Can you guess what I made with this classic baby yarn?
It’s been a head-spinning 24 hours of breaking news: Forsberg’s retirement (*sniff!*), pitchers and catchers reporting (YES!) and Arcade Fire‘s tremendous Grammy win (OUI!). So dizzying that one needs to sit down, take stock, maybe do a little knitting to calm down.
While one of us Ladies… checks on Games Mistress to she how she’s faring through this Pujols drama (CAN’T YOU SEE YOU’RE KILLING HER, ALBERT?!), let me tell you how I made out in our Craft Like A Champion Challenge.
In a word, meh. I was hoping to have three or four caps done by now, but other commitments reared their snow-covered heads. You would think that with all the snowstorms we’ve had on the East Coast that I’d be spending my afternoons knitting away by the woodstove, red wine nearby. But we’ve had such nice weekends that all that snow was just screaming to be slid on or stomped down with wooden snowshoes (yes, I am Old School.)
Maybe you didn’t know this, but I like knitting. A lot. I took it up a few years ago not long after my mom and two sisters took it up on a whim. They’ve dropped the craft since then, but I’m still at it. I credit my best friend for giving me a Klutz how-to-knit book (seriously, you wanna learn? Buy a book aimed at tweens! You’ll figure out knits and purls in no time!) and the many helpful how-to videos I’ve found on the Internet. I have made scarves, hats, dishcloths, mittens and one single wool sock (you wouldn’t believe how thrilled I was this year to have finally mastered double-pointed needles!)
My bookshelf, just spewing pretty yarn.
Like most knitters, my stash of yarn has quickly gotten out of hand. What was once a grocery bag of my mom’s unused Red Heart acrylic is now Shades of Hoarders. There were monthly trips to Michael’s or my local yarn shop where I’d “rescue” the last skein in a dye lot. Some came from other LYS’s, including the amazing Lion Brand Yarn Studio in NYC (true story: I would much rather spend my money there than on fake Gucci bags on Canal St.) But much of my stash is hand-me-down. Before my beloved grandmother passed away in December, she gave me the greatest gift any knitter would ask for: a shit ton of wool-blend yarn.
Enough yarn for a million baby caps! Please come over and help me knit through this!
A closer look at "the crate". That purple yarn is just screaming to be matched with gold for a tribute to the L.A. Lakers.
When GM brought up the idea to knit for Caps For Good, I didn’t hesitate to dip into my grandmother’s stash to knit a cap. She would have been pleased.
You’ve seen the first one. But since the photo didn’t quite do it justice, I thought I’d find a model. Unfortunately, newborn babies are scarce in my house, so I snuck into the smallest Bee’s room and found Jeter.
Easy on the hate! That's my daughter's bear! He's called Jeter. She liked that name better than Joba.
The second cap I call Shades of Vancouver, because the colourwork reminds me of the hues used in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics logo. It also reminds me of the Seahawks, so this one qualifies for the Challenge. I managed to find a fitting model.
Quatchi, my favourite of all the ultra-cute Vancouver Olympics mascots.
But Wee Bee absolutely insisted I try this on one of her babies, so here’s an impromptu tribute to GM’s 2010 Fantasy Football team, Creepy Doll Collective.
She talks, too.
Tomorrow, those two little caps will be making their way to Brooklyn and, hopefully soon, to a little newborn in need of a little extra warmth to get through those crucial first days of life. And because I am crazy that way, I set a reminder in my iPhone to get started on the next pile of baby caps in the fall.
Remember to keep sending us your photos or upload them to our Facebook album! Our Challenge closes February 28.
Ladies... 
Hee, Bee I have a bookshelf that looks just like that. And then I have three giant bags full of waste yarn hidden under my bed and a convenient side table. I think I need to do another cap or two myself and put some of that stash to better use.
Are you sure you don’t want some of mine? ;) I didn’t photograph the entire stash. Under that pile of yarn to the left of my bookshelf is another vessel. Full of acrylic yarn.
It’s all kept in the bedroom. I figure if I can still walk a clear path to the bed, I haven’t reached that dreaded hoarder stage quite yet. These photos do remind me that I need to get my stash organized. I need those storage bags you can vacuum the air out of and stash under the bed.