Tag Archives: Einstein Coat


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big whack ‘o baby knits & crochets and an extra-special fo


This is the temporary nursery. See, we will be in this house for a month before we leave for the new house, but during that month we will have ownership of the new house and will start moving stuff in. I will be staying here with the baby, who will be rooming with me in the spare bedroom since after a C-section there is NO way I will be getting in and out of a waterbed. Over the last week or so we have been getting the room ready, and after the showers were over I spent a lot of time doing laundry and setting up so everything is ready for baby to come home. Can you tell me what you spot in the photo above? No? Ok, I’ll share with you:

(Note: with one exception, each item below only gets one photo, since this is a long, photo-heavy post. Any of my knits have, as usual, more photos in the FO gallery in the left sidebar).


In the dresser drawer you’ll find this crocheted blanket and knit bib, both shower gifts from my lovely and talented cousin Robyn. In case nasty commenter Anonymous finds his/her way over to my blog…I DO love them. So shut up.


Folded on the chair you can make out this blanket, lovingly crocheted for our little one by my uncle’s (Robyn’s dad) mom Esther.

In the drawer, folded nicely under Robyn’s blankie, is this carseat-sized blankie crocheted by my mom. Yes, she actually brought her yarn to the store to make sure it matched the green carrier/stroller that we chose.

On the back of the rocking chair you can see this huge blanket (its folded on the chair). My mom crocheted this especially for our little one. There was a blue ribbon woven through the smallest white edging but it came out in the wash and Yannick felt it was safest to keep it aside until the baby is older. This blanket got some major acclaim at the showers, and I believe people have already started putting in orders. I know this one is crocheted with Bernat Baby Coordinates and you wouldn’t believe how soft and fluid it came out after being thrown in the washer and dryer!

By the way, all of the baby knits you see here (with one exception that hasn’t been washed yet, the Baby Einstein below) have been tossed into the washer with some baby detergent and then into the dryer. Not a single one pilled or warped, and they all came out really soft and nice.

Ok, now some of this should be looking familiar. Yep, I finished the Entrelac Blankie. You can spot it folded on the chair with Esther’s blanket and the breastfeeding pillow.

Project Specs:
Pattern: none. Just regular entrelac 10 sts wide per square and kept going until I felt it was square.
Yarn: Patons Decor in Rich Country Blue and Winter White
Needles: 5.5mm
Cast On to Bind Off: December 29 2006 – May 7 2007
Notes: I was going to knit a garter border but realized last minute that I didn’t have enough 5.5mm needles to make it all the way around so I used the same size crochet hook and just did 2 or 3 rows of single crochet around, putting 3 sts in each corner st to ease better around the corners.
Would I knit this again: yes, its fast, easy and mindless knitting

This is the Baby Einstein I knit up. I love how rustic it came out! I still need to wash it, as I only sewed the buttons on today, just so I could include it in this post. (Technically it is in the room, it’s in the hamper).

Project Specs:
Pattern: Sally Melville’s Einstein Coat, Baby Einstein version, 6-9 month size from The Knit Stitch
Yarn: SandesGarn Smart (as per the pattern)
Needles: 4mm
Cast On to Bind Off: April 16-23 2007
Notes: I was a little disappointed with one part of the pattern. I don’t know if there was a mistake in my book, but for the body of the sweater, the pattern has you work X width around, then work the top halfs, from one edge right to the other. That’s fine…except that the pattern doesn’t add any room for overlap. What I mean is, once the sweater is folded in half to become a coat, there is no overlap for the button band. One side has button holes, the other side gets the buttons, but the edges meet perfectly. So when I tug one side over by about an inch to pull the button holes over the other edge to close the buttons, the neck and shoulders and sleeves get pulled out of place. I don’t know if I’m explaining this right, but it isn’t right. So since I could never have the coat close up to the top button anyways due to this error and how crappy it looks if buttoned all the way, I chose to sew down the top two sides as lapels instead. The yarn is scratchy enough that I don’t need to worry about the baby wearing it alone and having a cold neck, there will always be at least a tshirt underneath. Since there is no finishing on the neck itself (in the pattern) I like the “finished” look my variation gives.

