Action shots of Kate's sweater

My brother sent photos of Kate wearing the sweater I knit for her in 2006. She was born in October 2006 and it was too big for her then. Now it's too small, but it still keeps her warm.

I'm happy to see the Dale Baby Ull and Lanett Ull yarns have held up well. They're both soft fingering weight superwash wool, perfect for baby knits. I'll ask my brother if they've washed it often. They machine wash and dry everything, so it's good to know it still looks decent without the benefit of a proper post-wash blocking and air dry. (cringe.)



It's a shame nobody buys her any toys.

"Help Auntie K, I need a new sweater, this one is too small!"
OK, OK, I'm on it kid.

You'll find project notes and more photos on this gallery page:
http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/fobaby.html

Updates with photos

In the last two months I've finished a pair of socks, most of a child's cabled cardigan (burgundy), a woman's hat, and I've started another child's cardigan (storm blue).

I knit the hat for my mom's friend but had to give it away before I could get a good photo of it. Too bad, it was pretty cool looking and the pattern isn't on Ravelry yet.

I'll finish the first cardigan after my niece tries it on. It just needs a second sleeve, and I don't want to bother with that until I know the first one fits her right. I can handle ripping out one sleeve but I'd rather not rip two. Did I mention the sleeves are knit entirely in seed stitch? Not my favorite thing in the world. (I purl with my left thumb so doing anything that involves repeating K1P1 is slower for me than the average knitter.)


this color is not accurate

this isn't the real color either

I'm excited about the storm blue cardigan, it's a gansey style pattern (decorative knits and purls and a fancy cable) designed by E.J. Slayton, found in a 1994 Knitting Digest magazine. So far I've knit the first 6 inches of the fronts and back. It's worked in one piece to the armholes and finished off with applied i-cord trim and i-cord buttonholes -- which I might change up, I haven't decided yet. The yarn is beautiful, it's the Storm color in Knitpicks Swish DK (superwash). The wool is very soft and I expect it will pill like crazy but oh well, 6 skeins only cost $18. I'm hoping that the cardigan won't have to be washed as often as a regular pullover sweater.

I don't want to know how long it took me to slog my way through these socks. Ugh, so boring to knit. The heels are solid blue because I cut out the other colors and wove in a bunch of ends.

Baby Surprise Jacket

I made a Baby Surprise Jacket for my 15 month old niece, but I don't know how long she can wear it because I didn't take measurements when I saw her last month. It looks like she's going to be a tall kid, so I'm more concerned about length in the body and sleeves than the body width.


Full disclosure: I haven't actually sewn the buttons on yet

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann ~ can be found in The Opinionated Knitter or purchased as an individual pattern from Schoolhouse Press, it's still only $3.00 plus s&h.

Yarn: mystery unlabeled worsted wool from a thrift shop, stripes/collar/trim is Lamb's Pride worsted in Wild Violet (yarn left over from the Bunny Fun project). The main grey yarn is slightly variegated (subtle, the way I like it), and a shade of violet in it matches the Wild Violet perfectly, it looks like these two yarns were meant to go together. Serendipitous.

Buttons: 19 mm, purchased at Joann Fabrics


I promise to learn how to activate the macro feature on my new camera soon (and maybe take pictures again when it isn't overcast and raining?)

Notes:

applied i-cord
The i-cord trim was knit with the wrong side of the jacket facing me as I worked it, because I like the back side of applied i-cord better than the front -- mainly because it's smaller and slightly neater looking.

I learned Joyce William's trick to cover up the color blips on the front side by watching Knitting Glossary. (If you've done applied i-cord then this should make sense: make a YO after the usual slipped stitch, then pass both the slipped stitch and YO off the needle during the PSSO step. This covers the blip nicely.) So I started the i-cord trim using Joyce's trick and the jacket's right side facing. But halfway through I decided I still preferred the look of the back side so I ripped it out, and started over again with the wrong side facing. I'm happy with the results.

The i-cord starts and ends at the back of the neck, it was done before the collar was added.

collar
The collar is 11 ridges (22 rows) of garter stitch, first stitch of every row was slipped as if to knit. I simply determined where I wanted the collar to start and stop and picked up sts around the neck between point A and point B. There's no shaping at all, this couldn't be easier. You may need more or fewer rows, depending on yarn weight and how big you want the collar to be.

sleeves
I added a couple inches to the sleeves and I'm not sure if it was the right amount, I need a fitting with my supermodel niece.

surprise!
I know everyone talks about this, but it's true: the construction on this thing is super crazy, interesting, and mind-boggling. You need to make one as a sample, just so you can count ridges and plan out the striping and color changes on the second BSJ you knit. I neglected to take a photo before sewing up the sleeve seams, but you can see a BSJ in its unfolded state here (plus other useful tips for this pattern): KnitWiki page for the Baby Surprise Jacket @ http://www.knitting-and.com/wiki/Baby_Surprise_Jacket

