Could it Be?

I feel like I should have some big, majestic movie-esque music to go along with this post (Rocky theme? theme from 2000/2010? Anything by John Williams?) but, alas, I am not that technically savvy so just imagine the appropriate soundtrack...

The Albatross. Is. Done. Finis. Finito. Fait Accompli.

Whew. I finished weaving in the ends a few hours ago.

If the baby comes now, I will not feel like I have failed.

Here it is in all its glory:

And a close up picture for the pattern.


The Gory Details:
Pattern: Ruffled Ridges Baby Blanket from Fiber Trends
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas hand Dyed Cotton in Indigo (7.5 skeins)
Needles: Addi Turbo Circulars, US Size 8
Finished Size: 45" x 37"

In the end I decided not to add any stripes and I stuck to the pattern as written. My blanket ended up a bit larger than the pattern said it would be but that doesn't surprise me since I started the blanket a year and a half ago and I used to knit tighter so when I picked it up again this year I'm sure my gauge was off. I'm enormously pleased to be finished and while it is not perfect (there is one mistake in the border but you'd really have to look to find it) it is a really nice blanket. I cannot express how much I love this yarn. It is totally delicious which was good because I otherwise I would have given up long ago.

I would have finished last Thursday but I ran out of yarn with 5 rows to go. No, I didn't panic. I knew I had another skein but I had to find it and my craft room is in a total state of disarray. It is the one room that has yet to be unpacked so every time I go in there to get something it is an adventure. I knew the skein existed but I couldn't remember where I saw it last :) Two days, many boxes and a few plastic drawers later - success!

But then I needed to wind it into a ball... Now where did I put my winder and swift (relatively recent purchases - yippee!). Found them and wound the yarn yesterday. Finished knitting last night and wove in the ends this afternoon during Pooh Bear's nap. Snapped some
photos and voila! Finished.

Thank goodness because I have so many things I want to knit and now I have this behind me and I can move on to other fun things :) Like maybe another (much smaller) blanket? Um, not just yet but it is on the list. I am crazy. I plead pregnancy.

On the baby front, I apologize for being cryptic in my last post and then leaving you hanging but all the excitement led to nothing. Last Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning I had a series of contractions for about an hour. They were really painful (definitely not Braxton-Hicks) and were about 8 minutes apart which isn't too close together if you are close to your due date but can be a little anxiety inducing when you still have 10 weeks to go. I saw my doctor and everything is still ok. I'm a teensy-weensy bit dilated but that could be due to the contractions or it could just be that is where body is since I already had one child. So no biggie. If it happens again... well, that could be a different story. And I will cross that bridge when & if I come to it. I will not worry about it. Not. worrying. (Positive self-talk y'all!) Although, I have thought all along that #2 is going to be early, like at least 2-3 weeks. So we'll see. Two weeks to my next appointment.

Getting Closer....

Knitting, Knitting, Knitting!

Only 30 rows to go on the Albabtross- So close. So close. soclose. Must keep going. All else is ignored.

Slightly (hah, understatement) freaking out in my non-knitting life but that will have to wait for a longer post, let's just say that having really painful contractions at 3 in the morning 10 weeks before your due date is not a calming experience.

Back to knitting, knitting, knitting.

The Albatross calls and it wants to be finished. Now. (no comments about "nesting" from the peanut gallery)

This Time We're Keeping Them

I've hinted at my baby knits problem in previous posts but I don't think I have really explored it fully. It really isn't a problem, I guess, maybe more of an issue... You see, over the past year and a half since I learned to knit I have made many cute little things for babies. The issue (problem?) is that very few of these adorable little items actually reside at my house. I feel like my little Pooh Bear should have to show for all my industriousness.

