To be honest I hoped to show you a very big haul today. But in the fist shop I visited yesterday I got a bit stuck in my color choices. It also didn’t help that the very friendly and helpful lady of the shop was hovering over me while I wanted to take some time and visualize a little baby boy in the colors they had. So I stuck with the save options. The second shop… well, I never got there. I asked my phone to get me to the Welcome Shop, but I never realized we had more than one shop with that name. So it send me to the wrong side of the island and after that I ran out of time to find the right one. But I did find two nice colors that will fit a little guy just fine (the picture doesn’t do them justice; the dark one is a really nice navy blue and the beige is not that yellow). I’m not sure if I’ll be doing stripes or solids (or both? – I think I bought quite a lot). Now I just need to find some courage and cast on for one of the patterns on my list. I’m strange like that. Winging it suits me best, patterns frighten me.
In my efforts to get really excited about knitting (and maybe a little bit of crochet?) again, I decided to find some patterns I’d like to work on (for the grandson, of course!). That turned out to be a little bit overwhelming.
(not pictured: Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Baby Surprise Jacket – I’ve wanted to try and make that one for so long now)
Than I looked at my stash. And that was a little bit underwhelming (to say the least).
Most of this is cotton. I bought it because it makes so much more sense to use cotton in this heat, but to be honest I don’t have a clue what to do with it, except making dishcloths, potholders and kitchen towels. On the left I have a big bag of a really nice wool/acrylic blend, but I can’t use that for the baby, since both his parents are allergic to wool.
I’ve been moving stuff around to see if anything looks good , but I’m not sure yet. I may try a bit of granny square making or start knitting a cotton scrap blanket (for the beach?), but for my grandchild I want to make something nice, not make do with stuff I bought secondhand years ago. (I’m also wondering… is this very uninspiring stash the reason my knitting mojo has gone lost?)
So I guess I need to go shopping. That could be fun, except… I seem to be the only knitter on this island. I know three… no, four shops that carry a little bit of yarn, but their choice is very limited. I don’t want to order yarn, because shipping is extremely expensive, and I didn’t bring any from The Netherlands, because we traveled with carry-on luggage only (Amsterdam Airport luggage handling was a disaster this summer). But I should be able to gather some fun yarns in those four shops. I’m going to visit at least one today (need to go to town for grocery shopping).
It wasn’t all bad and stressful these past months. We were only a few weeks in the country when my daughter E. and her husband (they got married last September) announced some wonderful news. I’m going to be a grandmother in December!
So I quickly knit up some booties and a little hat, but I never took pictures of them. I was too anxious to give them to the future parents. After I finished those, I immediately cast on for a little sweater, but then things got busy and stressed. I tried to knit, but my attention span was very, very low. A few stitches here and there, but not the real deal. I think I should be able to finish a tiny little sweater in a few days, but it took me over two months.
Anyway, last Saturday all the girls came by to say goodbye and I decided that I wanted to gift that little sweater before we left. It’s the same yarn as the hat and the booties, so it would be nice if they had that as a set. So I forced myself to push through and finish already.
Isn’t it cute? I just kind of winged it, based on sweaters I’ve seen on blogs and it worked out quite nice. I love the buttons too. They were a thrift find, but they fit perfectly (bonus: my daughter commented she loved them).
So, so tiny. I can hardly imagine that in only a few months a little baby boy (!) will be in it.
Oh, since people will inevitably ask (and I know you do because you care): yes, it will be hard to live so far away from my grandchild(ren). But I knew this could and probably would happen when I made the decision to move. So I’ll just deal with it, make do with pictures and video calling when I’m far away and spoil the kid rotten when we are there. And I’ll probably need to pay for extra luggage for all the things I want to knit for him. I’m even contemplating making a quilt…
Not that I’m house crashing with three bears, though. That would be… weird. To say the least. But the hats I’ve been making for my mother did get me thinking about that fairy tale. Remember? The first beret I made for her was too small. The second one was better, but actually a bit too big. But now… I think I’ve got it. This one is juuuuust right 😉
(not posting pictures with my face showing today. Goodness, I’m suddenly all wrinkled up. Must be the cold or something.)
