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!

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.

This weekend I...

...visited the "Global Market" which arrived in town.

These (extremely toothsome) tartes were my only purchase. Much as I wanted a hand carved wooden clothes rack to hang stuff on, the boyfriend pointed out that £50 for unvarnished wood was possibly a bit steep!

...finished a baby hat and matching socks.

These were such a quick knit that they didn't even make it onto the "On my needles" section. The pattern is from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss and I knit them in some leftover Rowan Calmer (less than a full ball for a pair of socks and the hat) on 4mm needles and 4mm dpns. I hope they will still fit the intended baby, I don't really know how fast babies grow.

...enjoyed the autumn leaves.

This doesn't fully represent how lovely all the trees are looking at the moment. I do like autumn!