The Monkey on My Back is Dead

Praise Jesus, or praise something, just praise that this thing is finally finished! If I had to knit one more row of intolerable garter stitch, I would have had to go to my friends, the Messrs J. Walker and J. Daniels, to make it through. After a few months of seemingly interminable garter stitch, the Log Cabin Baby Blanket is complete. Melissa better love it, and the soon-to-arrive Leo better appreciate a lovingly hand-knit, slaved-over blanket the only a way a baby can: by drooling over it.
Pattern: Log Cabin Blanket, by the folks at Mason-Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM in P127 (greens and blues) and P612 (reds and purples)
Koigu KPM in 2169 (deep purple)
Needles: Inox 3.00 mm circular needles
Notes: Since the pattern is more a general guideline than a strict pattern, I can hardly take credit for any changes. The blanket's about 33" roughly square, but I would have liked to have added another ring of blocks- but by that point I was running on scraps of the two multicoloured yarns, so nice. I must have woven in about fifty ends, so next time: Russian join everywhere. And I will try to bind off more loosely. Also: I will not knit a garter stitch blanket with fingering-weight yarn on 3.00 mm needles, because hopefully I've learned not to be a complete dumbass. Next time: Lion Brand Jiffy held doubled, on 20 mm needles, knit by Fred the robot.

I'm just glad this project is finally DEAD. Now where are those friends? I think a celebration is in order.

" I may be a liar, but at least I wasn't the only bitch in the room."

My guy Smitty, too damn cool to be a show dog.

Alright, so it's a day after my baby blanket pics were supposed to go up, and there is still no completed baby blanket up in this blog. Pour quoi? Because it's still an embarrassing mess of ends and slightly wonky borders, one I'm too ashamed to photograph and put up. I did finish the knitting, but I was convinced it was too small. I'm not very experienced in the ways of the baby, so I really had no idea what size a completed baby blanket should be. I felt it was a little small, and I would have added at least another round of log cabin blocks, but I was out of yarn. And one of the colours is discontinued. And frankly, sometimes trying to find another ball of a particular ball of current Koigu is such a pain in the ass that trying to find a discontinued skein would probably lead to a trip to the loony bin or maybe a trip to Michael's for some Red Heart and a stop at the bar. But after consulting the dimensions of the Big Bad Baby Blanket in Stitch 'n Bitch and the ever-helpful Frankie at the Stitch and Niche, I decided it would just be large enough, with some aggressive blocking. So, pictures tomorrow after all the fiddly ends are taken care of (note to self: Russian Join from here on in) and the whole thing is dunked in a bath.

And time for another confession: I went to a dog show today. No, I don't have any photographic evidence of this event, nor documentation of the elusive species known as the "Crazy Dog Show Fanatic", because I didn't bring my camera. For two reasons: my family came to help Smitty's breeder and lend moral support, which would have been difficult with a camera banging around, and secondly because dog show people are positively bonkers. Taking an unauthorized picture would have probably led to some snappish lady with an "I Love My Pembroke Welsh Corgi" t-shirt stabbing me in the neck with grooming shears. I did regret not taking my camera when I spotted an old man sleeping with his feet up next to a grooming table, where his Chow Chow was sleeping with one fuzzy paw stuck out. People who show dogs are usually seen as one rank below child pageant mothers on the weirdo scale, which isn't necessarily fair. Some, like Smitty's breeder, are nice and refreshingly sane. And then others, like some lady whose dog only won fourth, sit ringside telling their dog how they're "always the ugliest dog in the ring" and "so ugly". Which, two things, crazy lady: your dog can't understand English, and your dog is much better than that. Some one's the bitch in this scenario, and this time it's not the dog. Honestly, anyone want to try a canine rescue with me?

Knitting Night in Canada

The Dollar and a Half Cardigan slowly grinds to a close. Once I finish this cabled cardi front, there's just the finishing left to do. I'll try and finish in a timely manner, instead of neglecting the unseamed, unblocked bits as I usually do. The pattern has the sides reversed (if made up according to the directions, the cabled front would go on the other side than in the picture), but I just knitted it as is. It doesn't really matter to me whether it looks like the picture, or whether the cable goes on the right or left side. I did wing the decreases in lace pattern, though. I'm pretty sure it's not the right thing to do, so I won't reprint what I did here, but trust that it looks fine. I also knitted this in wool instead of a linen yarn. Briggs and Little Regal in Brown Heather to be exact. I love knitting with this stuff- the tweedy flecks and heathery mix of colours, its honest wool hand, and the idea that it's a very Canadian yarn. Yes, there's a lot of vegetable matter, but I just pick most of it out as I go along, figuring whatever I don't adds character. I knitted it a size smaller than what I usually knit, since all of my knitted sweaters turn out larger than I usually want them to be. I figure if it comes out too small after blocking, I'll just give it to my roommate. Or cry, as I burn it and my Poppy on my balcony.


And here's a baby blanket, made in (Canadian- I spy a theme) Koigu following the Mason-Dixon log cabin directions. One of my dearest friends/mentors back home (frientors?) is pregnant with her second child. Since her first is one of the sweetest kids ever, I know she does good work. And since I couldn't knit when he was born, I decided this one must have something knitted that is more than my usual baby hat. Then I realized that I had no money left for yarn. Which turned out alright, since I did have a stash of Koigu. The purple semi-solid and the red and purple mix were supposed to be a modular scarf, but I didn't know how to pick up stitches the right way for reversible modularity, so it looked kind of stupid. The one with purples and greens was bought on clearance online. After it came in the mail, I realized it was on clearance because it was pretty much spun of the mid-nineties essence. Together I think they work, and since she's all artistic and such I'm sure she won't mind putting all that purple on a baby boy. What do you think- garish? Too gendered?