What's New On The Knitting Front

I'm going to start out with the knitting for the March baby, my dear friend's first grandbaby.

First is the christening shawl. Traditionally this is worn by the baby at the christening and then, decades later, by the bride at the baby's wedding. Well, the baby isn't a baby at the wedding, of course, but you know what I mean. We don't know whether the baby is a boy or a girl, so I have to write very generally until March.

This shawl, knitted from the Diamond Fantasy Shawl pattern, is finished, with the yarn ends woven in but not clipped. It needs to be washed and dressed (blocked, dressed--I use the terms interchangeably for lace; everything else gets blocked). I got a blocking wire set just for shawls and I think I'll use them for this shawl. The yarn (Knit Picks Bare merino and silk fingering weight) is very nice and I think it will block beautifully.


A close-up, to show the diamonds.


Next is hand-painted Ultra Superwash Merino in worsted weight, from Karen Jorden (sharing.etsy.com). She's one of my favorite dyers as she has a wonderful eye for bright colors.
This yarn (five skeins) was custom-dyed for the March baby. This green is one of the mother's favorite colors and it's safely neutral. I haven't decided on a pattern yet, but I'm considering a ripple afghan pattern. I could make another Argosy baby blanket, I suppose, but I feel as if I should try something new. Be adventurous or something. We'll see.


And here's a slightly lighter version of the same color, in fingering weight. We didn't want to make the two exactly the same. Too matchy-matchy. This will become a shawl for the baby's mother. Like the worsted weight, this is just beautiful yarn. I really look forward to knitting with them.


Now, some knitting for grown-ups in Iowa. This is the start of a scarf for my brother-in-law. It's Knit Picks Panache in Dusk (the alpaca, cashmere, silk, and superfine merino yarn is discontinued, I'm sorry to say). The pattern is the Yarn Harlot's One Line Hand-spun Scarf, which is beautiful indeed in hand-spun yarn, and pretty good in regular yarn.


And this is a close-up of the garter-stitch scarf, knitted in hand-painted brushed Suri alpaca, for my sister-in-law. This yarn is so light and ethereal, it's just amazing how warm it is. The scarf, which is about nine inches wide and over six feet long, took only one and a half balls of yarn.


Here's a bigger photo, showing a section of it. I think the colors are just beautiful and I was ever so slightly tempted to keep this beauty, except that I've never worn a scarf for warmth in my entire life. Instead, I've threatened my husband with a throw knitted from this yarn, to keep him warm. He's not sure if I'm serious or if I'm kidding. Neither am I.


And here's the ball of yarn. It's one of those yarns that you want to cuddle and pet the ball, because it's so soft and nice.


And finally we get to some yarn for me. This is Claudia's fingering weight merino, hand-painted in the Tropicana color way. Yes, the colors are as bright as they look in the photo. Most people use this yarn for socks. Not me. I have six skeins of it.


I'm making a triangular shawl with it. Here's a photo of about half of it. It's too big to lie flat on the needle cable, so I bunched half of it up and spread out the other half. Bright, isn't it?


Here's a close-up, showing the pattern.


And here's another, closer close-up.


This shawl is knitted in the flower motif from this book:


This is a wonderful book by an exceedingly talented designer. I have many of her lace shawl patterns from Fiber Trends and various magazines and books. This book shows how to knit a triangular shawl in four different motifs, either singly or combined, and add a scalloped edging.
With this book a knitter will understand triangular shawl construction and be able to go much further, designing original lace shawls with a wide variety of lace patterns. I highly recommend it.

Christening Shawl Finished

This afternoon I finished the christening shawl that I started on 15 November. It took eleven days and I was doing a lot of other things during that time. I've woven in the ends, but I haven't washed and dressed it yet. I'm washing the baby blanket I finished ages ago, so that I can mail it off to baby Josh. I've only got one good place for drying large pieces and the blanket gets to use it first. The christening shawl won't be needed until March, after all.

