Motherhood might be supposed to confer serenity on the mother. Not on this one, sadly. However, that’s not something I want to dwell on in the blog, given that I blog so less as it is.
I did achieve Serenity, though, in the form of this blanket.
Pattern: Serenity (direct pdf download) by Laura Wilson-Martos (Rav link here). I think it was my largest knit lace, one that had been on my queue for a while (in my mind if not on Ravelry). It went very well, with only one or two unimportant typos (such as a misplaced bracket). I only flagged slightly in the eyelet section, tiring a bit of the endless-seeming yo k2tog, yo k2tog. Otherwise I like the pattern and wouldn’t mind a re-run. My project page is here. I like working lace from the centre. It gives you better control over how big the final product is, especially when your yarn is limited.
Yarn: Aslan Trends Class, a cotton-acrylic blend which has worn well in use and two handwashes. The yarn was a gift from a Rav friend who I met when she visited Kochi with her husband. White may be seen as foolhardy for a baby blanket, but we are using it as a show blanket, only used for public occasions. I like the feel of the yarn and the stitch definition but was not enamoured of the way the shiny strand causes the other strands to twist around it, creating what is called worming, I believe. Also, I had an issue with my stitch markers snagging on the yarn (for which I am close to a solution now, having found some neon-coloured smooth rubber bands; they are rather large, perhaps I will find some smaller ones at some point). I used nearly all of 4 skeins.
Needles: 4.5mm. I believe I was supposed to do the first few rows in a smaller gauge and then move to the larger, but I couldn’t be bothered. It doesn’t seem to have made a difference.
Size: 44″ square. It’s a good size for swaddling.
Time: Thick yarn makes for fast lace! About 3 weeks, perhaps because of the eyelet zone.
Extra: I’m proud of this FO. It’s gotten me several compliments as well.
I’m considering a crochet blanket but cannot settle on a pattern. I have this one and another knit blanket and feel my other craft should be represented as well. Either regular crochet or Tunisian…I have a sportweightish cotton which I lugged back and forth to Hyderabad a couple of times already. The days of travelling light are far behind me, I fear. The last two times I paid enough for excess baggage to almost buy another ticket.
Oh yes, I’m now at home in Hyderabad. Anyone dropping in?
21 comments
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January 12, 2010 at 12:32 am
alajnabiya
The blanket is gorgeous! I think the serenity comes when the baby is asleep in your arms, and you don’t have something else you have to rush off to do. Maybe only a couple minutes a day, but well worth it.
January 12, 2010 at 1:13 am
Jennie
This is beautiful! And my serenity when my children were small was also fleeting!
January 12, 2010 at 3:16 am
noricum
Lovely! (I think the “serenity” of the mother is also only for show… either that, or it is mistaking of the zombie state after too many sleepless nights!)
January 13, 2010 at 10:08 am
mrsfife
And external agents don’t help…
Swapna
January 12, 2010 at 8:32 am
Srividya Ganapathy
Lovely! I just cant imagine knitting one like this. It will take my serenity away. 🙂
January 12, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Walden
It is lovely!
January 12, 2010 at 2:28 pm
hooksnneedles
lovely lovely!!! looks so intricate and delicate…just purrrfect!!!
January 12, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Pearlin
Its soooooo beautiful !
January 12, 2010 at 9:56 pm
AlpacaAddict
Beautiful blanket, beautiful baby – congratulations by the way.
Serenity comes when baby is asleep, you’ve poked him to check he is still breathing, then you relax and enjoy his beauty.
January 14, 2010 at 4:57 am
Preeti
You have a newborn and you managed this amazing blanket! Wow, go Superwoman! It’s just beautiful and has such a heirloom-ness to it!!
January 14, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Amrita
This is soo pretty! Love the intricate pattern. Gosh, where do you get the time, esp with motherhood occupying most of your time now? Hats off to you and you are inspiration for me to get back to knitting all my queued items on Ravelry!
January 14, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Rinn
Hi my name is Rinn and I’m here (from Alaska US) in Hyderabad for 1 year working as a midwife at Healthy Mother Birth Center. I love knitting and am so happy to have found your blog and the list of yarn stores in India. Have you found any other local knitters? It would be fun to get together and knit. I just brought one pair of #6 needles and enough yarn to make a baby hat as I didn’t have much extra room. I have so much yarn back in Alaska and I miss it! Thanks for your fun blog – you’re quite the knitter!
January 16, 2010 at 7:38 pm
topperarnold
Lovely! I’m not sure complete serenity is possible with motherhood. Offspring is 20 and not living at home anymore and I still spaz.
January 17, 2010 at 5:09 am
rima aranha
Wow! You did that post-baby! You are a rock-star.
January 28, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Vicki
Love the blanket, I am lace challenged, it turned out lovely. I think serenity comes when you drop off to sleep for a moment. Or in the knowledge that you completed a lovely lace blanket while being a new mother! Truly amazing!
Take care
Remember cat naps
Vicki
January 30, 2010 at 12:44 am
CM
It’s beautiful! I know the woman who designed it, she’s a friend of mine in California! Ravelry really brings the world together, doesn’t it? I think this is the most beautiful baby blanket I have ever seen.
February 10, 2010 at 12:10 am
Swapna (Sapnil)
QMG !!While being a Mother…..Lovely baby!!I think the baby looks like you,beautiful !!
The blanket is very nice.
February 10, 2010 at 6:10 pm
JO
hi nice post, grogeous blanket, i’m learning to crochet recently was searching for knitting materials in hyderabad and came across your blog in google, can you plz tell me where can i find good crochet and knitting materials? i bought some from shops in ameerpet the yarn and the needles are not of that a good quality,do you know any good place where i can find good ones?
looking forward for you reply.
thank you,
jyothi
February 10, 2010 at 6:46 pm
JO
Just saw your work they are sooooooo beautiful, soooo creative i’m a beginner in crochet learning to crochet watching youtube videos, your work is awesome, can i learn crochet from you, i would love to learn from you if you teach
March 29, 2010 at 9:34 pm
desiknitter
I am a complete and utter idiot. I changed hard drives recently, and had to relist all my blogs on my safari bookmarks one by one; I thought I had done yours too, and was actually wondering the other day why you hadn’t updated it in a while… just put it down to baby, as I did with another blogger friend who’s been posting quite regularly, as it turns out. Turns out I hadn’t added you to it, so no updates. I manually logged in today to your site, and aaaaargh!
This is a lovely blanket! I love the red one too, and the fall colours are lovely (I do think we could reclaim them as grishma grimness! :-))
August 12, 2010 at 2:14 pm
lacyknitter
I live in Kochi….. I would love to meet you… so how do I contact you?!!!