I got off to a good start with the Baby Chalice Blanket for my friend, and made pretty steady progress in the weeks leading up to her baby shower. Then a crazy, act-of-god-type thing happened that derailed me for a bit, and meant that I didn’t finish the blanket until approximately two hours before the shower!! Luckily, it came out okay (Figure A), but obviously I wasn’t going to give it to my friend unblocked. I wrapped it, and let her cuddle it at the baby shower, before whisking it away with me to be blocked and prettified.

Figure A - Unblocked and bunched

Then, I was so proud of myself for having finished and blocked it that I basically sat on it for weeks. Then, when I was ready to send it, I caught the cold from hell, and I was laid up for the better part of two weeks. I actually wanted to knit then, but was so gross that the thought of knitting anything was disgusting to me; I didn’t want for me or anybody else to come into contact with my sickness germs, and I knew that no amount of washing would ever make me feel good about anything I’d knit during this time. So then I was feeling better and finally sent the blanket to be blocked, which took longer than I was given to expect (I am not the only procrastiknitter I know).

Figure B - Blocked, but on a desk & wrapping paper

Finally, it was all done (Figure B), but I’d started a pair of booties at the meeting of my knitting group, and decided to throw them in the box, as well. So of course, there was nothing to do but to finish the booties and then block them (Figure C). Then I got delayed by the storm from hell, but I finally, FINALLY mailed the package out today. I thought that I was going to be in time for the baby’s due date, but it turns out that Baby A’s sense of time is very much like my own, and he is actually several days overdue. Ooops! It looks like my blanket is going to be arriving pretty much the same time he does, since my friend was induced today.

Figure C

I finished the booties! Well, actually, they’re socks. I used short rows for the heels and toes, and liked the final product. I wasn’t sure how they’d come out, and I definitely fixed some fatigue-related errors whilst weaving in my ends, but I’m really happy with how they came out. And my coworker really liked them, so that makes me feel good. Everybody else was impressed, but it was his opinion that matters, since it’s his kid I made them for. Also, he was happy to hear that the blanket is still in the works, and that I may actually finish before his child makes his debut into the world.

I’m exhausted, but it’s totally worth it!

I like these socks, and I’m going to make them again, but next time I will not add the third stripe of the contrast color, just to make them look more like the Old Skool socks I was picturing in my head. 

Also, and it’s worth noting, this is the best my short row anythings have ever looked!

I’m not going to finish the OpArt blanket in time for tomorrow’s baby shower. It’s getting pretty big, and I’m up to 668 stitches total. I’d probably have pulled an all-nighter and finished it, anyway, but then I remembered that I’d still need to block it, and it definitely wouldn’t have been ready in time for the shower tomorrow at noon.

Still, no worries. I decided to use that old baby shower standby, the booties. Not just any booties, though. I am using (what I hope will be) leftover green and white from the blanket to make booties that are reminiscent of old school socks. I’ve made enough booties that I don’t really need a pattern at this point, so I’m just kind of winging it, and throwing in a short row heel because I hate myself.

aim-less |ˈāmlis|adjective

It’s been a while since I last posted anything, but I have actually been knitting stuff. I made more booties (and then didn’t photograph them, but more on that later), but the big project was the scarf that I made for The Boy. It was a broken rib scarf, and if I’d had any idea how much work that was going to be, I probably wouldn’t have slacked off until late-mid December. I started it when I bought the yarn in October, but then got bored with how slow it was coming. Fast forward to the week before Christmas, when I realized that I had a problem on my hands.

How to finish without my fingers falling off? It wasn’t easy. I stopped hating the pattern so much and became an automaton, and fell in love with the cashmerino yarn, which also helped a lot. I watched a whole lot of Buffy dvds until the wee hours of the morning, but I finished a whole 20-some odd hours before Christmas, so GO ME. Below, the finished product:

Wow. I just realized how horribly blurry this picture is (this may be why you’re not supposed to take pictures of FOs at 3 am, after 7 hours of marathon knitting and cursing).

I finally sent out four pairs of booties that I’d been holding hostage longer than was decent. I stupidly forgot to take pictures of them (more for color variety, since they were all made from the same pattern), but one of my friends was kind enough to send me a picture of her son wearing them. This is the first time that I’ve seen my booties on a human. Cute! She said that he usually hates socks, but kept these on for a few hours, which tickled me to no end. I’m honored. The kid lives in the South, and it wasn’t that cold there on Christmas, so I salute the trooper. The pattern is made for a baby of about six months, so they’re kind of huge on him right now, but at least they’ll last for a while.