I didn't take any photos today because it was quite overcast here. I hope that tomorrow will be clearer so that I can snap a few photos in the undressed state. This shawl looks a lot nicer and more like the finished product than most lace I've knitted. I don't remember the previous Diamond Fantasy Shawl looking so good, but I could be wrong. Anyway, it's probably the yarn and the gauge. Don't be fooled, it really does need dressing but I've got a lot better idea how it's going to look than usual.

I'm back to knitting the Bigfoot Shawl. I think I've only got a few more repeats to knit on it. I think it might look good with a toggle catch right at the neckline, so I've got to look through a few jewelry supply catalogs soon.

I joined the Year Of Lace 2008 club. It's four lace wrap projects in luxury yarns dyed in special colors using new patterns. The patterns are said to be restricted to club members until 2010 and the yarn colors won't be repeated. Not that I care about either bit of exclusiveness, to tell the truth. I guess it's supposed to make people feel more special somehow. I joined mostly to get myself over my dislike for lace weight yarn, on the theory that I'll have spent so much money on the club that I have to knit the wraps up. We'll see how well that works.

Leaf Lace Shawl

Leaf Lace Shawl
Originally uploaded by Mary The Digital Knitter

What can I say? More lace. Another shawl. I'm in a rut.

With this project I have been reminded that I don't like lace weight yarn and I do like the pointy Boye Needlemaster tips for knitting lace. This is a brand new pattern for me, Fiber Trends Leaf Lace Shawl, but I've had the yarn, Knit Picks Shimmer in Turquoise Splendor, for several years. Just waiting for the right person and pattern.

I've got thirty rows done now and I'll probably add another thirty by bedtime if all goes well. I have my annual dentist appointment tomorrow and I probably won't take it with me. A book works better in that recliner chair he uses.

My order from Elann arrived this morning, with this pattern, and five different yarns. I got ten balls each of three colors of Rowan Cashsoft 4-Ply and Elann Peruvian Baby Silk and five balls of Elann Canapone, This last is 100% hemp in a heavy lace weight and the color is Green Tea. If it works out well, I'm going to get more while they still have it.

The Rowan Cashsoft was a real bargain. It's not the current version, having more microfiber and less merino, so it was a real bargain ($4.25 per ball). It's selling like hotcakes and they're down to just four colors after only a week. It's machine washable and I've got more baby blankets to knit (everyone seems to be having babies!) so I snapped it up. Two strands knits up as worsted weight, meaning the blankets will go fairly fast.

By the way, this shawl is a direct result of my trying to get my stash photographed for Ravelry. I came across the yarn and was taken by its pretty colors and its soft, luxurious feel (it's baby alpaca and silk). When I unpacked the pattern and read the yarn requirements (lace, fingering, sport, and DK, in two sizes each) I realized that these two skeins of yarn had found their purpose in life. It doesn't hurt that I have a friend who likes turquoise and needs a shawl.

Off The Needles

Argosy Baby Blanket
Originally uploaded by Mary The Digital Knitter

Here's the Argosy Baby Blanket, just off the needles. I haven't woven the ends in yet and I'm still debating whether to run a crocheted edging around it because of the rolling, but it's essentially done.

Notice the subtle zig-zag color pattern in the body of the blanket. I like the pooling on the two corners, too.

Argosy Baby Blanket

Argosy Baby Blanket
Originally uploaded by Mary The Digital Knitter

Here's my Argosy Baby Blanket. It's more nearly done than I thought it was. I haven't knitted much on it recently, because it's too warm to sit around with a woolly blanket on my lap. However, seeing how little I have to go, maybe I'll try to do a little every day. It's cool enough in the mornings here (68° F when I got up).

Looking at this photo, I'm convinced I can see a pattern in the color placement. It looks like a moiré pattern, doesn't it? Or maybe a Bargello flame pattern?

Let me suggest to anyone who wants to knit this blanket that you not use sport weight. Try worsted or heavy worsted (aran). If I had, I'd have been done a while ago with the number of stitches I've knitted.

And, especially, don't use Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. It has long stretches where it's thinner than fingering weight. The color of this yarn disguised that a bit, but it would look wretched otherwise. Since the yarn is merino it should "bloom" a bit after being washed, but I obviously haven't done that yet. Still, I don't think all the blooming in the world would be enough.

