There is a new baby on it’s way in my family. Gosh no, not mine. It will be my sister’s second, a brother or sister for Marilyn. As Marilyn arrived 3 weeks early, I figure I’d better get into action in case the second arrives early too.

Originally my sister had said she would find out the sex of the second child, but now she has decided against that, so I can’t make a gender specific blanket. Oh yes of course, I should say we are talking about baby blankets here. Each of my siblings who have children, gets a blanket per baby. It’s a good system.

I happen to think my sister was quite keen on the blanket I made for Baby William, here:

And for all intents and purposes, this would have been a great option to just make another one, maybe switch the frame colour a little, so it was a little different. I have half the yarn left-over from all the contrast colours and I would only need to purchase the border colour. It would also mean that I would be using stash that is waiting for another baby to arrive in the winter months…

But no, this next baby is arriving right before summer really begins. And because I’m a show off and I like seeing my baby blankets put to use, I’m opting for a cotton version, and something a little different.

Patons put out a great book last year(?) called Modern Crochet: Book 1316 and I bought it. I think I’ll make the ‘Polka Dot Rug’ (picture at the top), but modify the amount of squares so that it is pram size. If their cotton wasn’t a cotton ‘blend’, I would have also used their yarn. But alas I think it’s only 50% cotton. So a Bendigo purchase is on the horizon.

What are you planning to make?

The last few weeks I’ve been checking out a few ‘new to me’ knitting video-casts; which are podcasts with pictures!

I can’t emphasise how much I’m enjoying this new development. When I thought listening to podcasts was pretty awesome, having actual footage of the podcaster presenting is even better. The funnest part is the ‘show and tell’. Whether it’s WIP’s of FO’s that are being discussed to ‘in the mail’ segments. Yes, even fabulous hand-dyers and designers get excited about woolly packages, just like me. Best of all, it’s wonderful to see, watch and understand how ‘down-to-earth’, generous, and ‘normal’ these knitting heroes are. I think when you record yourself on video, there is no where to hide!

You should give it a try!

Check out Skein Yarns and the Susan B Anderson video casts on iTunes. There’s a couple of others I’m still to try, if you have any recommendations please let me know.

Warning: Watching knitting video-casts could lead to more project queueing, etsy purchasing, book purchasing and project dreaming, you have been warned.

My Honey Cowl is moving along, it’s my social knitting project so it’s not getting a lot of attention. It’s about halfway through and I’m loving how smooshy it feels. I’m still hoping to have it done for this cold weather.

Welcome to another week of Yarn Along with Ginny! Go and take a look at what everyone else is knitting and reading this week over on her blog.

I’m reading Stephanie Pearl Mc-Phee’s latest book: ‘The Amazing Thing About the Way It Goes: Stories of Tidiness, Self-Esteem and Other Things I gave Up On’. I think that I’ve read all of her other books as well, but it’s been a little while between readings. I have to say I am enjoying it very much so far. Not a lot of knit talk yet, but I’m ok with that. The book feels warm and cozy and there’s that humour that I love about her. I’ve only read the first few chapters but it’s the kind of book you pick up and feel that you are supposed to be reading this book right now, it’s comforting and familiar and it somehow has a message for you.

I’ve progressed with my Hooray Cardigan, and I’m pretty certain now at this stage this ‘Use it or lose it’ project is a keeper. I’ve tried it on and it doesn’t feel as scratchy as it does to knit. I think I would like to make this cardigan again at some stage with a softer yarn as well.

I’ve also been listening to the first Game of Thrones book, which is going wonderfully well.

See you all next week.

It’s time! It’s time I went back to San Francisco and complete what was not done (properly) the first time. I’m going to Stitches West next year!

It’s funny how my experience in ‘stalking’ Wollmeise (or insert any other online lustful yarn brand here) has been a skill that was transferrable when it came to booking for Stitches.

Firstly I booked my hotel. Rather than wait for the hotel blocks to be booked out and my dreams of visiting SF again flash before my very eyes, I learnt I could book a room a few days before at full rate (which was only slightly higher than the Stitches rate). Done.

To make my time more enjoyable I thought I’d take a class (it also gives me access to the market preview the evening before the market sessions officially opens to the public). I decided on Anna Zilboorg’s ‘Surprisingly special techniques’ as my number one choice. I also understood this might also be the number one choice of most people as she is the keynote speaker for the event itself.

12am on Monday evening, my Wollmeise shopping experience came into play. I was logged in to the XRX (the home of Stitches website). I had the class page up and when the clock ticked over to midnight, I refreshed my page, placed the class in my cart and I checked out. At this point the adrenaline kicked in. I submitted my payment details and then came my confirmation. Wow what a rush!

Speaking of Wollmeise now this is the ironic part, last Friday night after a tip-off on Twitter, thanks Martina Behm! I rushed over to the wm website to see a number of multicoloured skeins of 4 ply available. I have never seen this. Ever. I played, I popped 3 different skeins in my cart just to see what would happen(!). It seems the site now has a new shopping system, I had these skeins for 10 mins until I purchased them or I lost them.

The universe has a sense of humour that is just plain cruel. I removed the items from my cart and closed my window… because I’m going to STITCHES! I’m excited, can’t you tell?

I’m participating in ‘Yarn Along’ with Ginny and friends.

This week I’m very happy to announce I have finished reading ‘The 100 year old man who climbed out of a window and disappeared’. After my initial interest in the book it waned a little toward the end. I’m not ashamed to say I sped read through the last 30% of the book.

But onto new things I’m getting around to reading Stephanie Pearl Mc-Phee’s latest book: ‘The Amazing Thing About the Way It Goes: Stories of Tidiness, Self-Esteem and Other Things I gave Up On’, I’ll report on this next week. I’m still listening to Game of Thrones in moments when I don’t feel too bad about popping my earphones on whilst Damian is at home; I’ve just gotten to the part where Bran gets pushed out of the window, so really early on in the scheme of things.

I’m spinning a bit and getting down to some serious cabling in Veera’s ‘Hooray Cardigan’. If I could only knit with one designer’s patterns, Veera would be it. She suits my knitting and wearing style to a T.

This is fun, see you next week.