Baby Blanket – Yards of Happiness

FO: Wasabi the Whale and the Sea of Chevrons

Remember the baby blanket I was talking about last week for the baby we thought would get here this week? He arrived Friday night. Clearly he was too excited to join us out here in the real world and Matzah Ball (as he was known in utero) is now Eli! I like to think as I was finishing his blanket on Friday night he was so excited about it he decided to be born but clearly I had nothing to do with it…or did I? So before he was born my girlfriend sent this picture of his room.
Matzah' room
I actually had a bedroom floor to ceiling in that shade of green and it was my absolute favorite. So clearly since she was going with a favorite color palette of mine I was happy to knit him something. So I went with a trusted pattern and did the Chevron Baby Blanket (a free pattern from Purl Soho) but decided to make the green the accent color on the ends and have two row wide stripes in alternating grey and navy blue.
Matzah Ball's blanket
The end results I love, it’s a great blanket knit in Knit Picks Mighty Stitch Bulky on size 13 needles so it went super fast. But she also told me she was ordering navy blue curtains with whales on them for the window and the next day I was scrolling through Instagram and saw this post from @NoKnitSherlock of Wasabi the Whale.

I had to make a whale for the baby, right? It was fate!
Matzah Ball's blanket and whale
Of course I had to make one! I whipped this up in a couple of hours on Saturday after walking in a 5k for Pancreatic Research. I was tired, it was hot and I figured I could knock this pattern out that afternoon while I rested. I started around 3pm and by 7:30 I was sewing on the last fin. I think since I used child safe doll eyes I already had he looks a bit more like a manatee than a whale but either way he’s still a cutie.
Matzah Ball's blanket and whale
And he looks like he’s swimming in a sea of chevrons! I’ve said I want to make more knit toys for the little kids in my life but just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. This might be the motivation I need to pull out my fun colors in my yarn stash and make a few toys for the kids I love so much. Oh and in case you were wondering, I knit Wasabi out of the Caron Simply Soft that I knit Eli’s matching hat with last week. And in these photos he has already had a run through the washing machine and dryer and looks marvelous. He should hold up to years of hugs and kisses.

Stitching Status: Progress & Projects

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I’ve been knitting, but I haven’t taken any finished photos of me wearing my projects. Work is hectic and it’s been rainy here so it has been keeping me from showing you the color changing yarn on my finished Royally Striped cardigan! It’s kind of awesome so I hope I can get a time lapse video showing the color change. Fingers crossed it brightens up around here soon so I can get some UV rays on my yarn!
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One of the things I’ve loved when I made the Royally Striped cardigan is that I used an entire skein of Miss Babs Yowza – this was all that was left! It’s a mega skein of 560 yards of yummy light worsted weight yarn and is slowly becoming a favorite. I was worried I might have to crack into the other skein but I didn’t which means it can be used in another fun project. I really do play a lot of yarn chicken but since I didn’t use the same colors like in the pattern I wasn’t 100% sure what yardage amounts I would need. Needless to say, it all turned out just fine and I totally want to make this cardigan again. Maybe the next one will be more neutral? Or maybe it will be a gift for someone else? Who knows.
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In other news, I’m currently working on that baby blanket to go with the tiny green hat I made the other night. I decided on chevrons but I’m doing solid blocks of green with navy and light grey stripes of chevrons in between 3 blocks of green. I think it will have a great contrast and make the green really pop. I’m sure my girlfriend will love it and I’m sure her baby will be snuggled with it for years to come.
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Whenever I knit the dogs are glued to my hips on the couch, they’re good company. I’ve only had two occasions where Jellybean was hyped up and ran away with my ball of yarn thinking it was a toy but I quickly got it back. But I’m always snapping photos of them and usually sharing them on my Instagram stories but this pic of Jelly…every time I look at this photo all I can think of is Dumbo and the line, ‘you can fly, you can fly, you can fly!’ LOL She’s all ears and cuteness. Hopefully over the weekend I’ll have lots of sunshine and time to properly photograph my latest finished object and with the way this baby blanket is working up I’ll be finished with that soon too!

June 7, 2017June 7, 2017 by IamDWJ Categories: Baby Blanket, blue, Color, green, Jellybean, Knit Picks, Knitting, Miss Babs, My Dogs, pink, Sweaters, YarnTags: #yardsofhappiness, baby blankets, Color, Jellybean the dog, knitting, life, Royally Striped, Yarn 1 Comment

The Little Things

Remember that fluffy chevron baby blanket I knit in February?
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This weekend I got a chance to snuggle the recipient. Is there anything in the world better than snuggling a newborn baby? She smelled so good and gave these deep little sighs like she was just so exhausted. Ahhh…so sweet. Loved it! (And yes, I’m wearing my Four Color Fable cardigan.
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Coming in at a close second to snuggling a newborn is snuggling a dog. I did a lot of this on Sunday. I’ve still got a slight lingering cough so I’ve been taking it easy so in between spring cleaning and catching up on so much other stuff but I made sure to pause and snuggle Cher for a bit on Sunday. She’s going to be 13 this summer so I try my best to soak up as much good stuff as I can.
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And with my spring cleaning I decided to switch Jellybean from wearing hoodies to polo shirts. LOL My friend gave me these from his sweet little chihuahua Chico who passed away a few years ago. Chico is pretty much the reason I wanted a dog and Steven had been holding on to his stuff even though his dog Sophie is much bigger. He knew the good stuff needed to go to a good home and he chose me! We feel honored to keep Chico’s memory alive. And in knitting news…how about a sneak peek?
Little Women Lillian cardigan
This is my latest finished object and I’m mildly obsessed with the pattern this yarn has made. Can’t wait to share the details this week!

April 10, 2017 by IamDWJ Categories: Baby Blanket, Cher, Jellybean, Knitting, My Dogs, SweatersTags: #yardsofhappiness, Baby Blanket, baby knits, dogs, knitting, sweater knitting, Yarn 12 Comments