A quick count. She has four things I've knit for her: 3 hats and the toy rabbit. A little reflection reminds me that I have knit several pairs of booties (4-5), a bunch of hats (5-6), a bib, and a sweater and I'm pretty sure I have forgotten something(s) in addition to the things I knit for Pooh Bear. Clearly my friends need to stop having babies so I can do more for my own baby and baby to be (got that ladies? no more babies! too bad I have five pregnant friends at the moment).

I feel like my knitting is a classic case of the cobbler's children having no shoes. It isn't that I don't have plans to make things for my family, they just always get back-burnered by more "urgent" projects that have deadlines.

But, no more! (or at least for a little bit)

Look! Baby Knits for MY Baby!

I finally finished the Royal Baby Set from Blue Sky Alpacas: Sleeveless wrap sweater, hat & slippers. Knit from Bunny Hop by Crystal Palace on size 4 needles. The colorway is #2302 Baby Blues and it is a bit lighter/brighter in real life - my picture is a bit dark. I used approximately 2 1/4 skeins. I'm really glad to have leftover yarn because these slippers are huge. Not what I would consider a newborn size. I'm going to downsize the pattern and make a smaller pair. My intention is to have this be #2's coming home outfit so I need smaller booties.

Work continues on the Albatross but I feel like I am almost to the homestretch (only 7 pattern repeats plus the border to go - 61 rows total).

I also have a pair of pants on the needles for the baby to be.

And a bib for my friend who will probably give birth this week (I just can't help it, can I?)

Hmmm... I guess I need to get something going for my darling girl- I don't want her to feel left out :)

Progress on the Albatross

I feel like my Ruffled Ridges Baby Blanket has become the KTSNBN (knit that shall not be named). I scrolled back through my blog and realized I have not mentioned this project since the first of the month. Which was appropriate, I guess, since I was busy ignoring it and there was no knitting happening with respect to the Albatross.

I even joined Ann's Slogalong over at Mason-Dixon Knitting hoping that the public forum would shame me into knitting, I mean, inspire me. But honestly... I would do a row here or there... never more than two in any sitting.

Until two nights ago. You my remember that my original goal was to finish the blanket by the end of March, when it became obvious that was not going to happen I revised my goal to the end of April. Surely I could do that. Well, of course I could, provided I actually did any knitting on the blasted thing. Anyway two nights ago I was in one of my "OMG, I have less than 12 weeks until this baby arrives" moments and it hit me that the end of the month was only 6 days away! If I missed the April deadline for the blanket and pushed it out again how was I ever going to finish the blanket before the baby arrived? I have other projects I want to make before he comes and I feel guilty every time I cast on for something new...

And so, I knitted. Like a fiend. At least for me...

And now, as of this afternoon, I am officially three quarters of the way complete. The end is in sight, although it is not near enough. But there is hope. No way I finish in the next three days but by May 15th *invokes spirit of Scarlett O'Hara* with God as my witness, I shall never have to work on this blanket again.

Were you wondering who that tail and paws belong to? They belong to Tigger...

He was snoopervising my wretched (indoor lighting on a cloudy day) photography efforts this afternoon (I can't believe this is the first appearance of one of our cats on this blog... unless you count the cat hair attached to everything I knit).

Ahoy, Albatross to Starboard!

Albatross rows knit since previous post: 6, p.

Well, it is a bit anticlimactic, given that I hit the halfway point on my Albatross, I mean, baby blanket a week ago, but I finally have a picture for you to see:

It was sunny a couple days ago so I ran outside and snapped a few pictures. I'm no photographer but you'll get the general idea.

I'm now a bit further along than seen above and I am start to contemplate a few tweaks to the pattern. First I think I am going to make it a bit shorter, maybe take off six pattern repeats. It is large-ish blanket compared to some other patterns out there (pattern claims a 35"x40" finished size, my gauge must be a little loose because I am on track for 37"x42"). If I limit it to 30 pattern repeats I'll get a blanket that is approximately 37"x37". The other thing is that the blanket is getting heavy - Blue Sky Alpacas Hand Dyed is soft but has some weight to it (no fluffy nothingness here!) so 5 skeins in this blanket is no longer a lightweight.

