I finished the centre square of the Stonington Shetland Shawl and what I learned while knitting this vast expanse of garter stitch (well it’s not that vast but it certainly seemed that way as I knit it) is that this yarn is not going anywhere near my baby. The more I knit with the yarn the less I liked it. So when the square was done I tied it off, put the remainder of the current ball in a ziplock bag and washed it, lanolised it and blocked it. Which certainly improved it’s size and now it smells like breastfeeding woman (well woman with damaged nipples to be precise, not a fond memory of mine), but it’s still scratchy.

Goodbye baby shawl, hello dolly blanket. I am going to add some sort of crochet trim to what you see above and give it to Isabelle for her dolly when the new baby comes. Conveniently enough she asked for a new dolly blanket just today. I never did fix the last one I made her….

Having abandoned the Stonington Shawl I moved right along to nicer yarn and a project that just seems to be flying by. Another Jacket with Moss Stitch Bands, this time in Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton from the stash. I knit the back and two fronts in two nights, I was having great fun. Of course their had to be a hitch.

The wrist opening is WAY too small. It’s been a long time since we had a tiny baby, and Isabelle was never that tiny (as new babies go) but I could tell it was going to be too tight even before I pulled out some clothing to double check. I think I am going to make the next sleeve almost straight, it will be easier to get on and more comfortable for baby.

Pattern: Shedir - Knitty Fall 2004 Surprise
Yarn: Rowan Calmer in Khaki
Needles: 3.25 Addi Natura circular and 3.25 Addi Bamboo DPNs

Shedir #2 is all done, and check this out: leftovers.

My first Shedir sat on the shelf for a couple of months while I searched the world for a second ball in the same dye lot to knit the last 20 or 30 rows. This one I squeezed out of one ball. Consistent tension? Evidently not me.

I spent most of the time I was knitting this Shedir wondering whether I could make a baby sized one by dropping two of the pattern repeats in a row to make the hat 6 segments instead of eight and also dropping one or two of the main cable pattern repeats. What do you think? It would be so soft and comfy for a baby to wear and so cute, don’t you think?

My baby knitting has stalled again. This time the interruption comes not in the form of my own health problems, but someone else’s. A dear relative who had surgery for one cancer last year has now been diagnosed with another. She faces eight months of aggressive treatment and a great deal of uncertainty, so those balls of calmer I was hoping not to need have made it out of the stash and onto my needles.

I had a wonderful time last year knitting Shedir from the Knitty Fall 2004 Surprise. I still love this pattern but some how it is harder to have fun with it when I am so heartbroken to need to be knitting it right now.

Who would have thought something as simple as salt could work a health miracle? 2.5 weeks ago when my neurologist told me not to do any cardio vascular exercise, drink at least two litres of water a day and to eat as much salt as I could get down I was a) amused and b) skeptical. It’s not like I was able to do any exercise anyway and I was drinking plenty so really she was saying “Add salt”. Retrospectively the woman is a genius. The effect of the salt was almost instant, though you can imagine the lecture I got from the pharmacist when I went in to buy salt tablets. I feel like a different person. I still have bad days but my bad days now are like my very best days before and on the good days I can do as much as any pregnant woman might expect to get done in a day. The dishes are done, the house is clean and I am actually doing the book keeping I get paid for. Oh, and I am even knitting. Still nothing like I used to, as I am pretty wiped out come evening, but look:

It might even turn into a shawl soon enough for more baby objects to be completed before the birth! I doubt I will return to my regular knitting and blogging habits any time soon, but hopefully I will post a bit more than not at all between now and July. Thank you all so much for your kindness when I threw my hands in the air and declared that all blogging would cease, it’s very nice to be wrong.

In other news we had our 19 week ultrasound today and baby is happy and healthy. It’s happiness all around at the moment.

I can’t tell you how sad I am do to this but it has become apparent that it is time to take an official break from my knitting blog because there won’t be much (any) knitting to talk about. I feel like I have my own personal army of medical specialists (an immunologist, cardiologist, neurologist, obstetrician and a wonderful, wonderful midwife) and the current opinion seems to be that not only am I unlikely to feel better this pregnancy, I will get worse. Baby is doing wonderfully so far and what is wrong with me is not dangerous and will likely self resolve come July (or sometime relatively soon after) but in the meantime I am debilitatingly exhausted and will be very lucky to finish the one baby project I have started - the Stonington Shetland Shawl. I would rather use what little energy I have to knit than to try to take pictures of my snail’s pace progress and post about it.

