Anne makes some brief remarks about socks

Hi, it's Anne. As a knitter, I always wonder if people actually use and like the things I knit for them as gifts. Of course, this is the kind of thing you could wonder about any gift you give, but because I put so much more time and love into the gifts I make, I wonder a little more. And it's not the kind of thing you can ask about and expect to get an honest answer. Anyone with manners will say "Oh, I love it, I use it every day!" even if your craft has been stuffed in the back of their closet.

For example, I have made a cute and easy bib from Vogue Knitting on the Go: Baby Gifts for several people. Here's somebody else's raveled version; I didn't take pictures of mine. In retrospect, I don't know what I was thinking making these things. I doubt they were ever used - the recipients probably thought something handmade was too "special" to be used to soak up baby drool, and recent experience has told me that handwashing baby puke out of handknit items is a total pain. (Of course I used machine washable yarn for the bibs, but I'm not sure I mentioned that to my giftees.)

But socks are, in my opinion, a fabulous gift. Everybody needs them and can use them. After I dropped several very broad hints, my mother kindly made me the Red Devil socks mentioned last month. They are great, I've worn them several times and they seem to stand up well to machine washing. My husband has huge, crazy Sideshow Bob feet and the gigantic socks blogged about here fit him perfectly. He's a man and therefore doesn't really care about socks, but I think they're terrific.

So far we're two for two on socks as gifts. This brings us to the socks my mother made for Rosie. Sooo cute. However, I put them on the baby's feet at 10:00 am on Tuesday. The first sock was off by 10:06, and we had two naked feet by 10:09. Oh well, you can't win them all. And honestly, the wool is not machine washable, and I doubt I would have had the patience to handwash them very many times. I have put the socks on Raggedy Ann; she seems to like them and they stay on perfectly.

OMG, Anouk!

Hi, it's Anne. I know the last post I wrote was about Rosie, and this one is too, but after this I'm going to be quiet about her, I promise. This is so not a blog about baby stuff.

That being said - ANOUK!!! I have mixed feelings about Kate Gilbert. I don't share my mother's enthusiasm for the clapotis - I think it's too bulky to be a scarf and too small to be a shawl, so I don't really get the point. Plus, I get grossed out when my mother calls it the "Clap."

However, I adore Gilbert's Anouk baby pattern, and was beyond thrilled when my mother knit one. I know you're all dying to see what it looks like on Rosie, right? I'd say she seems to like it.

Anne on Knitting for Baby

I'm very fond of Melanie Falick's Knitting for Baby: 30 Heirloom Projects with Complete How-to-Knit Instructions. It would probably bore any of you experienced knitters out there to tears, but it's ideal for a beginner. It teaches knitting, one step at a time and one chapter at a time. For example, the first chapter teaches the knit stitch. Then it says, okay, if all you can do is knit (no shaping, no color changes, nothing), here are some projects you can do. And they're actually decent things someone might want! There's a hat I've made that's done as a rectangle with no shaping, and it's actually adorable. Then the book takes you through the other basics: purling, shaping, colorwork, etc., with projects to do as you learn. It's really great, and I like the look of the book, which is very wholesome and earthy with nice pictures of real-looking babies. It, along with a couple of skeins of baby yarn and some knitting needles, would make a great gift for a pregnant mom.

When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to knit for my baby. I also knew, however, that my mother would want to knit, too, and that her blankets and sweaters would undoubtedly put mine to shame. So I focused on hats and booties, which I've never known her to knit, and which are a specialty of mine, as I've made many in the past few years for pregnant friends.

Two of my projects came out of Knitting for Baby. I used a nice soft baby yarn (I think it might have been Simply Soft Baby) trimmed with some leftover Lion Brand Jiffy. Yes, I know, acrylic is yuck, but I like it for baby items. Actually, I like it in general, so there. I made both of these projects over a couple of days while on vacation in Michigan with my parents.

The first project were the Beginner Booties. Here they are, modeled by Rosie:

I really like this pattern; they're knit on straight needles and seamed, so I was able to avoid my hatred of knitting in the round. I've made them loads of times, and my only problem has been that they come out too big. So I modified the pattern. I really have no business modifying patterns, I have no idea what I'm doing 90% of the time, but this worked out. They're now perfectly sized for a 3-month-old; you can see my modifications on my Ravelry page.

Next I made the Garter Stitch Cloche:

Again, this is knit on straight needles and seamed. It uses some very clever short-row shaping. It was quite lucky that I was with my parents at the time, because it was my first experience with short rows and I was a bit confused. Fortunately, my mother was in the middle of her sock knitting frenzy and was therefore a bit of an expert on short rows, so she taked me through it. The top of the hat came out a little bit hole-y, so I stuck on a pompom to cover it up. Plus, pompoms always jazz up baby items.

Anne's nose

Anne here - I just have to chime in about the last post. I'm the model and my nose TOTALLY doesn't look that big in real life. It's the angle at which the photo was taken. Really.

