Knitting is not the only craft, and the renaming of the Squeeze

Knitting is not the only craft - well in our household this week anyway. I've been painting Mr Wriggly's room. It occured to me as I feverishly sugar-soaped walls, masking taped corners and slapped up paint during the young lad's naps that I should have done this before he was born. It would have taken a full day or two at the most. Instead it has spun out to almost a week.

Still, some of the delays were unforeseen. While sugar-soaping I discovered a bubble in the plaster. I brought it to the attention of the Squeeze, who before you could say 'Knit Widower' (which he is demanding to be called these days), had stuck his fingers through it and discovered a huge crack running from the inside of the room to the outside wall. This explained the mystery leak in the downstair's ceiling.

I left the Knit Widower to work his blokey magic and fix the crack he had so merrily excavated out the second story window. I came back later to find him hanging out the window with a trowel in one hand and using his other hand to stuff fistfuls of cement into the crack. "You may have knitting" he called down to me, " but I love cementing!"

It occured to me then that I had actually married McGuyver. I have seen the Knit Widower scamper up a makeshift ladder in a storm, lash himself to the chimney pot with a scaly bit of old rope he found abandonned in the back lane and calmly fix cracked roofing tiles. Then there is legendary time he and his mates were riding their motorbikes from Sydney to Philip Island for the Grand Prix and one broke down. He fixed the bike with some chewing gum and one leg off of a pair of pantyhose. What they were doing with a pair of pantyhose on that trip is more of a mystery to me than how he actually used it.

Anyway, painting a room for Mr Wriggly has allowed every member of the household to engage in some form of craft. Here is a quick snap of the finished product, and chance of me to flash my Babette once again.

Indulge me

One last shot of the Babette. I really am so pleased with this project!

Babette! Done!

Phew - the final double crochet edging around Babette has finally been done! Heres the last set of granny squares waiting to be sewn up. It really was worthwhile blocking them. Made sewing up much, much easier, and while the final outcome could never be called square, it has a pleasing eveness that soothes the inner pedant.


Babette in situ. Reminds me a bit of Klimt.



I can have a baby now.

Swatching and crochet - who'd thunk it?

Madge aka Knit Devil has discovered a new knitting deity. Swatchii, has 8 arms, blue skin and around her waist she wears a belt of 1,000 ill-fitting knit garments. Swatchii has been smiling on Madge as she casts on new projects with complete abandon. It is sensational to see!

Alas I have not been properly observant in my duties to Swatchii, and the Stern One has not smiled on me in relation to the large twelve row squares in Babette. In a fit of enthusiasm, these were the very first squares I made for the blanket, and didnt even think of swatching. Its crochet, right? It just slips perfectly off the hook, right?

Of course, now its come to seam up the sections, I'm realising that gauge applies just as much to crochet as to knitting, and for reasons of shapeliness a twelve row square really should be pretty much the same length and breadth as two six row squares, or six two row squares. This simple mathematical discovery has lead to this:


I've now almost redone the 12 row square. Heres a comparison of the old and the new, my gauge has changed considerably, and for the better I think. Its now much tighter, the stitches are more even, and even more importantly 2 x 6 = 12 no matter how I arrange the squares!


Post script - after blocking the new 12 row square, it appears I've still not pleased Swatchhi as its now that bit too small. I cant be arsed doing it again, so I'm just going to do another round in the same colour as the current last round. That should plump things out to about the right size.

And just so things dont get too claustrophobic and granny-square oriented, I noticed this nice reflection of the new rice paper light shade on the swallow.

Babette, coming together segement by segement

Meanwhile, frenetic Babette action has carried on. Have managed to drag myself away from crocheting to quickly update you.

So far I have discovered that while it seem like scaling new heights in pendantry, it is worthwhile blocking granny squares. This is especially the case for me as my tension has changed from the beginning squares, where it was quite loose, to the later squares where it has become firmer and much squarer.



Seaming by sections is the way to go, otherwise the task of assembling the squares according to the key would assume the scaling of decoding the Rosetta stone.


Finally, heres a shot of the dining room table. Yup - its chaos. But laying out the work in progress seems to be fuelling the crochet fires. You can also see crocheting necessities - dried cranberries, the spray gun, a talking book (An Accidental American), and some evidence of the Squeeze doing boy-craft - the gaffer tape and drill belong to him.

Quick Babette update

Oh Babette - I've beeen thinking about you when I wake up in the middle of the night (its much better to think about than work, which seems to be more demanding the closer my last day gets. Three weeks this week! Hurrah!). I've been crocheting in places I'm usually too inhibited to knit - doctors waiting rooms, the bus. Its such a treat watching the colours come together. Heres a little look at how she's coming along.


I'm thinking I'll contruct this segment by segment to avoid an enormous amount of blocking followed by an enormous amount of seaming. Anyone got any tips on sewing this one up?

New adventures in stash busting

I saw a heartwarming movie called Lars and the Real Girl a couple of days ago. It was hilarious and tender and unsentimental. Double thumbs up. Lars wears as a scarf a knitted baby blanket that his mother made him. It got me to thinking that I really would like to make something for The Wriggler that is likely to transcend babyhood and continue to be useful and evocative.

I've been eyeing off Babette's Blanket from Interweave Crochet for a while. At first I didnt know if I was struck by the beauty of the girl or the blanket. But the colours of the blanket have stayed with me, and a quick tour round the Flickr group and ravelry convinced me that this was something that would be an excellent stash buster as well as beautiful.


So I ransacked the stash. It started out looking like this:


And unpacked, ended up looking like this. Its a combination of Sundara sock yarn, Socks that Rock medium weight sock yarn, The Knittery sock yarn, and some others that I had. Oh, ok, so a little supplementation went on courtesy Champion Textiles. But only a little.



Will keep you posted!