the ANGRY KNITTER: The Big, The Bad & The Cuddly

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The Big, The Bad & The Cuddly
Monday, November 28, 2005

I'm making the "Big Bad Baby Blanket" from Stitch 'N Bitch for my cousin Cara. She's due January 1st and since I don't see her that often (she lives in New Orleans) the fact that she's pregnant had completely slipped my mind.

Yesterday I went to P&S Fabrics and bought several skeins of Bernat Satin in Sunset and Maitai. As you can see, I'm not a yarn snob. The yarn is soft, bright and shiny 100% acrylic. Everyone in my family acts like wool is then most unnatural fiber anyway, so I'm not going to feel bad about using acrylic.

The parents-to-be don't know if they're having a boy or a girl, so I'm winging it with the color. Cara loves orange and I don't like clichéd baby pastels, so I

went for bright and cheery orange and fuchsia. When I got home I made a few swatches and started knitting. I'm not following the pattern exactly, because my gauge is all off. I'm using a double strand of worsted instead of sport, so it's gonna be especially big and bad. I'm almost halfway done and I just started knitting it yesterday. Isn't that crazy?

posted at 6:26 PM . link .

. (5) comments
5 Comments:

You are such a good cousin. My dearest friend is preggo and due in Jan., and I still haven't knit anything for the soon to be born babe. I was thinking this blanket looked good, but worried that it would take so long that I'd resent it. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad!

The colors you are using look really great.

By Amy, at 9:28 PM

Ok, I made this pattern with a double strand of Shine and it took me like two months! (I was particularly lazy about it and the cotton was heavy.)

I can't knit with 100% acrylic (the sizing in it kills me) but I can get my behind over to LYS and buy some Encore Worsted, double it up on what...13's? 15's? and start working on the blanket I was *just* posting about on my blog, that I promised my friend who is adopting a baby girl from Guatemala.

By Jen, at 11:16 PM

I'm using size 13 needles. It's coming out huge. More like a kiddy blanket than a baby blanket. I had originally cast on fewer stitches and used a tighter gauge, but it seemed so tiny. Oh well. The kid's gonna grow, right?

By Spacegirl, at 12:44 AM

Amy, I know what you mean. I'm a notorious selfish knitter. I should rename my site! I just finished a sweater for my husband, the first ever knit him, which I started last year. First he said it was too warm (a double strand of Patons Classic Merino Wool will do that to you) but now it's his favorite thing. I'm also planning on making my grandmother an big old Homespun afghan for Christmas. I'm just waiting on these super huge circular needles I ordered to knit it.

By Spacegirl, at 12:51 AM

I also made this pattern using a Lion brand acrylic yarn called Pacific for my sister because she lives in Hawaii. It was a gift for her second baby. I used the needles the pattern called for and it was still HUGE. It probably doesn't matter what size needles you use.

By Anonymous, at 3:48 PM