Or there will be matchy-matchy action going on. The last of the Camp Loopy projects for 2013 was to use at least 800 yards of yarn. Now I had already made a baby blanket for project 2, so my options for making a baby item that used at least 800 yards were pretty limited if I didn't want to make a second blanket. So, instead I decided to make one of the more popular baby sweaters.... eventually.
But first I made Mama Vertebrae.
I made the next to last size, and as you can see it is a little big on me. It is supposed to be frontless, so the fact that so much of my baby belly is sticking out is fine. But the sleeves should be a lot slimmer in profile.
I think it will still be wearable with the extra room, especially once I no longer have the bump. It's still pretty awesome.
I started the sweater a few days into the month (it was sometime while we were traveling from Massachusetts to Kentucky) and finished on August 31st. It probably would have taken me longer if I didn't have Camp Loopy prodding me to a finish. The final ribbing was 447 stitches per row, which needless to say was enough to make me want to put down the project a bit more frequently.
I used Dream in Color Smooshy in the color Flamingo Pie, and alternated every two rows. Now this was definitely a good decision, because not all of the skeins matched quite as well as others. The back view (on Ravelry) shows a bit more clearly when I added one of the new skeins and the two rows alternated to actually make stripes.
I used 3 mm needles for the body and 2.75 mm needles for the ribbing, and I did twisted ribbing because I really like it.
September 1st, after giving myself a whole evening of not knitting this sweater, I started the newborn version in the morning. I'm already on the straight section of the body. It is such a relief to be working on something faster than a mostly stockinette sweater for an adult.
I should have a second matchy sweater in a week provided I don't work too much on my other project.
My other project is to cook. To cook a lot. Fine, to cook enough food for the freezer that if the baby comes when expected (not early) that neither myself nor my husband will need to do more than plop something from the freezer into the oven or microwave in order to still eat in the first month or so of being parents. If I get us past longer than that, then good enough for me!
Of course, that means things like vegetarian pot pie, vegetarian shepherd's pie, split pea soup, chili mac, vegetarian beef stew, twice baked potatoes and pretty much anything else I can research and make between now and the next pair of weekends. While I would like to think I can make more than that, I would like to be pretty reasonable after all and not bite off more than I can chew. Anyone have some good freezer meals? I don't care if they are vegetarian, because I can probably modify anything for that!