Second, the endless navy is getting to me. I love the color, it is very rich but I'm thinking maybe it is a bit much sooooo... I'm thinking of putting in 2-3 stripes of a beigey color (BSA Organic Cotton in Sand, I have almost a full ball in my stash). I would put them near the end of the blanket so I'll have an asymmetrical thing going on. I think it will add some visual interest and also will emphasize the rippled pattern which kind of gets lost in the darkness of the navy at the moment. What do you guys think? Leave as is? Add the stripes? How many? One? Two? Three? (I'm leaning towards 1-2)

And to answer a question from my previous post - A Hummingbird cupcake is a tropical fruit flavored cake...I forget what the three fruits were exactly, pineapple, something and something :)

(clever title here)

Rows Knit on Albatross since last post: 12, p.

While the above tally is not terribly impressive once you figure out that is has been almost four full days since I last posted (yep. that's a mere three rows per day. sad.) it does represent a milestone I have been anxiously awaiting and had begun to fear would never come:

The Halfway Point

That's right folks, guard the doors and bring your pets in because the world as we know it is going to end, I am (slightly) more than halfway done with the baby blanket from Hell. I actually got up off the couch and danced around in a little circle when I finished the eighteenth pattern repeat. Perhaps I exaggerate a bit at the implications of such and accomplishment? Perhaps it is my own poor attitude toward a perfectly innocent blanket that has caused this project to take on such startling proportions? Nah. That couldn't be it. I mean, I've only had the bloody thing on the needles since November of 2005, and heck, I took hiatus of over a year on it. I shouldn't be sick of it. It isn't a particularly difficult pattern. I love the yarn and I love the finished result. But it does feel like it is hanging over my head, or around my neck (hmmmm... Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, anyone?). I just want to be done. It's like that one particularly horrible term paper you had to do in college, you had a great topic and knew what you wanted to say at the halfway mark but it just wouldn't come together... I don't know. I'm rambling. I'm boring you.

Enough.

BTW, I know I promised a picture but the weather has been crappy and now it's dark so it'll have to wait for some sunshine. That dark a navy just looks like a blob without really good light. Heck, we've all waited this long, another day ain't gonna' kill us. ;)

In better news on the knitting front, I have a FO and a thisclosetobeingfinishedobject. I just put the finishing touches on the baby bonnet I've been working on about five minutes before I started this post. And my baby wrap sweater just needs a couple of i-cords and then, voila! Pictures and details of both in my next post.

Let's see, let's see... a little two word preview of a post for later this week: Snickerdoodle Cupcake.

Okay, back to knitting. Since I am not going to make my "finish the blanket by the end of March" goal I should Get Over Myself and get 'er done before April also passes me by.

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, my faith in customer/technical support is restored... it turns out that something must have gotten lost in translation during my tech support phone call because lo' and behold! My new hard drive showed up on my front porch on Friday afternoon. We all made a trip to Fry's yesterday to purchase the necessary items to recover data from my old hard drive- a task not to be undertaken lightly or without a full wallet; apparently, and forgive the SAT/GRE logic test reference, but

I:knitting store as Hubby::Fry's

However, if I ever dropped that much in a knitting store in one day I better have several book deals and a blockbuster movie deal as the impetus. Seriously, Hubby needs to compute from the stash for the remainder of the year. He claims that all of his purchases are "necessary" whereas yarn stash enhancement is for pleasure but I think I could live without a wireless rollerball mouse whereas I know I must have yarn for a ripple blanket or a sweater from my new Rowan book. Yes, I am trying to resist the call of the wild ripple but day by day I feel myself weakening...

The good news is that all my files and pictures were recovered so I need not fear trying to explain to my daughter why we have no photos of her first Halloween, Christmas or birthday. WHEW!!