Knitting and knitting bloggers got me through the year and a half leading up to this pregnancy. I never even imagined that pregnancy would stop me knitting and make me too tired to miss it. But I will miss all of you. Thankyou so much for your interest in my knitting and all the kindness and support you have shown me.

I would like to say that I will be reading all of your blogs in the meantime, but I am not even managing to do that - there are hundreds and hundreds of unread posts in my bloglines…. All I can say is that I will post about any FOs I do manage to complete and hopefully one day I will get back on top of all the blogs I am subscribed to.

Happy Knitting everyone!

One of my dear friends kindly pointed out to me today that my problem is “contented cow syndrome” and she’s right. I am weirdly contented to sit and do nothing at all for hours at a time, and I do mean nothing, watching paint dry or grass grow would probably be considered entertainment at the moment. I think this is the main problem with my knitting.

I do have a knitting question for you though. Am I the only person in the world not in love with Koigu? I am loving the colours of the Koigu I am using for my Jaywalkers, but it feels kind of like string after the lovely soft yarns I have used for the last two pairs of socks. Will it get better with washing? Is that the secret of the great Koigu passion? I really didn’t expect to enjoy knitting with Pattons Patonelle more than Koigu.

My Jaywalker is progressing SLOWLY. I don’t know if I am all socked out, if it’s the pattern, the pregnancy, or if I just need to be knitting baby stuff right now, but whatever the case I am not feeling the love for this project. That said I think it is going to fit quite well and it’s the first time I have started a pair of socks for myself so I am not completely giving up. I am going to leave it in my hand bag and knit on it when I am out and about - most likely sitting in Drs waiting rooms, which is something I do an awful lot of these days. What I am not going to do is kid myself that I will knit it at home and then not knit at all.

Having made this decision let me introduce Baby Project #1. No, it’s not a great big hanky. Its the very mindless start of a Stonington Shetland Shawl:

I bought this yarn more than six months ago I think, with this shawl in mind. I believe this may be the first time I have actually used yarn bought that far in advance as intended. I am thrilled with the colour but it is not as soft as I would have liked, I am hoping it will soften up with washing.

I have been thinking about putting a star like the one on the recent hat in the centre of the main square. I would do this in some sort of contrast stitch, not intarsia. What do you think? Would it work and in what stitch? I could also do the star thing on each of four sides instead of in the centre, or I can do a more traditional lace pattern. The possibilities are endless really. And at this rate I have plenty of time to decide.

Pattern: Loosely based on the Debbie Bliss Simple Hat, different gauge, in the round, with a moss stitch band. Star from Knitty’s Hipster pattern.
Yarn: Hat in Rowan All Seasons Cotton “Dim”. Star in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino scraps - shade 340503.
Needles: 4.5mm Addi circs, 4.5mm Bamboo DPNs

Thanks for all your kind words on the first star/frog, unfortunately it didn’t look enough like either of those things to leave it as it was. As is so often the case Knitty came to my rescue with a chart for one very cute star. Plastic needle in hand I managed to have some semi knitting fun on the plane to Hobart Thursday night, I finished it off in the hotel room while Jesse was out hunting for some dinner. Using a finer weight yarn for duplicate stitch is less than ideal and there are some brown bits peeking through but I am happy enough with the result.

This is a wonderfully simple hat pattern, easy to churn out and a very cute result. However, I am still struggling with the question of how much hat to knit before starting the decreases, I think this one may be a little short, and yet it seemed so alarmingly long at the time. I think I may try for 11 or 12cm next time. And yes I am sure there will be a next time! I am starting to wonder if baby hats are more my thing than socks.

So I went in search of patches for the hat and they had some really great ones for little girls, not so much for boys. I hear mothers of boys complain about this all the time - how limited the clothes and pattern choices are for boys - but this is my first personal experience with the problem. I did buy two just in case. but I don’t love either of them and I am going to have another try at the duplicate stitch star, then a crochet star before trying one of the patches on the hat.

The upside of the shopping expedition was finding a bra! Generally speaking my skin does not respond well to lace so I only bought one in case I react badly, but none the less I am excited by the possibility that it might work. I have to say bras are one of those things I would rather buy than knit.