Sunday Knitting

I recently finished a baby sweater for a coworker. There was only a small window of time between finishing and wrapping it, and the light was pretty bad during that time, so I apologize for the photo quality. The color is rather washed out, but at least you can get the idea.

I used a pattern called Korrigan, which was originally written in French, but has an English translation. It used some language that was shall we say, non-standard, but I managed to figure it out. I'd caution less-experienced knitters against using this pattern (unless you have someone to help you) because it could lead to frustration and errors.

It's a pretty adorable sweater though, isn't it? The yarn is Breathless from Shalimar Yarns, and it's a blend of merino, silk, and cashmere. The color is just beautiful, and I really do adore the cabling around the yoke of this sweater. It's hand-dyed so it pooled a bit, but I sort of like the effect. I found these plain little white buttons at home, which was lucky, though it took me at least a week to drudge up the wherewithal to sew them on.

If we're lucky, maybe I'll be able to post a modeled photo sometime after the baby arrives.

Sunday Knitting

I've been sitting on a finished project for a while here, waiting until I gave it to the expectant mother-to-be, which I finally did this week.

And by "finished" I mean that it was all finished about a month ago except for sewing a snap and decorative button on the cardigan. I am a little ashamed of how long it took me to do that part.

This is the Love the Earth Baby Cardi, which is free online from Lion Brand Yarn. I used Cascade Yarns Pacific, which is a merino/acrylic blend. Purple, of course.

I made a hat too, because I'm convinced the baby will outgrow the sweater in about 10 seconds and possibly never get to wear it.

This is the Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch, made with the same yarn. It took almost no time at all. I've made this hat at least once before, but apparently pre-Ravelry and pre-blog because I don't see it in my projects anywhere. I'll have to remember to make it more because it's really a very cute little hat.

I finished this project and my shawl on the very same day, and that leaves me with only my Feathernest Raglan on the needles. That, too, is coming to an end fairly quickly. So I've been spending a lot of time looking at knitting patterns - I've almost forgotten how much fun that is! I'll post soon with a new project!

Sunday Knitting

Here is the finished project I gave you just a little hint of last week:

I made these for a coworker who hopefully isn't looking at this today. If so, um, surprise! Here's a preview of the gift you're getting tomorrow!

These baby boots are from a free pattern called Closeknit's Striped Baby Boots, which is a free Ravelry download. The pattern is fairly detailed and even includes some photos but I still found it a bit confusing. There's a part where you decrease and then immediately increase again, which makes no sense. And maybe the increases are supposed to be a different spot but it's really difficult to tell from the way the pattern is worded (and there's no photo for that part, alas). Anyhow, they are pretty cute little booties anyhow.

I used some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino I bought at my recent little shopping spree at Windsor Button. It's a blend of wool, microfiber and cashmere. I've been wanting to make something blue and brown striped for ages and I really like how that came out.

Sunday Knitting

This is my finished Cabled Baby Raglan Sweater. The photo isn't fantastic - I had a choice between too bright from the sunlight or too bright from the flash. But you get the idea.

Pattern: Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater, a free pattern from Knitting Daily
Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK
Needles: Size 4 Addi Turbos

It took me just under two months from start to finish, but I had a couple of false starts. Then after I finished the knitting and weaving in of yarn ends, it languished for about a week before I washed and blocked it, finally adding the snap and button on the day I gave it away. Had I focused on the project a bit more it could have easily been finished in a few weeks.

I made it for a friend who will be having a baby in a couple of months. Turns out that her husband knits and I got to see several pairs of booties he's made. The sweater was very well received!

Sunday Knitting

I made these for a baby shower I went to today. They were a pretty quick project that I just started at the beginning of the week. I don't usually wait until the last minute, but had trouble committing to a pattern.

I used Saartje's Bootees, a free pattern I downloaded from Ravelry. The yarn is leftover from socks I made a few years ago, and I used size 2.5 needles.

Although they were quick and easy enough to make, I had a couple of minor quibbles with the pattern. To make the straps, you must cast on extra stitches in such a spot that you end up with several ends to weave in at the end of each strap. Weaving in adds bulk anyhow, but here there's so little fabric in which to weave that it's hard to find space to do all three ends without making it very stiff and bulky at the end of the straps.

Also, there weren't really instructions for the button loops. It just says something like "make a loop." I know from looking at other Ravelry projects that some people crocheted loops but I thought they'd end up too bulky. In the end I literally just made a loop with the yarn before weaving it back in at the end of the strap. I forgot to take pictures of the straps unbuttoned so you can see the loops, but they are literally just loops of yarn, so you can just use your imagination. I think it came out ok.