Would I knit this again: probably since the knitting was fun and easy, but I would check for a pattern correction or create an amendment myself first.

This cardi/hat set is in one of the drawers too (that counts as being in the photo!). I originally referred to it as the “Clown” cardigan and hat set since that is the name of the yarn called for in the pattern, but I have sinced changed that to the “Ice Cream” cardi and hat set (‘cus of the colors) so if you look for it in my sidebar, look under Ice Cream.

Project Specs:
Pattern: Clown Cardigan and Hat from a Marks & Kattens pamphlet, 9mo size
Yarn: Regia Canadian Color sock yarn color 4733 (I think its “Ottawa”)
Needles: 2.5 and 3mm
Cast On to Bind Off: November 20 2006 – April 11 2007
Notes: I turned it inside out while knitting so I had to adapt the shaping to be on purl side instead of the knit side. I like it better that way, but 90% of those who see it think it’s inside out and prefer the knit side as the outside. Since the button band is picked up and knit on afterwards, thus leaving a seam, plus mattress stitch also leaves a seam, it is not reversable. Still, I don’t care. I like the way it looks. And I LOVE the hat.
Would I knit this again: Yes. For my child I’d knit the hat again. I’d knit the cardigan for a gift but in a different colorway.

Last, but not least, I bring you a knitted item that IS visible in the photo above. It is the piece of honor in the room, and I believe that until the little one is born it is my favorite FO of all time. Can you tell what it is?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you…

Yannick’s blankie.

Didn’t catch that? Ahem:

Yannick’s blankie.

Yes, this is the blanket that my husband Yannick knit for our baby. Sit down if you need to. I’ll wait.

For those of you that don’t know the story, about 3 or 4 years ago Yannick’s anniversary gift to me was that he would learn how to knit and make me something. After a bit of swatching he realized how much he hated knitting and had possibly bit off more than he could chew. Still, he took me to the yarn store to find something for the project. I let him pick the yarn since it would be flowing through his hands, and after some trial and error he settled on bamboo needles that allowed the slippery yarn to slide without being too fast. He practiced his knits and purls on some waste yarn, then we had to decide what the project would be. I had originally asked for a little “blankie” for myself, something small to have with me for when he couldn’t be there. Once we saw how much he didn’t enjoy knitting and how uncomfortable he was at it (even though his stitches looked beautiful) I offered to give him some chunky yarn and big knits, and said I’d be just as thrilled with a scarf. He refused. He wanted to prove he could “do it”.

We decided on a basketweave pattern with a stockinette stitch center. He cast on himself, and got started. He used stitch markers for the first 20 rows or so, but found they got in his way and made messier gaps between the knit/purl transitions, so he abandoned them. He also abandoned the knitting many times over the years. We fought often about how he seemed to have forgotten my anniversary gift. Sometimes he’d work on it…most of the time he’d forget. Once in a while he’d come to the knitting meetups with me and work on a few rows, but then he’d get to talking and it would hang in his hands, untouched.

Then we found out we were pregnant. It wasn’t hard to decide that this blankie should be for the baby, not for me. I threatened that I would keep my legs crossed and not let the baby out until the blanket was done. He’d work on it for a while, then a month or so would go by without any progress. He learned how to read his stitches and became such a perfectionist that he’d often call me over to fix a non-existant mistake. Over the last few weeks he got a burst of energy when he realized how close he was to finishing, then last week he did it.

He finished the blankie. On Monday morning I taught him how to bind off so I could wash it with the next load of baby clothes. He did it all: cast on, knit, purl, basketweave, stocking stitch, stitch markers, no stitch markers, bind off. He even refused to use the larger needle trick to make sure his bind off wasn’t too tight- he didn’t want tricks. He wanted to do it right like everyone else, so he went slow and made sure he didn’t pull the yarn. The only thing I did for him was weave in the ends.

Thank you honey. Even with all the handknit and crocheted blankets our baby has, I hope yours is the most loved.
Project Specs:
Pattern: none. We made up a repeat of basketweave with a stockinette stitch center.
Yarn: King Cole’s Soft as Silk DK (I think it’s now discontinued)
Needles: 4.5mm
Cast On to Bind Off: A long time.


