Auspicious
Lately I’ve had a lot of time to think between the hours of 4:30 and 7am. Ada has taken to waking up very early indeed, so she and I alternate dozing and cuddling in bed together while it’s still dark and civilized people are not yet beginning the day. And when I say “cuddling,” I mean that one of us is setting a good example by feigning sleep and the other is hooting, flapping the bed covers up and down with vigor, and pedaling the air like a capsized beetle. It’s a good opportunity to cogitate on various ideas for knitting designs, but sadly there are very few arms-free hours for the actual execution of these plans.
I have finished some knitting lately, though. I meant to have finished a second Small Things romper back around Thanksgiving, when my friend Linus welcomed his baby daughter. He and his wife had admired Ada’s snail romper, so I knew I’d have to make them one of their own. Two months on, it’s finally done. I hope the baby hasn’t grown out of it already.
This one is Dream in Color Classy; if memory serves, the colors are “Nightwatch” and “Lunar Zazzle.” They’ve been marinating in the stash for several years. The Small Things romper is an irresistible canvas, as I discovered with the snail version. So what did I add this time? A motif that’s been in the back of my mind since I discovered it on a Chinese robe that belonged to my grandfather.
Chinese lore tells us that bats are symbols of good fortune. I’d thought to make Auspicious Bat mittens, but the orientation of the motif just isn’t right. The bat is too wide; it’s 65 stitches. I love the sweep and curl of her wings and didn’t want to alter them. But a cloth-diapered baby bum? That’s a nice broad canvas. Here’s the front pulled open so you can imagine the wing wrapping around the stern of a chunky little baby:
When I did Ada’s snail, I used an intarsia technique. This time I had a line drawing rather than a more solid block of color, so I turned to duplicate stitch or Swiss darning, just tracing over the stitches in the contrast color after the romper was already knit. I’m quite pleased with the result; some of my early-morning musings have turned to modifying my chart to create a more solid bat suitable for Armenian knitting, as seen in my beloved missing rooster hat. I suspect that the design as it stands would be too delicate to read well in a fingering-weight yarn, and I do think Ada might need an auspicious bat hat. More to come on that, let’s hope, but as of now my little cherub is awake and only the cat’s antics in a large cardboard box are distracting her from the realization that she is catastrophically hungry…
P.S. Yes, you should admire my restraint in not titling this post “Bat A$$.”
P.P.S. The postman just came, and I’m sort of horrified to discover that having a baby will land you on a mailing list for Weight Watchers six months down the line.
Posted: January 21st, 2011 at 4:39 pm
OMG. Weight Watchers? I’m horrified on your behalf. Wail till you turn 45 and they start sending you AARP applications. That will hook you up to a tequila IV right away, let me tell you.
Posted: January 21st, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Love it! The romper is so cute plain, and then the bat really makes it something fantastic. Lucky baby butt!
Posted: January 21st, 2011 at 6:13 pm
You need no stinking Weight Watchers. What you need is a nice cup of coffee with one of those ginormous Grand Central cinnamon rolls.
There, I said it!
And I won’t mind one either:P
Posted: January 21st, 2011 at 10:18 pm
So adorable. This baby’s mama is lucky to have a friend like you.
Posted: January 22nd, 2011 at 8:47 am
Oof. I can understand the thought process behind some of these marketing techniques, but still. I started getting baby-related mail exactly 8 months after I got married. To someone I’d already lived with for 4 years. Sigh. I think marketing departments are depressingly out of step with real life these days.
Posted: January 24th, 2011 at 8:17 am
I love it! The bat and the buttons add just the right touch of sophistication.
Posted: January 24th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
so… not to worry you, but my daughter was a VERY early riser for over 2 years – we had a 5:30 wake up call every day til she was about 30 mo. old. OY VEY. Finally started sleeping til 7 and it feels like noon. Good luck! : )
Posted: January 25th, 2011 at 5:03 am
Bats are good luck because the word for bat, ‘bian fu’ is similar to the word for luck ‘fu’. Two bats facing each other is double luck, and a red bat is especially lucky.
Lucky baby!
Posted: January 25th, 2011 at 9:26 am
I really wish that the marketing populace wouldn’t assume that every person who has a child (or who gets married, because I saw some of that when I started looking at wedding sites) wants or needs help to look good. I know people who were at their pre-pregnancy weight within a week or so of birth and others who were not, but they all looked like happy, healthy mothers, which is way more beautiful than weight watcher-ing yourself into some artificial standard.
Posted: January 26th, 2011 at 2:52 pm
She is precious … pretty in pink.
Posted: January 28th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
I am right there with you at 4:30 am, engaging in a pre-dawn nursathon with my daughter and thinking about knitting. Our formerly championship sleeper has decided to spend more time with me between the hours of 2 or 3 and 7 am ever since I went back to work full time. I am a zombie, but it does afford some time to daydream about my Ravelry queue. And snuggle with the little squirmer.