There's not much happening around here. Our lawyer has moved to another firm, so we have a new one to work with. Right now we're mostly waiting on procedural stuff (notifying possible creditors, etc). We just this morning sent the van down to the San Fernando Valley to have the modified system worked on. The electric side door and the underfloor ramp weren't working at all. We'd tried to get them fixed locally, but that had turned into a real goat rope.

Baby Blanket Progress

I've finished three pattern repeats and have twelve more to go. That means I only have to knit 144 pattern squares and I'll be done. If I could remember where my camera is and find the energy to go get it, I'd put up a photo. Maybe about Tueday I'll manage this. Right now I'm yawning so hard it's interfering with my knitting.

We're in Lancaster and I'm feeling quite frazzled. It's a lot easier to pack things in a leisurely manner than it is to unpack that way.

I had some beautiful yarn waiting for me when I got here. Cashmere and silk, rayon and mohair, and merino, all in wonderful colors. And some new books, too. A few about knitting but more about military science fiction or mysteries.

It sure is sad to be here without any collies around.

Still Here, Not There

OK, it's a long story, but we haven't gone to Lancaster yet. The big delay was that I finally got the receptacles on the circuit for my freezer changed from GFCIs to regular receptacles yesterday afternoon. The GFCI is a great invention, particularly for circuits that are around water, but it's crummy for freezers and refrigerators. If a GFCI trips and there's no one around to reset it, everything inside the freezer or fridge will spoil. In the summer heat we have here, it'll spoil quickly, so the once-a-week check our house sitter does won't be enough. I think I'd have to call in one of those companies that cleans up after undiscovered dead bodies to get the stink and mess out if it happened with the fridge.

Right now everything is in the van except the few things that can't stand the heat (it's cool today, only 87° with the dew point at 27° (relative humidity 12%). It's been about 10° warmer the last few days and will be again. Unfortunately, there's only a knot or two of wind, which doesn't help much in the garage.

The only knitting that isn't out there is my Argosy baby blanket. I've finished three pattern repeats on the decrease side, binding off six pattern squares (72 stitches). It's funny, but now it looks like a blanket, not a shawl. I don't notice any real change in row length, but I figure it'll show up after another few pattern repeats, when the rows get down below 240 stitches or so.

I've figured out three things about myself in the last few weeks. A lot of other knitters probably have the same traits, so I'm sure I'm not alone.

The first is that I hate knitting to a close deadline. I enjoyed knitting the feather and fan stole until I only had a week or two before I had to have it finished and blocked. I still enjoyed knitting it once I picked it up, but it was really hard to pick it up those last few days. I don't anticipate the same problem with the baby blanket because the deadline is in November and it's fun to knit.

The second is that I greatly prefer a project where I can see progress at a glance, particularly for a longer project. Argosy, in any of its forms, is like that. The pattern repeats are short enough and definite enough that there's instant gratification, even with sport-weight yarn. My fan and feather stole isn't. I think that's because the repeats aren't very distinctive.

And the third is that I hate to have my yarn trapped inside my circular needles. It just bugs me no end and I have to pass the ball through the needles to free the yarn.

I really don't have much to say today. I do some work around the house, knit a couple of rows, do some more, etc. Pretty much everything is packed and I'm just doing the stuff I do so that it's nicer returning. I do all the laundry and get everything folded, run a last load in the dishwasher, put out clean towels, change the bed, that sort of thing. It drives my husband crazy, watching me race around the house doing all this stuff just before we leave, so I'm getting it all done today.

Omnes Didn't Exuent Today; Maybe Tomorrow

We didn't manage to leave here today. IA migraine sneaked up on me and the weather decided to be unreasonable. No one needs 109° weather when they're going over Banning and El Cajon passes, so we waved off and spent the day relaxing. This is one of the pitfalls of being retired. It's really easy to just let things slip a day or two when you have no real deadlines to meet.

I got off top dead center on my Argosy baby blanket and finished pattern repeat 16, the middle row. I've bound off two pattern squares and it's all downhill from here. Every time I finish a pattern repeat I'll have two fewer squares and 24 fewer stitches. Those 373-stitch rows were getting to me. Photos will follow soon, once I get to Lancaster tomorrow.

