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.

Des boutons moutons

Aren't these sweet?



Last Wednesday evening I dashed across town after getting back from seeing my niece to see if the knitters were still in the pub. They were and I was rewarded for my efforts with these lovely buttons from Kirsty.

Not only are they incredibly cute, they're also very timely as I've finally knitted all the pieces for the Sally baby cardigan and the sheep buttons will match perfectly.



The observant amongst you might notice that I've cheated a bit on the sleeves which are knit plain rather than in the pattern. This was done for two very pragmatic reasons: firstly babies have very little fingers which tend to get caught in anything loopy when you're dressing them; secondly (and this was the clincher) I found knitting the pattern and shaping at the same time really quite awkward and stressful as I just couldn't get the edges as neat as I'd like and there were lots of loose stitches. The thought of knitting two more pieces like that was just too much to contemplate. I think it will still look great with plain sleeves though.

The cardigan is now blocking ready to be finished up when I get back. In fact, I suppose I could even take it on holiday with me and finish it on the plane. Does anyone know if BA objects to yarn needles!?!

I may have a problem

Hi, my name's Liz, and I can't stop knitting baby clothes.



Pattern: my own
Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4 ply
Needles: 2.75mm and 3mm circs

I've even started knitting baby clothes from yarn that I fully intended to use to knit stuff for myself.



I bought this gorgeous Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4 ply with the intention of making another tank top for myself but I just couldn't resist this beautiful baby cardigan "Sally" by Martin Storey from the poetically named Jaeger book JB29.

Get this, I am the only person knitting this on Ravelry. That's unheard of in my experience!

Do you want to see the back. Yeah, you know you want to really.



I would have preferred not to trap the floats but babies have little fingers that get easily tangled so I've got to keep them nice and short, especially on the sleeves.

I can stop any time I want to, you know...I'll just see if I can finish the back before going to bed.