What do you mean she had her baby?

Approximate Transcript of a Recent Phone Call:

Mom: Well, AVB had her baby this morning. It is a beautiful, as of yet unnamed, little girl.

Me: What? Already? No! I thought she was due the middle of May!

Mom: Nope, she was due the middle of April.

Me: Well, shoot. I thought she was due in May. Guess I'd better get going on her baby gift. Ugh!

I am frustrated with myself for several reasons. First, I purchased the yarn for the little girl burp rags several months ago. AVB loves my burp rags...she is the burp rags biggest fan! I kept thinking to myself, I should go ahead and make those girly burp rags for AVB, but I kept putting it off and doing other things because I thought I had lots of time still. In fact, I had planned on taking them as one of my airplane projects on my trip to visit Sister next week...because I thought she was due in MAY! Had I remembered that she was due in April, I would have had them done and mailed before the baby was born. Now I look like a last minute Johnny Come Lately...when really I was very prepared...just very blonde!

UGH!!!!

It Always Fits Baby Burp Rag

I love giving burp rags as baby gifts because they are useful, can be gender neutral, and no matter what size the baby turns out to be...they ALWAYS fit! I have a new "standard" burp rag that I have been making of late, which has become very popular with my child-rearing friends. I decided to share the pattern here.



It Always Fits Baby Burp Rag

Finished Size: 8"x14"

Approximately 150 yards of 100% cotton or cotton blend worsted weight.I recommend avoiding any yarn with acrylic...it will not absorb. And, after all, isn't absorbency the whole point of a burp rag?
My favorite yarns to use are:
Bernat's "Cottontots" (very soft and very absorbant(
Lion Brand "Organic Cotton" (also very absorbant...and eco-friendly!)
Debbie Bliss "Pure Cotton"
Queensland Yarns "Hyacinth" (great stitch definition.)
1 - pair US size 7 straight needles

Gauge: 20 stitches = 4 inches in garter stitch

Cast on 50 stitches

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: K3, P to last three stitches, K3
Row 4: Knit
Row 5: K3, K2 tog* to last three stitches, K3
Row 6: K3, Kfb to last three stitches, K3
Repeat Rows 3-6 till burp rag is approximately 11.5" long, ending with Row 4.
(In general, I knit 20 "ridges" in the pattern.)

Knit two rows
Cast off loosely.

Weave in ends, block if desired, burp baby.

(Prior to developing this pattern, I almost exclusively used the "Genius" pattern in the first Mason-Dixon book. I highly recommend it as well.)

Nephew's Baby Shower

I drove to Brother and Sis-in-Law's house on Tuesday to attend Nephew's baby shower. In a fairly predictable and possibly boring move, I took burp rags.

Seeing as how Nephew is family...he got 3 burp rags instead of my standard 2. (I had every intention of making 4, but can't seem to find the skein of blue yarn anywhere...and since I know I bought it, I refuse to just buy another. I guess I will just owe him one till it shows up.)

Also, I gave him the off-the-top-of-my-head-no-fore-thought toy. It is a baby block. Sort of. Once I stuffed it it morphed into more of a ball.

I had actually seen patterns for baby blocks, but they all seemed to involve knitting the 6 sides separately, and then seaming them up. I hate seaming up.

Then I remembered back to my elementary school days, when I used to make paper dice with my friends by cutting cross shapes out of construction paper. So, I knit a cross, and then seamed and stuffed it. (Yes, seaming up was required, but not nearly to the same extent.)

It came out pretty cute. Maybe I will type up the pattern and post it. (And maybe if I used foam instead of stuffing it would stay a cube...)

Proud of my Productivity

Today was a good day, knitting wise. Actually, this whole weekend was very productive on the knitting front.

-I wove in the ends and delivered two baby burp rags at a baby shower this afternoon (Bounce's mom, Vintage, is having a baby boy).

-I designed, knit, then fiddled with and redesigned the purse for the next adult Get Knittin' @ the Library program.

-I started the felting of said purse...unfortunately, it is still really cold, so the booger is taking FOREVER to dry.

-I winged it on yet another gift for Nephew...I will post pictures and pattern once it is delivered.

-I completed the body of Martinelli, one strap, and have started the second strap. It should be done by the end of the week. (Fingers crossed.)

