Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Zwei beutes!


I finished the booties- and just in time! Little baby Faust was born June 29. Perhaps by the time these arrive in Germany, his little feet will be big enough to fit. I don't think I'm going to get the hat in this package, because I don't trust myself to get the hat knit in a timely manner.

Pattern: Circular "seamless" Bootee that I found on Ravelry
Yarn: Reynolds Utopia Sport, in 2131. (Pulled from the stash- last used for a sweater-coat I made 4 years ago)
Needles: Good ol' Brittany US 2s in white birch
Notes: I initially thought there was a mistake in the pattern, but I realized on the second bootie that I just can't read correctly. But the mistake blends in- a little blip in the garter stitch, but no big deal. I like how cute these are, and I love the color of the yarn. It's ok that it's 100% acrylic, because it's soft, and is machine washable. The pattern calls for an optional ribbon / icord to thread through the eyelets, but I'm going to let that pass. I really like letting the lace be it's own decoration. My only bone to pick with the pattern is that these are called seamless, and I don't think any pattern that usees a Kitchener stitch finish can really be called seamless. That might be knit-picky, but I think that Kitchener is harder than seaming. I am quite proud of my garter Kitchener, though. It's much nicer than my Kitchener when I'm joining two pieces in Stockingette. I might make these again, but I think I prefer the booties I made for the first baby-of-a-friend, out of a vintage pattern book my mom gave me.

In other news, I was able to work on the Chevron Socks today. We went down to one of the old mining towns around here for the 4th of July "parade", family picnic, and town band concert. I put parade in quotations because it consisted of several small groups of people, sporadically walking down the street. Most were dressed in red, white and blue. There were also kids riding bikes & scooters with approriately colored streamers. The highlight was the end, though. A rowdy group of biker/woodsmen (the cockroaches and earwigs of the area, as Mike's mom refers to them), having imbibed throughout the hot hot morning, carried an enormous American flag down the street, stopping every 50 steps to shout the Pledge of Allegiance. Special accent was placed on the "under God" bit. Oh, Amer-ka.

I was a bit apprehensive about it, both for the heat and the family politics of it, but I wore a t-shirt I got from an anti-war artist's collective that says "We will not be silent" in English and Arabic. (Initially coined by Germans to protest Nazi treatment of Jews and others, and now used to protest the war, Abu Ghraib, Bush in general, Guantanamo, etc, etc, etc.) I was more worried about the Arabic script than anything else, but maybe I have too little faith in rural Americans.

All in all, it was a lovely July 4, even though it was over 100 degrees and there will be no fireworks because of the forest fire danger.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

My dearest daughter ... you do not need to explain or apoligize if something is not quite perfect. There are major cultures that have it built in - that you are supposed to purposefully put in a mistake on anything you do (on top of any that happen to be there anyway) because to try to be perfect is to compete with the holy!

Love, Mom

R. Delight said...

Elizabeth, I am having flashbacks from the 4th of July from last year when we were there. The bikers did the same thing with the flag. So great you were wearing the T-shirt you mentioned! The only difference for me was that Bob was playing his composition he wrote and Mike conducted a few numbers for the band. But the heat, the strange parade, the poison oak, and all was the same for me! Hope you got some candy from the Columbia Candy Kitchen!-Renee

R. Delight said...

One more thing, your Mom is 100% right on. We have a habit of pointing out all our little mistakes. I am forever telling my weaving friends the very thing your Mom has told you! The booties are adorable and I am sure your friend will treasure them. -Renee