Saartje’s Booties
Posted: September 26, 2010 Filed under: knitting 4 Comments »“Professor, what’s another word for ‘pirate treasure’?”
“Well, I think it’s booty. Booty, booty, that’s what it is.”
The people that I work with love having babies all the time. When I first got the job, I stupidly set the precedent that I would knit some cute baby item for each of these births. For the first few, I made the umbilical cord hat from Stitch n’ Bitch. That one is easy and quick and people seem to like it.
But for this fall’s round of babies, I decided to branch out and try the Saartje bootie pattern. It’s a pretty popular one on ye olde internet, and everyone says that it’s also quick and easy. And c’mon, they’re kind of charming too, right? Tiny human feet!
As I’ve done for the past two years, I bought the materials and put it on my to-do list well in advance of the baby shower or due date or whatever. Then I procrastinate and distract myself until the weekend before it’s “due”. These booties were no exception. Before yesterday I had the blue pair about 60% complete. And now two pairs, 100%, bam. I think I work best under pressure.
The pink pair turned out a little better overall. Mostly because I did them second so all the screw ups were on the blue ones. Also because the pink yarn was more plush. The pink pair is Plymouth Yarn Dream Baby DK (acrylic/nylon) and the blue ones are Dale Baby Ull (merino wool). Although they were both DK weight, the gauge was slightly different and I used the same size 2 needles, so the pink ones turned out a little bigger and taller.
Overall the actual knitting part of these was super easy. The pattern could not be less complicated. The finishing made me a little crazy though. For each bootie there are like 400 loose ends that need to be woven in, plus sewing on the buttons and making half-assed little button holes on the end of each strap.
I get frustrated and tired of fumbling around with tiny little needles. US#2 is definitely the smallest I’ve ever actually used on a project. To reward myself for the tiny needle toil, I’m going to start my next project on super huge gigantic needles. This knitted stool is going to be a sweet ass addition to my office-in-progress. I just need to locate some US#19 sized needles. Oh, internet…. !
To-do List, August 2010
Posted: July 27, 2010 Filed under: kitchen, knitting, office 7 Comments »In lieu of sharing with you all of the things I’ve done lately, here is a list of the grand ideas I have for the next month. I just have to get my ass in gear and make it happen.
1. FINISH THE KITCHEN
Of course, the kitchen updates are no big deal. It’s not a “renovation” by any stretch. That investment won’t come for quite some time. But in the meantime, I’m trying to make some aesthetic and functional updates that will make it better in the short term. We’ve already painted, made a window treatment, and installed a magnetic knife strip. And the two little things I still need to get up are a shelf behind the stove, and some kind of artwork on the only blank wall in this room. The shelf is oh so close. And I’m flip-flopping on what I want to put on that wall.
The other issue in there that I’d love to deal with is the tiny closet. It used to be a fold-out ironing board cabinet, but now it’s a spice rack. The inside is entirely unfinished. I originally thought I’d just paint it white, but Praz had the genius suggestion to wallpaper the inside of it. My mom is on board with this idea, and told me to look at stores like Sherwin Williams that sell wallpaper and might have remnants that I could buy for cheap. So I need to investigate that.
2. MAKE A PLAN FOR THE OFFICE
I broke away from my plan of working on only one room at a time. But opportunities presented themselves that were hard to pass up. This past weekend my “paint whisperer” father came in to town and did away with the wretched aqua color on the walls of our office room. The room is now a soft grey, and it looks wonderful.
I plan on using two short bookcases, a desk and and armchair that we already have. But it’s going to need a lot of extra crap to get it looking good. Speaking of that armchair…I found some good ol’ boy who does re-upholstery, and I’m going to be able to get a hand-me-down old chair spruced up for $230, including fabric. Try finding a brand new, comfy, good-looking armchair for less than $400. More on that later. It’s going to be totally sweet in here pretty soon, but I just need to get some shit going.
3. START KNITTING AGAIN
Two of my co-workers are having babies, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend money on someone else’s unborn child. My standard new baby gift is the umbilical cord hat from Stitch ‘n Bitch. It’s super easy, and I’ve been using up old yarn making them for the child bearing folks over the past two years. So I’m thinking about trying out the Saartje’s booties pattern. They’re so dang cute, and even though they use devil baby DPN’s, they’re small enough that they should be quick to knit.
Also, I have a deep need for this knitted pouf. It seems easy, I would just have to buy those monster needles and some big yarn. I have to finish two sets of booties, though, before I can reward myself with this. Committing that statement to print makes it a definite. Oh, let’s also not forget I haven’t knitted a single thing in like six months, so god help me to even get one bootie done.