-I got some more burp rags done to replenish the stash.

-I did a wee bit of work on my Gotham socks. (Have I mentioned those?)

-I lined up some knitting lessons with Mama L. I guess learning to knit was one of her resolutions.

-Finally, I picked up several commissions at church last night. 2 sets of luxery yarn wristwarmers, and a pair of fingerless gloves. (I have a new pattern I found for fingerless gloves that I am anxious to try out.)

Not bad for four days...especially four days in which I did endeavor to have some semblance of a social life (shopping trip, New Year's party, baby shower, girls trip to San Jose, dinner out with friends...)!

Why I REALLY Love My Job

Yesterday: another teen movie. (Well, to be accurate, the same movie, a different library branch...so really just another screening.)

Finished: another burp rag.

YAY!!!

The truly exciting thing was that this burp rag had a much more intricate stitch pattern, but since I had JUST watched the movie the day before, I was able to pay more attention to what I was doing!

Why I Love My Job!

I supervised the teen movie at the library today.

I was able to get one Burp Rag done.

I get to supervise another teen movie at a different branch tomorrow.

Perhaps another Burp Rag will be done as well?

They Come In Pairs

I spent the evening with Brother, Sis-In-Law, and Big Ben at a reading by one of my favorite authors.

I then took advantage of my family, by turning them into handknit couriers. I asked them to deliver a pair of burp rags I had made for a couple I know from their church.

That was when I came to a stunning realization:

I always make burp rags in pairs!

I thought back. The first burp rags I made were for AVB. I made them two. I went through everyone I have made them for...they always get two.

So, I decided to break tradition.

My nephew is going to get TWICE as many burp rags as a normal run of the mill baby! I am going to make HIM four! (In his nursery colors: orange, green, brown, and white!)

Samples Samples Samples

I have been working hard to have a respectable number of dishcloth samples for my program tonight. I have 2 that are actually the pattern I am teaching them, and then two that require knowledge of a YO and a K2TOG.

Had this been a year ago...or better yet the day before the 2007 company Christmas gift exchange...I would have had SCADS to show the students from my gift stash. Sadly, having most of my stuff in storage, in combination with the deluge of incoming babies, has totally depleted the stash.

So, instead of going to my handy dandy shelf, I have been scrounging in my kitchen drawers for examples that are not TOO TOO grungy. I also have decided out of desperation to take along a couple of burp rags...they are essentially the same thing anyway.

This whole adventure has led me to two conclusions:
1. I really need to work on beefing up the gift stash again...I mean seriously...there is only ONE coffee cup cozy in there.
2. I am in dire need of some new dishcloths for my own use. Honestly, some of these are shameful.

Knitting + Beer Bread = Bliss

Tonight Broseph came over to help me finish with the move. But, since Twilight had been over on Thursday and today was my day off, I was pretty much finished. All that was left to do was hang artwork. After being surprised at how MUCH artwork I had, there wasn't a whole lot for Broseph to do. (Although, I did ask him to open a pickle jar that I had been trying to open all week...there are some things you just need a guy for...)

Once we had all the stuff on the walls, and had eaten some pizza, we decided to watch Music and Lyrics and decompress. I put some beer bread in the over and sat down to...KNIT!!!

It was glorious.

I wove the ends into 2 dishcloths that are samples for library programs:



I wove the ends into the 2 commissioned baby burp rags:



I wove the end into the first bunny burp buddy:



...and then I finished the second bunny burp buddy:



And then I ate some beer bread. Warm. With Butter. And Honey.

It was AMAZING: spending time with a friend, on my orange couch, knitting lots, eating fresh baked bread, in my own apartment, with my own pictures smiling down from the walls. Life is good.

If Only I Had Some Cotton...

I was sorting my stash during a school lecture today, so that I could take a chunk of it back to the storage unit.

While sorting I came across enough cotton to make dishcloths for an entire subdivision and burp rags for an entire maternity ward:



I think I can put the kibosh on cotton purchases for a good long while.

On the other hand, I am teaching another knitting class at the library in June. This time it is for adults, and this time we are making dishcloths. So, see? These aren't impulse buys, these are work related purchases! (Isn't justification a wonderful thing!?!)

