Monday, January 25, 2010

FO: Birth Hat for Susan's baby

The Sweetie's cousin just had a baby boy. I'd planned to make this hat over the Christmas break, but you know what happened. Then the baby arrived 2 weeks before the due date (thankfully, my lack of knitting progress didn't hold the baby up). So I quickly whipped this out as I was able.

Pattern: The birth hat pattern I'm still tinkering with, with a fussy tubular cast-on that turned out looking okay after all.
Needles: Size 3 for cast-on, size 5 for knitting.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

I didn't have a chance to weigh it, as I wanted to get it in the mail ASAP - I cast on 72 sts instead of 64 but neglected to knit it for a full 4 inches before starting the decreases (more like 3 inches - eek!).

Notes: The fiddly tubular cast-on was TechKnitting's 1x1 "Provisional tail" method, with extra help from commenter Rose Fox on how to slip the stitches when doing it in the round.

I cast on 72 stitches instead of 64, since I was running a bit late. I think I'll keep it bigger anyway. The trick was that I then had 9 repeats instead of 8. I continued with the decreases the way I had been anyway, and when I got down to 9 sts, I did 3 double decreases (centered, but I don't think that mattered much), then did the I-cord in 3-st I-cord instead of 4 stitches. I like it. Might keep it.

Next hat (and I've just found out a 2nd cousin of mine is expecting his first in May) I might try to do top-down, starting with the I-cord and finishing with a tubular bind-off. That might allow for less fiddling.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Bullet post

Stopping in for some bullets:

  • Barbie is choosing a new profession. Go here to vote for Computer Engineer!
  • You can donate shoes to Soles 4 Souls. They are starting a new drive to send shoes to Haiti, but it's not clear from the web site how to designate that your shoes be used for that.
  • It's better when donating for disaster relief, to leave donations unrestricted anyway. That way the organization can use unspent money for the next disaster. Choose wisely.
  • I got a new camera for Christmas. One of the side effects is that I have to figure out a new system for downloading photos.
  • Yes, it should be easy with a cardreader. But it's a different one from my previous one, and apparently my computer doesn't like it.
  • I want to post with photos. Hence my blogging is being held up by technology. But heck, I wouldn't have a blog without technology. So we can be patient for a little while longer, mmm?

Friday, January 8, 2010

3rd Blogiversary


Recent purchases
Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk
Three years ago today, I started this blog. The first few posts were very list-y: listing fos, wips, future plans. This was the first photo I posted, several posts later.

Last year I was so busy starting up work and daycare I missed my blogiversary. This year, I'm a much more accomplished mom and knitter.

I wanted to take this opportunity to note the passage of time, and thank you, my readers, for your encouragement over the years.

And a contest! Leave a comment here, saying anything at all. I'll choose one randomly and send you a nice goodie. The contest is open until midnight Pacific time, one week from today, the 15th of January. If you don't leave contact info, please check back in a week (of course you'll be back to read about my grand plan for 2010, right?) and see if you've won.

Knit on!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

2009 FO Wrap-up


2009 FO Mosaic
Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk
This was a very productive year, knitwise, in terms of # of objects finished. Like last year, it consists of mostly small items. And I narrowly missed finishing the final two items, due to this year's Christmas plague, which is just now clearing up.

  • 9 dishcloths (1 of them a NICU blanket, but I'm counting it as a dishcloth anyway)
  • 8 hats (all for babies)
  • 3 baby footwear
  • 1 baby sweater
  • 2 misc.
Incidentally, this year I finished the exact same number of projects as in 2007 - 23!

I finished all of the knitting but not the duplicate stitch or blocking on 2 Christmas stockings for TLD's cousins, before the Christmas plague hit. Oh well, they'll have them next year. They didn't miss them much this year, I expect.

TLD got a sinus infection which spread to his eye, and in order to prevent sharing his germs with his cousins (aged 1 year, and 3 months) we high-tailed it home on the 23rd. The Sweetie and I managed to also get sick (big surprise) and now we're mostly well again. TLD recovered splendidly and was a challenge to keep up with over new year's! But we were sad not to be with our extended family on Christmas.

Stay tuned for big knitting plans for 2010!