Tres Chic Veronique

I was holding off until all gift knitting had been gifted... Well, we had the baby shower this sunday, so I can finally blog about knitting for Curtis and Jamie's baby! Now, I'm assuming that you enjoy seeing pictures of knitted items at least as much as I do, *however*, these particular pictures pose somewhat of a problem. You see, on one hand, they are the only pictures I have of these gifts, but on the other hand, I'd been drinking, um, well, a few mimosas.
If you are a nice person, a really nice person (and I know you are, I took a poll!), then you might call these "artistic". If not, feel free to leave a snarky comment.

First off, Liisa's Bitty Baby Booties, which she customized to look like Converse. Pattern by Heather Bailey. Check out the Bitty Booties group on Flickr. And check out Liisa's pic.

Next up: EZ's February baby sweater! (Made with odds and ends, some Zara, some Aurora).

What do you mean, it's blurry? OK, I'll use the flash:

Hm. That didn't help. And my subjects lost interest.

And, finally! Drumroll please! Preeeeeeesenting the piece de resistance, the MITERED SQUARE BLANKET!!

Aww, mitered squares will make anybody happy :)

(Not pictured: a gift certificate from a few of us for a few weeks of cloth diaper service. This company gives you enough clean diapers for a week -did I hear 80?!-, and picks up the dirty ones too!)

Specs:
The Mitered Square Blanket was made by (in alphabetical order): Betsy, Liisa, Maureen, Rebekah, Sarah and me.
Yarn: Rowan's All Seasons Cotton, 10 balls of Mocha and 10 balls of Sea Spray, a color that Rowan decided not to release after all. Why? It's a lovely turquoise/teal color.
Needles: I used 6s.
More deets: We made 42 squares, each 6". Yes, there was a marathon seaming session, which I ran mercilessly. Don't worry, the girls are still all speaking to me. Kinda.

All right, this time I'm really done with all the secret knitting. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to indulge in some girl talk (and perhaps a bit of partying?) with a certain someone who is about to leave this continent for a few months :(

Labels: Jamie Curtis baby shower

I always enter contests, knowing the odds are against me. But if you don't sign up, you will never win, right? Well, this time, I entered this contest and I won! Wheee! Jacqueline at Serendipity celebrated her 2nd blogiversary by giving away some of her precious stash, and let me tell you, she's giving seriously sweet gifts. Thanks Jacqueline! I feel like I might jinx myself if I mention exactly what those gifts are, as I'm still waiting for my parents' Christmas gift which the US customs is holding hostage. *sigh*

In other news, I've been busy knitting baby items. I know 3 babies that will be born in March. Three! I made a Baby Bog jacket for Gleek's Peanut. (I was about to crop Beth out of Jess's picture so as to show off the Baby Bog, but really, how could I crop Beth out? She is seen here holding up a Log Cabin Blanket made by Katie and Amanda).
Speaking of Beth, we wore matching outfits at the Spider Double Baby Shower! See?
(Now that I see the picture, it would have been funnier to have us pose sideways. A sort of Before and After pose if you will).

Pattern: Baby Bog Jacket from EZ's Knitting Around
Inspiration: Jess's Bog Jacket looked so good, and the construction seemed so intriguing that I had to try. And a baby-sized sweater is done so quickly! I look forward to helping Lisa write out the pattern for her Bog Jacket...
Yarn: Karabella's Windy in Raspberry and Chocolate (at least, that's what I call those colors, Karabella calls them 8 and 11). 100% cotton. This yarn is available at School Products, but I don't think it's been released yet. It is a DK/worsted weight *super* soft cotton.
Needles: Addis, size 6. (Not size 9 as recommended by the silly label).
Mods: Since garter st is so thick and I didn't want Peanut to be weighed down by this jacket, I knitted it all in stockinette. Oh, and I added some fair isle checkered squares (2 st by 2 rows) at the bottom. The jacket seemed a little plain, you know?

Now that I am almost done with baby knitting, I look forward to knitting for me me me. However, there are too many choices! I started ripping out Mermaid, I still have Panache and the beginning of a scarf somewhere in my living room... And then I got Glampyre's book, Fitted Knits. Here are my faves:


This book really has something for everyone. I brought it to Marie's fabulous spinning party (which I didn't even blog about!) and we each had a favorite pattern!
Oh, and I'm dying to make Domiknitrix's Goth sweater from her book, but the pattern hasn't been included in the book for space constraints and I've been told since November that the pattern will be released imminently... I have no patience. And I love Joan McGowan-Michael's Swan Lake short-sleeved cardi from the Spring IK.
I am holding strong on my Knit From Your Stash 2007 resolution though, so excuse me while I go stash diving...

Labels: baby bog, contest, glampyre

Here is the big pile of red bamboo that is Secret Project #2: After an 8am grafting session (not to mention a marathon knitting session last night), I am ready to send it out. Phew.
Now, Ladies (as most of the readers of my blog have identified themselves as such), I can knit for myself!

Labels: secret project

Check it out! (Although you might have to register for free to read the article).
Who knew that my hometown of Strasbourg would become suddenly hip enough to be in the NY Times? (And yes, I know most of the bars mentioned in the article).
And do you remember the picture of my high school that I posted in April? Well, apparently the NY Times likes my high school too: it's in the slideshow accompanying the article! Although they call it the "Lycee school", which literally means "high school school". First of all, my high school has an actual name : the Lycee des Pontonniers. Secondly, my hometown is the fifth largest town in France, and , as such, has more than a dozen high schools. This caption makes it sound like there's only one... Anyway, I can find more than one mistake in this article, but I'll stop being negative, ok? Cause my hometown is in the NY Times!!

This reminds me of a pet peeve of mine. I've been quiet about this because the knit blog community is a happy, positive bunch. As I've lived both in France and in the US, I'm always interested in "American in Paris"-type blogs. And here's the thing that drives me crazy: the majority of these bloggers complain about how silly and annoying the French are! (The lovely exception to this rule is Aimee). I remember one, now defunct blog, made fun of how weird French keys looked. Yes, *keys* WTF?! Ooh, it just makes me want to leave nasty comments! And this weekend, I did, I left a snarky comment on one of these blogs. I'm afraid to check my email now...

Labels: Strasbourg