Babies pose an addition set of problems. On the one hand there are tons of short knits that are quick, easy, and everyone loves them. Hats, little coats, booties, etc. These knits are fun to make but as I learned from the last series of hats I made (the little fruit hats) the babies grow out of them so fast! It's like in the blink of an eye it goes from a cute hat to something they can never use again unless its to dress up dolls or for a sibling. Now baby blankets, those tend to last longer, depending on the size...but guess what? They aren't quick knits. The big ones that last forever also take forever (when compared to other baby knits, and when you have 6 of them, time is a factor).
So I'm stuck. I've made one baby blanket so far, it's a lot darker than I really anticipated (and for sure darker than anything anyone else would give them) but it's very rustic and I like it... in the same breath I think it's small but I'm known for making baby blankets that are much larger than what most baby blankets are.
Now I have a baby girl for the next due date. It's my cousin. Part of me says I should make 2 things...something for the baby and something for the older boy who I found out about when he turned 1 and so didn't get to make him anything. (Texas is a black hole in my family...you move there and we never hear from you again). I'm doing my best to knit down the stash of yarn that I currently have, so there's no problem in needing more yarn, but I don't know what to make the boy. Not really sure what he's all interested in, and despite the few times it's snowed in Texas, it doesn't feel like a scarf needing city. Maybe I'll stick with just the baby. A coat perhaps? Another blanket?
There are three people on the list that the decision of what to make is easy. Matt and Gretchen got the binary blanket...so something similar must be made for thier child (who thankfully is due in October and can be rolled into a Thanksgiving or Christmas gift). There's Alex and Larissa who got a little shirt last time, something similar seems fitting. And lastly Jason and Tiffany. I can't remember if I blogged about this or not, but Tiffany wanted a pair of socks for her wedding.... a few weeks after her wedding I gave her the socks. She jumped up and down, was estatic, and everyone else thought I (and probably she) was insane. So, obviously, her baby girl is getting socks, or booties more likely. If I can manage to make them so tiny. That being said she will likely get a basket, a bunch of those small little knits. Booties, a hat and coat maybe. Go for the full ensemble. Even if the little one does grow out of them so fast, that one day that the kid will wear them will warm her mothers heart so much that I'm sure it will be appreciated.
That leaves two left to be figured out. (And since I'm packing up things and preparing to move I need to be sure I save some yarn for these projects, or pack them in an easily labeled box...thankfully I do have tons of other yarn that can be packed away right now, since they are destined for other, non-baby things).
One last thing. Right before this baby boom rose up and caught my eye, I was working on a whimsical knit for a friend of mine. She used to have some fancy rats as pets...yes they are called "fancy rats". After being over to her house I noticed a lot of rat knick-nacks, so I know it wasn't just a passing "oh wouldn't that be fun". Now she and her husband have a dog and no more rats, but that didn't stop me from knitting: Rat Race! It's a scarf that I always wanted to knit, but never really knew who to knit it for. I'm not a huge fan of rats so it didn't seem fitting to me to make for myself or others who aren't really rat people. So I'm glad I found someone who will appreciate it. When I started out making these I followed the pattern (or so I thought) and when I got to the 6th rat I paused... the kit said that there was just enough yarn to make 8 rats, don't bother knitting a swatch because then you'll run out of yarn... I was on 6 rats with enough yarn to make a dozen more. Clearly something was wrong... I was skipping this one line in the pattern that said "Knit 22 rows" so I guess I was making mice instead of rats. Since the yarn is cut for each rat, I decided to start a new with different yarn. I picked up some nice Jasmine blue pearled yarn and got to work, remembering the Knit 22 rows his time. These rats looked much better, last week I got nice gem eyes for them. Red of course to match the slighly creapy beady red eyes that white rats I've seen look like. Now that I have finally taken a picture of them for my collection, I can send them along to her and watch as she *hopefully* jumps for joy at another cool rat thing. This scarf will be more of a spring/fall scarf as I don't think it's think enough or wide enough to survive well in the sub zero Colorado winters. But it'll be fun to have around...even if just used as a table runner or something.
That's all I have on the needles right now (aside from a sock that's 1/4 done to complete a pair) I'll try my best to keep you all posted as I complete this series of baby boom projects.
