Making preparations for the next Big Project

This weekend, Pete and I attended our birth preparation course, calmbirth ®. It's a pretty full-on weekend, even this time, which is the second time we've attended.

Peter Jackson, who has developed and run this course, is just the most wonderful, lovely man with such passion, interest and concern for mothers, fathers and babies to help couples work together to welcome their babies into the world in the most peaceful, calm and beautiful way. WonderBoy joined us in 2006 in just such a wonderful, joyous experience and we wanted to make sure we did all we could to birth Little One in the same way next January.

I'll let some quotes from the calmbirth website explain it properly...

"calmbirth® is a childbirth preparation programme where,

during the calmbirth® classes, pregnant couples learn:

• to access their natural inner resources to alleviate the fear , anxiety and tension experienced during pregnancy, labour and childbirth
  
  
• the practical skills of Relaxation, Breathing and Visualisation which are used during pregnancy, labour, childbirth and beyond
  
  
• how the mother's body is beautifully designed to birth her baby naturally and calmly and with the right preparation, to work with the process rather than resist it
  
  
• the importance of a mother's beliefs and attitudes about birth and how these can be one of the major differences between a positive or negative birth experience
  
  
• the importance of bonding with their baby and how this effects their baby’s future life
  
  
• to be empowered to take control of their own birthing experience"

If you, or someone you know is expecting a baby, this course is well worth it. Do go and visit the website if you're interested. We can absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend calmbirth® - and we can't wait to meet Little One very soon!

Your expensive, or my expensive?

I'm motoring along on the sock, which is good. I have sock yarn on the brain at the moment though, which probably isn't terribly practical, as I really should be either finishing the Noro lace scarf I began back in September (?), or knitting more baby things - I have the rest of the 'Baby Mine' Socks That Rock mediumweight earmarked for a little hat (the 'Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap') to use up the lovely yarn and to have something nice to go with 'Baby Mine'. There are other patterns queued up to be started as well, including several I already have the yarn for... which, when used, would pave the way for more yarn purchases.

Logical, yes? Then why am I still dwelling on socks?

Yesterday, when I had the luxury of a browse through the yarn shelves at Lincraft without WonderBoy in tow, I bought a little something for Santa to deliver in my stocking this Christmas. I was *supposed* to be looking for interesting colour combinations in 100% wool, DK weight to use for a restart on the OpArt blanket but I just didn't feel it, y'know? Nothing was speaking to me.

I had trawled the shelves several times over, and I stopped to look right at the bottom, thinking I might see more colours. What I did find was Lincraft-branded self patterning sock yarn! I have been over those shelves many, many times and never, ever seen sock yarn. EVER. No price tag, around twelve skeins of only five colourways, and all just sitting there!

They aren't the most inspiring, amazing, write home about it colours, but they are attractive and will knit up nicely. I grabbed one of each, disregarding the fact that there was no price listed anywhere, and made my way to the checkout.

The lady attending the till saw how pleased I was, and in response to my saying I'd never seen sock yarn at Lincraft before, remarked "Well, we've always stocked this" (I didn't think you did, but I'm not going to argue over sock yarn), and added as she scanned each skein, "It's expensive, though".

'Oh crap', I thought on one half of my brain, as the other half said 'How expensive could it be? This in Lincraft'. I was informed that each skein was the princely sum of AU$12.95. As the second half of my brain said 'Nyah-nyah, nyah-nyah-nyah' to the chick at the till, the first half did some quick calculations and made the executive decision to ditch two skeins (don't worry, I'll get them next time - I don't think anyone will find them!).

What I found a little interesting was the personal interpretations of the word 'expensive'. When I told this lady that most to all of the sock yarn I've ever bought had been online, and I have paid upwards of AU$30 for a skein before (I didn't tell her it was Hand Maiden and was a cashmere blend, mind you), she looked at me with a half sympathetic ('you poor idiot'), half derisive ('you poor deluded idiot) look on her face as she asked for payment.

