FO - Sally

Pattern: "Sally" from JB29 by Martin Storey
Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4 ply
Needles: 3mm; 2.75mm circs
Ravelled here

I'm so pleased with the way that this has turned out, especially as I rather lost confidence in it whilst knitting the fronts due to the trickiness of combining colourwork and shaping in a neat and tidy fashion. Happily seaming and picking up stitches for the front and neck edging seems to have secured all the dodgy bits. I'm pretty sure my sister will like it and I'm certain that she'll love the buttons which are even cuter than the bee ones on baby's purple cardigan (now sadly outgrown).

One of the reasons I'm so pleased to have finished Sally is that I promised myself that I wouldn't cast on the next baby cardigan until it was done. As soon as the last little sheep button was stitched firmly in place I picked up my needles and yarn and cast on for the Lace Edge Cardigan from Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss. Debbie really doesn't go in for the poetic names for her patterns which is maybe just as well as you've got to wonder at the thinking behind giving instructions for boys and girls button bands for a cardigan pattern entitled "Sally"!



(yeess - that didn't really turn out as well as I'd hoped. I'll take more pics in better light soon.)

I've been wanting to knit this for ages now as the lace edging looked particularly exciting. However, for a while it really did seem like a case of the grass looking greener on the other side as I found myself plunged into a garter stitch black hole for at least two hours this afternoon. I have now, though, emerged safe and sound on the event horizon with one of the "fronts" complete and halfway through the back. I'll see how it goes but I'm suspecting that it might be a cunning plan to pick up stitches at the armholes and knit the sleeves downwards. I'm really much better at picking up stitches than at sewing on sleeves! I might even knit them in the round once I've got past the point where they are joined to the underarm.

I'll post something about our lovely holiday in Prague just as soon as I've sorted out the photos (I got rather snap happy). In the meantime here's what I was knitting whilst on holiday.



Thelonious socks by Cookie A. in Louet Gems Opal. I love both the yarn and the pattern and I'm racing along on the first sock. I've had a great idea for adapting the pattern too in order to make symmetrical left and right socks but at this stage it would involve a fair bit of ripping back. "To rip or not to rip?", that is the question.

Introducing BP

In the middle of what has been a slightly hassly week at work (crises all of my own making) I had a wonderful day trip to the big city to see my brand new baby niece:



I was running rather later than intended so didn't have much time to sample the yarn delight of London. However, I did manage to snaffle a few balls of Jaeger Matchmaker 4-ply in John Lewis (there's still plenty left guys) to make a top for me and a cardigan (or something) for BP.

As it turned out my timing was perfect as BP had just been got up and changed as I arrived and was then awake and doing cute baby stuff and being very very good for the rest of my visit - she's a total charmer.

I'm not sure that Elijah really enjoyed his trip to London..



..but he looks much happier now:





He wasn't quite ready in time for me to present to BP on Wednesday (still missing most of one ear) but I finished knitting on the bus on the way home and he's waiting to be sent off as soon as I#ve taken the photos for my competition entry.

Happy Birthday baby Porter

Yesterday lunchtime I received the very exciting news that I now have a niece. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I was able to see photos shortly after that and she looks incredibly cute if a little grumpy. Of course that's hardly to be wondered at given that it's turned seasonably frosty outside - luckily the latest batch of baby knits is all ready to keep her cosy and warm.

Classic Cardigam



Pattern: Classic Cardigan from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK
Needles: 3mm and 3.25mm
Modification: Pattern knit at 24 stitches/32 rows = 10cm instead of 18 stitches/24 rows = 10cm to make newborn size.

Posy bootees



Pattern: Posy bootees by Martin Storey from JB29
Yarn: Oxford Kitchen Yarns sock yarn
Needles: 2.25mm dpn
Modification: Pattern knit at slightly smaller gauge, tubular bind-off added at top.

Baby knit-o-rama

Baby Porter - my first niece or nephew (we're fairly sure niece) - is due any day now and so baby knitting has reached near fever pitch. I sent off the first batch of crafted stuff (plus some very bought cute toys and clothes that I couldn't resist) last week and I'm now working on the next lot - a newborn size cardigan in Rowan Cashsoft DK and some Posy bootees in Oxford Kitchen Yarns sock yarn.



I love this pattern which is one of many beautiful patterns from Jaeger Handknits JB29. They may or may not be named after Posy Fossil from Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield (one of my favourite children's books) but I couldn't resist the photo opportunity. Sadly the lighting isn't great but I'll take more pics when I've finished the i cord drawstrings. I used 24 grammes of Oxford Kitchen Yarns sock yarn in Raspberry and 2.25mm needles. Otherwise I've followed the pattern as written right up to the top of the cuff where I've added a 6 row tubular bind-off to match the piping around the foot.

