When things start to go to crap in my life, I knit. And boy have I been knitting. There's nothing like the sound of knitting needles clacking to bring me back to sanity (and, as a bonus, to irritate my now ex-boyfriend).

I'd been meaning to make Clapotis for quite some time, but hadn't been able to justify shelling out the dough for the Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb colorway I'd fallen in love with (I'm a poor grad student, good yarn is definitely a luxury around these parts). Luckily, major life restructuring was just the excuse I needed. I know every knitter and their brother (sister, friend, mom, etc.) already has a Clapotis, so I'm sure I don't need to tell you that by about half way through I was ready to give up on the k, k, k, kbl. I persevered, though, and I now officially have a new favorite knitted item.



Unfortunately, the lighting in my apartment is sort of crap, so the pictures don't do the colors in this justice (the colorway is 308 Huron).

In keeping with the theme of monotonous knitting, I decided to make a baby blanket for an expecting friend. She and her fiance decided they didn't want to know the sex of the baby, so I decided on a neutral yellow for the blanket. I do all of my yarn purchasing online (due to the lack of a decent LYS in my area), and I was moderately terrified when the yarn showed up. Seriously, the skein reminded me a little of baby puke. I decided to start knitting, anyway, and I actually think it looks lovely now.

Pattern: Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch 'N Bitch, knit on size 9 needles with Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino held double throughout (I recognize it's a little ridiculous to knit baby things with hand-wash only yarn, but doesn't every new mom deserve one ridiculous hand knit?)

The recipient of this blanket was born Oct. 2, and she basically makes me want to knit baby things until my fingers bleed. I mean really, look at that face.

Mia Jean

Coming up: lots of cold weather knitting for my inevitable post-grad move back north.