Finished: One (Tedious) Baby Gift

It seemed like a good idea at the time. A co-worker down the hall is expecting her first baby this fall, and I've been wanting to try this cute kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting, and I had a load of pastel colored cotton in my stash from a project I over-bought for...

My original plan was to make a kimono, a burp cloth or two, and 2 or 3 bibs. The kimono was fun -- you never knit more than 4 inches without doing some sort of shaping -- and it was finished very quickly. The burp cloth was another story. I know the slip stitch stripes are supposed to add interest, but is was, in essence, straight garter stitch. Pure monotony. So make that one burp cloth. And bibs? I have plenty of yarn left, I just don't want to see it any more! The yarn has been re-stashed, and I'm planning now to get some cute coordinating onesies. Maybe some booties later this summer...

My dear daughter (7) found the ribbon trim, which I think is just perfect but which I had not spotted despite 10 minutes of staring at a rack of ribbon. The shades of purple, blue, and green are just slightly more intense than colors in the yarn. Much better than the blue polka dot I was looking at.

As her reward for spotting the ribbon, I have decided to make the second mitten which will match the hat and first mitten I made for her before Christmas. What a lucky girl -- not just one mitten, but two!

Why am I doing this?

I mean, I already have too much on my plate. But lately I've been surfing other people's knitting blogs and I feel compelled to put my own stuff out there on the web. It has felt like cheap voyeurism to snoop around other people's blogs while remaining completely anonymous.

Partly, too, I want to be part of a community of knitters to whom I can blab about what I'm working on. All my "real life" friends are engineers, and simply don't get why I knit. (One exception is my friend who quilts -- she appreciates the need to create, at least, but can't really appreciate the beauty of a well done sock toe.)

And partly, I want to become more accountable for the quality and quantity of my knitting. If I'm posting stuff on the 'net, I want to make sure it looks good.

And with that -- my latest FO:


It is a beret for my new niece, because all babies should have interesting hats. I love the way the yarn showed the stitch definition, and I love the way the cotton drapes. This was knit on the way to/from and at a family reunion at which much beer was consumed, and I'm especially pleased that I only had to rip back once, and only for about 6 rounds when I realized I didn't like the way my decreases looked.




Yarn: Shoeller-Stahl Mama Mia, mercerized cotton

Source: my stash

Needles: Addi circulars I didn't make a note of size, but somewhere around 3mm

Pattern: my own, with help from reference books

References: The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd for basic beret pattern

The Knitting Stitch Bible by Maria Parry-Jones for a fan lace pattern which I modified to fit in 6 repeats



And one more picture, from my garden. It has been an absolutely glorious spring in Texas (aside from that nasty Easter freeze):