Yarn Along

I'm yarning along as usual with Ginny and the crew at Small Things.  Come and join the fun...

This was a good week for both knitting and reading.  I love newborn things- they knit up so quickly! I finished these longies from Amy's new Bulky Little Loungers pattern.  I used malabrigo chunky for these also- I think it might be my new favorite chunky yarn.  It is so soft and squishy.  As I was knitting these I wasn't really sure about the color variegation- it just wasn't doing it for me but once I finished and looked at the final product I do really like them. The blue for the cuffs doesn't "match" as well as I would like but it coordinates alright and makes the overall effect more gender neutral, which is important since these are for a momma who won't be finding out the gender of her baby. I really liked this pattern.  It knit up quickly and looks good.  I did have some issues with the rise being too long but that had mostly to do with my misreading the pattern! I have some more chunky yarn so I am going to knit up another pair and fix my mistakes. I went a little crazy buying single skeins of chunky yarn last summer so this is a perfect way to use them up!

I also knit up a seedling soaker this week from this pattern. In general I like this pattern but if I made it again I will make some tweaks. I find that on this the rise seems short to me so I will add a bit of rise.  I didn't like how the increases were done so I modified that as I went along in the pattern- basically I just moved them in so the I wasn't increasing right on the leg edge. I think the buttonholes are way too far in so they need to be moved out and they are too big so next time I would make those smaller. I also feel like the back is way too wide for a nb and needs something to snug it up a bit so I think I will try adding a ribbed panel in the back to eliminate gaping.  A lot of the comments on Raverly were about the leg cuffs- why not knit them as you go along in garter stitch etc but I don't think it is that difficult to pick up some stitches at the end and knit a cuff.  I really liked how the leg cuffs came out, they were pretty simple and quick to do and they really helped improve the sizing. We are still waiting on Baby B so I am hoping he will make his appearance so I can try this out on him before I make a new one.  The nice thing is that this is entirely usable even with all my proposed tweaks and it was a quick knit.

I also read The Hunger Games this week.  I hadn't even heard about this book until very recently when Frank said he wanted to read it. So I got it for him for an Easter present (shhhhh...) and then decided I would be naughty and read it before I gave it to him. I really enjoyed this book.  It feels weird to say that I liked a book that centers around death and murder but the reality is that isn't what the book is truly about. It's a nicely written book that flows well and is hard to put down. I read through it very quickly and have been thinking about it ever since.  While the premise of the book is really dreadful and evil there are many other themes of love, romance, survival, morality, rebellion, independence, free will, etc woven throughout. It's all those themes that make you think.  What would you do if you were Katniss? Would you chose survival over morality? Is my life so important that saving it is worth costing someone else theirs? I'm not saying that I have the answers to these questions and in many cases I imagine that these answers are incredibly personal but it certainly causes room for self-reflection. I'm looking forward to reading books two and three.