That is, if tomorrow really is cooler, albeit windy, as they're forecasting and my migraine finally goes away and nothing else happens to delay us. I'm avoiding sounding certain in hope that it works better that way.

Giving Credit Where Credit's Due

I need to give some people a lot of credit regarding my Forest Canopy Shawl, my Feather and Fan Stole, and my Argosy Baby Blanket. Sure I'm the knitter, but I have great yarns and clever patterns to work with.

The Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl is by I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can. It's a great pattern and I really enjoyed knitting it. It's not her only great pattern, by the way. You'll be seeing at least one more of them here. The yarn is two-ply fingering (sock) weight Peruvian wool in Mermaid, from Farm-Witch at Enchanted Knoll Farm (whom I recommend highly).

I made up the pattern for my Feather and Fan Stole, inspired by a stole in Folk Shawls, a book I think everyone who knits shawls and stoles should have. This yarn, which is hand-dyed fingering weight wool yarn, came from Pippi Knee Socks. If you're looking for beautiful hand-dyed yarn, particularly for socks, go here.

As for the Argosy Baby Blanket, it's designed by Vyvyan Neel. Vyvyan is a very talented designer and an exceedingly nice person. I've already knitted a bunch of Argosy scarves and will probably knit an Argosy shawl or wrap. I'm a real Argonaut. She has other great patterns, too.

The yarn for the blanket is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Rainbow. I bought it from Yarnbow, who is one of my very favorite sellers on eBay. The store is an absolute snare for me, as I can hardly visit it without buying at least one skein of yarn, if not half a dozen.

I probably don't need to add that I have no connection with these people except as a satisfied buyer or user, but I will, anyway. Just in case there are suspicious minds reading this.

Empty Nest

The Forest Canopy Shawl and the Feather And Fan Stole Leave Home

We all know how it goes. One day we're winding off a ball of yarn from a beautiful skein, picking out a pattern, and casting on. The next we know, we're blocking a finished project. The blocking is a rite of passage for a lace project. After it's blocked, it wants the car keys, stays out after curfew, and leaves home as soon as it can.

Here's my Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl being blocked. It's not really visible, but there's a plastic-covered wire cable threaded through the top edge and tied to the front legs of the day bed. The points are pinned out with clear push pins, except for the two Clover blocking pins in the top corners. There's carpet under the sheet.

Here's a close-up of the blocked leaves. See how flat and regular they are? They didn't look at all this good before the blocking.

Here's a photo taken outdoors, in the sun. The shawl is lying on a Natal Orange bush with the leaves and the scalloped edge plain to see.

Here's its big sister, the feather and fan stole. It's strung on two lengths of cable, which are tied to the frame of the day bed (that white blob in the upper left corner is a paper towel wrapped around the arm of the bed, to keep the wire from rubbing the finish off). This gives nice straight edges, except that I can't tie the cable tight enough, so it bows in just a bit and is pinned out straighter. The scallops at the ends are also pinned, but gently, not drawn into points like on the other shawl.
Here it is, lying on a bougainvillea and showing off its fans, its feathers, and its garter-stitch edge.
It's a little washed-out in the sunlight. The colors in the previous photo are more accurate.

And here's the shawl with its new owner, ready to leave for its new home.

The stole is departing with it, for another new home. The two new owners are sisters and they assured me the shawl and the stole would see each other frequently.


Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

The Argosy Baby Blanket keeps growing. I've had to switch to the longest Options cable to lay it out this flat. I'm exactly half done with the last increase-side pattern repeat, the sixteenth. It's got 373 stitches in 31 repeats. I'm on the fourth ball of yarn.


Here's a different view, looking down the rows. See how the columns are quite rounded, so that the yarn overs and decreases aren't readily visible except as dips.

Here's the view across the rows, with the columns patted flat and a little apart to show off the yarn overs and decreases.

And here's another photo of it in its entirety. I think I can see some color patterns in it. Does anyone else see them? "Trends" might be a more accurate description than is "patterns", now that I look again.

