Grrrrrargh.

All of those pretty squares I blocked? The squares that took all afternoon and all night to dry? There were nineteen of them. Nineteen pretty little squares were stretched and dried while one stray sat on the counter inside, unnoticed and forgotten. I doubt I’ll be able to sew together all of those squares before the last one dries. But still. Really annoying.

Pretty enough to be puked on?

I found this pattern via dlittlegarden, and I love it. Twenty blocks is just enough. Enough to make a substantial pile of wool, but not so many that the pattern bores itself into the most sacred parts of your mind and makes you want to run off of a cliff while screaming, “DC, ch 1 eight times! Join! Chain 6! …”

I don’t know if other people feel that way after making so many of the same block. Maybe I shouldn’t broadcast that.

The yarn is recycled from an Old Navy sweater, and is worsted. Ish. The pattern calls for 2 strands of DK, making a 5.5″ square. I blocked my squares to 7″. Which is fine, because this is a blanket and gauge doesn’t really matter in a blanket. No really. I promise. It drives me batty when people get so uptight about gauge.

To make the blocks, I used about 550 yards. On a size H hook. No modifications. I think that about covers the boring logistics.

This was my first time translating a crochet pattern from British English to American English. It’s actually really really easy. GarnStudios has a nice chart for it here.

Oh. If you’re a non-knitter who reads this, I should mention that in the picture the blanket is unfinished. All of those squares still need to be sewn together, and then I’ll put a border on it. Right now the squares are blocking, which makes the yarn conform to the size and shape I desire.

Speaking of crocheting squares out of recycled yarn, I miss laughingpurplegoldfish. So much. She hasn’t posted anything in one month and four days. I’m sure I’ve sung her praises here before, but she’s just such a magnificent crafter. I’m always tempted to comment on her last post about how much I miss seeing her work, but … I don’t know. I don’t want to be creepy. And I never really comment on her site – maybe 3 times total. But laughingpurple, if you’re out there, know that you are missed. And then post something, already.

“Aran” baby blanket

Pattern: Aran Baby Blanket by Kim Biddix (Ravelry link)
Source: Caron International
Yarn: Pigsah Yarn Peaches & Creme, 100% cotton, 690 yards – I used the remnants of one cone, plus a bit of a second. So I can’t really estimate my yardage.
Hook: US I
Started: August 24, 2009
Ended: August 29, 2009

Eh, not much to say about this one. Ecru cotton, simple blanket. I ditched the bobbles in the pattern after three pattern repeats, because I suck at bobbles. You can kind of see one failed bobble in the bottom-center-area of the picture.

I hated the bobbles so much, that I actually e-mailed Alice of Futuregirl to ask her if she knew of any good bobble tutorials or had any tips. She actually replied! She’s really nice, and one of the best crocheters in the business. Her tutorials are insane. Good insane. Great insane.

My crocheted-baby-blanket mojo hasn’t quite run out yet, and I think I’m going to do this one next. Out of a recycled blend. It’ll be my first time translating a British pattern, let’s hope it works.

Receiving blankets

I love to crochet edgings. So much work, so little payoff. And how many receiving blankets do babies need? ONE MILLION.

You never think it will happen to you.

Dammit. Daaammmmmiiiiit. Fifteen stitches left to weave, two inches of yarn, and no intention of ripping back a row. Dammit.

The lyrics are tricky.

Starting work on my dad’s 60th birthday present. Which of these do you like best? Let’s pretend they’re numbered, top to bottom from 1 to 4. Will eventually be a framed piece of embroidery or cross stitch or possibly stranded knitting.

I need to take a nap.

So there I was, scrolling merrily through my feed reader, when I came upon this post. Which is perfectly understandable and unsurprising. It’s nothing outside of Lee Meredith’s usual genius on her blog, Do Stuff. However, I’ve kind of lost my mind the last few days. If it doesn’t have to do with labor or childbirth, I can’t really grasp any concept. Can’t even make tea. It’s annoying.

I thought I was looking at a post by Heather Armstrong of Dooce. Dooce and Do Stuff are very close together when listed alphabetically, so it’s an easy enough mistake to make. It got into my head that this extremely popular Utahan writer was now a knitter. I love Dooce to begin with, but oh-my-god-if-heather-armstrong-became-a-knitter-i-might-just-die. Especially a yarn-recycling knitter. There’s just no way that I could love a stranger that much. A Utahan writer who makes fun of Mormon society and just went through a natural childbirth and has dogs and fancy camera skills and knits? And did I mention that she earns a living writing? I’d have to give up on every dream and aspiration I’ve ever had, because it would have already been accomplished.