Christmas Bunny

I knew mom would appreciate a handmade bunny more than anyone else I know. She decorates the house for every big holiday/season, and Spring time is when the bunnies appear. Here's an early arrival:





Pattern: Fiber Trends Bunny Fun
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted - Sable and Wild Violet
Eyes: Darice brand, 15 mm, purchased at Joann's (99 cents for four eyes)
Nose: black sock yarn
Tail: pompom made with the Wild Violet yarn
Height, to top of ears: about 11"

I was hoping I could use just one skein of the Sable (190 yds/skein), but I needed a couple yards from a 2nd skein to finish sewing up the pieces. For this reason I don't recommend using Lamb's Pride unless you plan to knit a solid colored bunny (2 skeins of 1 color) or you don't mind buying 3 skeins. The contrast color used for the feet and ears only requires about 30-40 yards so it'd be smart to check your stash for leftovers.

I like this bunny a lot, and there wasn't anything complicated about it. It's knit flat in four pieces (front, back, two feet -- the ears and arms are part of the front and back body pieces) and then sewn together before a trip through the washing machine.

Idea for next time: install a wind-up music box inside bunny, find some orange wool for a felted carrot, maybe make a teddy bear instead -- all I'd have to change is the ears.

Dog Booties for Baby (or Snoopy)

The cuffs can be unfolded for extra warmth:

Yarn: Reynold's Lopi (brown body), Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (black cuffs), Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (red tongue).

Pattern: from the book Knit Baby Heads & Toes! by Gwen Steege. These booties were designed by Bev Galeskas of Fiber Trends.

Speaking of Fiber Trends, I made these FT slippers for myself last month:



Betcha can't knit just one (pair). This is around the 10th pair I've made from this pattern.

Gratuitous cat photo:

Acorn Hat . . . FOR MY NIECE (!!!)

I have a niece! Katherine Anne (Katie), born 10/10. Is that a great birthday or what? Pretty hard for friends and family to forget. ;) I'm thrilled beyond measure. I would've been just as happy with a nephew too, but there was a tiny voice inside me saying I hope it's a girl.

My brother surprised me last week. I told him the cable baby hat was in the mail and he asked, "Didn't you say you were going to make a hat that looks like an acorn?" How did he remember that? It was around 6 months ago that I told him about the acorn pattern and I thought it went in one ear and out the other (you know how non-knitters tend to drift off if you talk about knitting stuff). Apparently he was looking forward to it! So I cast on for the adorable hat. I told him it would be a little big right now but it'll fit eventually. The smallest pattern size is 19" and I adjusted the gauge so it'd be a little smaller, but I didn't want it newborn size (so it'd fit longer).



The rolled brim uses 4 strands of fingering weight yarn (or two strands worsted), the rest of the hat uses 2 strands (or one strand worsted).


yarn: Patons Kroy sock yarn


Here is Snoopy's little sister Belle in Katie's blue hooded sweater (it zips down the back). I can't wait to see her in it:


yarn: Plymouth Encore

new buttons, why needle size matters, and new soles

The perfect buttons for Baby K's green and blue sweater were found at Pacific Fabrics. I'm not sure if it's obvious in the photos but the buttons and green yarn are the exact same color, it's like they were dyed to match. (I can't get the colors in this sweater to look accurate in photos, not even in natural sunlight -- argh.)

It's hard to get across how cute this is without including something to indicate its size. I'm not at all baby crazy but little baby clothes are so sweet, there's something about them that makes me go awwwww.

I've already posted photos of the two pairs of booties I made for Baby K but this time they're shown together and the soles are revealed. The following is a photo I'll show beginners when I'm teaching them about gauge. The bootie on the left was knit with size 0 needles, the bootie on the right used size 1 needles. Both were made with fingering weight yarn following the same pattern (but I made the green bootie's leg twice as long so it'd fold over).


Left: about 3.75" long (size 0 needles)
Right: about 4.25" long (size 1 needles)

click here for larger image

This is the improved sole, I took it from the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs pattern. When I changed the pattern a few years ago it occured to me that I needed a sole with 84 sts and the women's medium sole ends with 85 sts, so I simply ignored a M1 in the 6th row. If you've ever made a clog from the FT pattern you'll also be amused that it can be used for something so tiny -- those clogs before felting (knit on size 13 needles using bulky weight yarn) look like giant floppy clown shoes.

Speaking of the FT clogs/slippers, I just finished another pair and I hope to have them in the washer this afternoon. Pictures of before and after once they're dry. Ha, I'll put a bootie in the before picture to illustrate how goofy it looks.

Newborn Hat for Baby K

This hat for Baby K (my niece or nephew due in 2.5 weeks!) looks like it was meant to match the socks in my last post, but the cable and yarn are both different. I used the blue leftover yarn from the Ullared hat I made in March.

Yarn: Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport - 100% wool (color: Bit of Blue)
Pattern: from the book Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas

Baby items and my publishing debut

I thought this baby sweater would be done by now, the last stitch was knit a few weeks ago, but it's still waiting on a zipper. That'll have to be ordered online, I went to four fabric stores and nobody had a separating zipper in the right color.