Blanket Progress and Lace Blocking

I just started the fourth ball of yarn on the baby blanket. I've knitting the fifteenth pattern repeat, and have over ¾ of it done. My tape measure and I think that the edges are well over 40 in. I'm pretty sure I'm going to quit increasing at the end of the sixteenth pattern repeat. I'd show you a photo, but it doesn't look that much different, even to its devoted creator's eye. Maybe later today.

As soon as the casita cools down, I'm going to go unpin the Forest Canopy Shawl that I blocked earlier. It's definitely dry. It looks pretty good; I'll take a bunch of photos. I threaded a strand of plastic-covered steel wire (bead stringing wire) through the long straight edge and pinned out the points on the other two edges. I strung the wire tightly between the two front legs of the day bed to be sure the edge was really straight. That worked very well.

The feather and fan stole doesn't look nearly as good. I didn't have enough long pins or wire to get the two edges straight, so they wobble all over the place. The scallops came out way too pointy because of the pin shortage. I'm going to re-block it by threading the wire through the edges and tying it to the day bed frame. I'll make the scallops more scallop-y and less pointy, too. I'll take some photos of it now, but I may not show those to the world. However, once I get it wired up, I'll snap a few more for show and tell.

The casita was 88° F when I turned the A/C on, so it should be pretty comfortable after lunch. Blocking is surprisingly hard work with all the back-and-forth iterations. I have to work fast because the relative humidity is 14% outside and things dry very quickly indeed. Spray bottles help a lot.

Today was probably our last day of having our groceries delivered for a while. We intend to go back up to Lancaster for the rest of the summer, only coming down here for short visits. I think we're leaving on Thursday or Friday, but that could change. I've been packing up yarn from my sub-stash down here. Some of it's returning to the main stash, but too much is joining the main stash for the first time. I'm going to leave the heavier winter stuff here and concentrate on summer knitting. My goddaughter needs crop tops and shells and tank tops and cool little skirts.

Argosy Progress & Eye Candy

Argosy Progress

Here's my version of the Argosy Baby Blanket. I've completed 13 pattern repeats, giving me 169 squares (the number of squares is the number of repeats squared). The 14th repeat has 349 stitches per row. Why, yes, I am an engineer and I do math readily, particularly when I'm knitting and trying to figure out how much of the row I've finished.


I think I'm going to do three more pattern repeats and then start the decreases. I'm getting some curling on the edges and I may want to run a single crochet edge around the blanket to see if that'll control some of the curl, so I don't want to use up all my yarn.

This photo is just looking from the corner toward what's going to be the center, to show off the colors and texture.


Bright, isn't it?

Eye Candy

It's my understanding that the purpose of showing eye candy is to display recent acquisitions. This was a really big week in the acquisition department because I suddenly realized that the Weldon reprints from Interweave Press were getting close to being out of print and I only had the first six volumes. I'd put off buying the rest with the "I've got plenty of time" argument and all of a sudden I didn't. In a moment of blind panic, I bought them all, three from Amazon (slightly cheaper) and three from Interweave. That damned Interweave Press did it to me again; I ended up buying two more books I hadn't entirely intended to buy.

Two commenters here are nearly as much to blame as am I for my buying Vivian Høxbro's Domino Knitting but I have to take the sole responsibility for buying Slip-Stitch Knitting, by Roxana Bartlett. I also bought a book about mittens and some shawl and scarf patterns.

And I bought some yarn on eBay. The yarn on the left is New Zealand wool, which isn't very soft, but the rose colors are so pretty I decided that doesn't matter. The yarn on the right is rayon and has a beautiful drape. The beige yarn in front was a freebie from the seller.

Here's a photo of the rayon, showing that it's blue, aqua, and lavender. The dyer named it "Sea Lavender", which is a really good name, I think.


And here's a close-up to show the texture. The photo can either show all the colors or the texture, but not both at once.


Here's a photo of the New Zealand wool, showing the beautiful pinks, roses, and purples of the "Rose" colors. I wonder why New Zealand doesn't have mostly merino, the way Australia does. I mean, Oz is New Zealand's closest neighbor, just across the Tasman Sea. Maybe the two climates are different enough for it to matter. New Zealand has a climate more dominated by the ocean, since it's so narrow, being three major islands in a row[1], whereas Australia is a big blobby continent with one major island.

