9.12.2007

An inadvertent tumble off the face of the Earth

Well, perhaps a bit of a dramatic overstatement but still, work and life asserted themselves and in a blink, the one area of my life that has not fallen into the orbit of being perpetually behind succumbed. So, as in all other aspects of my life, it looks like I will be playing constant catching-up in blog writing and reading as well, especially since life is continuing to be crazy. Already, it’s been over a month since I’ve had a chance to even think about posting or visiting anyone in blogland. Sigh. Well, enough self-pity and on with the first installment of catching up.

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I have terribly considerate friends who keep having babies to satisfy all my urges of knitting tiny clothing items. When I last check in with Blogland, these wee shoes were cropping up on everywhere. I’m a sucker for cute things and you can’t get much cuter than tiny shoes with giant (relatively speaking) buttons.
A closeup…
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And the obligatory shoes in hands shot.
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Specs:
Yarn: Artyarns Ultramerino 4, fraction of a skein
Needle: Brittany US2/2.75mm DPNs
Pattern: Saartje’s Booties, new born size
Thoughts: Amongst the various baby bootie patterns I have tried from Debbie Bliss and Zoë Mellor, I like Saartje’s the best. Compared to the others, these shoes were the fastest and the most straightforward to knit (and keep track of while knitting). The yarn, on the other hand, was a bit disappointing. The Ultramerino is composed of four single strands plied together and even during something as simple as casting on, the strands untwisted easily. Oddly, the twist would shift down the strand so that one section would kink and wind around itself while another section loosened to the point that all four strands were separately distinguishable. That was annoying during casting on and made the knitting rather irksome at times. The yarn also didn’t seem quite color-fast since in the few hours it took to make the shoes, my wooden needles turned a pale purplish-pink. Those yarn issues aside, these shoes were a delight to make. Excellent if you have some spare yarn and an urge to whip up something adorable.

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm sorry the yarn didn't please you as much as the booties. They're awfully darn cute!

2:51 AM  
Blogger ofpinsandneedles said...

Hooray! Good to see you back. Sorry the yarn wasn't blissful to knit; those are some beautiful booties. They look like chubby raspberries with buttons on from here! :)

My cousin is about to have a baby. I'd really like to knit something for the little mite and those booties would be perfect, but I still haven't knit anything for its brother or sister, and I'd like to be able to give them something at the same time to minimise (a bit) their feelings of being left out. I'm *loving* Knitty's Woodins, but I'm not sure I can justify hoiking it to the top of my To Knit list. I still owe various gifts (my sister's birthday present from *last year*, for example), and one of my favourite people ever has just announced she's getting married in February. I'd love to make her something too, and sadly I'm not sure tiny booties would be entirely appropriate (yet). Any ideas? xx

3:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These shoes make me smile every time I seem them. I love yours!

2:19 PM  
Blogger Helen said...

These are so insanely cute!
I was compelled to cast on immediately with the yarn left over from a baby sweater I just made.
Thanks! I'd not seen them before...

2:35 PM  
Blogger mathomhouse said...

Oh, angelically sweet! and so tiny!

Good to have you back --

9:41 PM  
Blogger Hege said...

They are so cute, and the yarn is so beautiful, too! One must suffer for beauty, you know! :)

1:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those are adorable! And I am so glad to see that you are posting again!

10:54 AM  
Blogger allisonmariecat said...

Cute, cute, cute!!!

11:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So sweeeeet.

1:53 AM  

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