So may as well post when time allows....remember the group of knitters from work? Cheryl's Knitting Circus? March 24 one of the Clowns suggested we make something for the two pregnant Clowns in the group. It was suggested I take charge of this endeavor. I must say in the midst of all the goings on at home and wedding and class this was a biggie. However, the Clowns stepped up to the challenge and the results were amazing. We voted many times and after I designed several blocks, we decided to knit bears and bunnies. When we started we did not know the sex of the little Clowns but one Mom found out and let us know Baby G was on her way. We had already started a gender neutral bear blanket which we decided would be for the other Mom. This worked out well as Baby B turned out to be a little boy. The bunnies were earmarked for Baby G. I designed blocks, with some variations, ordered yarn , printed patterns, wound yarn and handed out little kits.
This is one of my favorite pictures. Bear kits waiting to be handed out. Many of the Clowns learned the skill of long tail cast on which is what I insisted it be and they learned lessons about gauge. I am not sure they were always happy to learn the lessons but did. Deadlines were set and for the most part met. Clowns helped Clowns, squares were redone and finally I had 30 bears in my possession. Next came bunnies, one Clown really wanted to do white tails on her squares and after much discussion, I ok'ed a few white tail bunnies and redrafted the pattern. I learned intarsia was not a lesson easily learned for some, but they persevered and some time done the road I had 20 bunnies waiting to be assembled
As you can see, that while all the squares are beautiful, some are a bit different in size. BUT with tweaking all went together and the results were gorgeous.
During the bunny production we all starting talking about the one baby that had been born shortly after the creation of the Circus and in fairness how we wanted to make a blanket for Maverick, who will be one in December. We wanted to present this blanket at the same time as the other two so more designing, winding and knitting and trucks starting rolling in.
The trunks were much more rectangular than the other two designs and varied a bit more in size but blocking seemed to bring in order.
Each blanket also had its own special border design. The bears had paw prints, the bunnies had carrots and after much thought I designed hammers for the trucks.
The borders were knit in the blanket colors so I duplicate stitched one of the designs for emphasis although the border did show up nicely.
We met last knit and surprised the recipients with dinner and the blankets. I also made pink strawberry cupcakes and blue lemon blueberry cupcakes as a special treat
The Clowns were very touched and the knitters seemed quite impressed with their work in the resulting blanket. It is a wonderful group to be part of. We are all CT Techs who participated in this endeavor. I will leave you with a few pictures of the final results. These will be part of the book I am in the process of writing so the designs are copyrighted.
Here we have the two expecting Clowns
Middle Clown gave birth to Maverick last year.
So, there you have it. If you are interested in some impressive stats, the bear yarn was given out April 25 the final truck was turned in August 16. I had many many many hours of finishing, constructing, borders, embroidery after the fact. 113 days of block knitting 70 blocks, 270000 stitches and 11.2 pounds of yarn. WOW
Enjoy knitting for what it is and share it whenever you can.
Hi Mom
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