In knitting news, I am almost done with the baby wrap sweater, just a few more rows and the side seaming to go. Then on to the matching hat and socks. I measured the baby bonnet against Pooh Bear's head the other day and discovered I need one more pattern repeat before I can begin the shaping for the back of the head so I guess I am almost halfway done.

And then, there is the you-know-what. The Albatross. That damn Ruffled Ridges baby blanket. I knit and knit and knit and yet I am still not to the halfway point. I'm starting to think there is some scientific principle that I must have inadvertently slept through in school... whatever the opposite of spontaneous generation is. I am making progress but it is taking forever. I guess if I worked on it exclusively I might be halfway done by now, but then again, maybe not. I might have died of boredom by now.

Up next on the blog docket: Pictures of the wrap sweater as soon as it is done, maybe Tuesday... A picture of the Albatross as soon as I hit halfway... it will look just like my past picture, only larger, which isn't terribly interesting but I feel I need to mark the milestone in someway. I've got a small amount of stash enhancement to share too. And the Cupcake Tour Part 3, I think that will go up tomorrow. I know, promises, promises, you've heard that before but now I really mean it *wink*

Seattle Cupcake Tour, Part 2

Last week, I found myself at a local mall and what should thrust itself in front of me, demanding the full attention of my taste buds? New York Cupcakes. And thus, I have the second installment of my buttercream infused journey through the landscape of Seattle's cupcake purveyors.

I agonized over my flavor choices (so many and I am weak)... I decided that in the spirit of comparing apples to apples I would definitely try the white cake with vanilla icing to see how the Starbucks cupcake stood up to this latest entry in the cake stakes. But, I decided that I would also try one (or two) of NYC's specialty flavors to see what it was like. In the end I picked Vanilla Bean Dream, The Don Cappuccino, and the NY Black & White. Three cupcakes. The lengths I will go to in order to bring you critical cupcake information know no bounds.

Left to Right: NY Black & White, Don Cappuccino & Vanilla Bean Dream

1. New York Black & White - This is NYC's signature cupcake. The cake is half white and half chocolate cake and sports a chocolate buttercream frosting garnished with a milk and white chocolate straw.
• The Cake - The chocolate cake half of this cake is far superior to the white cake. I found it rich and fudgy (in taste, not texture). The white cake was nice but not as rich tasting as I prefer (generally I like my cakes to lean more towards a yellow cake than white). Both cakes were moist and dense without being heavy.
• The Icing - If you like your chocolate icing fudgy tasting (like those made with melted chocolate) you may be disappointed by this icing. I, on the other hand, found this icing delectable. It was a delicate chocolate flavor (I'm guessing they use cocoa powder) that maintained the underlying buttery-ness inherent in a buttercream. It was also wonderfully light and melted on my tongue. Yum.
  
2. The Don Cappuccino - A white cake with cappuccino frosting, garnished with a coffee bean.
• The Cake - The same basic white cake as in the NY B&W above, so adequate but not outstanding.
• The Icing - Well, I live in Seattle so I like coffee, ergo, I like this icing. A nice strong coffee flavor (if you are one of those people who likes her sugar and cream with some coffee to flavor it, you might find it a bit much). Like the chocolate buttercream, the icing was smooth, creamy and light.
  
3. Vanilla Bean Dream - This is a white cake with vanilla bean buttercream frosting garnished with a small piece of waffle cone.
• The Cake - Same white cake, same story.
• The Icing - Like the Starbucks cake I sampled last time, this vanilla buttercream also displayed the telltale bean "specks". Unlike the Starbucks icing, this one had a richness to it that gave my mouth a treat. I could taste the vanilla but it didn't "flatten" the flavor to one note, the underlying butter nature was maintained.

