*insert cute & witty title here*

All I can focus on right now is the fact that my belly is full of garlic cheddar biscuits – a la Red Lobster.  Now that I’ve stated that fact, let’s carry on.

I’ll start with the least happiest piece of knitting news – the big bad baby blanket is gonzo.  Evidently I was not meant to knit a blankie for my nephew.  After failing on attempts #1 and #2 on the baby chalice blanket, I gave attempt #3 a try with the big bad baby blanket pattern (read all about that here, if you’re interested).  I’m such a slow knitter, so it took me what felt like eons to finish just one ball of yarn.  After joining the second ball and knitting about one third of it something became glaringly obvious – ball #2 was a whole lot more blue than the first.  To quote Mos Def’s character from Be Kind Rewind:  “what the duck”.  What the duck, man!  Maybe the difference in colouration is not so noticeable to you, but it was enough for me to wave my white flag.I surrender.  I will not knit a blankie for my nephew.  I will find some other cute toy/sweater/hat, etc to work on and hope for a better outcome.  Suggestions?

Thankfully just before the baby blanket incident, I finished an awesome cowl using some awesome yarn.  It’s Balsam by Ilga Leja and I used just over one skein of Fleece Artist Woolie Silk 3-ply.  I so rarely block my knitted garments, but in this case it was necessary to widen the shoulder portion of the cowl.  In doing so I totally stretched out the neck part as well and when he tried it on it was just flimsy and lifeless.  I had no idea whether re-blocking would fix that mistake but I went ahead and tried it anyway, soaking only the neck portion in hot hot water, then pinned it back onto my blocking board.
It worked!  And he modelled it for me too.  I still have just under one skein left of this yarn and am stumped as to what to make with it.  Matching fingerless mitts maybe?  But which pattern??  Again:  suggestions anyone?

Now that the baby blanket project has been squashed and his cowl is finished, I’m free to work on whatever I want – plus my March Sockdown! challenge socks; my periwinkleberries.  I worked on those at stitch ‘n bitch this week and got about 3 or 4 pattern repeats done.
And yes, I lay the sock in progress on top of the soon to be frogged baby blanket for this photo… Anyways, I’m pretty sure I’ll have to knit more than the 8 pattern repeats that Twinkleberry originally calls for – otherwise these will be more like ankle socks.  The yarn is super nice.  Soft and silverly blue.  Nummy.

Ooh I finally bought the Thermis pattern a couple weeks ago.  Trouble is, now I’m not sure what colour or type of yarn I want to use.  I’m trying to be good and not buy and new yarns, so I think it’ll have to be knit with something that’s already in my stash… But even then there’s too much to choose from!  I’ve narrowed it down to two choices:
I’m leaning towards the lilac colour.  Also want to make some *somewhat matchy* fingerless mitts for me too, to go with the cowl.  Oh gawd, and I have to choose buttons yet!  Dare I ask for your opinions again?  Geez, I’m super needy and indecisive today aren’t I?  LOL.

One final thought:  must dig out my spinning.  She has inspired me – what an amazing crafter!