What I did: CO 72 st., join in the round, k2,p2 – 6 rounds Increase: K b&f 3 times, k1, repeat till last four stitches, K b&f 2 times, k2 (132 st) K 15 rounds (stockinette stitch)
start decrease: (the decrease is done in 6 sections, knitting less stitches before ssk each time)
K 20, ssk – repeat till end of round K entire round K19, ssk – repeat till end of round K entire round etc. keep alternating decrease rows and K rows until you did K10, ssk Then stop the K rows and keep decreasing (k9, ssk; K8, ssk etc.) until you have 12 stitches left. Use a darning needle to pull thread through remaining stitches and pull to close. Sew in ends.
(writing this from the Netherlands, but the pictures were – obviously – taken on Curaçao)
I finished these just in time to take them with me. I have to admit that the color really, really isn’t me. I bought this on the island, and there wasn’t a lot of choices. I do like the color as is, but it doesn’t go with any of my clothes. Still, I’m wearing these almost 24 hours a day (yes, I wear them in bed). We do have heated floors in our Airbnb, but I still get cold feet.
I used a pattern that I had written down in my knitting notebook. I thought Ravelry said it was offline, but I found it here. I love how simple, yet effective it is. I did make one change though. I found previous versions were very slippery, so I decided to knit the whole sole (1/3 of the stitches) in garter stitch, instead of all stockinette after joining in the round. I do feel it works (or maybe I’m just walking more careful these days).
It’s kind of silly to realize that over the years I’ve been knitting so many hats, but only one beret (over 12 years ago). It may have something to do with the fact that this style of hat went out of fashion. I’d never know that for sure though since fashion has never been my thing. But it’s a fact that I only knit one beret (and probably about 100 hats) in all those years.
I guess that I used a pattern for that very first one, I don’t remember. These days I usually wing my knitting. So, when I dediced I wanted to knit a beret for my mother, I did just that. And that’s probably the reason that it turned out a bit small. As in ‘you can hardly see it’s a beret”-small.
I do have a big head. Most hats that are smallish on my head are perfectly good on other people. But if I remember correctly (from trying on her church hat when I was a girl), my mother’s head is even slightly bigger than mine. So I decided to cast on another hat and try again.
To be continued…
What I did:
CO 78 stitches (5 mm needle, worsted weight yarn), join in the round 1. K till end of round 2-9 K1 (twisted), P1 – repeat till end of round 10. K1, K1f&b – repeat till end of row ( 117 st.) 11-15 K entire round 16 P entire round 17-21 K entire round 22 P entire round 23. K18, k2tog, K19, repeat till end of round 24. K entire round 25. K17, k2tog, repeat till end of round 26. K entire round 27. K16, k2tog, repeat till end of round 28. K entire round 29. K15, k2tog, repeat till end of round 30. K entire round 31. K14, k2tog, repeat till end of round 32. K entire round 33. K13, k2tog, repeat till end of round 34.P entire round 35. K12, k2tog, repeat till end of round 36. K entire round 37. K11, k2tog, repeat till end of round 38. K entire round 39. K10, k2tog, repeat till end of round 40. P entire round 41. K9, k2tog, repeat till end of round 42. K entire round 43. K8, k2tog, repeat till end of round 44. K entire round 45. K7, k2tog, repeat till end of round 46. P entire round 47. K6, k2tog, repeat till end of round 48. K5, k2tog, repeat till end of round 49. K4, k2tog, repeat till end of round 50. K3, k2tog, repeat till end of round 51. K2, k2tog, repeat till end of round 52. K1, k2tog, repeat till end of round
Cut yarn and use darning needle to thread through remain stitches and pull to close top. Weave in ends.
NOT A STATION 