My Overall Impression: I would love to have the Vanilla Starbucks cupcake with the Vanilla Bean Dream icing from New York Cupcakes. That would be an almost perfect vanilla cupcake specimen (for me at least). As it is, I would stick to the chocolate cupcakes next time I visit NYC but I would go with any flavor icing since I found all three I tried to be quite tasty. If I had to pick my favorite from the three I tried on this trip it would be the New York Black and White without hesitation.

So there you have it, two down and at least two to go... I am on the lookout for additional cupcakes that need "testing" so let me know if you have any suggestions.

On the knitting front, since this is, ostensibly, a knitting blog, I am still knitting. Unfortunately, I am still plugging away on The Albatross (I'll never describe a baby blanket as small again). I am making progress but at sloth-like pace and I don't want to bore you with nearly identical photos of the blanket in progress so I'll hold off on that until it is at least halfway complete. I am also trying to squeeze in a few rows on my baby wrap sweater so hopefully I'll have something to show soon.

When The Albatross is complete I'll have to work on some smaller projects so I can take more photos and at least try to fake being entertaining. Until next we meet, vive le buttercream!

I feel Knitty!

Let me start by saying that I am fickle and it seems my fickleness is at an all time high. After totally changing my color scheme for this blog this morning I have now scrapped all that and picked a new template altogether. This is better. For now. Tune in tomorrow... Someday I'll figure out how to have my own banner and other nifty features like so many of the blogs I admire but, for now, I have other priorities...

A finished object for instance? It is true. I have finished something! This is a Strawberry Hat.
The pattern is Ann Norling's Fruit Cap. I used Aurora 8 Merino Wool in #5 Crimson and #1145 Hunter Green knit on Susan Bates Quicksilver circulars (US 7) and skacel wood dpn (US 7).
As modeled by my Pooh Bear:

*This photo is a little fuzzier than I expected, it looked good elsewhere. Oh, well.*

This was my first real foray into colorwork (I had done stripes before but that doesn't count) and it was not as difficult as I had anticipated which makes me very happy. I think the little Piglet-to-be may get a blueberry version...

I have to say that I felt like a "real" knitting blogger today. Racing outside to quickly snap a few photos while my daughter took a nap. That's right, a few photos - there is more to see!

Here is my major WIP at the moment, the Ruffled Ridges Baby Blanket:
The yarn is a bit deeper/darker than shows here but at least you can see the pattern in this picture.

I'm almost a third of the way done which is very exciting since I was about 1/30 of the way done a week ago when I picked this project up again after a year+ hiatus. I'm trying to stay motivated, but it is a bit grinding, row after 161 stitch row (not that I'm counting). I'm a slow knitter so I aim to complete one 8 row pattern each day. At that rate I'll be done by the end of March. I hope. I have so many other things I want to do, so many cute things lined up... not to mention the other two WIPs I have in the bag.

Time to go if I'm going to get any knitting done before Pooh Bear wakes up. I'll leave you with one last picture, just in case you think it always rains in Seattle...

the promised knitting content, but first...

I have been knitting... there is knitting to write about but before I get to that I simply must get something off my chest.

NBC is cancelling Studio 60. I am crushed. Devastated. Beside myself. They are canceling it due to lack of ratings so my guess is that there aren't many of you out there who feel my pain (damn it. it is all your fault... why didn't you watch???) I love this show! It is amusing, cleverly written and has good characterizations. It has real actors for goodness sakes, not just Joe Schmoe from down the street doing something ridiculous to gain his 15 minutes of fame and a few bucks. My hubby and I watch the show each week. Sometimes I watch it live and sit through the commercials without using a tivo-like product! That is how much I love this show (I record everything, I can no longer deal with the agony of sitting through a couple minutes of commercials... must. fast. forward.) NBC doesn't know when they will air the remaining 6 episodes. Talk about adding salt to the wound. Not only do I have to deal with the loss of my favorite show, I have to wait in limbo for the network to decide when I can find out what happens next. What will happen the Harriet and Matt? Will Tom and Lucy ever manage to go on their first date? And what about Danny and Jordan? Argh. This is the only new show I invested in this past fall and this is the thanks I get. My husband follows many shows: Lost, Heroes, Survivor, the list goes on. Me? Not very many (Studio 60, Numbers, CSI:original flavor and sometimes Miami, and Las Vegas) and Studio 60 is the only one I get upset about missing. Oh well. Seems that my luck with Bath & Body Works scents has transferred to tv shows, ie. if I like it, it won't be around for long.

