Baby Boy in Blue

It took me less than a week to make these 3 baby projects for my son Marcus, who will be born in late January. They're all made in various shades of blue. The first is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. I found a modified pattern on Ravelry for preemies that I think will be a better fit for Marcus when he is born.

The jacket was made using Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe yarn using size 0 knitting needles. The final measurements were 8” for the chest and 9” for the length. The buttons are in a light yellow color.

I made this sleeveless top using Knit Picks Palette's celestial blue color. For this pattern, I would recommend placing markers at the shoulders so you know where to fold over for the back of the vest.

The top measured 6” in chest and 7 ½” in length after it was blocked. The buttons were purchased at Michaels Craft Store.

The last blue project was this simple baby blanket.

I used Malabrigo Worsted yarn in a color called Buscando Azul. I cast on 166 stitches to create a wider blanket. The final measurements were 30” width by 36” length.

Modified Top-Down Pullover for Newborn

I really enjoy making top-down sweaters.  I've found them to be the easiest to modify; the quickest to knit; and the greatest stash busters. 

For my son Marcus, who will be born early next year, I followed Hannah Fettig's children's version of her Sock Yarn Sweater pattern for 0 to 6-month-olds.  I used Madelinetosh Merino Light yarn in jade green color.  After completing the neckline and working the body of the pattern, I found the sweater, especially the neckline, to be too big for a newborn baby. I could've continued with the pattern and had Marcus wear it when he was 3-months-old, but I really wanted the sweater to fit while he was still a newborn.  

I decided to modify the pattern to better fit a smaller baby.  Using Fettig's pattern as a guide, I calculated how many stitches to cast on using 70% less stitches then the pattern required for a 0 to 6-month-old. I worked back and forth on size 000 circular needle in stockinette stitch for 4 rows.  I placed markers on the 4th row after 13 stitches for the left arm;  21 stitches for the back; 13 stitches for the right arm; and 21 stitches for the front of the sweater. 

I continued knitting in the round adding 8 stitches every other round as directed.  I would stop knitting every so often to see how the armholes were shaping.  After 144 stitches on the needle, the armholes appeared to be wide enough for a newborn.  I placed the armhole stitches on scrap yarn. 

 

I decided not to add additional stitches at the armholes and continued working in the round.  When the body of the sweater measured 7 1/2," I purled 4 rounds and cast off using a crochet needle.

I used the magic loop technique for the armholes.  When the armholes measured 6 1/2," I purled 4 rounds and cast off.  Luckily, there was minimal seaming under the arms of the sweater.

After blocking, the sweater measured 8 1/2 " in length and 8" in chest.

I won't know if all the modifications will result in the sweater fitting Marcus until after he's born. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun modifying the pattern in a smaller size.

Little Flowers Hat

I recently finished organizing my yarn supply and could not believe the amount of yarn I had accumulated over the years. After taking inventory of all the colors and weights of yarns, I was determined to find good stash buster knitting projects that would help me deplete my yarn supply.  Kate Davies' "Peerie Flooers" or Little Flowers hat was the perfect project to start with. The pattern required 7 different fingering yarn colors that I had in my inventory. In addition, the pattern involved knitting techniques that I've used before, such as corrugated ribbing, stranded knitting, and knitting in the round.

Although the pattern called for 7 different yarn colors, you're really only working with 2 colors at the same time for 4 rows.  I substituted the following Knit Picks Palette yarns in the pattern -

Oyster Heather

Sky

Pimento

Delta

Safflower

Clover

Celadon Heather

Using 000 knitting needles, I cast on 104 stitches using the I-cord cast on method and knit the corrugated ribbing using 6 of 7 colors.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well the ribbing look with the 6 colors blended together. 

 

After the ribbing, I increased my stitches to 128 and continued to follow the chart.  I cast on less stitches than the pattern required because I was concerned the hat would be too big and slouchy. I was hoping for a more “beanie” styled hat. 

