A One-Year Tortoise.

While I was composing this post in my head, I was wondering where on earth the word “tortoise” comes from. My etymological dictionary is vague, saying that it comes from Latin tortue and Spanish tortuga, which is the pirate’s port town in Pirates of the Caribbean. In Spanish, it is the same as the word for Turtle.) German, too used the same word for tortoise and turtle, that word is Schildkröte, which translates as shield-toad, which is fairly cute. I think.

Stockinette and Garter

This has come off the needles (and been buttoned) in the last couple of hours. In time for a new arrival that should be here sometime soon. I like knitting for babies of an unknown flavour, I like knitting something without worrying if it’s too girly or boy-y (hum) as I thoroughly disagree with putting them into gender-specific clothes and imposing gender stereotypes on them from birth. Here’s to gender stereotype-bashing!

In that spirit, here is something that is neither blue nor pink:

Woollen offerings

As promised, here are some pictures of recent post-blocking knitting triumphs. And a re-knit.

So, baby number 1 was born in July, and another is on the way at the beginning of November.  I’m generally quite a quick knitter when I get down to it, but I rarely have time to sit and knit (although I’ve been making time to sit down in front of Downton Abbey recently…) So I decided for the first baby it would probably be best to make something for a 6-9 month baby, in case I really didn’t find the time. As it happened I did find the time, so the parents were presented with something she’d just have to grow into (hey, it’s better than something she’d just grown out of!)

My mother always said (1)

She always said that I shouldn’t knit with 100% natural fibres, and showed me, as proof, a few of her woollen cardis that had been partially devoured by moths. She suggested using wools containing a small percentage of man-made fibre.

But moths always seemed like a problem for someone else, moth balls make me think of old ladies’ wardrobes full of fur coats and woollen shawls, not for the likes of me.