Although I've been trying to knit the smallet sizes in baby patterns even the 0-3 month sizes have come out looking huge. I can understand why pattern designers don't want to give small pattern sizes - babies come in a varying range of sizes and grow very fast so you could end up with some very disgruntled knitters. Still, I really wanted to knit something that that baby could wear right away and so knit the classic cardigan from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss using DK weight yarn instead of aran and size 3.25mm needles instead of 4.5mm. The result is a cardigan which is three-quarters the size of the 3-6 months size and which looks a pretty good fit for a newborn (fingers crossed). The yarn is Rowan Cashsoft in a very pretty lilac.



The bear transfer was my one purchase (for all of £0.99) at Hobbycraft this weekend - so sweet!

I was similarly restrained at John Lewis where Mum and I went to pick out my very exciting Christmas present (which is sadly staying firmly in its box and under wraps until December 25th - it might as well be a surprise for someone!). I think that my urge to buy yarn - even when confronted with exclusive to John Lewis alpaca and soon to be discontinued Jaeger (the Rowan rep said they still had plenty in stock) - was somewhat appeased by my Mum's purchase of 8 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran for a moss stitch baby blanket (also from The Baby Knits Book which I had luckily brought up with me). Mum wanted me to be around to remind her how to cast on and change colours etc. but she really needn't have as she's picked it up again like the proverbial bicycle and after just one evening she's already 2 inches in!

That's all the knitting news for now - I can't wait to get back to Oxford and hear all about how the various Bluestockings got on at the i knit Stitch'n Bitch day. From the small snippets I've heard it sounds like everyone had a great time. Katie's put a small preview up on her blog - I can't get over how great her knitted banner is!

FO—PBP-03:Top-down baby raglan

The pile of cute baby stuff under the bed just keeps on growing.



Yarn: 2 balls light green Rowan cashsoft dk, 2 balls cream Rowan cashsoft baby dk
Needles: 3.75mm circular, 3.75mm double pointed needles, 4mm for casting off.
Pattern: My own.

I finished the button band (the last bit of knitting) on Friday night and left the cardigan blocking on Saturday while I went to town in search of buttons. The selection in the fabric store isn't the widest and I couldn't get a good match with any of the green ones, then I found these. Aren't they the cutest?!



(I forgot to take a close up earlier whilst it was daylight so it's a bit blurry.)

The cream is a really good match for the yarn and the clear bits seem to pick up the green from the button band around and below.

Although I've specified 2 balls of each colour above you only need a tiny bit of the second ball of each colour. If you were to knit a single colour version (which I might later on when I know which gender to knit for) it would only take three balls with some over for matching bootees or a hat. So...



These are from the Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss and they really are a last minute knitted gift and take the least amount of yarn! The turn-over cuff with the snug ribbing underneath is so neat as is the little heel flap. (I don't mind heel flaps when they're this small, and when the maths adds up properly - I hate having to fudge an assymetric heel flap).

I'm knitting another pair with a slightly more fancy cuff, though I might rip back and knit over 30 stitches instead of 32 as the lace pattern gives a slightly larger gauge and also doesn't go exactly into 32 stitches (and at this scale a 2 stitch "blank" column is quite noticeable).

Yesterday was meant to be another "Spin Sunday" but I went out on a bike ride instead to atone for the previous night's excesses at the Summer Ball so I'm no further forward with Sockapalooza than I was last week. The boyfriend is out tonight so this looks like the perfect excuse to rent a good movie and get in a couple of hours tonight, hopefully I'll remember how!

Aww!

More progress on the top-down baby raglan which is starting to look very cute. I've worked out the underarm sleeve shaping (2 mirroring decreases on alternate rows and then 2 mirrored decreases every 4 rows). This should get me to the top of the cuff with 25 stitches remaining. Just one little issue. The sleeve length needs to be 14cm, but is that 14cm from the shoulder or the underarm? I'd been going from the underarm but I'm starting to worry that it might look like a cardi knit for a baby orangutan. Any ideas? If no-one has any suggestions I'm going to finish knitting the first sleeve as per spec and then see what it looks like.

I'll be taking the cardi along to the Bluestockings meeting this evening. I'm really looking forward to it. We're trialling a new pub as our regular venue (the one where we met up for WWKIP day on Saturday) and I'm looking forward to such luxuries as working lightbulbs and not sitting right next to the kitchen!

New WIP - PBP-03: Top-down raglan cardi

I bought the yarn for this in the Rowan sale at Whittaker's some time back. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do but hadn't got any further on than sketching it out and knitting a gauge swatch. The thing that was holding me up was that whilst I had measurements for chest, armhole and height to shoulder for a baby sweater I didn't have a neck measurement and couldn't work out how to get one (short of going up to random babies with a tape measure).

