First Cousin Once Removed…….The vagaries of family lines

I'm debating how much energy and commitment I have to posting here today. I've a lot to share, but not the enthusiasm to do it all at once, though much of it should be at once. Hard to decide. I'll just get started and see how it goes.

It's all babies around here lately, with my Meg due any second (officially yesterday, we are all on pins and needles at every ringing of the phone, but Shakira-not her real name-seems settled and in a mood to stay put. Her mother is not of the same mind. Haha! Welcome to your first battle of the wills! May it be the first of many that are resolved with the give and take that comes of parent/child relationships, because Shakira is already letting her mom know who the boss of HER is!) and my sister-in-law (my brother's wife) Kristin due in about 7 weeks. Quick, do the math. We hail from a legacy of those who start in on the new generation even while still adding to one that is well established. Meg's first cousin will be younger than her own babe, and while it is a little mind boggling, we've got plenty of history along these family lines. I have first cousins in middle school, for Pete's sake. My uncle is in his seventies. I'll add quickly that my own brother did not wait quite as long and his wife is a young thing, so adorable in her pregnancy.

There have been showers and shopping and preparations, which on my end means a lot of baby knitting. Sweaters, hats, socks, blankets. I think I'll dribble them out over a few days, but what to start with.......

I'm scrolling through all of my photos and so many of them are overlapping, so it seems like I should just post them all, but I'll start with this baby blanket that I made for my new little niece or nephew.

 

• Pattern: Dots Blanket by Debbie O'Neill (this pattern can be purchased singly on the Interweave website)
• Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Seedling
• Needles: Size 5
• Cast On: May 2, 2014
• Bound Off: May 9, 2014
• Mods: The smallest size is 9x7 squares and I made this one 7x7.

There were many dark, rainy days around the knitting and photographing of these projects. Bummer.

I love this blanket, I really do. And I kinda love the yarn as well. I really wanted to keep this for myself, but managed to get it wrapped and delivered at the shower. The colors seemed to have more contrast to each other in the skein than they do knitted up, so I added a couple of random green squares to pull the green of the smaller squares out a little bit. The colors are quiet and the blanket has a warm, soothing aura about it. As for the knitting? Mitred squares are like potato chips, you can't take just one, which is probably why the thing gets done at all. While there are no seams at the end, you can end up with a lot of yarn ends to weave in, so I tried to knit in any that I could as I went along and at the end of each new row I took a rest from the knitting to tackle the resulting ends and while I am not one that cries aloud at the injustice and pain of weaving in ends (part of the process, no?) it was nice to get to the end and only have a few more to go and the blocking to wrap things up. 

The one thing that threw me off my game a little (keeping me up late, er, early into a morning a couple of days before the shower) was the amount of time for the border. Somehow in my head I imagined just picking up stitches and quick! Garter stitch border! Done! A few hours! 

no.

At one point there was time to adapt the border by leaving out a row or two, but I didn't listen to my own best judgement and went ahead doing ALL the rows. Stupid girl. I knew it had to be finished in plenty of time for the blocking, especially during those humid, rainy days. I made it. Whew. And with a little bitty sweater to go with it.

Yes, I did have to take the sweater back to add buttons, but the baby isn't due until July! And the sweater is a 6 month size! Plenty of time!

I just might have proof that it is all finished up waiting to share here. Meanwhile, there are photos on my ravelry project page that may not have made it here.

Maybe tomorrow I'll share the baby shower. It was so cute!

Seventeen. I just noticed the Disqus Comments invitation on the top of my posting page. Who uses it? Should I? What do you like? What is annoying?

 

Comments

[Your Brother]

So what if I am going to be a great uncle before I become a father!! You cant rush into these things!

And we are very thankful for the beautiful sweater and blanket you have gifted our child.

We will try to remember to get photo's taken by your professional photographer daughter to follow up this post with it on the baby!

[margene]

My family hails from the same legacy. My sister is two months older than her nephew and she's 24 years younger than I me. The blanket and sweater are darling! I know you've knit many more baby things so I hope you keep blogging to tell us all about it! xox

[Susan]

I'm tickled that today's post is all about knitting the greens.

[Kim]

I love all of these greens too! Same kind of legacy here as well. Hannah is not quite 6 years older than her niece. Best wishes to Meg on the impending delivery.

[Laurie]

Very cool. I'm thinking the green may stand out in contrast a little more in person. All.Those.Ends.

My family did that generational thing. I have a cousin who is ancient. Actually more than one. Their kids are my contemporaries.

[claudia]

You are awash in babies. What a great thing!

[CyndiG]

I just checked Facebook to see if Megan had given birth yet ... and saw that you were blogging again. Yay! Beautiful blanket and sweater!