KnitFreak

His momma loved him in his jacket! Check out the two of them:

Isn't he cute? My sis says that he'll fit in the jacket in fall... I hope she's right! Although, the weather here's so bad right now, it's cold and rainy, so he might get to wear it for a bit until it gets too warm.
The yarn I used was Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, with 55% merino, 33% microfibre and 12% cashmere, and I used 2.75mm and 3.25mm circular needles. That yarn is heaven to knit with, so soft! No matter if the pattern instructions suck or not, you'll love that yarn. Which brings me... to the pattern. It's from Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino Book, the "Cardigan with Fair-Isle Yoke" or so it's called. The jacket knits up nicely, and the pattern in general is okay too, but the instructions... I have my doubts here. The measurements are according to the age, but when I flipped through the book, I noticed that there are different measurements for the same age. I see that that can be possible for sleeves, but for chest measurements? Sure, not every baby has the same size at the same age, but instructions should be continuous throughout a book, shouldn't they? And the other thing that I didn't like about the book was that the patterns are written out only. No drawings, no sketches, no outlines, nothing. And when there's one thing I don't like, then it's "blind" knitting where I don't see where my knitting goes.

Anyways, it was manageable, just a bit uncomfortable. I mean, the book isn't cheap, and neither is the yarn, so one should be able to expect something... more detailed. Whatever.

I have to say... me likey very much! Despite the imperfect instructions, this was an easy and fun knit. Would I knit it again? Definitely. And I'd change the measurements again, just like I did with this one (I made the body and the sleeves longer than the pattern calls for).

Now, up to the next project! Today, I finished the first square for Grace, and my SockapalOOOza socks are totally done! They're drying now and I hope to be able to mail them tomorrow. So, I might get to knitting myself a little something (finally!), a summer top, soon. Yay! Hopefully, when the summer top's done, it will be warm enough to actually wear the thing.

Josephine is done! The parts were sitting on the stash box next to my spot on the couch, and last week I thought, 'what the heck, I might as well put in the sleeves', just like that. The time seemed to be right. (Or should I say, it seamed to be right?) Check out the results:

I'm soooo glad I finally did it! And to be honest, seaming the sleeves wasn't bad at all. Au contraire, it was pretty easy. Actually, I can't believe how easy it was - maybe because the last bit I knit was the collar, and I couldn't stop swearing at it.
It's a very comfy cardigan (I made it longer than required by the pattern), and I already wore it here on chilly nights because I get cold easily. I guess I'm glad that I knit it, but I doubt that I'd knit this one again. The cable patterns weren't hard to make, but the yarn was so big and the needles were even bigger (7mm and 7,5mm), and the weight was quite hard on my wrists and hands. Maybe I shouldn't have used straight needles and opted for some circular needles... I'll never know, and frankly, I don't think I want to find out.

Thanks a lot to everybody who encouraged me to finish this! Without you guys I wouldn't have made it.
(Oh, and thanks to K, who took these pictures before!)

You have probably heard of this already. Grace is a little girl in Canada, and she suffers from Leukemia. So, Cynthia came up with the idea of knitting squares to make a blanket for her. Everybody who's interested should sign up, because, come on, how much time does it take to knit a square of 5 inches (about 13 centimeters)? And when there's more squares than necessary for one blanket, Cynthia will make one for Grace's friend, Simone. And if there's still more, then she'll make blankets for the other kids in the cancer wing of the Alberta Children's Hospital. Email Cynthia if you're interested!

And another thing: You might want to check out this website. It's the National Marrow Donor Program (national for the U.S., but I think it also works for Canada), and if you'd like to donate your bone marrow, register! I myself am registered with the German bone marrow data base (my German readers, check it out here). When I was in my second-last year in (high) school, a class mate, Britta, was diagnosed with Leukemia. She was a nice girl, just a few weeks younger than me, and she suffered hard. She spent her 18th birthday in hospital (the 18th birthday is very big in Germany, because then you come of age), so she could spend Christmas at home. Well, Christmas came, and she had to stay in hospital. Then, in spring, the doctors said she could go home because she had beaten the disease. (Although, with Leukemia, you have to be disease-free for 5 years until doctors can say you're healed) A few months later, however, she was back in hospital, her Leukemia being worse than before. She lasted 6 more weeks, then she died. She was a fighter until the end.

Britta got me thinking: What if I have the bone marrow that she needs? So I got registered, because I couldn't stand that thought; I just couldn't go on with my life as if nothing had happended. They examine your blood when you register, to see if your profile matches the profile of somebody with cancer. The donation is a comparatively easy thing - they take the marrow from the pelvic bone, not from the spine! That's what many people think, but it is definitely not true. They put you in general anesthesia, take out the marrow, and that's it. Afterwards, I've been told, you'll walk like a heavily pregnant woman for a few days... but I bet everybody could bear that, if another one's life might be saved by this! And your body rebuilds the taken bone marrow within a few weeks, so you won't be lacking any.
I also heard that there's an easier procedure where they take stem cells, but I don't know how they do that.

So, get some information, and then register! It's a relatively easy thing for the donor, and you might save a life.

Now that it's getting warmer again, I'd love to knit something summery. I subscribed to Interweave Knits early this year, but for some reason the first issue takes ages to get to my mailbox (that's a long story...), so I couldn't look at the current spring issue. And other magazines... didn't contain anything that appealed to me. But I found something in an old IK summer issue - the Victoria Tank. It's so yummy and summery, so today I ran into town and started looking for the required yarn (I'm lazy with substituting... I actually haven't tried it before, and I'm too afraid to mess it all up), but I couldn't find it. I'm not sure if it's discontinued, or if it's simply hard to get. Anyways, the pattern calls for "Fortissima Cotton" by Schoeller Esslinger, which is actually a sock yarn, that's what I found out. Apparently it's pretty soft, with 75% cotton and 25% acrylic. There's a similar yarn by the same company, with basically the same name, but with wool blended in, as well as some cotton. That's not the one I need though... so if anybody has an idea where they still sell the Schoeller Esslinger Fortissima Cotton, let me know!

The Radio Box is ready to head off!

I don't want to spoil the surprise for the recipient, but I can say that much: the Radio Box is going back to the US of A! So, watch out for the mailman!

Today, I rushed to the post office to get there in time before their lunch break. I made it in time, but the office was closed anyway - due to a works meeting. Aargh!!! And the worst thing is that I don't have time today to go to another post office... I'll have to postpone that until tomorrow. (...now I know why it's called "postpone"...)