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big whack ‘o baby knits & crochets and an extra-special fo


This is the temporary nursery. See, we will be in this house for a month before we leave for the new house, but during that month we will have ownership of the new house and will start moving stuff in. I will be staying here with the baby, who will be rooming with me in the spare bedroom since after a C-section there is NO way I will be getting in and out of a waterbed. Over the last week or so we have been getting the room ready, and after the showers were over I spent a lot of time doing laundry and setting up so everything is ready for baby to come home. Can you tell me what you spot in the photo above? No? Ok, I’ll share with you:

(Note: with one exception, each item below only gets one photo, since this is a long, photo-heavy post. Any of my knits have, as usual, more photos in the FO gallery in the left sidebar).


In the dresser drawer you’ll find this crocheted blanket and knit bib, both shower gifts from my lovely and talented cousin Robyn. In case nasty commenter Anonymous finds his/her way over to my blog…I DO love them. So shut up.


Folded on the chair you can make out this blanket, lovingly crocheted for our little one by my uncle’s (Robyn’s dad) mom Esther.

In the drawer, folded nicely under Robyn’s blankie, is this carseat-sized blankie crocheted by my mom. Yes, she actually brought her yarn to the store to make sure it matched the green carrier/stroller that we chose.

On the back of the rocking chair you can see this huge blanket (its folded on the chair). My mom crocheted this especially for our little one. There was a blue ribbon woven through the smallest white edging but it came out in the wash and Yannick felt it was safest to keep it aside until the baby is older. This blanket got some major acclaim at the showers, and I believe people have already started putting in orders. I know this one is crocheted with Bernat Baby Coordinates and you wouldn’t believe how soft and fluid it came out after being thrown in the washer and dryer!

By the way, all of the baby knits you see here (with one exception that hasn’t been washed yet, the Baby Einstein below) have been tossed into the washer with some baby detergent and then into the dryer. Not a single one pilled or warped, and they all came out really soft and nice.

Ok, now some of this should be looking familiar. Yep, I finished the Entrelac Blankie. You can spot it folded on the chair with Esther’s blanket and the breastfeeding pillow.

Project Specs:
Pattern: none. Just regular entrelac 10 sts wide per square and kept going until I felt it was square.
Yarn: Patons Decor in Rich Country Blue and Winter White
Needles: 5.5mm
Cast On to Bind Off: December 29 2006 – May 7 2007
Notes: I was going to knit a garter border but realized last minute that I didn’t have enough 5.5mm needles to make it all the way around so I used the same size crochet hook and just did 2 or 3 rows of single crochet around, putting 3 sts in each corner st to ease better around the corners.
Would I knit this again: yes, its fast, easy and mindless knitting

This is the Baby Einstein I knit up. I love how rustic it came out! I still need to wash it, as I only sewed the buttons on today, just so I could include it in this post. (Technically it is in the room, it’s in the hamper).

Project Specs:
Pattern: Sally Melville’s Einstein Coat, Baby Einstein version, 6-9 month size from The Knit Stitch
Yarn: SandesGarn Smart (as per the pattern)
Needles: 4mm
Cast On to Bind Off: April 16-23 2007
Notes: I was a little disappointed with one part of the pattern. I don’t know if there was a mistake in my book, but for the body of the sweater, the pattern has you work X width around, then work the top halfs, from one edge right to the other. That’s fine…except that the pattern doesn’t add any room for overlap. What I mean is, once the sweater is folded in half to become a coat, there is no overlap for the button band. One side has button holes, the other side gets the buttons, but the edges meet perfectly. So when I tug one side over by about an inch to pull the button holes over the other edge to close the buttons, the neck and shoulders and sleeves get pulled out of place. I don’t know if I’m explaining this right, but it isn’t right. So since I could never have the coat close up to the top button anyways due to this error and how crappy it looks if buttoned all the way, I chose to sew down the top two sides as lapels instead. The yarn is scratchy enough that I don’t need to worry about the baby wearing it alone and having a cold neck, there will always be at least a tshirt underneath. Since there is no finishing on the neck itself (in the pattern) I like the “finished” look my variation gives.

