In keeping with my apparent fondness for throwing in extra projects even when I have deadlines, I present the 2 other projects that made up the 5 that I spent the last week on, instead of the stuff I should have been knitting.
Yannick's cousins welcomed their second child Emily on Monday, and we were supposed to go to the hospital on Wednesday night to meet her. I couldn't show up empty handed, especially after making/bringing something for their first-born (anyone remember Elodie's Sweater and Booties?).
I grabbed some stash yarn and cast on for the Child's Placket Neck Pullover (Ravelry link) Last-Minute Knitted Gifts . I know that when I'd knit it for Jakob, it had only taken me 8 hours, so with 2 evenings ahead of me, I should have been able to finish a sweater for Emily.
I didn't do a gauge swatch because I figured it was for a baby...if it didn't fit her at a year it would fit her at 6 months, or 18 months. Ahem. I *should* have knit a swatch, because after I cast on the number of stitches for the 1 year size and finished the 8 rows of seed stitch border, well, it was big enough to fit me!
That got promptly ripped back. Unfortunately it was now about 9 pm on Monday, leaving me with only another hour or so to knit before bed, and then Tuesday night to make something for Elodie so she wouldn't feel left out. I had to find something quick. I found it in the Blanket Buddy pattern from Lionbrand. It is a pattern that you can either knit or crochet, and after browsing the Ravelry archives for a bit, I decided I liked the crochet version better. Plus, crochet is faster than knitting (although it does take more yarn), so I knew I had a better chance of getting it done on time.
 It came out perfect, with one small flaw. It's small. It's supposed to be about 17" long. Mine? Maybe 8". I switched yarns and instead of using a bulky yarn I used a dk-weight yarn. I didn't feel like fussing with the pattern (although it is really easy to make it whatever size you want) so I left it as is.
 Here's a bad photo of it with Jakob to give you an idea of it's actual size.
I figure that it's being given to an infant. She's tiny, so her little toy can be tiny. Who knows...maybe she'll end up loving it and it will be the "doodoo" that she carries around until she's 18? As I mentioned I wanted to give something to Elodie as well so she wouldn't feel jealous of the attention (and gifts) that the new baby was getting. After some debate between knitting anothe cupcake, another bunny or another swatch bunny, the cupcake won. Both bunnies only take about an hour or two of knitting, but they each have quite a bit of seaming. The cupcake takes under an hour to knit and really only has 4 ends to weave in once you're done. This time I followed the pattern exactly as written. I won't do that again. There's nothing *wrong* with the pattern, but my (and Yannick's) mental image of a cupcake has some overhang where the top meets the base. We're probably influenced by our love of muffins, and we freely admit that. Regardless...we like my variation on the cupcake better, so when I knit more of these ("when", not "if") I will continue to use my increase/decrease rounds in the icing section.
 On Wednesday night we found out that they were leaving the hospital in the morning to go home, so instead of running down there we made plans to go see them and their home this weekend. With my now-free time I sat down to knit and by the time the CSIs in New York had caught Suspect X, I had finished all 4 of my swatches for the Sally Melville workshop this weekend.
 Yup, I'll be spending the weekend learning from Mrs. Knit Stitch and Purl Stitch herself. Is it cheesy if I bring my books for her to sign?Labels: Blanket Buddy, Cupcake Stuffed Toy, FO, Sally Melville, workshop |
Totally bring your books for her to sign! Why not!
Love the bunny, I think I have to make one now! But not in velvet or chenille - ICK!