The front:


I love the pointy elf hood

The back:



It's pinned together where the zipper will go. I'll probably seam the hood and stop the zipper at the neck so the baby won't have his/her head pressed against a hard zipper. Of course the colors look much better in person (more jewel like and vibrant), my digital camera kungfu is not the best.

Some knitters praise Plymouth Encore over Lion Brand Wool-Ease (both are 25% wool, 75% acrylic and OK to machine wash/dry) but they don't feel all that different to me. It still feels like knitting with acrylic, though not really gross acrylic. Encore is available in better colors, which is a definite plus, so for that alone I'd be more likely to use Encore again -- if I could buy it in local yarn shops. Maybe Encore wears and washes better than Wool-Ease. I'd much rather use a nice superwash wool but this Encore was so cheap, the jewel blue color is fantastic, and it'll survive multiple trips through the dryer.

Pattern is free, located here: http://knitting.about.com/library/blbabyswe4.htm
I don't recall finding any errors in the pattern, it's pretty straight-forward.

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Right now I'm working on a bootie using leftover Lorna's Laces sock yarn, here's the first one in this pair:



I'm knitting these on size 0 needles so they're smaller than the size 1 booties posted last month. The leg is also a lot longer (40 rounds) so they can be folded over or left up to keep the leg warm.

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I've been published! Apparently they'll give a book deal to anyone nowadays. I'm kidding, I didn't write a book, but my website made it into one. Some time ago Judy Brown asked permission to include my website address in her book so I said sure and promptly forgot about it. As a generous thank you (which I wasn't at all expecting) she sent the final product, a knitting journal titled Knitting Notes.



One thing I really like is the spiral binding, which makes it easy to cleanly tear out a ruined journal page. The full page size is an advantage over the smaller knitting journals I've seen in book stores. I also like the Canadian flavor, because I have a crush on Canada.

A knitting journal isn't the sort of thing I'd buy myself (I'd be more inclined to make one, I'm cheap) but now that one is in my hands I can see myself using it. I'm trying to decide if I want to start the journal with my current projects or backtrack by entering in data for projects completed years ago. It's nice to have that info in my blog but I can see the advantages of keeping it all in a paper journal as well.

Something Judy wrote struck a chord: "Use [the journal] well and it will be a treasured gift to hand down." She's right, I wish my grandma had kept a knitting/crochet journal, I would've dearly loved to look through it every so often. I have her crochet hooks and knitting needles, but I don't know anything about what she made with them.

Baby Booties

I should've used size 0 needles instead of size 1 because the foot looks too long for a newborn. But babies are known for growing like weeds, they'll fit eventually.


yarn: Fortissima Colori Socka Color #2419 (kolibri)

This was a cheap project, I used leftover sock yarn and a free pattern. The pattern is online here at Woolworks, but I changed it to knit in the round, used a different and better looking sole, and corrected an error. Where it says "On Sections 3, 4, 6, & 7, decrease 1 st at the beginning and end of each row" change it to "... beginning and end of each purl row."

Right now I'm working on something else for the baby, a hooded sweater that zips down the back. I just finished the hood:



yarn: Plymouth Encore DK


We won't know for another week or so if the baby is a boy or girl or alien. My brother said any color I use is fine with him and his wife, which is exactly what I expected him to say.

Striped Yoke Baby Cardigan

In 5 1/2 months I'll be an Aunt -- for the first time! To say I'm happy about this is an understatement, and not just because there's a zillion cute baby things to knit.

Up first: This is a sacque according to the pattern which just sounds weird so I'll refer to it as a cardigan. The pattern is from a 1968 book titled "Lovable Hand Knits: Infants to 4 years." I bought it a few years ago at St. Vincent's, back when I didn't know any babies and didn't anticipate any arriving in the near future. It caught my eye because most of the garments require fingering weight yarn, which is better than the bulky knits up fast! kid patterns so easy to find nowadays.



The yellow buttons were photoshopped in to indicate where the buttonholes are, that's the color I'll get if there isn't anything better at the fabric store. The colors are a little unusual but they passed the mom test. It's the sort of thing I'd put on a young child but I wouldn't wear myself. The green makes me think of spring and the cardigan is sized to fit the baby next spring and/or summer. That's the plan anyway, what I know about clothing growing babies could fit on the head of a pin.

It was knit from the neck down without any seams. The sleeves were meant to be knit flat but I did those in the round. I'm thinking about sewing up the front (stopping at the bottom of the yoke) and turning it into a pullover.

Yarn: Dale Baby Ull (blue) and Lanett Ull (green) -- both are Superwash 100% merino wool fingering weight yarns made in Norway; they look virtually identical to me. This yarn is delicious, it's so soft and perfect for babies (it's machine washable) or anyone who thinks wool is scratchy.

Right now I'm working on a pair of green/red/orange/yellow booties using leftover sock yarn.