Would I knit this again: probably since the knitting was fun and easy, but I would check for a pattern correction or create an amendment myself first.

This cardi/hat set is in one of the drawers too (that counts as being in the photo!). I originally referred to it as the “Clown” cardigan and hat set since that is the name of the yarn called for in the pattern, but I have sinced changed that to the “Ice Cream” cardi and hat set (‘cus of the colors) so if you look for it in my sidebar, look under Ice Cream.

Project Specs:
Pattern: Clown Cardigan and Hat from a Marks & Kattens pamphlet, 9mo size
Yarn: Regia Canadian Color sock yarn color 4733 (I think its “Ottawa”)
Needles: 2.5 and 3mm
Cast On to Bind Off: November 20 2006 – April 11 2007
Notes: I turned it inside out while knitting so I had to adapt the shaping to be on purl side instead of the knit side. I like it better that way, but 90% of those who see it think it’s inside out and prefer the knit side as the outside. Since the button band is picked up and knit on afterwards, thus leaving a seam, plus mattress stitch also leaves a seam, it is not reversable. Still, I don’t care. I like the way it looks. And I LOVE the hat.
Would I knit this again: Yes. For my child I’d knit the hat again. I’d knit the cardigan for a gift but in a different colorway.

Last, but not least, I bring you a knitted item that IS visible in the photo above. It is the piece of honor in the room, and I believe that until the little one is born it is my favorite FO of all time. Can you tell what it is?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you…

Yannick’s blankie.

Didn’t catch that? Ahem:

Yannick’s blankie.

Yes, this is the blanket that my husband Yannick knit for our baby. Sit down if you need to. I’ll wait.

For those of you that don’t know the story, about 3 or 4 years ago Yannick’s anniversary gift to me was that he would learn how to knit and make me something. After a bit of swatching he realized how much he hated knitting and had possibly bit off more than he could chew. Still, he took me to the yarn store to find something for the project. I let him pick the yarn since it would be flowing through his hands, and after some trial and error he settled on bamboo needles that allowed the slippery yarn to slide without being too fast. He practiced his knits and purls on some waste yarn, then we had to decide what the project would be. I had originally asked for a little “blankie” for myself, something small to have with me for when he couldn’t be there. Once we saw how much he didn’t enjoy knitting and how uncomfortable he was at it (even though his stitches looked beautiful) I offered to give him some chunky yarn and big knits, and said I’d be just as thrilled with a scarf. He refused. He wanted to prove he could “do it”.

We decided on a basketweave pattern with a stockinette stitch center. He cast on himself, and got started. He used stitch markers for the first 20 rows or so, but found they got in his way and made messier gaps between the knit/purl transitions, so he abandoned them. He also abandoned the knitting many times over the years. We fought often about how he seemed to have forgotten my anniversary gift. Sometimes he’d work on it…most of the time he’d forget. Once in a while he’d come to the knitting meetups with me and work on a few rows, but then he’d get to talking and it would hang in his hands, untouched.

Then we found out we were pregnant. It wasn’t hard to decide that this blankie should be for the baby, not for me. I threatened that I would keep my legs crossed and not let the baby out until the blanket was done. He’d work on it for a while, then a month or so would go by without any progress. He learned how to read his stitches and became such a perfectionist that he’d often call me over to fix a non-existant mistake. Over the last few weeks he got a burst of energy when he realized how close he was to finishing, then last week he did it.

He finished the blankie. On Monday morning I taught him how to bind off so I could wash it with the next load of baby clothes. He did it all: cast on, knit, purl, basketweave, stocking stitch, stitch markers, no stitch markers, bind off. He even refused to use the larger needle trick to make sure his bind off wasn’t too tight- he didn’t want tricks. He wanted to do it right like everyone else, so he went slow and made sure he didn’t pull the yarn. The only thing I did for him was weave in the ends.

Thank you honey. Even with all the handknit and crocheted blankets our baby has, I hope yours is the most loved.
Project Specs:
Pattern: none. We made up a repeat of basketweave with a stockinette stitch center.
Yarn: King Cole’s Soft as Silk DK (I think it’s now discontinued)
Needles: 4.5mm
Cast On to Bind Off: A long time.


