the Elephant. His head was too small to fill it out properly, but he was a good sport about it.

Pattern: Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap by Gro
Yarn: my handspun, Navajo-plied wool top from Lorna's Laces
Needles: 32" US 1 (2.5 mm) Knit Picks circular, magic looped
Started/Completed: August 12/August 14
Mods: omitted the straps and knit the whole thing on the same size needles

The pattern calls for using two colors of yarn to stripe, but I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use some of my self-striping yarn. It's amazing how watching one color progress to another never seems to get old.

This knit was a bit tough on the hands, as the yarn is really heavier than fingering and I was knitting it at a pretty bulletproof gauge. The fiber (and the resulting yarn) also weren't particularly soft, so I'm thinking about fulling the hat a bit to make it a bit softer and fit for a baby's head. Still, it was worth it, and I can't wait to see little Rainbow in this aptly named sweet baby cap.

The best part of all? There was plenty of yarn leftover to make a matching pair of booties (still in progress, but every bit as adorable).