April Showers

Life Blanket

I finished the baby blanket I mentioned in a previous post. I've only been knitting since December, so it's my largest project to date. It's based on the Chinese characters above, meaning "life". Also required making pattern for the characters. (Gotta love computers...)

Anyway, I'm very happy with the results. I used inexpensive Caron "Simply Soft" yarn (machine wash and dry, hello!) in bone, a shade which reminded me of rice paper. (Never was much for baby pastels anyway.) Finished blankie (after hand wash/machine dry) measures 32 inches wide by 26 inches high. And very soft!



I kinda wish I'd done the characters in seed stitch, rather than only purl, but live and learn. Here's a detail:



Gotta run, got a baby shower to get to!

Knitting chez Obsidian Kitten

Knit 2, cats 2, purl 2

For more: www.knitty.com

Beg. Row, Pt. 2 -- Fingerless Gloves

Sereknitty72 wrote: "There is a pattern in Holiday Knits by Sara Lucas and Allison Isaacs for "tipless" gloves that looks pretty easy. I say this because I contemplated making them (so that means I read that pattern and deemed the difficulty within my crazy range) but never got around to it...They look cute though and you could probably just knit shorter fingers..."

What I liked about the fingerless gloves (a.k.a. wristwarmers) I found on Knitty was that they are completely fingerless, LOL. Here's the link:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter02/PATTvoodoo.html

I'm not sure why they're in the "tangy" level of Knitty difficulty (aside from requiring double-pointed needles), except that you have to make a buttonhole in each one (for your thumb).

The pattern has a link to buttonhole directions, and I did learn to make my first buttonholes here, no problemo.

More from Sereknitty: "Also, have you ever looked into knitting with the "Magic Loop" instead of double pointed needles? That's what I use for all of my socks now and it's a pretty humane process..."

You're not the first person who's told me it's a good thing, so I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the tip!

Happy spring and fluffy bunnies,
O-Kitten

p.s. Finished the baby blanket last night. It has the Chinese characters for "life" on it. (If anyone actually knows Chinese, you'll have to tell me if I got them right or not, tho it's a little late now.) Promise to post pic as soon as it's washed!