Friday, February 6, 2015

A Very White Winter and Some Very Big News


Though this winter hasn't been especially white outside (far less snow than usual around these parts), all things on the needles were very much shades of white.  Back in November I started the White Caps Cowl by Purl Soho, and it went on, and on, and on...

I purchased the fancy yarn called for in the pattern, which was a fine silk ribbon and a delicate cotton slub, both in the natural colourway.



It's knit in the round, starting at the bottom, 12 rows slub, 4 rows ribbon, for what seems like an endless amount of time.  In fact, the pattern called for 9 repeats of the 16 rows, but I opted for a mere 7 - I'd had enough by that time and it looked sufficiently slouchy at that point.


The overall effect is very pretty, but I found that the first cone of the cotton slub broke far too often for my liking.  The second cone didn't break at all - shame I didn't start with that one!

But now, what could the big news be?  Well, I'm due to be a Grandmother in May!


In honour of the big event I knit a circular Shetland baby shawl (also started in November).  This is an old pattern by Martin Cavendish from the 1970's book "All You Can Knit for Babies".  It's an interesting pattern, first you knit the circular edging which has  two garter stitch cables and a lace panel (see in the photo above).


Then, you pick up stitches and knit into the center, decreasing as you go.  It came out very well, my only regret is that I used an acrylic baby yarn instead of a superwash wool - no idea what I was thinking there!


Isn't it sweet in the vintage bassinet?  I made the sheets for the bassinet out of flannel with little foxes all over (click on the photo to get a better look).  Adorable!

After those two very big projects I didn't want to look at any more colourless yarn this winter, so...


I made a Baby Sacque out of bright apple green Cascade 128 Superwash.  A very quick knit, this took an evening or two, worked over 9mm needles.  I added the long tail on the end and sewed it into a little fiddlehead.  Too much!

And for myself, I bought this yarn to make a pair of socks:


and yes, it really is that eye-blindingly bright.  Neon Grandma!

1 comment:

Elly said...

Rock those neon socks! This baby will have no shortage of fun and interesting grandmothers.