Yesterday, feeling somewhat socked-out and not having another project on the needles*, I pulled out the yarn and the notebook and decided rather than worrying about it any longer to "Just do it!". I worked out the neck measurement from a similar necked cardi in one of the Debbie Bliss books (turns out it was quite easy to do) and once I'd got that I fairly raced along. I'm now on the third stripe below the armholes with about 5 to go, then I just need to knit down from the top of the sleeves and knit two button bands. The sleeves are looking a little bit wide at the top at the moment (think wizard's robe style) but I think they're OK and they should look more normal once I've done the decreases. Besides babies need lots of arm room for squirming and gurgling right?

* Actually I did have Print O' the Wave on the needles, but then I took it off the needles so I could knit this on my Lantern Moons.

Sock washing day

For some reason this image reminds me of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. There was jst nowhere else to dry the handknit socks.



I don't know if there's room for 10 (count the socks) dwarfs in the bed!

Sockapalooza update

Well, not really an update since I haven't actually done any proper knitting yet. I've swatched a bit and charted out lace patterns and come to the conclusion that the lovely Fleece Artist seacell yarn is not going to work with lace. I've got one more idea to try and then I'm hauling off and buying a solid yarn.

On the Project Baby Porter front, meantime, I'm up to the shaping on the left front of the V neck cardigan. I might be able to get that finished this weekend if I put the blocked pieces on the radiator part way through (they seem to take about twelve hours otherwise). And if I can get the button band done on the train up north I can pick out buttons in Bolton.

Design feature

The back of the V-neck cardi (BPB:WIP-02) is knit up and blocking away as I type (it's taking longer to dry than it did to knit!).



I finished swatching (or I knit about half of the second swatch and measured over 5cm) last night at the pub and cast-on after a slight quandary. You see I had previously noticed that the instructions told you to cast on 54 sts in C with 4mm needles for the back, 25 sts in C with 4mm needles for the left front and 25sts in C with 3.75mm needles for the right front. However, I had omitted to check for errata (or pattern revisions as Debbie calls them) online before leaving for the knitting group. Now I've been knitting for long enough to be quite happy to second guess the pattern and so I cast on my 54 sts for the back in C with 3.5mm needles (I had gone down a needle size after swatching). Ribbing at the bottom edge of sweaters is usually done with a smaller size of needle so I figured this was what had been meant. Still I had a nagging feeling so I checked for pattern revisions this morning. Turns, out it was the other way around. All pieces should have been cast on with the larger size of needle. Still, it looks fine and besides, if you do a thing once it's a mistake, if you do it wrong consistently it's a design feature.

Very good news - Project Baby Porter

A month or so back I learnt that I'm going to be an aunt for the first time in October/November as my sister is having a baby.

I have (with great difficulty) been sitting on that news (and on my needles - ouch!) until I learnt on Friday that she had been for her 3 month scan and had got the all clear. I wouldn't quite say that I rushed home that minute and started swatching but it was close to that. The next day I popped into the library and picked up Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss and And So to Bed by Lucinda Guy. I really want to make the Otto Owl Toy since seeing it on Alison's blog and I love Rowan cashsoft.

Speaking of which: PBP:FO-01* Boatneck sweater from Baby Knits



Obviously the specified yarn for this was Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran but I just so happened to have two and a half balls of Rowan Cashsoft Aran** in a really great soft brown***. It's a very straightforward pattern (see the title of the book), basically a couple of rectangles with sleeves but I'm pleased that I made a really nice job of the blocking and finishing. I think that this is the first time that I've really blocked carefully before sewing up and with this kind of yarn it makes a big difference.

PBP:WIP-02



Also from the Baby Knits book a v-neck cardi with contrast rib at the edges knit in Debbie Bliss cotton dk in light blue and (erm) a slightly darker blue. For some reason (possibly because I don't want to impose crappy knitting on my sister or her unborn child) I have turned into a much more meticulous knitter. I swatched with the specified yarn and needles and was one stitch out over 10cm. If this was for me I'd have just said "oh sod it" and carried on. But for BP I'm swatching on smaller needles and liking it. I've even done 4x4 garter stitch borders. Sadly I will probably have to rip my two swatches when I start knitting the project per se as DB (unlike Rowan) doesn't seem to allow for swatching in her yarn allowances. That's not a criticism though as it is a bit galling when you get to the end of a Rowan pattern only to find that at least one of the £6 balls of yarn seems to have been there just in case.

* Project Baby Porter: Finished Object - 01

** Bought for the boyfriend when he said he'd like a hat and then it turned out he was being flippant. No I haven't forgotten about that one yet.

*** I guess we're on gender neutral knitting for a few months yet - I can always add pink/blue trimmings later if required. Personally I don't see why boy babies can't wear pink and girls blue, but it must get tiring for the parents always to be saying "No, she's a girl actually" so I suppose it the colour-coding serves some purpose.