I have some extra buttons because I had a tough time deciding which ones to buy, so I may make another pair with yarn of a different color. Then maybe next time I know someone who's having a baby I'll have the booties all made and won't have to rush around at the last minute!*

(*This is much like when I vow to start knitting Christmas presents in September.)

Heritage Baby Sweater

Pattern: Heritage Baby Sweater from Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders
Yarn: Rowan 4 Ply Cotton
Needles: size 1.5
Started: April 16
Finished: June 4

I’ve been knitting this as a gift for friends who are expecting their first baby. It took me just under two months to make this sweater, but it felt like much longer. Lace is aggravating torture, but so pretty. Isn’t this a lovely little sweater?

Choosing a yarn is frequently the most difficult part of a project, and it was especially so this time. I wanted a bright color, it needed to be fingering weight, appropriate for a baby (i.e. not expensive or delicate), and I wanted to avoid animal products. Cotton seemed like a natural choice, especially since this will be worn in the summer (but in San Francisco, so a sweater will frequently be needed!) I don’t know the gender of the baby but it doesn’t really matter as the colors I like tend to not be especially gendered. Ultimately I wasn’t totally happy with the color as I wanted orange and it’s more of a coral - but it’s for an infant, a blind person, and a colorblind person. None of them will know what color it is anyhow.

The sweater is knit from side to side in two pieces, beginning at each sleeve and working towards the middle, then grafted up the back with kitchener stitch. The pattern just says to kitchener the back together and refers to general kitchener instructions in the back of the book. There was no mention of how to kitchener something that is not stockinette, but the rows of live stitches I was working with were almost in reverse stockinette (6 p, 1k, etc) so I just followed the instructions doing it from the wrong side (the mostly-knit side) instead of from the right side. Confused? Me too. It would have been helpful for the pattern to include a tip on how to approach this. Mysteriously, there is also no picture of the back of the sweater in the book so perhaps the designer didn’t know what she was doing either. Although the seam is very obvious, I am choosing to think of it as a design feature rather than crappy seaming.

I was most worried about the crochet edging, which turned out to be a piece of cake. The crowning glory, of course, is this adorable Beatrix Potter button.

For some reason I had a particularly difficult time getting decent photos. The color was hard to capture too, but I think it's fairly accurate in the first two photos.

All in all I’m pretty happy with the result but even more happy that it’s done and can be mailed off to the parents-to-be while the baby is still in utero. And I can finally move on to other projects!

Hugs and Kisses Baby Socks

Pattern: Better-Than-Booties Baby Socks by Ann Budd from Interweave Knits Summer 2005 (and also available for free here.)
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
Needles: Addi Turbo Size 2

I made these for a co-worker who is expecting her first baby in late July. This project took me about a month, mostly because I kept putting off working on it. They knit up quickly, but the pattern uses short-row heels and toes, which I don't especially like doing so it was always too easy to put it off until another day.

I used a different bind-off than called for in the pattern. I tried the zig zag bind off, but it made the toe area really flare out. After completing the short row toe, you have two parallel needles of stitches, and the instructions have you knit one from the front needle, then one from the back, alternating in this way while binding off. Of course, this puts those two needles of stitches all in a row, hence the flaring. I undid the bind-off and used a regular 3-needle bind-off and I think it looks a lot better. If you look at the picture, the bind-off is that horizontal row that divides the cable panel from the toe.

The cable panel is really adorable and very easy. Their were other variations on this pattern including one with a basketweave cable panel and one that was plain stockinette. They are all extremely cute so I will keep this in mind for the next time I need to knit something for a baby (short rows or not).

The yarn feels nice knit up but it's really splitty so working with it is not as wonderful as I had expected, and the cable cast-on was a real bitch. But I'd probably use it again as it comes in very nice colors and is very soft, as well as machine washable - a must for a new mom, as far as I'm concerned.

If you have a Ravelry account, also check out this adorable sweater that one of my co-workers knit for the baby. There was also a totally cute hat with ear flaps and a pair of booties with ribbons woven in around the cuff. The mom-to-be is also a knitter, so I'm sure she'll have some great things for him as well. This is one lucky baby!

Knitting Teamwork!

A group of us at my library all pulled together to make this baby blanket for a co-worker. Between knitting the squares and sewing it together, I think there were 15 of us who took part. It's a very simple pattern - just garter stitch squares - but the combination of colors and the whipstitching gives it a great patchwork look. The edge squares were left unsewed to give it the fun flaps, which I think look great. We gave it to the new mom-to-be this week and she seemed to love it!