More baby knitting!

I think I mentioned earlier that there are more babies due in the family. Scott has a nephew whose wife is expecting their first baby early in the summer and I have a niece who is expecting twins in August.

Well, Scott's sister-in-law called last week to say that the baby shower for her daughter-in-law is March 11th. Great, I thought, plenty of time to make a baby sweater. Then she mentioned that she already is working on a sweater. Drats! I mean I could also make a sweater but I don't want to take away from what the grandmother-to-be is doing.

After much deliberation and starting a couple of different projects, I decided that I really, really wanted to make the Cables and Textures afghan from Leisure Arts book #3325 "Beautiful Baby".



There are no really tricky stitches in this pattern except for the purl 2 together through the back loop. I consulted Sally Melville's "The Purl Stitch" and found instructions for slip 1, slip 1, purl 2 together which works beautifully.

We already know she is having a little girl so I bought some Bernat Berella 4 in Baby Pink and started the afghan on February 20th. There are 192 rows to be done in the pattern and 14 rows on the two borders. I figured out I have to do 12 rows a day to finish this before the shower without making myself nuts. Here's what I have done so far:



I dropped a yarn over stitch on the purl side while doing one of the trees and it took some time to figure out how to fix it. I did finally fudge it and it's not perfect but I don't think it will stand out too much. It's on the first tree in the first set of motifs so I hope it goes pretty much unnoticed. I didn't take a picture of it. A couple of my cables look a bit off but they aren't. I think it's just the way the blanket is posed.

I wasn't sure how I was going to keep track of the chart without totally confusing myself. You complete one half of the chart and then go back to the beginning and knit it again. Then you complete the last half of the chart. I made a working copy of the chart and put it into a plastic page protector. Then I took graph paper and made chart with the 64 rows cross the top and the three repeating sections down the side for both the knit and purl sides. I have a roll of narrow sticky tape that was in my counted cross stitch stuff and is used for keeping your place on a chart. I just put this tape above the row I'm working on and follow the chart. The tape is meant to be used over and over so I'm not using much of it. It's working out very nicely.



I'm enjoying making this afghan so far. I still have quite a bit left to do but I think I can make it with no problem. I hope I didn't jinx myself by posting a picture before it's done. That's just the chance I have to take.

I was reading the blog of someone on the Sock Knitters list and I saw that she is a member of the Upstate New York Knitters ring. I immediately had to apply for membership! Then I noticed that the owner of the ring is Susan Healy Kribbs. I met Susan this past fall at a tailgate party for the SUNY Oswego Cross Country team. Our sons both run x-country and track for Oswego State! So I want to say Hi! to Susan. (She makes the best desserts!!)

Well, it's a snowy, blowy, cold day so I'm staying in today. Between knitting the baby blanket, painting trim in the dining room (we're still eating on tv trays in the living room), and doing laundry, I think I have plenty to keep me busy. I'm making spaghetti sauce for dinner and might even get something baked.