Thursday, January 04, 2007

New Year, New Project!

So, as we were packing to leave Pittsburgh after Christmas, Kris got a call on his cellphone that our friends Ed and Karin had become parents! Their little guy was born on the 26th. We haven't been able to meet him yet, since we had to get back for Kris to be at work on the 27th, but I did start a little project to take up to him:

A log cabin baby blanket in Knit Picks Crayon in Lime, Periwinkle, Azure, Green, Blue, and Purple. Why that color combo? Because it is going to go with a trio of dragons! Specifically, Knitty.com's Norberta, one each in the greens, the blues, and the purples. See, Kris and Ed used to play D&D together in college, and even once we moved up here (before Ed and Karin moved to Pittsburgh), we would play. My feeling is that we need to encourage the geekitude in the next generation as soon as possible. So, the little guy is getting an emerald, a sapphire, and an amethyst dragon to snuggle with, and a matching blanket. :D

I played a little with the basic log cabin premise from Mason-Dixon Knitting. In that book, they tell you to cast on, knit the center, bind off, and then pick up for the first band, knit it, and bind off.. and so on. Well, I hate picking up stitches with a fiery passion, and they are doubly a PITA with a floofy yarn like Crayon (which is soft and snuggly and will make a great blanket). So, I thought about it, and it ocurred to me that it was a little silly to bind off stitches just to pick them back up again. So, I tried something. When I finished a band, instead of binding off on the right side, I just knit across that row and turned my work to the right. I picked up the stitches in the end of the band I just completed, and then just knit across the live stitches on that next side, which I had held from the previous band on that side. You can sort of see what I mean here:

It does require a really long circular needle (possibly two, eventually), but I think it makes the log-cabinning go a bit faster. Plus, there are no lumps on the back from picking up stitches, and you don't need to even attempt to find the stitches in the bindoff to keep your count consistent!

I suddenly realize that I'm possibly not explaining this all that well. If anyone is curious and wants a better explanation, let me know, and I'll enlist the photographer (aka Kris) to help me put one together this weekend.

I finished my version of the Red Light Special hat that I mentioned in the post about Kris's. I love this pattern - I did almost the entire thing on Jan 1 and 2. (And no griping - I was pretty much on the couch all day after a very long New Year's Eve. And no, I wasn't hung over...)

Here it is blocking on my patented upside-down-mixing-bowl-balanced-on-bottle hat blocker. I should really find an easier way... I call it my "Swamp Thing" hat, because although I love the colors and am very happy with how it came out, that is the only thing I can think of when I look at it.

Oh, and you know how everyone seems to be posting their New Year's Resolutions? I'm not. Not only am I not posting them, I'm not making them. I've realized something in the last year or so - the best way to guarantee that I will do something is to tell me that I can't, and the best way to guarantee that I won't is to tell me that I have to. (That noise you hear would be my father falling out of his chair laughing. I'm pretty sure he and Mom figured that out YEARS ago) So, I'm not doing it. I'm not telling myself that I can't buy yarn until such-and-such date, and I'm not telling myself that I will lose X pounds by summer. I am considering this 100 miles by April 1st thing, though. Mostly because I have doubts that I can do it, which pushes me to want to prove myself wrong. And yes, I know that I am a sick, twisted woman who clearly needs help. :) The debate is, of course, treadmill or stationary bike. I did 500 miles on the bike in 2005, but I'd like to push myself beyond that. And 100 miles by April 1 is just barely over a mile a day. I should be able to walk that. Hmm... Food for thought, anyway.

Note to anyone who reads this via Bloglines - you might want to check to see if you have the "Updated Items" option set to "Ignore", or every time I update the "Finished Objects" or "Planned Projects" posts, they are going to show up as new. And I don't want to annoy anyone.

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11 Comments:

At 12:07 AM, Blogger Kaitie Tee said...

I love love love the hat! I have such a hard time picturing color combos before knitting them. Any tips for how you picked yours? Did you line it?

 
At 12:09 AM, Blogger Trillian42 said...

Thanks, Kaitie. Honestly, all I did was look at the original and decide on a background, and then a dark, medium, and light color for the pattern. And since I'm a total green fiend, it wasn't hard to choose. :D

And yes, this one is also lined in KP Shine Sport like the blue and grey one.

 
At 12:25 AM, Blogger Zonda said...

The blanket is lovely! Great "non" baby colors! I can't wait to see the dragons! Great gift!

The hat is awesome! I love all the colors in that! Great work! :)

 
At 12:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The blankie looks pretty so far!

Oh and the hat, (as I said before), it's still awesome!

 
At 1:48 AM, Blogger SarahJanet said...

Ha! Since I'm waiting on the delivery of my Crayon for my log cabin baby blanket, I'd really love it if you could post some more instructions on how you're doing that! It looks great.

 
At 9:39 AM, Blogger lkmanitou said...

Love the idea for the dragons :)

How many skeins of KPs Crayon are you using for the log cabin blanket?

 
At 9:42 AM, Blogger Trillian42 said...

lk - I should have known a fellow gamer geek would appreciate that. :D

I ordered 5 skeins of each color for the blanket, but I'm not sure if I will end up using all of it or not. If I don't, I might need my own set of gem dragons.

 
At 9:45 AM, Blogger Bezzie said...

Very cute blankie; jawesome hat; loverly porn (as always!)

Do the yarn porn pics come out that way or do you fuzz out small portions to create a focal point?

I'm also considering the 100 miles by April 1. I don't know if I'll officially join though...

 
At 3:01 PM, Blogger turtlegirl76 said...

Oh, if I "ignore" it I'll have nothing to tease you about for not finishing or starting up yet another project, etc.

The hat is great! I am surprised that the main base color is the brown and not the green though. I wasn't expecting that from you.

 
At 3:51 PM, Blogger Helen said...

it makes absolutely perfect sense! i hated log cabins for that very reason, and i only made one square!

 
At 2:46 PM, Blogger Lauren said...

I agree, geekitude must be passed down over the generations! Once the kid gets older someone needs to encourage a fascination with cool dice. Start em young! :D

 

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