Also, the headband (which I received for Christmas) is even cuter in real life and is nice and soft.

Anne on Things my Mother Made Me

Hi all, Anne here. I finished the manly scarf I mentioned in my last post; it's all wrapped up with a matching hat (which came out...just okay. I hate circular knitting.) and waiting for my father-in-law to open it on Christmas. The project got me thinking about knitting gifts. I never never never knit anything for myself; I'm just about exclusively a gift knitter. Consequently, the vast majority of hand-knitted items in my house were made by my mother as gifts for me.

She hasn't made me a sweater since the disaster of the yellow sweater. It really did look bad on me and I really do detest yellow. However, that was nearly 20 years ago, so maybe I'd be ready for her to try another sweater for me (hint, hint, mother). Lack of sweaters aside, she's made me a few great things, several of which have been featured right here on this blog.

I was the lucky recipient of the squatty purse. I love love love it. I'm a total purse whore, and this one was a winner. It's actually very functional, as the felting made nice strong material. I've gotten lots of compliments on it. I also received the Absolute Friends scarf which I'm pretty sure was a project that bored her to tears. She had no say in the design process - I dictated the exact color and yarn texture that I desired - and there was absolutely no challenge in the execution of the scarf, as I'm pretty sure it's just garter stitch.

She also made me a pair of adorable slippers:

Please excuse my pudgy white legs. These slippers are so great - felted, and she even put some kind of glue on the bottoms to make them slip-resistant. These were obviously made with me in mind - I love mary janes, and teal is my favorite color. I love them even though I don't wear slippers very often. When I first got them, I wasn't sure how they were made; I thought they might have been knit on circulars, but how the heck does one get an oblong shape on circulars? (Is that even possible?) Then I realized that they must have seams, I think on the heel and toe, but the felting mashed everything together so well that the seams are imperceptible. Neat-o.

The one gift that she made me that I use the most is my afghan. It's made out of my favorite yarn, Wool-Ease, and is nice and soft and drapes nicely to the body, which I think is so important in an afghan. There's nothing worse than a stiff, non-drapey afghan. How does that happen? Is it the yarn's fault? Did the knitter knit too tightly or use too small of a needle? Stiff afghans are a real travesty; fortunately, this one is perfect. Here is my husband enjoying it; doesn't he look warm and cosy?





















In my next post: sticking with the theme of mothers knitting for daughters, I'll show some of the things that I made for my little girl. If you're lucky, I might even post pictures of The Cutest Baby in the World (TM).

Introducing Anne!

This is not Beverlyanne writing, it’s her daughter, Anne. I’m the cause of the family crisis that kept her away for so long (A word of advice: try to avoid spending 28 days in the hospital if you possibly can. It sucks.) and the mother of the new granddaughter. I’m also a knitter and will be doing occasional guest appearances on this blog.

I’m the youngest of at least three generations of knitters in our family. I was taught to knit by my mother, so, like her and the aunt who taught her, I knit in a peculiar left-handed manner, throwing the yarn with my left hand even though I’m right-handed. I seriously have no idea how people can throw with the right hand; I tried it once and ended up dropping my needles on the floor.

Our shared odd knitting style is where the similarities between my mother and me as knitters begins and ends. There are a lot more differences; here are a few of them:

• My mother is a total yarn snob; I am not. I have no problem with acrylics as long as they’re soft enough. I have no compunctions about buying mass-produced yarn at major chain retailers. My yarn choices are often influenced by what’s on sale. Right now, the project I have on the needles is being made with a Jo-Ann Fabrics house brand in a wool-nylon brand that I got on sale for a buck fifty a skein. I doubt my mother has ever bought a house brand.

• I am a much lazier knitter than my mother is. I loathe making gauge swatches (why do the work of knitting one when you don’t end up with a useable product?), so I avoid projects that really require them whenever possible. I’ve never knitted a sweater for an adult because (A) It would take too long, and (B) I’m worried it won’t be flattering, and I will have spent all that time knitting something unusable.
  

I don’t like to spend more than a week or two on a project. Generally, I prefer scarves, hats, and baby items. Small projects are almost like instant gratification! I guess I’m just one of those members of the MTV generation with a short attention span. I’m trying to get past this to try more interesting and challenging patterns.

• I don’t share her obsession with buying knitting books and magazines. I do love my trusty knitting stitch dictionary, but I think that’s the only book I really need. With websites like Ravelry and Knitty, I figure I can fill 90% of my pattern needs for free online. The rest of my patterns come from books from the public library. I am a librarian, and let me tell you: libraries buy tons of knitting books, and we’re eager to have you come and check them out.

So I’ll leave you with a picture of my current project. It’s a scarf, made in a super-simple 2x2 rib (I prefer patterns simple and mindless enough to be knitted while watching TV) in that Jo-Ann house yarn. I actually really like it, although I’m hoping that I can block it so the rib texture is less scrunched together than it is right now. It’s for my father-in-law; do you think it’s manly enough?