Just a Quickie

This will be a short, pictureless post. Not because I didn't make any additional progress, but because the photos would. be. boring. With a capital B.

Mitered Blanket:
The baby blanket miters are complete. Finished up the last one yesterday with a flourish and the blanket was deemed a success by many parties in my house (the ones that have taken an interest, anyway -- Zee hasn't had an eye for this one). Now I only have to do the edging. Today at lunch I head out to the Big Box that Shall Not Be Named to look for some dark green and a size F crochet hook to finish this one up. Then there will be pictures.

Basil:
Yes, Basil has not gone away. After the miters were done yesterday, I picked this up and slogged along a big on that incredibly tedious border. Only about two and a half rows to go before cast-off. Having been rather successful knitting without peeking on the miters, I've realized that I don't have to watch every single knit stitch go by and that multi-tasking (i.e. watching a movie with Hubby) is possible with only a small risk of a dropped stitch. So that's chugging along -- one more movie and I'll be ready to cast this off (finally) and call it a day.

Spinning:
I've dubbed this wool "Hydrox." The Hydrox cookie was the enduring predecessor to the Oreo, and the name resonated well with Knitting Auntie of Aran Fame when she popped in for a quick visit on Saturday. The first bobbin is now filled and the second is coming along. It looks exactly the same as the first bobbin, hence no pictures. Once I get the third filled and my first three-ply completed, I'll be happy to put it on display.

Assorted Little Projects:
I've been toting a little baby bib around with me that I managed to whip out a few rows on, but no real progress to be seen. I also played a bit with some burp-cloth appropriate stitch patterns but can't seem to find one I really like. Any ideas?

Thoughts on Travel Knitting

I'm in Tampa on a business trip -- I'm here for my absolute favorite training seminar ever. I try to go to this every year ... and it's even better when it's in a locale that is warmer than home. I love to travel for my job. Sure, it's hard to get away from the family, but at the same time I always feel a little more connected when I get home. Plus, there's the fun of travel knitting.

I don't know what it is that makes travel knitting different than home knitting, but I seem to always make great progress when I'm on the road. Maybe it's the long plane ride (which, incidentally, this time caused my pregnant ankles to expand beyond belief) or the fact that there aren't home distractions, but I feel like I can crank. And crank I have ... to the point where pretty soon I'm going to be stuck with only the surplice jacket to knit on.

In addition to my swollen ankles (I'll remember to drink tons of water and walk alot on the flight back), I've also managed to catch the case of miter fever that's going around the knitting community these days. Wendy's doing a sweater in them, and Cara is doing a blanket. I expect this to enter pandemic proportions soon. It's probably a good thing that Stephanie is on a book tour or else she might start doing them too and then there would be a serious recession in pattern sales as everyone embraces this ever-so-simple knitting delight.

I decided to give them a try with a simple baby blanket of squares. I ran out of the cotton I brought with me on my trip (in this colorway, that is). These were done in a few short hours and are the basis for a new baby blanket made of these cute little squares.

I am strangely compelled to seek out the local Wal-Mart for more cotton ... but the fact is, I have a one-pound cone of this at home so I had better not. Of course there's always the option of mixing in matching solids, but ...

And in other news, the bib that was completed on my flight down to Tampa yesterday. All it needs is a button (and to have the ends woven in, of course). Ironically, this is made from Plymouth Fantasy cotton.

I did this before I became obsessed with the miters (that happened today on a conference break). I have two balls of Peaches & Creme left to last me through the rest of the conference before I'm left only with the surplice jacket and the remaining Plymouth. Tomorrow, I'll show you what I'm doing with it and I'll let you know if I gave in and sprung for a cab ride to Wal-Mart to get more.

On Knitting Wee Things...

So after the collective sigh went out over Baltimore and places further away following my last post (thank you for all the wonderful comments-we are, indeed, very happy), I had some serious planning to do. What to knit for the wee one?

Fortunately, I had seen the March 26 post over on Rosie's Blog the week before the big reveal, so I had a plan. I just needed colors. In fact, I had planned neutral and picked up some ecru Peaches & Creme (GASP! This from the fiber snob...) and started the jacket, but it's really knitting up at too high a gauge. The cotton is too thick -- and while I know it will fit the babe someday, I want something that will work right away. So the cotton jacket was relegated to the knitting basket for future knitting (left it on the needles) and I started one in some green Dale Baby Ull with a trim of NatureSpun that I grabbed at Cloverhill this past weekend. I'll do an i-cord trim in the navy (though admittedly I fear that it will look too Izod) as well in lieu of buttons. I started working that up on Sunday on #3 needles and the size looks much better. Since it's a variation of the Baby Surprise Jacket, I expect to finish this rather quickly once I get moving on it. Bonus: It will complement the Basil blanket once I get the $^%&ing edging done (almost, I swear).

Why am I not plowing through it? Well, you see, I'm obsessed with burp cloths and bibs. Quick knits that I can churn out in a few days and enjoy. The bonus there is that the baby will need tons of these (or rather, our shoulders will) to supplement the flat cloth diapers that I love for this purpose. Not to mention that a few weeks ago I was seriously bitten by the Peaches & Creme bug after fondling Farmer Auntie's dishcloth-in-progress and realized that this may very well be the one yarn I buy at Wal-Mart. You really can't beat $1.50 for a burp cloth. I headed to Wal-Mart that week and picked up three cones -- one of the ecru, a yellow ombre and a "baby-color-mix of green, pink, blue, yellow and white. I'm stocked for a while and I'm starting to churn out the cloths. Not to totally send myself to the depths of the Big Box Yarn Section, I also picked up some more Plymouth cotton at Cloverhill and am amusing myself with a pretty blue bib.

Sorry there aren't any pictures with this post, but my camera is packed for a trip to Tampa later today and I just don't feel like pulling it out right now. I'm packed with the Baby Surplice, enough cotton for a bib or two and the remains of the green burp cloth I've been working on, so I'll take some pictures later and maybe add them into this post.