Craig, more baby surprises ruined below

Oh, I love babies. They give you so many opportunities to knit cute, small things. I finally finished the blankie, and she. is. LOVELY.

Presenting FO #26



Pattern: Cot Blanket by Louisa Harding, from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms

This may be the last pattern I make from this book. I'm sooooo tired of it. The book, I mean. I've made at least five things from it already. Maybe more. I'm kind of over it at this point. But the cot blanket, oh that I love.

Yarn: Berroco Comfort, 3 skeins, 1 each Peach (9704), Seafoam Green (9714) and Butter (9701) (my color names, their color numbers!). I bought 6 skeins for this project, but I used probably a yard from each of the second balls to finish the last strip on the side of the blanket. Other than that, one ball of each color was all I needed. I guess I could have added more, but I thought the blanket was big enough without it.

I love the Comfort yarn for baby stuff, too. The balls have 210 yards per ball, so they go a long way. The nylon/acrylic blend is smooth and very, very soft, and the yarn is machine washable.

Needle: Uh, I don't remember! I think I used a size 7 bamboo circular, but honestly, that project was done last week, and I haven't thought about it since.

Notes: If you're going to attempt this blanket, and if you like babies, I suggest that you do, because the squares are a lot of fun, then you'll want to do it in strips, rather than one at a time. Believe me when I tell you that the seaming was a bitch. Vertically, it wasn't so hard, but the horizontal seams are what gave me the trouble. Knitting in strips would have taken care of that problem.



The sides were fun to do too. Each side has a different order of colors, since the original blanket used five or six colors and mine only had three. I did two stripes of each color on each side, just in different orders. And the corners, which I thought would look messy, don't! They look great. I think this one is a winner! LOVE IT!!!

ALSO, do you remember me telling you that I have rediscovered my stash? I have!

FO #27



Pattern: Confection Baby Shrug by Tonya Wagner from The Shizknit

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, 1.5 balls

Ths yarn is from my stash. I don't know where I got it (I think at The Yarn Connection, the LYS that was by my office before its untimely demise last year), and I thought I had three balls, but after looking everywhere, I had to concede that I probably only had two all along.

It's a lovely color, don't you think? Purple, with gray overtones, and so soft, because it's cashmerino! But what to do with two balls of Aran weight yarn?

Thank goodness for Ravelry! The extended pattern search helped me find the Confection Baby Shrug, which was perfect!

Look at the little eyelets around the sleeves!



Cute! I thought it would take both balls, but I still have half a ball left! What do I do with half a ball of aran yarn? Do you think it would be enough for a little roll brim baby hat? I don't think it is enough for baby leg warmers...

Needle: US 8 circular from the Boye set

Notes: This little shrug was such a pleasure to knit. I love the DB cashmerino. I've knit now with the bulky and the aran, and I think I have some baby cashmerino in the stash waiting to be socks or gloves or something.

Anyway, I like to think of Rachel keeping this little shrug in her baby bag for when they go into air conditioned restaurants or the mall or whatever they do down there in Texas. In hot places, you never know when you're going to need a little something to throw on in the chill of the refrigerated air.

I have one more thing to make for the little baby to be, and then we're sending the box down to its new home.

That's good, because I'm sure I'll be knitting more for that kid later, but I still have some work babies to knit for. There are two people who I know less well. Each one I'm making something small, and each present is half finished. Then I have to make my friend Sarah something for her little boy. Maybe I'll use the remaining Comfort to make another baby blanket!

Anyway, last but not least, FO #28



Pattern: Pieces of Eight Baby Socks by Susan Lawrence

Not much to say about these, except that I used Lion Brand Magic Stripes yarn left over from Spanky's last socks, and I didn't have enough to make both socks, so used some leftover red Aussie yarn to knit the toe of the second, even though it was thinner and smoother than the other yarn. A) these are for a baby and what do they care, and B) That was the only solid color that I had as a remnant.

I can't even find all my sock yarn remnants at the moment, but I think the red toe looks cute. I'm using the rest of the red to knit a pair of lacy baby socks that are going to be given to a woman with a boy baby along with these, so I hope it goes over ok.

I used US 1 needles, and they were really fun to make. I'm going to make another pair for Craig/Rachel (the last thing I have to make for the package) out of leftover yarn from my mom's Jaywalkers.

Finally, I also started knitting my legwarmers out of the Noro Kureyon I got at the Stockinette. I wanted to do something just for me, and it's starting to get a wee bit chilly now, so best be prepared and get these out of the way!