A knitted baby sweater

The clever girl in 2009 and the clever baby in 2014!

Many years ago, when I was pregnant with the clever girl, I knit this sweater.  It is the Placket Neck Pullover from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  I intentionally made it a gender neutral color, as I just couldn't get behind everything being all pink and frilly for the clever girl.  Brilliant!  When the clever baby came along, he could wear it, too!  The older he gets, the fewer hand-me-downs he can get from the clever girl, but I am always thrilled to put him in something I made!  And the clever girl loves when he wears her old clothes.  What will I do when he doesn't fit it anymore?  So sad...

I knit this little sweater with a 50% cotton, 50% acrylic yarn from GGH.  I don't recall the name of the yarn but it might have been Bali...  It makes for a really cozy, smooshy sweater.  A few things I love about this pattern:  The edging is all done in a seed stitch, which is not binding or snug but gives a nice visual and textural detail.  And the "buttons" on the placket are beads, not actually buttons.  I used a red, green, and orange bead.  A fun way to spice up the sweater.  Finally, the entire thing is knit from the bottom up with very little seaming!  Just sewing the underarms together from where the sleeves meet the body.  I love a pattern like this. 

Baby Overalls

I originally knit these baby overalls while I was pregnant with the clever girl, over 5 years ago.  So I apologize that I don't remember all of the details of the knitting process...  The pattern is from the book Easy Baby Knits by Claire Montgomerie. 

The pattern calls for an aran weight yarn, and I used Baby Cashmerino, by Debbie Bliss, so I had to do all sorts of math to get the sizing and gauge right.  It would certainly be easier (and faster) in the aran weight yarn, but Baby Cashmerino is so wonderful and I happened to have it in my stash at the time!  The pattern calls for snap tape for the bottom (or to just knit the bottom together but I find that to be terribly inconvenient for diaper changing purposes).  The only snap tape I found had tiny little snaps that didn't actually stick together very well, so I ended up sewing snaps onto pieces of grosgrain ribbon, and sewing those onto the outfit instead of the snap tape.  Much more secure! 

It is so rewarding to see my kiddos in clothes I made, and doubly so that they can both wear some of them!  This won't continue for long, as the clever girl's clothes eventually got more "girlie", but I'll enjoy it while I can! 

A Baby Bolero...

We woke up to chilly weather today!  It is in the low 50's and let me tell you, in Houston, Texas, in May, that is downright crazy.  Practically freezing!  I LOVE it!  I am a huge fan of cool weather (I know, I live in the wrong place for that) so I was thrilled to wake up to this cool air this morning.  And it meant that I could pull out this super cute Baby Bolero that I knit for the clever girl back when she was a wee one.  Now the clever baby gets to give it a go!   He is also wearing a long sleeved onesie that I dyed orange when I made the snuggle blankets.  I think he looks quite dapper, don't you?

The pattern for the Baby Bolero can be found in the book "One Skein" by Leigh Radford.  It is a super fast knit and truly only needs one skein of worsted weight yarn (unless I guess your skein is super tiny or something).  I have actually made this bolero before using two different colors, making the sleeves and trim one color and the body another.  If you need a quick project for a gift or for your own baby, check this out.

There is this sweet eyelet detail on the back of the sweater, too.  It is supposedly an Arabic symbol for protection.  I don't know if it is or not, but I like the idea!  Babies certainly need protecting, don't they?  My sweet clever baby is all wrapped up, cradled in his grandma's protective arms.  What could be better?

Cinderella Topsy-Turvy Doll

I knitted a Cinderella Topsy-Turvy doll for the clever girl for Christmas!  The clever girl is about as girly as they come right now (does this change eventually??) and I knew she would enjoy a Cinderella doll.  The pattern is from Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Special knitting patterns.  Jean Greenhowe designs these amazing intricate patterns using a DK or worsted weight yarn and size 2 needles, so the knitting is super tight.  She has it all figured out down to the smallest details.  Note the tiny roses on happy Cinderella's dress and hair, complete with tiny green leaves that come out from each side of each rose.  Or note the tiny patches on the sad Cinderella's dress, and the little plaits in her hair with bows on the end.  Phew.  It was a labor of love.  Every time I thought I'd be finished with one part of the doll, I'd look closer and realize I had missed something!

If you aren't sure what a topsy-turvy doll is, here is another photo that might help:

Cinderella does not have legs.  Underneath the dress of one side is the head and dress of the other.  She does stand up, she just stands on the head and arms of the inside doll instead of legs!  She is about 12 inches tall from the bottom of her skirt to the top of happy Cinderella's bun.

OFF the needles!!

You may recall back in August I posted about this wrap I was making, called the Color Affection.  Well, I did finally finish it.  I finished it a while ago, but I was so DONE with it at that point, I had to just leave it alone for a while.  I lost my affection for the Color Affection, that is certain.  I do love how it turned out.  I think it is really pretty and the color pattern is great.  But oh, the garter stitch.  And garter stitch, and more and more garter stitch.  Do you see that LONG thick dark red part across the bottom?  Yes indeed, just one row across that area had literally about 500 stitches!  I would sit down to work on this project towards the end and get only one or two rows done before I just couldn't take any more.  Too much garter for me.  Binding off took about 1 1/2 hours.  I am not exaggerating!  Ugh.

On the Needles

Before I went on vacation I went into a mad frenzy to figure out a knitting project to bring with me.  I simply cannot travel without a good book and a knitting project!  So I scoured Ravelry for something to knit and found Color Affection.  I have been kind-of itching to make some sort of a shawl/wrap type thing but have not been very excited by the lacey ones I have seen.  Color Affection fits the bill!  I love the asymmetrical look to the stripes. 

I must say that the never-ending garter stitches get really old, especially in the second section, which has the two colors of stripes.  One stripe alone is about a zillion stitches long, so I don't make much progress when I sit down to knit! 

However, like I said, it is a work in progress and I'll update you when I am further along!  In case you are interested, I am using Knitpicks Comfy Fingering yarn.  I am allergic to wool (a downright terrible allergy for someone who knits) so it is always a challenge for me to find substitute yarns.  I am enjoying the Comfy yarn, though.  It is soft and easy to work.  I don't usually choose yarns so close in color to ones on a pattern, but it worked out that way this time!

It's so great to have a knitting project again!

The Carnaby Skirt

I knit a skirt!  This is something I was a bit scared to do, as I was always in fear of the BUMP that might occur after sitting down.  Then I found the Carnaby pattern and I had to have it.  It's cute!  It's fashionable!  It is fun to knit!

One of my knitting hurdles is my allergy to wool.  It is an awful allergy to have if you love to knit.  Seriously there are so many beautiful yarns out there containing wool.  Plus most patterns are written for wool yarn, and substituting can be really tricky.  Wool has some great qualities, like a natural stretch and give, that many other fibers do not have.  Why oh why am I sensitive to wool??  It is an unfair knitting affliction.

However, I have learned to adapt.  For the Carnaby skirt, I used Berroco Remix in Clementine.  Berroco Remix is a great yarn for us non-wool types.  It is made of 100% recycled fibers, including nylon, cotton, acrylic, silk, and linen.  It is soft and has a tweedy look that I really like, plus has some elasticity that is KEY for a knitted skirt!