Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody is defined as "an effusively enthusiastic or ecstatic expression of feeling."  And what else is a hand-knitted gift other than an ecstatic expression of feeling?  Most of us don't knit for just anyone - we knit for those we truly care about.  For us, knitting is one of the best ways to express our feelings towards another.  Every single one of the hundreds or thousands of stitches contains our love and affection.

Newborn Vertebrae in KnitPicks Stroll Tonal (Pacific)

As I was knitting my Baby Blue Cardigan (renamed from plain old Baby Cardigan), not only did I think of all the good times that I had with the soon-to-be parents, but I imagined the good times they will have with their little one.  I may never get to meet the little guy (they live out of the state now), but I like to think that he will be happy and warm in the little cardigan I knit for him.  If I'm lucky, maybe it'll appear in a family picture! I realize since this is made for a newborn, he won't be in it for long, but I'm OK with that.  It was just too cute to pass up. 

I'm mostly happy with it, although there are things that I would change if I had more time.  First, as you can see in the pictures, the yarn pooled like crazy!  Especially on the back.  I could have cut the yarn to break this up, but for whatever reason (I'm blind, maybe?), I didn't.  

The only other thing that bugs me is that when I picked up the stitches for the body ribbing, I missed picking up the cast-on and cast-off rows so there is a slight jag going from the bottom ribbing to the body ribbing (you can see this in the top picture, but you may not want to).  Probably not something anyone but knitters would notice, but it does sort of make my right eye twitch.  But, overall, I'm happy with it, and I hope that my friends and their little boy will be happy with it too.

And now, I'm back to my sock obsession and have cast on another pair of Monkeys for my friend, Liz (this will be my third pair).  Although, I have to say it's going to be hard to give these away; the yarn is so gorgeous (it's the Araucania Huasco from my previous yarn-gushing post).  These were originally going to be Show-off Stranded Socks because of the Yarn Harlot's post about how great they were for variegated yarn.  However, I could not get my Knitter's Pride Dreamz DPNs to slip the YO stitch over without significant amounts of concentration and cursing.  I still want to make those, but I'm going to need some pointier needles first.  Any suggestions? 

In theater news, we're still spinning up for Journey to the West and sent out the rehearsal schedule last week.  And, let me tell you, it's been a bit of a nightmare.  We have a cast of 15 and that, combined with the fact that this is community, not professional, theater has been a real problem for scheduling.  There was a boatload of conflicts (and one or two temper tantrums) to deal with, and the director even had to re-cast one of the main roles due to unsolvable conflicts.  The battle between Sunday afternoon or evening rehearsals is still being waged even now.  It will all get resolved eventually, but eesh....it's been crazy.  That's theater for ya!

Tonight, I plan on getting back on my old exercise routine of P90x.  Before I got heavily involved with theater again, I did P90x 6 days a week and was in great shape.  It's pretty much impossible to maintain that when I'm doing a show, so I have about a month and a half to try and make up for some lost time.  So, schedule tonight: P90x, shower, cook, then knit for a few hours.  Oh!  And watch the premiere of So You Think You Can Dance!  Sounds like a good night to me!