twistedloops

I gave away a baby present today, the Tiramisu Baby Blanket that I made for Baby Rebecca.  She’s due on the 10th, but I just got a call that the mom went into labor this evening.  Great news for me – I have tomorrow in the baby pool.

This project went really fast.  I followed the pattern as written, but with a few minor tweaks.  I used a K sized hook and my gauge for the pattern was different.  I also crocheted until I ran out of the Rose color, instead of finishing after a certain length.  Because of these two changes, I had to slightly adjust the number of edging repeats I needed.

As I started adding the edging, Jim commented on how much the colors of the blanket resembled watermelon.  From that point on, this became the Watermelon Tiramisu.

I ended up loving this blanket.  It’s super cute and really girly.  The hardest part of the pattern was finding a ribbon that matched the blanket.  I ended up coming home with 5 different ribbons, and didn’t love any of them.  This one worked the best I think, so I went with it.

Pattern: Tiramisu Baby Blanket
Designer: Alicia Paulson
Source: Posie Gets Cozy
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice
Quantity: 5 skeins
Color: Rose (680 yards/ 400g) & Fern Green (170 yards/100g)
Hook: K (6.5mm)

Started: June 18, 2009
Completed: June 29, 2009

It’s been a crazy few weeks around here.  We’ve had a ton of out-of-town visitors, which has meant very little knitting and spinning time for me.  I’ve had two projects that I’ve been working on.

With the visitors and other things, I was in a bit of a project funk.  I had nothing on the needles and there was nothing I wanted to make.  I’ve found that the best way for me to deal with this is to just sit down and make something.  Socks are usually an easy answer because I know I’ll wear them, I’ve got plenty of stash, and there are a ton of patterns in my queue.  So, I sat down and picked a sock out of the new Cookie A. book, Sock Innovation, and I cast on for Devon.  The first sock was finished fairly quickly.  However, it may be the first time I’ve had a case of second sock syndrome.  I finished the first sock and had no motivation for the second.  I languished again with nothing on the needles and then finally forced myself to cast on the second.  The pattern isn’t the problem, it’s well written and makes a nice sock.  I’m on the leg of the second sock, but not sure when I’ll finish them.

At work, there’s a bit of a baby boom going on.  Three baby girls are expected in my department over the next three months.  When it comes to baby gift knitting, I’ve always been a bit hesitant.  It’s a lot of work for someone who may not appreciate the effort, and I usually don’t have much baby-safe (machine washable) yarn in my stash, other than sock yarn.  Since the baby parents to be are not knitters, I never feel comfortable giving gifts that require any special washing.

I’ve loved the look of the Tiramisu blanket since I first saw it on Ravelry.  Yes, it’s crochet, which I rarely ever do, but I’ve just really wanted to make it.  When I was at the store the other day, there was a great deal on a few colors of the Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice yarn.  I picked up some in Rose and Fern.  I got enough to make two blankets.  One will be Rose with a Fern border, and one will be Fern with a Rose border.  It’s actually a project that I’m excited about, so I think it may be the way to get me back to knitting.

I’m making quick progress on the blanket.  I’m not sure if it’s because crochet uses more yarn than knitting, or if I just am so used to knitting with lightweight yarns.  I’ve crocheted about 250 yards, and I’ve only worked on it for one evening.  I don’t think there should be any problem getting the first one done before the first baby, as long as she doesn’t come too soon before her July 10th due date.

Finally, this weekend is Black Sheep Gathering.   I’m headed down to Eugene with Kate.  I’m pretty excited.  I wasn’t a spinner last year when I went, and there is a ton of fiber at this event (lots of yarn, too).  I’m trying to decide what my budget should be.  I have a feeling I might go a bit overboard on the fiber buying.  I’ve been managing my yarn stash for so long that it isn’t a huge deal to me to not buy stuff.  But, my fiber stash is relatively small, and shows like this are only a few times a year.  I’ll be sure to take pictures and post details when I get back.

After seeing a knitted wire necklace at the World Wide Knit in Public day, I decided that I needed to try working with wire. This isn’t the first time that I’ve mentioned an interest in it.

I headed out to one of the major chain craft stores and purchased some enameled copper wire and a purple bead assortment. Once I got home, I opened up the packages for my new goodies right away.

Three hours later, the bead stringing and fixing a wire tangling disaster were complete and I was ready to begin my work. It went pretty quickly. It took me about an hour to crochet a bangle sized bracelet to slip over my hand and arm. I’m pleased with how it turned out.

It has me hooked. I discovered that I can hit the local craft store, the local bead store, and the two chain crafting stores on my drive home from work by going only .5 miles out of my way. This is a very dangerous (to my bank account) drive home.

I’ve made a second bracelet in browns and ambers that I’m having a terrible time photographing, and I’ve purchased beads to make a chartreuse colored bracelet. There will definitely be more of these in my future.

It’s been a while since I featured things from the web that I think should be shared, so I’ll provide a few links today.

Since my early days of knitting, some four years ago, I was interested in different applications of knitting.  I’ve always wanted to attempt knitting or crocheting jewelry with wire and beads.  I even have wire in a few different gauges in the stash.  (Hmmm…wonder if there is a way to track that in Ravelry? )  Yet, somehow I’ve never attempted to use it.  I think that I fear having my finished item not look like it does in my head, a beautiful, beaded piece of jewelry to wear.

While searching Etsy the other day, I decided to take a look and see what was available in knitted or crocheted jewelry.  There’s quite a lot of options available there.  The quality of the items seems to vary, but I found three pieces I really love.  If I thought that my adventures with wire and beads would end up anything like the three necklaces I feature here, I’d jump right in and be happy with the results.

First up is the Portland Necklace from Etsy seller LazyCat.  I really like the large, bauble-like glass pearls on this necklace.

The Elegant Necklace for Evening from seller Lanita is lovely.  The necklace aims to be a bit dressier than I usually am in my everyday life, but I think that it could work with a casual outfit too.

Finally, the Purple Seed Beads Necklace from seller Gulcheck reminds me a lot of necklaces I purchased the last time I was in Paris.  They did not have as many strands as this, but the style was similar.  She had this style in a lot of colors that I enjoyed; it was hard to pick a favorite.  Perhaps I was just in a bit of a purple mood, since all the necklaces I listed feature purple tones.  The only drawback with this necklace is a lack of photos featuring this style necklace being worn.  It’s hard to get a sense of scale for how large those strands end up being.