My biggest challenge was the crown decreases.  I couldn't get the decreases to line up correctly. I'm sure this was because I cast on less stitches then the pattern required. I decided to stop following the crown chart after 15 rounds and began K2 together with the clover colored yarn. I knit another round and then knit K2 together for the final round. I wound up with 8 stitches remaining. I broke the yarn, threaded a tapestry needle and pulled the yarn through the 8 stitches. 

The hat turned out to be more of a toque style then a beanie, but I’m still happy with how it turned out.

I'm going to give this hat to my aunt as a Christmas present this year. She fell in love with it while I was working on it during the Thanksgiving holiday. I'll make another one for myself and maybe the matching mittens. That way I can use up more of my yarn stash!

Shades of Purple

I’ve had my eye on knitting Elann.com’s Pinwheel Sweater for awhile.  While shopping for needles at my local knitting store I fell in love with a blend of purple shaded yarns that were mixed together in a yarn bin.  Since my daughter’s favorite color is purple, I thought she would love the pinwheel sweater made in the various purple shades. I purchased 7 skeins of the Cascade 220 yarn and was determined to try my luck with the pattern.

My color choices from the center to the outer edge were -

#1 - 2323

#2 - 7809

#3 - 7803

#4 - 8888

#5 - 2421

#6 - 8885

#7 - 2410

On size 10 circular needles, I started the sweater using the magic loop technique.  When I had enough stitches on the needle I began working in the round.  As directed, I changed yarn colors every 10 rounds on all even numbered rounds and continued yarn over increases until I had 19 stitches in each section of the pattern.  In my case, I was on round 35 when I had the correct number of stitches in each section.

The directions for the pattern were difficult to follow at times, especially in terms of the armholes and i-cord edging.  A Ravelry knitter named Knittingnoob posted a very helpful technique on her blog about how to make a better armhole for the Pinwheel Sweater.  Following her directions, on round 36 I knit the first set of 18 stitches plus the yarn over increase on waste yarn, then turned my work and knit the same 19 stitches again on waste yarn.  I continued knitting the pattern using the working yarn.  In the picture below, there are 2 black rows were the armholes were eventually knitted after completing the body of the sweater.

 

 I continued the yarn over increases on rounds 53, 59, 65, and 69.  I changed yarn colors on rounds 50, 60, and 70.

In addition to Knittingnoob's post, I found the Ravelry discussion group called "Pinwheel Sweater Info Group" very helpful for knitting the i-cord edging onto the sweater.

I'm very happy with how the sweater turned out. I love how the purple shades blended together within the pinwheel creating a sweater that appeared much more complicated then it really was.  

 

 

By the way, I used the leftover yarn from Lydia's Pinwheel Sweater to make this felted handbag for myself.

Functional Mittens

I've really enjoy stranded knitting, especially mittens. Once I understood how mittens were constructed I wasn’t intimidated by the patterns and charts. It was fun to see how the pattern slowly developed row by row as I was knitting the mittens.

I found SpillyJane's patterns the easiest to learn.  With practice, I figured out that it was easier for me to hold 2 strands of yarn in my left hand and carry the contrasting colored yarn below the main color in order for the contrasting color to “stand out” or be more dominant on the mittens. 

In general, my biggest problem with mittens is that any pattern that requires casting on more than 60 stitches will result in mittens that are too big for my hands.  In the past, I gave up knitting the second mitten due to frustration at how badly the first mitten turned out.  This happened again with SpillyJane's Heather's Mittens pattern.  I cast on 72 stitches as the pattern called for and used size 2 40" circular knitting needles for the magic loop technique.  

 

The above mitten, using Knit Picks Palette yarns, could be used as an oven mitten rather than a functional mitten.

Since I was already familiar with the chart and pattern, I decided to knit the mittens again. This time I eliminated 20 stitches from the pattern chart to make it a better fit. I again used Knit Picks Palette yarns, but in colors pimento and sky.  I also decreased the needle size from 2 to 0 and used 4 double-pointed knitting needles instead 1 long circular needle.   

The result were these pretty mittens - 

The decrease in the number of cast on stitches significantly reduced the size of the mittens.