Yet Another One Bites The Dust

Yet another completed baby gift to cross off the project queue:



This one is for Red. She doesn't know what she is having, which kind of limits me. She was on the burp rag list. I had the yarn cast on and everything. Then while surfing around for patterns for Niece or Nephew, I came across one for the Bunny Blanket Buddy. (I would link to it, but you have to be a member of the Lion Brand club to access it.)

It was an incredibly speedy knit, and a little cuter than a burp rag...although it can serve the same purpose. It is also knit from Scoubi Du, only this time in the yellow stone wash.

As we speak it wings its way to the Midwest, where Red is NOT awaiting it, since she doesn't know it is coming!

Her oldest daughter Twilight, on the other hand, is expecting something in the mail...I should probably go work on finishing that, too!

(By the way...did I mention that a week or so ago I recieved news that yet ANOTHER friend is expecting? Or rather, his wife is? As a guy friend he can just take the burp rags and deal with it!)

Getting Ready for Aunt-hood

This weekend I went to Sacramento, to Brother and Sis-In-Law's house, to help them get the baby room ready.

Since they are adopting, they don't know what gender their baby will be, when it will arrive, or what it will look like. Those are a lot of unknowns for a knitter like me who does not deal well with uncertainty. What am I supposed to knit? What color should it be? When is my deadline? AAAH!!!

Baby will be my first niece or nephew, so NOT knitting something is not an option. Neither is waiting until Baby arrives, because NO niece or nephew of mine is going to go a day without a hand knit demonstration of my love!

I am overcompensating. I have yarn to make a girl sweater and yarn to make a boy sweater. These will wait till after the arrival. I have also started a crocheted receiving blanket.

Until then, I am falling back on my old standby...BURP RAGS:

Gifts Given

Belle's baby shower was today.
(For which I made oodles of petits fours...not knitted, but still crafty!)

I gave her the sweater for Blossom.

She loved it.

I also delivered the first completed set of baby burp rags...for Baby Peaches.

They were appreciated as well.

I'm Just A Girl Who Can't Say No!

I have been commissioned by the branch manager at work to make...fanfare please...MORE BABY BURP RAGS!

Apparently the library assistant who was in my position before me just gave birth to twin boys...2 1/2 months early. My manager wanted to get her a Babies 'R Us gift card and some handmade items. I am the only person at the library who makes handmade anything. She asked how long baby blankets would take, and I told her that I honestly didn't know...that I usually make burp rags for people since they are both utilitarian and speedy.

(Thankfully the Miss-A, the children's librarian, reminded my manager that in addition to working full time, I also have personal projects I work on, AND a full graduate course load. Bless her!)

My manager agreed at this point that burp rags would be lovely, was overjoyed to learn that I make them out of cotton instead of acrylic, and requested that I make a couple in blues and white. She said that I would be reimbursed for supplies and time.

So now... in addition to the SEVEN friends/family members who are pregnant and deserving of handknits...I have MORE baby gifts to make for someone I have never even met!

(Bright side: burp rags make good brainless knitting during school lectures, and I don't have to have them till the end of May since the babies are in NICU till then!(not that the babies being in NICU is a bright side, just the far off deadline.))

Baby Burp Rags

It is funny. The most praise and gratitude I ever received for anything I ever knit came from a pair of baby burp rags that I knit for Wake last year.

Honestly, just the other day, AVB remarked to my mother how useful and wonderful they had been. (Wake no longer needs them, but she had been packing up his baby stuff and came across them.)

The thing is, these were REALLY low-key, brain-free, super fast knitting projects. I used the genius baby pattern out of the first Mason-Dixon book, and two colors of Cottentot yarn by Bernat. They took me a couple of movies each. The main reason I went with burp rags instead of my usual quilt was that AVB, at the time, lived far far away, and I needed something I could mail for cheap.

Lately, with the huge spate of babies being born or about to be born around me, I have been frantically looking for cute sweater patterns, planning baby blankets, baby beanies...lots of teenie tiny things.

Really though, I don't have a lot of time on my hands between school and work. So, why mess with perfection? Baby burp rags may not be all that impressive, but they sure are utilitarian. And most important...they are FAST and EASY!!!!

One baby's down:

A zillion more to go!