Oh man. Could you imagine Harry Truman knitting socks? Or Anderson Cooper talking about the magnificent qualities of merino? Or Kristen Wiig recycling sweaters? Mind blown. Can’t continue.

Finally, some out-of-state yarning.

When I went to Colorado, it was too hot and I was too pregnant to walk to the nearest yarn store.

When I went to Cedar City, there was no good yarn at the local thrift shops.

Finally, on a recent trip to Yellowstone, I got to buy some fiber and fiber-related things. Let’s start off with the thrift stores in Idaho Springs:

There I got  two huge cakes of fingering-weight wool, in creme and a sort of 70’s green-yellow. A light pea soup. But the real find here was this wee little swift for $5. I’m fairly positive that it is a swift. It has all of the necessary parts and pieces. But it’s so kid-size! And also, it comes with four extending arms, and they all move independently. This should be just fine, but I can’t figure out how to make the arms stay in place – they will automatically fold themselves back towards the spine of the swift if I try to wind any yarn around them. I’m thinking of recruiting a tool-yeilding man to create some sort of blocking device for each of the arms, to be inserted in the diamond-shaped holes they create when you stretch them out. If that makes sense. Or, if you have any better ideas, please tell me.

Who am I kidding? This swift is so small, I’ll probably never use it. But it’s just so interesting, I had to have it.

Then, when driving through West Yellowstone, Montana, I saw a sign that said “Yarn.” I wasn’t expecting that at all. Turns out there’s a lovely gift shop with a bunch of yarn in the back, owned by someone who really loves fiber. She had some local buffalo and alpaca yarn, as well as some really nice brand-name standards. Small selection, but very vey well thought out. Anyway, I don’t remember the name of the store, but here it is on Google Maps:

As you can see, if you turn off of Canyon onto Madison, you’ll be there. It’s right next to a supermarket. I highly reccomend that you go here if you find yourself in West Yellowstone.

Anyway, here are the stats on the yarn I got there (unfortunately nothing local or terribly interesting): 1 skein of Plymouth Yarn’s Trabajos Del Peru 100% extra fine merino wool in color 008, and two skeins of Lamb’s Pride Worsted, one in color M-191 Kiwi and one in M-151 Chocolate Souffle. They’re all lovely, soft, and infinitely use-able.

ETA: Sorry if you’re having trouble viewing the photos. They work, I promise. And if they don’t, they’re not that great anyway.

Sneak peek.

• Can you believe my phone took this photo? It’s like living in the future.
• Turns out if you’re pregnant and decide after noon to dye 13 skeins of yarn outside that day (in July), you’ll probably die. Well, you’ll probably bring back your sciatic pain, kill your feet, almost forget to eat dinner, and have your first painful Braxton-Hicks contraction. Just so you know.
• I’ve documented what colors I used on every skein, if any of you want to be copycats.
• I dove into this after peeking at this tutorial, and with the knowledge I gained from this tutorial about sleeve dying last year. I won’t make a full-on tutorial here, because there are just too many out there. But I may list a few of the things I did differently.
• I’m kind of completely in love with every yard of this fiber.
• I’m too cool to wear gloves while I dye, so I have total Baba Yaga fingernails. It’s extremely sexy:

I’m awesome.

I recieved Vintage Baby Knits for my birthday, and immediately cast on the adorable Pearl Shrug (ravelry link). The pattern is great. I might be using a yarn with a bit too much color variation, but that’s okay. I’ll most likely want to knit this one more than once.

Anyway, on to the part where I’m amazing. This pattern requires a 72-stitch cable cast on for each arm. I have never done cable CO before, and as it turns out it’s pretty awkward for me to work. So, I figured the least aggravating route would be to not count stitches as I go, stop when I think I’m close, and then add or rip stitches accordingly. I went merrily along, and after a spell decided to count. The total came to exactly 72! This was before I had eaten any breakfast, so I figured it was probably just a low-blood-sugar induced hallucination. I had some breakfast (with the most delicious Braeburn apple butter, from here), and even with steady fingers the total was still 72. I’M AMAZING.

For all of you non-knitters, casting on exactly the right amount of stitches without counting, especially when the number of stitches is large, is like … driving a car while wearing a blind-fold, and not only not hitting anyone/thing, but reaching your destination. Just, you know, slightly less life-endangering.

P.S. The specific apple butter I’m talking about isn’t available online, but it’s worth the drive to Colorado.