Or maybe it does have a lot of merino and the name "New Zealand wool" is used for the wool that isn't merino. They raise a lot of sheep for meat (a lot of lamb sold in the US is New Zealand lamb, for example) and the breeding stock has fleece, too. It's just that they're not merinos or BFLs or other fine-wool breeds, mostly.


This is an interesting skein of yarn, from Louet. It's 50% linen and 50% polyester and the wrapper suggests a 19-mm (US 35) needle. This one skein is enough to make 12-stitch-wide, 60-inch garter stitch scarf.


Here's a close-up to show that it's three strands of linen plied with a polyester chain that has little flowers every half inch or so. The shiny polyester is variegated, so the flowers are different colors. It's hard to see them, but there are pinkish-coral flowers, the same color as the linen but shiny, as well as the lavender blue, yellow, and green ones.


[1] Yes, I know about all the littleNew Zealand islands. I've even been to the Bay Of Islands. And I've seen a fair number of Australia's little islands, too. I'm overlooking them, since everyone else seems to.

Photo Finish!

The feather and fan stole was finished this morning. When I went to bed last night, I had about five rows to go and I was sorely tempted to stay up and finish it, but I worried that I might screw it up through fatigue so I resisted. When I woke up this morning I came trotting out in my nightgown, stopping only for a diet Coke, and finished it off. Then I admired it like crazy, made my husband do the same, and haven't knitted another stitch all day.

Here it is. I couldn't photograph it stretched out and get a good photo, as the aspect ratio is just too high.


Here it is hanging up with the light coming through it so the lace pattern is more visible:


Here's a close-up of the pattern, so you can see how badly it needs blocking. Scruffy looking, isn't it?


And here's a photo of the garter stitch edge, with chain selvege:


And here's the 55-gram left-over yarn. This ball reminds me of an immature sugar cone pine cone.



The scarf took 133 gm fingering weight wool yarn, hand-dyed, from Pippi Knee Socks. I think the yarn really made it beautiful. The design is my own, five repeats of an eighteen-stitch feather and fan, with a five-stitch garter stitch edging and a chain selvedge on each side. There's an eight-row garter stitch border at each end and 72 repeats of the four-row pattern. It's knitted on a US 8 Denise circular needle (for convenience only; it's knitted flat).

Now I can go back to my Argosy Baby Blanket, designed by Vyvyan Neel. I've knitted a number of Argosy scarves and this is my first non-scarf Argosy. I guess this makes me an Argonaut, doesn't it.

I put my blanket aside, after knitting ten repeats of the pattern rows, to finish the stole. Here it is, in my new orange knitting bag (which Amazon is, for some odd reason, selling as a diaper bag--go figure).


Here are some closer photos to show the texture and colors better:


Not exactly the typical baby colors, is it? The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Rainbow and I bought eight skeins. One skein makes about seventy pattern squares for me. It's knitted on KnitPicks Options US 4 needles. Right now I've got a hundred squares in a triangle shape and the sides are about 33 in. long. The blanket is actually more diamond-shaped than rectangular. I'll keep increasing until I've used half the yarn or the triangle is 45 in. on the sides, I think.


This really shows the colors and texture well:


The colors aren't quite as good here, but the texture is very visible.


All packed up and ready to go. This is really a very nice knitting bag. I particularly like the long straps that allow me to sling it on my shoulder.:


I really like everything about this project. I like the new bag, the yarn, the colors, the pattern, the needles, and the fabric. Of course, I'm still on the increasing side of the pattern and I may not like the long rows that are coming, but the decreasing side should make up for that.

So, tell me what you think of both projects, please.

Tink, Tink, Tink, Count, Count, Count, Frog, Frog, Frog

On Thursday or Friday I put the feather and fan stole aside because it was badly goofed up. We had company on Friday and Saturday and the eight skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Rainbow arrived. All those skeins were just burning a hole in my pocket, so I wound two off into center-pull balls. Doing that gave me a better idea of how it would look knitted, which is to say quite different, indeed.

