Decisions & Photography
So I’m pretty much done with my baby blanket and it’s time to choose a new crochet project. I’ve been thinking about making a baby cardigan. I only have time to make one, but I’ve found several patterns that I like and I can’t decide which one to try. So here are pictures of the cardigans, keep in mind that whatever colors or detailing I implement in the finished project will be gender neutral, so don’t let flowers or ruffles or whatnot throw you. I’ve indicated what pattern it is below, along with a note about changes I’d make.
With the exception of the bottom right one, all of these were actually designed by a mom with a baby, so I’m pretty sure any of them would work in real life to put on an actual kid. I’m intending to make a long-sleeved version of whatever I pick – it’s rather rare for it to be actually warm here, so I’m not worried about weight and the upcoming summer.
From top to bottom, and left to right. These are all Ravelry links, so you may not be able to access them without a Ravelry ID.
- Swing Set Cardigan by Linda Permann (I’d add long sleeves)
- Bombay Love by Rima Aranha (I’d add long sleeves)
- Baby Kimono Wrap by Susanne Visch
- Anna Cardigan by Robyn Chachula (long sleeves, front ties, and no flowers)
- Sorrento Hooded Cardigan by Mon Petit Violon
- Baby Hoodie (& hat) by Caron Yarns (add front ties)
OK! Now that I’ve got that out of my brain, let’s try something else. Here are my two favorite pictures I’ve taken lately.
Mmm, fennel.That lovely lacy plant is fennel, which grows wild here, and in this particular park, grows well over six feet tall. It remains tasty, however, no matter how big it gets. But I digress. Most likely, I am hungry and it’s hard NOT to remind me of food in some way.
What I intended to say before my stomach stepped in is that this picture is from Temescal Lake. It’s 5 minutes from my house, a small lake created by a dam and improved in one of those charming 1930s Army Corps of Engineer projects. It has a tiny beach, lots of fishing, and a couple of rustic stone buildings with a cafe, cookout areas, swimming amenities and such. We take Wesley there on the weekends and walk, and play ball with him in the open fields.
We walk near dusk, when the lake is calm and the ducks are out and the sky is beautiful. Pacific coast sunsets rarely fail to impress. It’s a peaceful spot. It’s hard to remember that the land depression the park sits in was created by the Hayward fault subsiding. The park and lake actually sit right on top of the Hayward fault line. If an earthquake happened? Perhaps this park would not be the calmest place to be. Of course, if there really WAS a big earthquake there’s not a spot in the area that would be calm.
On that note, I shall depart to go stare at my baby blanket, and attempt to finish it!
Wishes: Happiness
I told a friend the other day that when I make something for The Kid, it’s usually a way for me to express a wish for my baby – health, happiness, warmth, safety, that sort of thing. In this case I made bunting, which is a wish for joy.
I also put a little thought into what the baby might like, so this bunting features a complex pattern with high contrast colors, both elements that babies tend to be fascinated with, from what I understand. Plus there are all sorts of gently waving parts when you turn on the fan. It’s probably hung to high to be interesting at first (I think sight range is initially something like 18 inches) but it will be there for a while.
I’m actually pretty thrilled with how it came out. As you can tell, the room is quite white, and our landlord forbids painting, so I’m looking for ways to inject color into the space in fun ways.
It may also be true that I love rainbow colors.
I’m thinking in terms of wishes these days because of the odd contrast of fragility and sturdiness of babies, and I suppose humans in general. There’s lots I can try to do to help this little person in the world, but there are lots of things out of my control, too. Sometimes all you’ve got is the hope that things will work out okay and hopefully make sense eventually. I’ve had a lot of those moments during the last six months, and at those times I’ve just tried to put my wishes into something I make and hope for the best.
This wish is for happiness. I suppose I am remembering babies watching something or someone that fascinates them with either a big wide-eyed stare or giggling at something. That was always awesome. That’s what I was going for.
Plus, these rainbow colors are quite cheerful. I loved rainbows when I was growing up. It actually made me really sad when therapists started telling people that children who draw rainbows are probably depressed. I was not depressed, but I loved rainbows. Therapists can be crackpots.
This also makes me feel better about color. Anyone who knows me knows that I have strong feelings about how completely inappropriate it is for people to be shoehorning tiny infants into genderized roles before they have a chance to find their own personalities. This often translates into a general distaste for the blue/pink themes that follow you everywhere in the new-parent world. Add to that my general dislike of of pink and pastels in general, and … well. You can tell I’m not really a candidate for 90% of the stuff marketed to parents.
So rainbows and primary colors make me feel a lot better.
If only the rest of the room were as done as this banner. If you looked below this, you’d see about 18 sewing projects on a table where the crib is supposed to be. NOT READY YET. Luckily I have three more months.
P.S. Details:
1 – Yarn: A combination of things. There’s orange and oatmeal from Vanna’s Choice, another orange and green from Red Heart Soft, the blue is TLC Essentials (nasty yarn, that), and I have no idea where the red is from. The label was lost years ago.
2 – Hook Size: If only I’d written it down. But I did not.
3 – Triangle Granny Pattern: I made up the triangle pattern from looking at my inspiration pictur/blog post. At some point I went looking to see if there was a pattern, and on one of Loretta Grayson’s Flickr photos I found reference to a triangle granny from Lee Ann Hamm. It’s pretty much what I did, except I simplified the first two rows. If I make more triangle grannies I’ll write it down this time.
4 – Tassels/SC/Chains: As far as the tassels and connections go, I figured out the tassels as I went, and the whole thing hangs together with a single crochet in the top of each triangle connected by five chains between. Each end has a dangling end of 50 chains. Then I went back and added a second row of single crochet along the whole thing for stability.
Losing my mind
In anywhere from one to four weeks I will finally reach the third trimester. Apparently this milestone is marked by the rate of baby development and not by calendar date, so it occurs roughly between 26 and 29 weeks. What this means on a practical level is that this kid is growing in size rapidly, and therefore so am I.
Every two or three days I grow enough in size to develop what I think of as “pregnancy walk” where I waddle a bit and can’t get up from chairs, and can’t sleep due to the pain in my pelvic region. Then I get used to it and go back to walking and sleeping normally. Rinse and repeat. It is *almost* comical, but not quite. I tend to start misplacing my sense of humor when I’m really tired.
All this growth, plus the greatly increased kicking that’s going on, has made me much more aware of impending motherhood, which has produced the desire to want to make ALL THE BABY THINGS ALL THE TIME. My Ravelry queue is looking a bit like a nursery.
From these urges was born two pair of booties and a small hat. There is another hat in progress. You see, I made the mistake of going to a Jo-Ann’’s last week, where I got lost in the yarn aisles feeling which yarn was the softest. I came home with Bernat Bamboo in linen, which is ridiculously soft, and the forest green is some stash yarn. I got lost in the fabric aisle as well – those projects are yet to come.
It’s a really disquieting feeling for a generally logical and non-sentimental person like myself to find myself in a yarn aisle feeling like I’m going to weep at any moment over the unbelievable cuteness of a tiny sweater in some book of crafts that I’d normally find rather pedestrian or tacky. It makes me cringe, thinking of it. I’m assuming all the hormones make most pregnant women behave somewhat kookily, but it’s hard to be comfortable with the level of strange behavior that I’m evincing.
However, it does explain why I came home with purple Fun Fur, lavender yarn called Cuddle (no kidding) and buttons, despite having no idea what to do with them.
Oy vey. And all I went to the craft store for was printable fabric.
