Tuesday, March 28, 2006

FO: Bamboo and berries baby blanket

It's finally done! That's it, about to be packed up for delivery to the doting parents. Between work, a high performance computing course and all the other life stuff, I had to finish the applied i-cord edging during the trip. A couple of notes about the applied i-cord: I found that knitting the picked up stitches through the back loop looked neater, especially when working with strands of different colours.

I also got the idea from Grumperina to pick up yarn loops through the slip stitch selvage at the sides of the blanket, knit the loops, then finally use those slipped stitches to make the applied i-cord. The stitch patterns looked really nice on the wrong side, so no backing was necessary. I wish the picture I took of the wrong side hadn't turned out so blurry, but I was in a hurry. You'll just have to take my word for it.



I've already covered the pattern details. In hindsight, there are a couple of things I'd do differently with the border: I'd use a provisional cast-on for the i-cord instead of knitting a few extra rows (picking out the cast-on and getting those loops is a bitch), and I'd knit the i-cord starting with the wrong side facing forward (that way less of the underlying colour shows on the right side).

There was a little time for shopping in Vancouver, so I dragged the SO to Urban Yarns. They have a nice little sitting area, so he didn't suffer much. Since I'm trying very hard to be disciplined with money, I only bought a couple of balls of Cathay to try out with Glampyre's One Skein Wonder and something new from Elsebeth Lavold:



I haven't found her products locally yet, so I decided to get a ball of her Hempathy to see how it knits up and what it might be good for.

4 comments:

IvanovaKnits said...

Nice Yarns!

Debbie Bliss stuff is quite expensive...ouch! But at least you're doing a 2-ball project and not a 11-ball project! I 've been eyeing the Debbie Bliss Simply Marilyn sweater pattern on the IK website... 11 balls of Debbie Bliss' chunky cashmere? No way!

As for Lavold, I ADORE her designs (at least the Viking collection) but I absolutely hated silky wool... pills in your hands as you knit with it. As for one ball of hempathy, why not try a light breezy spring-ish lacy scarf? Oh wait... you hate lace. Never mind ;).

Ivanova

thraceknits said...

I don't really hate lace, I just haven't found a lace pattern I want to try yet. I was thinking of swatching and washing the hempathy for starters, and see how that goes.

The Cathay is fairly expensive - although I might be willing to knit a sleeveless or cap sleeved summer knit if the shrug experiment works out OK.

IvanovaKnits said...

The one skien wonder is cute, but not
my cup o tea. Have you considered her mini-sweater? Far cuter imho
http://glampyreknits.tripod.com/glampyrephotos/id62.html

How many yards do you have, exactly?
You may want to consider the very cute
mini-sweater in the August 05 Vogue knitting international. I made the medium with 4 balls of Lavold's silky wool, 190 yards per ball. The medium is on the biggish-side so you would do just fine in a small size. Or if you are really into that kind of thing, I could just give you mine. If I'm in a really good mood ;). Happy Birthday. Relax, it's black.

Ivanova

thraceknits said...

Ah yes, the boobholder. I've actually been seeing lots of mini-sweaters like that in the girly stores around here. I like the shrug though - should be good for summer.

Which Vogue sweater do you mean? I have about 210 yards, which should be enough for the small shrug + swatch.

Speaking of birthdays, we should talk offline about what you want for yours.