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when did I eat a jumping bean?

I haven’t posted much lately because I haven’t had photos to share, and always feel like the blog posts are a “disappointment” if there are no photos accompanying them. At this rate I won’t get any posting done, so from now on I’ll try to post what I can and just be satisfied with that. I’ll throw in some extra links or something to compensate. 🙂

My dad booked Yannick and Kevin to work all of this weekend and next weekend doing some renovations at the store. Their big plan is to repaint and move all the big units and shelves around to make room for the new units that we’re having built, and thusly give the store its first round of major renovations in about 10 years.

This means Yannick will be arriving here at the store at 5pm, just in time to say goodbye to me, and not coming home until Monday. My dad has it in his head that they will be pulling all-nighters to get the work done, because the store needs to be in some kind of working order before we reopen Tuesday morning (most of the year we work Tues-Sat).

I know they’ll have to stop tomorrow afternoon because we were all invited to my sister’s boyfriend’s house for cake and coffee to meet his family for the first time. He, like most of our friends growing up, tend to live at our place most of the time because my parents were always open to having our friends over. The door was always open and food always available. Her boyfriend’s name is Mike but that is also one of my brothers’ names so for the ease of this blog I’ll call him T.O.M. which stands for “The Other Mike”. In any case, T.O.M. has his own house so when they are not hanging out at my parents’ house they are at his place so there hasn’t been an occassion for the two families to meet before. Technically (that we know of) there isn’t an occassion now as there are no holidays coming up, they’ve only been together around 6 months and don’t have any special announcements to share (again, that we know of).

Yannick will also have to stop on Monday to be home for 11am since we are having someone come by to measure our house for a new Certificate of Location which we need to complete our Act of Sale. I can’t be there since I’ll be at the hospital for my semi-regular blood diabetes clinic check up and will have to stay late this time for the NST (Non-Stress Test, where they have me lie down for 30 minutes with monitors on my belly to see how responsive the baby is).

In any case, Yannick won’t be around much. Because of this I was planning on getting as much packing done as possible since we do have the big move coming up and we’re only about 35% done. (And of the 27 boxes packed so far, I’ve packed 24 and Yannick has done 3- but who’s counting?)

About 10 minutes ago I decided to scrap the packing plan. This kid has been squirming, dancing and bopping around pretty much non-stop all day and I am getting so tired! I love this feeling and will miss it terribly once I give birth, but it’s tough too. My body is getting a workout even when it looks like I’m just sitting still. I’m still working, and while I don’t always come in bright and early in the morning, I am always here until closing time, 5 days a week, then get home no earlier than 6:45pm to start making supper and pack for a bit. It’s starting to get very long and tiring, even just sitting at my desk at work. When I sit for more than 5 minutes the baby settles and my muscles relax, and then when I get up to walk I almost have to mince around for the first few minutes because the baby’s weight pulls down but my muscles are still in the “sitting” state and to make a long story short it pulls and hurts. It goes away after I’ve been up and mobile about 15 minutes but the initial “getting up and walking” isn’t fun.

Enough complaining. I am going to turn tonight around and enjoy it. Tomorrow I can finish my errands, go for the meet&greet then spend all afternoon/evening packing, plus I have Monday too. Tonight I will do only 2 things.

1) Start packing my hospital bag. I don’t want to accidentally pack (cardboard box) stuff I need for the baby or the hospital, so the sooner I get this bag packed and put aside, the better. I went to the Pharmacy last night to get a few things I was missing, and tomorrow I will go and get the rest. In the meantime I will empty the bag I want to use, pack up what I can and tick off the items packed on my checklist so I know that they are in there.

2) Knit. Quel surprise, eh? A few weeks ago I was at my LYS and picked up some Sandes Smart Superwash wool to knit up an Einstein Coat from The Knit Stitch by Sally Melville. I had started it on Wednesday night and done about 40 rows when I rechecked my gauge and found it much too tight. So I ripped back and will restart it tonight with a larger needle. Some mindless garter is just the ticket for tonight. I’m going to push to see how much I can get done before I fall asleep.