Jun 23rd, 2007
A trio of baby sweaters
What’s that hanging in the greenery? Those are three of the four baby sweaters I made for three friends having babies this summer. Interestingly, I purchased the yarn and chose the projects long before any of the babies’ sexes were know. As it turned out, all three babies are boys. How about that. The simple boatneck was finished first and went to Liza (whose baby was born in late May) a couple of weeks ago. I finally completed the other three sweaters last week. Two were given yesterday, and one is already wrapped up and will be delivered soon. So I’m afraid this less-than-perfect photo will have to suffice until I can get photos of the babies wearing their new duds (maybe next winter?).
The vest goes to Megan (whose baby was born last week). Sylvia modeled it before I wrapped it, but I thought I’d post a photo of it all by itself. I hope to see the baby soon, and I really hope he and his parents like this little item. The rows of purl stitch really pop against the stockinette background, but the pattern isn’t so complicated that I have to consult a chart for each row.
The other two sweaters are for my friend Minjoo (whose baby is due in mid-August; she’ll get them today at her baby shower). The terra-cotta-colored sweater is in KnitPicks Shine Worsted (like the sweaters I made for my other two friends), which has a very nice hand and yields a surprisingly substantial fabric. This is a pattern I developed myself (and will try to write up soon), with some inspiration from Debbie Bliss’s Simple Boatneck and the famous Wonderful Wallaby. I did have one big snafu while making it: because of its very small circumference, I had to knit the body on double-pointed needles (rather than circulars), and because everything was all sort of scrunched up on the needles, it was only when I go to the point where the neck placket opens up that I was able to stretch out the knitting on the needles a bit…and discovered that I’d been knitting the placket in the middle of the right sleeve. Sigh. That was easily (though time-consumingly) fixed, though, and I am very pleased with how it turned out!
Here’s a close-up of the neck and closure on the other sweater. This is the kimino sweater from Jil Eaton’s Minnies book. I chose Green Mountain Spinnery Cotton Comfort in Weathered Green for this one. I love the color. And I love the yarn–it is such a pleasure to work with. And I love that this yarn is from Vermont, where Jan and I got married with Minjoo as the maid of honor.
3 Responses to “A trio of baby sweaters”
Great gifts! The Surprise Baby sweater by EZ has been calling my name recently (probably because I went to the flickr group of SB sweater photos). I better hurry and make one, because there’s only one baby left in the family, and she’s 4 months old already!
Great sweaters, Marsha! They look so adorable on their own little hangers! I’m sure they’ll be much appreciated.
Wow, wordpress must be really working for you; I have a lot of your blogging to catch up on! –Which reminds me, I’d better get to posting, too!
Imperatrix: You know, I had never heard of EZ’s Surprise sweater until about three months ago. I’d really like to give it a try sometime!
–
jd: I am very much loving WordPress! It’s got a higher learning curve than Blogger, but once you figure out your way around, you get so much more functionality than Blogger offers. And yes, you need to get to posting, too–it’s been a while! :)