OK. whew. So sorry about that, but jeez...

Onward to knitting!

Please alert the media, I have been knitting! That is, I think that is what it is called when I wrap the the yarn around the two pointy sticks, right? It has been so long...

So here's the saga (wow. this was going to be a short post but after my rant and now with my throwing around the term "saga" I think we can toss that idea into the scrap heap): I started knitting when I was 5 months pregnant with my daughter, Pooh Bear. I couldn't continue with my normal outlet activity, dancing (ballet & modern), because my body was no longer cooperating so I thought knitting seemed like the thing to do when you were expecting a baby. In the normal way of things I signed up for a weekly class and was hooked. That was in October 2006. Unfortunately, when December rolled around my body decided to start retaining every single molecule of water in the atmosphere and I swelled up so badly that I got carpal tunnel in both wrists. It was so bad the knitting had to be curtailed. Actually, I probably could have continued knitting had I been able to not type at work. That was not an option, typing being a major part of my job at the time, so the knitting suffered (I understand some might see this as a poor decision. I, too, wonder if I would have been better off picking the knitting). Anyway, my daughter was born in late January 2007 and I was caught up in the "OMG, what have I done, I have this little being that I created and now must be responsible for" swirl of things and knitting was really not a priority. I wanted it to be. I thought about it a lot but just could seem to squeeze it in. BTW, should any of you moms who claim to "knit while nursing" happen to read this post, please do email me. I am rather agile but cannot even begin to fathom the mechanics that make this possible. As I am having another baby in July, I am desperate to figure it out. Th upshot of all this is that with a few tiny exceptions (finishing off a couple gifts for friends that only needed seaming, the Candy Corn hat at Halloween, a few classes back in December) there has been no knitting!

All the adorable little projects I had lovingly picked out and planned for my daughter? Still in stash form. The baby blanket I had begun? It only had 33 of 300 rows complete. We're talking virtually no knitting in over a year! And yet I am still knitting obsessed. Clearly things could not continue in this manner.

And happily they have not. Two weeks ago I signed up for a project knitting class at my lys. Two hours of guaranteed knitting a week! Yippee! At the same time, my husband and I have finally managed to establish a bedtime routine for our daughter. Free time at night = knitting time! Amazing! And then, the discovery of not one knitting group I can attend, but two!!! My knitting cup runneth over. I have knit nine out of the last ten days (no knitting yet today as I wanted to blog and I only have two hands *sigh*).

There has been progress made on the aforementioned baby blanket, it almost is beginning to look like it might be a blanket instead of a scarf! So, what about this blanket, eh? It is the Ruffled Ridges pattern from Fiber Trends (pictured in pink in the link). I'm actually knitting it in a beautiful navy (Blue Sky Alpacas hand Dyed Cotton in #624 Indigo). I know, I know. Navy was an odd choice since I started this blanket for my daughter but I love navy. And now it will be perfect because I can make it for my new little boy instead (doing everything in my power to keep up the momentum so I can complete before his arrival in July). I promise a picture in my next post, I'm just to lazy to get the camera right now, and it is nighttime and it would be great to have natural light for a photo, and... you get the idea.

Lest you think my daughter will be denied her mommy-made blanket, fear not! I have already picked out a blanket pattern for her (and I have the yarn) but more about that and my recent stash enhancement next time. This post is already into quadruple overtime and needs to come to a close so you will just have to wait! (I think Dickens was really onto something when he created/popularized the whole cliffhanger concept...)