Well, of course, once I had the balls of yarn it was pretty much inevitable that I'd start knitting. We've all been here before, haven't we? So I cast on thirteen stitches and knitted the first Argosy baby blanket square. It went quickly and easily, so I knitted the next row of three squares. One thing led to another and now I've just finished the tenth row of squares, for a total of a hundred squares. I discovered that one skein will make about seventy squares.

The reason that there are no snapshots of the blanket is that I put it down, rather regretfully, and swore that I won't pick it up again until the stole is done. I have to finish the stole in the next two weeks. That shouldn't be difficult, once I get it straightened out.

The problem is that I have acquired six extra stitches, 108 instead of 102. This probably means that I either didn't k2tog six times or I did yo, k1 six extra times. I'm inclined to think it's the former because I don't see any extra yarn overs anywhere. Of course, I don't see any missing k2tog, either.

So I started by tinking one row. No change. Then I tinked two rows. I'm using a circular needle, for convenience, so taking out two rows is easy and doesn't take much longer than tinking one row. That's different, 107. Recounting, it's still 108. So I tinked two more rows. Still 108. I pulled the needle out and frogged about an inch and a half, which is about a dozen rows. I then took out one more row as I picked up the stitches.

Success! There are now just 102 stitches. Of course, since I ripped out the offending portion I have no idea what I did wrong.

I took out about eighteen rows, which is four and a half pattern repeats, and the stole doesn't look any shorter than it did. I'm in that dreaded, relativistic region of no apparent progress no matter how many rows are knitted or unknitted. This makes some people give up; they knit and they knit and they knit and there's no progress at all. However, I'm not fooled. I know that the stole will suddenly, mysteriously put on a growth spurt, probably while my back is turned.

Another Baby, Another Blanket

I mentioned earlier that we had lunch on Sunday with my husband's college roommate and his wife. They have twin daughters, one of whom is just finishing her residency in surgery and is expecting her first child in November, much to their great delight. The other twin has three children, so our friends have gotten pretty good at being grandparents, but you know how it is, grandparents are always thrilled to have another grandbaby to spoil. Both of their daughters live in the Los Angeles area, so they see each other a lot, too.

As a knitter, I immediately jumped on this wonderful opportunity to knit something useful for the new baby. I haven't mentioned this to our friends yet, but I just bought the yarn from one of my favorite eBay sellers, Yarnbow, and it should arrive by the weekend. I picked Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, which is Superwash wool, in color 601, Rainbow.


Isn't that just great yarn for a baby blanket? The pale pastel "baby" colors really show the dirt quickly but this yarn won't. Babies are adorable but they can be kind of messy, so this is important. The yarn is machine washable, too. Blankets that can only be washed by hand are right up there with little outfits that have to be ironed for impracticality. New mothers have it hard enough without adding silliness like that.

The pattern I'm using is the Argosy Baby Blanket by Vyvyan Neel, a very talented designer and an exceedingly nice person. If you look at some of the other patterns in the Argosy series, you'll get an idea of how this blanket is going to look in this yarn. The pattern calls for six skeins of Blue Sky Cotton 100%, which has 150 yd per skein and a gauge of 4 stitches per inch on US 9 (5.5 mm) needles. I'm using eight skeins of sport weight yarn with 200 yd per skein and a gauge of 6 stitches per inch on US 4 (3.5 mm) needles. I think it'll work out just fine, if only because the pattern calls for increasing until half the yarn is used and then decreasing. My blanket may not be exactly the same size as the pattern calls for, 54" x 47", but it won't be a lot smaller.

This baby blanket may take precedence over the Argosy baby blanket I'm knitting from the Great Adirondack Superwash merino in Bahama Mama, even though this baby is due in November and the other baby is arriving in August. That's mostly because we'll probably be seeing our friends again in three or four weeks, so if I have it done by then I won't have to pack the blanket up and ship it. Another factor is that August isn't exactly the best time of year for using a wool blanket, particularly in the desert, meaning August is not exactly a hard deadline.