Author: Abbie

I got a surprise in my inbox this week, an email from my old coworker Kate. She shared with me some pictures of her beautiful baby Sameera, who is one of my Lawyer Babies — my personal nickname for the layette sets I knit for some of my old coworkers.

Look at this beautiful baby. I dare you to not smile at this picture:

You smiled, didn’t you? Don’t lie, we all are. Sameera is decked out in a Baby Surprise Jacket and matching hat and Christine’s Stay On Booties, knit in Koigu PPPM and Dale Baby Ull. (And look at how well those booties have held up!) Kate told me in her email that Sameera’s grandmother thinks she has a kingly air in this outfit, and I have to agree, don’t you?

The life of royalty is clearly difficult, having to put up with all this paparazzi, but Sameera is tolerating it in order to show all of all the beautiful natural fibers she’s wearing — that’s a cotton diaper to go with her wool couture.

It’s always a real treat for me, as a knitter, to get to see things I’ve made out in the world being worn and loved, and there’s something extra special to me when it’s for a baby. Thanks, Kate, for these pictures and letting me share them here!

I’ve been up in Vermont quite a bit these last few weeks, although this past weekend was my little sister’s graduation, so I was too distracted to bother with traveling sock pictures. (Sorry!) On my last visit, though, I dragged my traveling companion (Mom) to yarn shops, because that’s how I roll.

Mom doesn’t knit but she gets a kick out of the different fibers and colors — and as a quilter, she has a crafter’s appreciation for raw material. I react much the same way when I go to quilting shops. We’re like a team. So when I noticed her peeking over my shoulder as I examined a shelf full of Malabrigo Lace, I stepped aside and told her to pick a color.

She did: Cactus Flower. “What are you making with it?” she asked me, and I just shrugged, which she took to mean I didn’t know yet.

That was not a lie, really. More like a sin of omission. I totally had a plan:

Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark, from Wrap Style
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Cactus Flower
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
Notes: Wow, was this a fast knit! I cast this on on a Saturday and had it finished by the following Friday. The pattern is easy and has a nice meditative repetition to it.
I picked this pattern mostly for the name — Shetland is a region in Scotland, and as I have mentioned previously in these pages, my mom is of Scottish descent and fiercely proud of it. Something in the traditional fir cone pattern seemed to be just the ticket. I’ve also seen this project beautifully knit up by Rebecca, so I knew what to expect — and I wasn’t disappointed.
The pattern calls for a fingering weight, so I threw in a couple of extra repeats before starting the edging. I had plenty of yarn leftover and could have easily continued on if not for the Mother’s Day deadline looming. It came out beautifully in the laceweight and blocked into a light, airy wrap.

I decided not to block this before presenting it: partially because I knew Mom would get a kick out of seeing the transformation from unblocked lump to crisp lace, but mostly because Mom and I live together and the only good surface to pin this out on… is the room she uses for her quilting. There’s no way to keep a blocking shawl hidden, so I didn’t try. My plan worked, and it’s now blocked and beautiful.

In fact, I’m so taken with it…I think I’ll make myself one.

Much like the Battlestar Galactica finale, these socks hovered between disaster and triumph the entire time I was knitting them. Unlike the BSG finale (in my ever so humble opinion, anyway), they most absolutely ended in triumph.

Viper Pilots

Pattern: Viper Pilots by Glenna C, available on Ravelry here.
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in the Chinatown Apple Colorway
Needles: US 2/2.75mm
Notes: Oh. Goodness. It took me almost a whole week to get around to writing these up. I didn’t want to think or write or even have to worry about spelling; I just wanted to stare at these socks, knit by my very own hands, being worn by my very own feet, and be rather pompous about my abilities. To loosely quote the designer, you feel like a pretty badass knitter when these babies are on your feet.

Some thoughts, in no particular order:

-I wish it hadn’t taken me a sock and a half to finally figure out how the ribbed cable twists worked and stop needing to check the key every two seconds. Despite checking said key every two and a half seconds, there is one egregiously un-crossed cable (thanks to a missing row) and a couple of minor wobbles scattered throughout the socks. In keeping with the theme, I am declaring that to be part of the danger of space travel: even the maelstroms have maelstroms.

-Every error that happened in these socks happened when I was in a social situation (meaning, knit nites). If you enjoy tinking, take them along. Otherwise, leave them at home and work on them in the peace and quiet. Distraction leads to aforementioned dangers of space travel.

-Color. Glenna recommended blue colors, keeping with the space theme. That’s all well and fitting, but I put myself on a yarn diet for Lent and the only stash of DiC Smooshy in my stash was Chinatown Apple. (It hadn’t even been stashed that long; it was a Christmas present from my sister. Timing for the win.) So I stared at it for a bit and decided it evoked the colors of flightsuits and the racing stripes on the Vipers and the colors you get after a Cylon has blasted your poor little spaceship and scratched the paint job. And when I look at them, that’s what I see: old, battle-scared fighters. I love the color, and the twist it puts on the theme. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I would encourage people to consider expanding beyond blue. Especially if they decide to knit more than one pair. (What? Don’t look at me that way, you’d be tempted too.)

-These were my first ever test-knit, and what a way to begin. Despite the way they made my eyes ache and the annoyance of constantly jumping between sock and chart and key, I couldn’t put them down. Watching the cables grow and the little vipers narrow as I went was positively addicting. Then I got to the end and realized I (and my eyes) needed a break, and so promptly cast on a stockinette sock and knit on it until I got bored. That was my cue to cast on the second sock, which then took twice as long now that there was no deadline. Go figure.

-Cabling without a needle. This is not the pattern to learn on. However, this is definitely the pattern to exercise those skills on. I didn’t pick up a cable needle once in the knitting of these, and while it led to some hairy moments (and a lot of cursing, Starbuck-style) on the whole it worked out very well. I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken had I been stopping and adding another needle into the mix four times in a single round. That being said, I’m still pretty astounded at myself for getting through the C7s without a needle. I am apparently better at cabling without a needle than I realized!

Check out that awesome heel!

I didn’t get much else done in March — these took up a lot of time. But I really did enjoy the challenge so much. These are without a doubt the most complicated project I’ve tackled, and I’m awfully tickled at how well they came out, and the part I got to play in getting the pattern up to its release stage. Thanks, Glenna, for letting me play in your sandbox a little, and you know where to find me when your brain comes up with another fantastic thing.

Of course, now that BSG and these socks are both done I have to find something new to amuse myself. Lee Adama’s off to a new show, but I think I’m more interested in Leoben. Anybody runs into him, send him my way. Tell him I can knit him an awesome pair of socks.