Where was I, again?

Many new projects to post about. First, though, a little retrospective:

Mid-century Adeline, in action

Baby bunny

Pattern: Knitted Bunny
Designer: Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer
Made for: coworker's baby shower
Needles: US 5
Yarn: a very lovely single left over from spouse’s first knitting project. I believe it was a German blend of silk and merino.
Started: July 10, 2008
Completed: July 10, 2008


He has a most excellent little tail, if I do say so myself.

Relief

...is spelled I-G-O-T-I-T-A-L-L-D-O-N-E-I-N-T-I-M-E.


This banner came together the night before the baby shower. I used wool felt, a cotton velvet ribbon, and Heather Bailey scraps from the quilt my mum made for the baby. The mother-of-pearl buttons are antiques my gram (who will be 90 this year) inherited from her mother and grandmother.


Mum's quilt:


My cousin looks like he's examining the finer points of the stitching, doesn't he? I've seen him look at x-rays of my teeth this way. Actually, he's reading the cool label my mother sewed into the corner of the quilt. She does this for all of her pieces.

Here is my bigger FO, the little cardigan I designed for Adeline. Those of you who wander the blogosphere will understand that I owe a big debt to Nona for inspiring this one:




I think they liked it.

Ugly, but useful

The humble swatch.

What do you suppose...

...this will become?

A few hints:

Face off

The offspring and I were charmed by the idea of making some of these for a baby shower:


Here's my prototype:


I think I might prefer it just as it stands (sits) now, without a face, but the offspring are rather creeped out by that idea. What do you think?

Plotting a project

Nona keeps expanding on her great idea. Can't wait until I'm free to start devising my blatant ripoff homage!

Fresh start

I just got word that the newest baby in the family, a girl anticipated to make her appearance in May, has colors: peach/apricot and moss green. I love this combination. Little Ms. A (she's been named already--makes me feel old, all this naming-in-utero business) is gonna need some handknits from her third cousin, once removed (that would be me...I think).

Ms. A's mother is a very talented (and very urban) young graphic designer. Hmm. An interesting challenge.

I started off by hunting down prints at my favorite hip fabric shop. I wanted to see what other colors were being combined with the peach and moss. As I suspected, there was chocolate brown. The print I liked best also featured orange, light blue, pink, olive, spring green, and ecru.



This is from the Freshcut line, designed by Heather Bailey for FreeSpirit. It's softer and prettier in person.

Then I went browsing through yarn. There is a gorgeous, glowing moss green in Karabella's Aurora 8 line. This is a yarn I've always meant to try out, given the number of people who rave about it. It is soft and machine-washable--perfect for a baby! The pallet is huge, which means I might be able to find a peach, a pink, a chocolate, and an ecru I like with the moss.

I'm ruling out a blanket. My mother and the baby-to-be's grandmother are both avid quilters, so there will be plenty o' covers, I've no doubt. Maybe a cardigan...

Since the beginning of the year, I've been checking in on Nona's project. When I saw the string-of-pearls swatch, I really sat up and took notice. And when I saw this little gem today, a design started to click into place.

Stay tuned!

Kimono my--oh, forget it

Pattern: One-Piece Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Novita Perinteinen Cottonella, in color 275542 (about as red as you can get), 112 meters/ball, about 2.5 balls
Needles: 26" U.S. 6 Crystal Palace Bamboo
Size: newborn, 16" chest

This is for a colleague's baby shower. I don't know the expectant mom well and I can't attend the party, but since when I have passed up an opportunity to knit something for a baby???

Where did I deviate from the pattern? I don't know how conservative these parents might turn out to be about their son's clothing, so I played it safe and avoided ribbons and bows. (As it happens, I had no matching ribbon in the house and I lacked the means to go out and get some.) I decided to make some twisted cord out of the project yarn, attach it with a simple self hitch, and just knot it. I like the effect. I also didn't extend the front wrap all the way to the side of the sweater; I liked the proportions better when I stopped increasing about 2 inches before the instructions specified and then knitted straight down from there. I did do the full 8-inch-wide "under" wrap, so that I could add a simple little tie on the inside to secure that (also not part of the original).

Otherwise, I followed the instructions. I chose to do make-1 increases (because some people, I've observed, can be really strange about YOs for boys), and I'm happy with the results. What I can't quite figure out, though (and I hope you'll forgive me, revered ladies of the blog), is why the instructions have the knitter bind off for the neck so early, so that the neck opening begins rather far down the back of this little garment. To compound matters, you start increasing right away to create the front neckline. I haven't taken a close look at a newborn's neck for a while, so maybe I'm missing something here, but this looks like it might be, well...a mite uncomfortable to wear. The impressionistic little diagram in the book shows the neck opening beginning at a spot higher up the back, which strikes me as perfect, but the photo on the same spread clearly illustrates that the back neckline begins well before the shoulder.

If I were to knit this again, I'd reposition the neck opening, smooth out the increases and decreases on the sleeves (though the current instructions will suit beginners well), and keep the modifications I've already tried out.

A blanket for Ms. Q

This project was created in a rush for a spur-of-the-moment shower at work (otherwise known as The Place That Shall Not Be Named). I knit it from lovely hand-painted cotton/rayon purchased just for this baby from Over the Rainbow Yarns (colorways are Sky Garden and Rosy Dawn) and some Berroco Pronto (discontinued, sorry) from my immoderate stash.

Very, very simple design, as the yarn wanted to do all the work. The body of the piece is in stockinette, to which I added a garter stitch border. I used a U.S. 10.5 circular Denise throughout. Hurt my hands a bit; I love my Denises, but I wish the needles were a tad longer.

Of course it can be washed and dried by machine! I do want to remain on speaking terms with this family, after all.