THEN, I got the "I'd never knit socks anyway, why would anyone want to do that" comment. I figured I had not met a kindred spirit, to quote the lovely Anne Shirley, so I thanked the lady and moved on.

And now all I want to do is knit more socks!

By the way, I did find two colours I really liked for OpArt this afternoon, a kind of grown-up lime green and a nice winey purple, but since they were Jo Sharp DK, priced at AU$7.50 per ball, and I knew I'd need a minimum of eight balls, and because Pete was with me... I knew it was 'too expensive'.

For me. Today, anyway.

Second Sock Syndrome and an Unhappy Beginning

I cast on Knitty's OpArt blanket a couple of weeks ago, and I'm not happy with it. Well, I'm not happy with my yarn and colour choices, actually. I just don't think the circus-type colours are going to have that cool 'OpArt' effect that the pattern is capable of...
Trouble is, I don't know if I really want to go with the black and white which, striking though it is, just doesn't quite say 'baby blanket' to me.

So, which colours??

Dark pink and light pink... what if it's a boy?
Dark and light blue... what if it's a girl?
Dark and light green... I'm warming towards this combination. knithole on Ravelry has gone with this combination, and I think it looks quite effective. As I've looked through the 95-odd OpArt projects, I've seen another few colour combinations that look good: This one, by Mav, uses blue and purple and looks really good. And this one, by chaoticcrafter, looks very cool with teal and burgundy.

I think I'll have to trawl a few shops and try to think creatively.

In the meantime, I've started the mate for this sock. It's Yarn Harlot's 'Plain Vanilla' sock pattern, in Regia Galaxy, colourway 'Jupiter Blau'. I originally started it on what seemed like incredibly small needles (close to 2mm, I think) and it took me till well past the ribbing and into the leg to realise just how small this sock was turning out (and how bloody long it was taking to knit!).

I frogged it a couple of weeks ago once I'd finished the Linen Baby Blanket and began again on 2.75mm needles, and it's knit up so much faster!

And so to sign off, I'm going to indulge in a couple of wedges of what my family calls "airport Toblerone" (the giant ones that they make - in my family, if you travel overseas, you bring an airport Toblerone back for each family member. It's what you do.) and then I shall get back to work on the second sock!

Photos photos photos

A quick post, purely to show off the Radiating Star Blanket for our Little One that I've just finished in 'Rowan Linen Print'... I'm feling quite pleased with the way the colours turned out, personally, so I've taken quite a few photos of it both indoors and outside in the sunshine... lovely stuff...

Mama loves to knit... Baby does too!

Delicious news to report - I know that I'm more likely to feel Little One kicking when I'm at rest, rather than when moving around (the movement rocks the baby to sleep, and he/she wakes up for exercise when I'm still), but over the last couple of weeks, I've discovered that more so when I rest to knit, Little One really gets going!

I've just finished another baby project - a summer blanket knit from Rowan 'Linen Print'. The yarn is now discontinued, I think. I got a big bag of it from a local yarn and embroidery shop who were trying to get rid of it. Usually priced at $16.50 per 50g ball, I got each ball for $4.00 - good stuff! It has a lovely feel and drape to it when knit up; I've already made a lace top from it for myself, and with each wash and wear, it just becomes beautifully soft. And so, with Little One due in January, a lighter blankie made of linen seems quite fitting. The pattern came from Ravelry, called 'Radiating Star Blanket' by Alexis Layton. It's quite a nice one to knit and very easy to pick up the repeats, especially when knitting in front of the television! I'm still weaving in the ends (many of them); in fact, it's something I'm supposed to be doing right now - and I'll post photos once it's blocked and looking bee-yewtiful...

I've also started the OpArt baby blanket from this season's Knitty, but I have to say, I'm not enamoured so far. I just don't like the colours I've chosen, and I think I need to use the 'colour-and-white' combination that the pattern suggests... I just can't bring myself to pick a single colour!

Photos to come - I must get going and keep weaving in the ends...