Joseph(ine)'s Coat of Many Colours...a preview

My, it certainly is bright isn't it!

It's finished, sewn together, ends darned in...and I'm just blocking it a bit to see what it looks like on Clare. The pattern calls for patch pockets, which I may add later. My fear is that a long sweater coat made from a fairly soft mohair blend yarn will get stretched out of shape in less than a week if I give a six year old pockets to jam her fists into! Kids pockets are usually a cache of horrors anyway.

It needs three large buttons for the bodice, which Clare and I will pick out this weekend. The pattern calls for a minimal neckband rather than a collar, but I'm thinking it looks a little bare. I have enough yarn left over to make a little collar and probably the patch pockets if required.

If Lion Brand made Lion Boucle in a compatible solid colour (the solid pink is the closest, but it's much more yellow toned than the fuschia in "Sprinkles"), I'd be tempted to knit a contrasting collar and patch pockets. Of course then I'd probably knit the matching hat and bag as well and no good can come of that much boucle on a small child.

Progress continues on Elle's zippered hoodie and so I'm planning my next project so as not to run out of things to knit! I do "owe" a couple of baby blankets. I'm not looking for anything as adventurous as the Alphabet Baby Blanket, but I'd like to do something a bit more interesting to knit than the Wavy Kelly Baby Blanket or the Big Bad Baby Blanket.

Debbie Bliss has a Snowflake and Heart Blanket in her Cotton Knits for All Seasons Book. I might swatch that up with some stash yarn, using contrasting stitches rather than two colours. (I like the elegance of mono-chromatic baby blankets and from my vantage point as a laundry-challenged mom, it is easier to wash a single colour cotton item than a white/colour one.)

As an aside, I recently purchased two Debbie Bliss books, second-hand. "Cotton Knits for All Seasons" and "Bright Knits for Kids". As much as I like Ms. Bliss' work, I hadn't intended to purchase these books. I had borrowed them from the local public library and slung my book bag over a kitchen chair before heading out to the library to return them. With all 3 of the kids persuing separate agendas, our departure was delayed for a few hours and when I reached the library I realized that Gillian had deposited the remains of a lime Creamsicle into the bag. (We've been working on putting things in the garbage when we are finished with them...the skill hasn't yet been perfected, obviously!) Anyway, my brief stint as a teenaged librarian taught me that melted ice cream is just about the worst substance you can get on books. It's wet, sticky, sweet, attracts insects and encourages mould growth...in short, you can't salvage an ice creamed library book. So, I fessed up to my local librarian and paid the replacement value of the items.

Really, for the number of books, CDs and videos that I borrow each year for my family, my late fees and replacement charges still make the library an excellent value. It's just that if Gilly had to force me to buy some more knitting books, I might have picked that Rowan Juniors issue or the Nancy Wiseman "Finishing Techniques" volume! Maybe next time...

Good thing she is cute as a button...or I think I might perch her on my Blue Box next Recycling Day!