Another month has whizzed by and I’ve been knitting and crocheting every day.  On October 20th we found out that our baby is a boy so I could finally choose a cute baby item and yarn to knit something special.  I had already started a gender neutral baby blanket in tunisian entrelac to keep myself busy.  The blanket is made using 2 yarns; Joann’s Sensations Breeze Self-patterning and Sensations Sublime.  I found both skeins in the clearance bin which now leads me to believe both have been discontinued.  I purchased the yarn with baby in mind.  They are both a DK or lighter weight yarn requiring a small hook.  I’m using a 3.25mm hook although it calls for a 3.5mm because I don’t have what a need.  The self-patterning yarn is a bouclé which can be a bit frustrating with the small hook as sometimes I just catch a fiber or two versus the yarn itself.  After a quick refresher at My Life in Knots blog I quickly remembered that I really, really enjoy tunisian entrelac.  Luigi and the Goomba were both done in tunisian entrelac and here I find myself a year later working in the same method.  There’s something about working in small squares in the round that is very satisfying.  The self-patterning yarn is fun to work in regarding colors.  Every square is a little bit of a different color and I love seeing what will happen to each subsequent square as I go.  The white yarn is my reprieve from the colored bouclé.   Tunisian entrelac has a front and back side.  I’ve thought about maybe sewing the finished piece to some fabric but the lovely knitting night ladies have said that the back is ok and doesn’t need to be covered.  I guess I’ll see how I feel about it when it’s done.

After finding out our little babe is a boy I immediately hit the Ravelry pattern search for a knitted sweater or vest.  I found the cutest little vest with owls on it.  These little owls have caught my eye several times but I just don’t see myself wearing them in a sweater, but a little boy vest is perfect!  A Caffeinated Yarn blog is where I found the pattern and fell in love.  Things started falling into place after finding my pattern of choice.  Stitches East was in town at the convention center and there I could buy some nice yarn to work with.  I bought Valley Yarns Superwash merino yarn in a blue green color.  On top of that, my Knit Picks Options Interchangeable Harmony Wood Circular Knitting Needle Set had also arrived via my sister-in-law.   I think I ended up casting on 3 times for the project.  Twice before I realized that the cables I had were too long and then a third time for my actual start.  I’m using my long cable(32 or 34″, I’m not sure) because I have to use the magic loop method instead of just knitting in the round smoothly.  At first I was a bit disappointed at that because my only other experience with magic loop was knitting my 2 purple sweater sleeves and where the two sides ‘joined’ in the round there was a bit of a gap.  I mentioned this at knit night and they all said that with practice that gets better, so I’ve just made sure to pay close attention and not let there be extra slack when knitting those stitches bridging the gap.  Last night I reached my first goal of knitting 4 inches of the vest and it was time to start cables for creating the owls.  I actually find that using the magic loop is perfect for this!  The vest has owls only in the front so I have all the owl stitches on one side of my loop and all the back stitches which are just continued in stockinette are on the other side of the loop.  Yay!  So far my owls have little feet and bellies.  Today I will probably get into the faces and from there who knows where I’ll stop- I get a bit carried away sometimes.  Being pregnant does remind me to get up, walk around and stretch all my leg muscles though so I can’t get too carried away.

Before the blanket and the vest I did a test-crochet for someone on Ravelry.  She had posted the cutest little giraffe amigurumi in the Crochet Finished Projects of the Month thread for September.  I commented saying I couldn’t wait to try out her pattern when she posted it on Ravelry for all to use.  She sent me a private message asking me to test her pattern.  I was so excited!  I wanted to crochet the giraffe in some un-giraffe like colors but couldn’t find 2 yarns in my stash that were of similar weight and complimented each other.  Oddly enough I did have a yellow and brown that met the requirements to work together.  So a normal colored giraffe it would be.  He worked up quickly and for the most part I found no kinks in the pattern.  The pattern is very nicely written and the giraffe is practically seamless.  It also requires very little sewing which most amigurumi crocheters are not very fond of.  I finished him off, took pictures and sent my comments to the creator.  A couple days later the pattern was published for all to use: Geoff Da Giraffe.  My giraffe needs some stitched on eyes and then I will consider him done.  He will be part of my baby’s stuffed toys and I made sure to crochet him with that in mind.