He's Here!

It's a boy!

He was born yesterday at 2.25am, but everything began around 4am two days earlier. It was a long, painful and exhausting labour for Eleanor and it resulted in a caesarean section, even that didn't go to plan as she had a major hemorrhage when an artery was nicked, but Mum and baby are doing fine.

They're still in hospital at the moment but we visited twice yesterday and I have to say that grannie cuddles are the best.

And something very special, they've named him Jack with Michael as his middle name after Mick. Perfect.

Rosa Shawl

I've finished the Rosa shawl which I cast on for the Spring Shawlathon which was being hosted by Fran at the Franny Do Makes podcast and Helen at the Giddy Knits podcast.

This is a pattern by Collete Audrey, free on Ravelry. I used yarn from Fondant Fibre in the Coral Roses and Wooden Heart colourways which have been in my stash since 2017, so it really was time that I put it to use. This yarn dyer is no longer in business, such a shame as she dyed some beautiful colours.

It was the beautiful lace section which sold this shawl to me, it's so pretty and gives a gorgeous finish.

I also like the pretty sections within the shawl which are knit in the contrast colour. The technique of wrapping stitches with yarn makes an interesting feature.

Shawls often need to be blocked rather aggressively to get their shape as the way a shawl is cast on usually leaves a small 'hump' in the centre at the top so you have to make sure you deal with that, and any lace always looks better once it's stretched out, it really opens out the pattern so that all the details can be seen. Unfortunately, despite blocking this shawl, it will just not keep its shape. I did suspect this would be the case whilst I was knitting it as it seems to knit up in a reverse triangle shape with a sharp point at the top rather than just a 'hump', and the pattern gives no indication as to how it should look once knit, there's no schematic diagram included in the pattern, and even the photo, which I've shown above, seems to hide the top of the shawl. I just think it's a shame that the top section doesn't block straight as it would make the shawl a more wearable shape.

I'm definitely disappointed in the shape but I like how the yarn has worked with the shawl and the drape it gives. 

There could have been another repeat of the main colour and contrast section, I had 32g left of the main colour and 30g left of the contrast. This would have made it a more substantial shawl, which is what I would have expected from a two skein project.

It's a nice, simple pattern which I enjoyed knitting and I think it shows the yarn off beautifully but it's just a shame about the shape. I know some people won't mind this but a schematic in the pattern, or at least a clear photo, would have shown me what to expect.

Little Pearls Of Colour

I find it so hard to get rid of leftover yarn, no matter how small a quantity I have. After finishing a project I put the remaining yarn to one side, just in case I can use it in the future. Considering all the scrappy projects I've made recently from ten or twenty gram mini skeins which I've had in various advent calendars or swaps, some of these leftovers can work out to weigh less than a gram.

I've recently gone through all these tiny scraps and kept anything weighing more than six grams. I figured these could be used in a future project. Above you can see all the leftovers weighing less than six grams. The box is quite deep. 

There's some really pretty yarn so I'm loathe to just throw it away. I thought I might start a new, very, scrappy blanket with it. Obviously, it would be easier to knot all these little pearls of colour together and make a large magic knot ball to work from, however, I don't trust the knots so I foresee a lot of sewing in of ends.

The big question is what kind of blanket to make. I think a crochet blanket would work best with such small scraps but what type? One large granny square attaching new yarn as each one is used up, smaller granny squares crocheted together, or something else? What would you do? I'm on a mission to use up all my leftovers.