Baby J’s Bubbly Blanket

I think the day after I found out my bestie was going to become a mom I went to the store and bought yarn for this project. We were a long way from finding out if it was a girl or boy, so I needed something versatile. I had been thinking about the pattern for this Blackberry Salad blanket for a while and this seemed like the perfect time to cast on for it.

The pattern is super easy, but still interesting because of the texture and colors. I had so much fun making it!

I used Vanna’s Choice Baby yarn from Lion’s Brand. I have been getting more and more into natural fibers from my LYS, but on this occasion I wanted something that would be durable and easily washable. So, by the way AO,  if you are reading this I forgot to tell you that you can totally throw this sucker in the wash the first time Baby J spits up on it (and every time after that, too). There is no point in making something too fragile for an infant.

I know it isn’t a super smooth wrap you up kind of blanket, but I thought the texture would be fun for Baby J as she grew up and started exploring things.

Oh, I love how bright and fun the colors are! I spent a really long time rearranging the skeins before I got started trying to decide on an order for the colors.

I also like the back of the blanket, the stripes are so neat and orderly.

I thought about doing a border on it, maybe in pink once we found out she was a girl. But in the end this blanket seemed to be just fine the way it was.

Cutty couldn’t resist getting in on the photo shoot.  He can’t wait to meet Baby J either.

I took these photos at the same time as the ones for my next post. Just wait until you see how involved Cutty was with that item. He just has to be the center of attention!

 

Confession of a Dog Person (aka I got a new camera and made a discovery)

I got a new camera for Christmas! Actually I got money to go toward the new camera. For a month I had read reviews and asked opinions, gone to the store to hold them and then debated for hours about what camera to buy. (I could write a whole post on that process) Finally I decided on a Sony Alpha NEX-3. Totally different from what I thought I would get, but once I had made up my mind I could not wait to get my hands on it. If only I had know that the day after the camera arrived on my doorstep Amazon would drop the price by 70 dollars. . . Still, I had put so much thought into this purchase I was happy with it even for the amount I paid.

Anyways, for the past few days I have been playing with my camera. Besides the beautiful flowers on my kitchen table. . .

my favorite subject has been-you guessed it – Cutty!  With my old point and shoot I could rarely capture a photo of him that wasn’t a completely blurry mess. Unless of course he was asleep.

That picture was taken with my old camera and you can see the glare from the flash, gross. I mean I have had this new camera for all of three days and I am a total lighting expert now (and chocolate chip cookies have no calories and I am going to win the lottery). More importantly Pioneer Woman has taught me all about apertures and ISO and shutter speeds.  Armed with a hazy idea of what all those words mean, I have played around with the manual settings on my camera and realized I can now do this:

Even when he would try to move away or dash under the bed, I could usually produce a useable picture! He does seem to feel the need to move as soon as a camera is pointed in his direction. Most often he walks right up to the camera and sniffs it. He has no grasp of the concept of posing for a picture.

Here comes the confession.I LOVE THIS CAT. As I was looking through the pictures I discovered I could no longer keep this a secret. You don’t understand, I grew up with dogs! I was going to get a Yorkie when I grew up. I used to tell people I hated cats. Now, I actually like almost every cat I meet (there will always be a few exceptions).

Look at that face! What’s not to love? I just want to pinch his little cheeks. He would probably let me because he is oddly tolerant of some of the weird things I do to him. He is actually oddly like a dog in many ways. He meets us at the door when we come home, he plays fetch and sits on command. He loves nothing better than to sit in our laps.  But I don’t think it is just his dog qualities that make me a newly converted cat person. I know this because every once in a while he does something that is just so. . .well, cat. And I still love him.

As soon as the box hit the floor he had climbed into it. I would still get a dog if I could (Hubby has allergies), but in the meantime the cat and I will be cuddling on the couch if you need us. I’ll just call myself an equal opportunity pet owner.