Making: Greenleaf Baby Blanket

This is the chalice lace pattern on the baby blanket I knit for J's sister, who's going to pop with her second boy any day now.  To me the pattern doesn't so much look like chalices as much as leaves.  I like the effect it has pinned against the white mattress, sort of like jacquard fabric:

Samples of jacquard from Fibre Designs 

The blanket was my second lace pattern, a much easier experience than knitting the Forest Canopy Shawl.  For one thing, there are no increases and, therefore, no infernal counting of stitches to make sure I hadn't screwed up.  

This one took a bit longer to get finished, since I've been zipping from Germany to the SF Bay Area and North Carolina.  I delivered the blanket yesterday - hopefully it'll be big enough!  The baby is already 8 lbs and not due for another three weeks! Labor induction is in order, I think, if the baby doesn't come very soon.  Maybe while we're here!  Since I've never been around for all the hustle and bustle of a birth before that would be pretty exciting.

Raveled here.

Making: Bits and Bobs, Odds and Ends

I said I would post my Opal Hundertwasser Socks when I finished - well, here's one of them.  The other is languishing, half-knit, in my knitting bag.  It's a jolly looking sock, no?  And, yes, that is a toy mouse in the picture.  I can't always get Mr. Tubs to puts his toys away.

You'd think I'd have gotten more knitting done in the last month, what with all the planes and trains I've been on.  But I just can't do certain things when traveling, i.e. I can't knit lace or follow a more complicated pattern unless I'm at home.  And now that I'm home, and now that I'm supposed to be working 1) on a book review already a bit late and 2) gearing up for my dissertation proposal, I find myself caught up in all sorts of lace nonsense.

This chalice pattern isn't anything extremely lacy, but it requires some concentration and a lace-chart.  I'm enjoying knitting it as a superb form of procrastination.  It'll be a baby blanket, to be gifted next month, so I have a bit of time.

What I haven't enjoyed is wrangling this yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace.  It actually isn't the fault of the yarn at all, which is lovely and soft.  I just have woefully big, clumsy needles not at all suitable for laceweight yarn.  I have already attempted two projects with this yarn and, trust me, you do not want to ssk or even k2tog with dull needles.  I thought my head was going to explode.  I will just have to put off knitting with laceweight until I get myself some proper needles.

Which means I can't fool around with this skein of Malabrigo Lace, either.  Harumph.  Well, it's probably just a sign that I should get back to work.

Making: Forest Canopy Shawl for Mother's Day

I've been waiting to blog about this one - I finished this weeks ago, but since it was for my mother, and she reads this blog, I had to wait.  I must say, this has been the most challenging and gratifying project I've knitted.  Being new to lace knitting, I had no idea what to expect.  But the pattern for the Forest Canopy Shawl is perfect for first time lace knitters.  Here the link for the pattern.

This is what it looked like while still on the needles... pretty darn unimpressive.  And all those red threads?  Those are life lines that I kept putting in to hold my place in case I had to rip back due to some horrible mistake.  And, believe me, I had to rip back.  Luckily, I got better as I went along, and ripped back less and less.  In the beginning I was so discouraged, and knitting seemed like it had become an exercise in futility and frustration.  I almost decided that I was simply not a lace knitter.  Sweaters and mittens I could do.  Lace?  Why do something that makes you curse and throw things?

But something magical happened when I finally slipped it off the needles, washed, and then blocked it (on a hideous old mattress, I must say).  The lace opened up.  The pattern came out.  And I thought: I made that?  As an academician, these moments are hard to come by.  Rarely do I write something or argue something and think: There, that's settled.  That's correct.  In fact, the whole enterprise of research and theory requires that we keep questioning our work.  It can be rewarding, no doubt, but there's a certain oomph of finality that's lacking.  This is why I gravitate towards knitting and baking: these are crafts where the question (can I do this?) gets firmly answered (yes! no!) at least to a more certain degree.  Of course, I'm sure the deeper I go into either of these crafts the more I will find that is theoretical and debatable, especially as craft moves towards art.  But, for the time being, it is very, very satisfying to say: I made this! 

We took these on the Philosophenweg, in the forest, in honor of its name.  I call my individual shawl, however, the Sea Canopy, given its wonderful shades of blue.

Raveled here.