Things for Bébé

Things are piling up! You know the booties and hat already but thought I made them for my future nephew--but I fooled you; they are for the Peanut (the blanket Green Leaves really is for him, though. I made my boy a different blanket... just keep reading!). The cardigan is my friend Sam's new pattern Greener Pastures, which I test knitted for her and which has just been released.

I really wanted to use Malabrigo Worsted, and I really wanted to use a variegated colorway, and I really really wanted to use Kaleidos, despite (or perhaps because of) the pinks and purples. So the cardigan may not have "boy" written all over it, but I think it'll be super cute over a blue onesie. I used just a tad over one skein and have plenty left over for the super cute Aviatrix hat.

To make up for the pinkish cardigan, I knitted the Peanut a very blue baby blanket.

It's Anne Hanson's Hourglass Throw, published by Brooklyn Tweed, and it is super duper übergorgeous. For the first time I tried Stonehedge Fiber Mill's Shepherd's Wool, and, gasp, after this I shan't return to Cascade 220. It is OMG-squishy and yummy and nom nom nom.

I knitted the blanket while watching plenty of British mysteries, but I can't recall a single plot. The pattern is cables and lace and different WS rows and... and demanding. Not difficult, just eyes-glued-to-the-chart demanding.

This, BTW, is the actual color (I just got Lightroom and am in the experimental phase... I go a bit overboard when it comes to color correction and sharpening... hopefully practice makes if not perfect than at least better):

I played with the pattern a bit to get a square, rather than rectangular, blankie; mods are noted here.

I can feel the Peanut kicking and punching all the time now; even Conrad felt him and almost jumped out of my lap. We're getting ready to meet him. :)

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And speaking of Bébé, have you noticed the title Bringing Up Bébé in your bookstore? I thought only my mommy circles paid attention to this look-how-seemingly-cruelly-French-women-raise-their-kids book (apparently very differently from Americans, who, according to a recent Time article [complete with controversial cover photo], by and large follow Dr. Sears' philosophy of Attachment Parenting, by which mom never leaves baby's side), but it was mentioned in a very, very good article in the NY Review of Books. and now it's sitting on my night stand. I haven't read it yet; I started with a different book, also mentioned in the NYRoB article, which is an excellent read: should you have the slightest interest in evolutionary biology, the politics of parenting, feminism, the mommy/career debates, or are a mom, or have wondered about what the "maternal instinct" really is--and whether it exists--, I highly recommend anthropologist's Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's 1999 Mother Nature. Great read!

Enough about moms... Happy Father's Day!!