Sleeves!

Inspired by the knitting Olympics, even if I’m not officially participating, I’ve been getting a ton of work done on the February baby sweater. A zillion stitches that add up to a few millimeters of progress at a time. I don’t know what possessed me to make this out of sock yarn – really should have stuck with DK for the lace. But the second sleeve is done, and I’ve picked up the body and done a few rounds.

So, hurray for progress.

On the needles

Now that I finally have enough to look like something, here the beginnings of a February sweater for the new baby.

I’m a few rows away from the arm/chest split, which should speed things up a bit. Lace on sock yarn just isn’t speedy, especially when I seem to knit at most a third of a row in any one sitting. 🙂 Love the yarn and the color, and can’t wait to be a bit further along. I’ve knit two of these as gifts, it’s so much fun to be knitting one for our little girl.

Little pink sweater and bootees

I finally found great buttons over the weekend, and was able to do the last finishing on a baby project that’s been sitting for almost a month now. Wonderful little newborn wrap sweater, with matching Saartje bootees.


Great buttons (dark grey with flowers) in two sizes for the sweater and shoes.


And such teeny tiny little shoes. Are baby feet really this small?


This yarn was a treat to work with – MadelynTosh sock yarn. So soft and such pretty colors. I don’t know if these are particularly long or short stretches for each color, but it managed to avoid that stripey, patchy look that variegated yarn often gets when it knits up. I’m so glad I have another project’s worth of this to work on!

Gift knitting

Good friends had a baby girl in May, and I finally, finally finished her sweater and hat and could send everything off in the mail.

Sadly, I don’t think there are any more DK lace baby projects for friends in my near future – what was an enjoyable month a year and a half ago now takes two seasons to finish. My knitting was never speedy, but I’m lucky to get in two rows most nights. That said, I loved this sweet little sweater. I pulled together portions of several patterns, and then made up a hat from scratch – both are ~12 month size. Henry modeled the hat for about .75 seconds (quite the speedy hat-puller-offer) before I washed it and he looked adorable. The closures are red/pink buttons over a double-loop of ribbon, and they somehow turned out exactly as I was envisioning. She’s the most well-dressed little thing I’ve ever seen, so hopefully this will be a good match for an outfit or two and get some wear. 🙂 The yarn was super soft and machine washable and dryable (funny how having your own baby TOTALLY changes your priorities yarn-wise!). Here’s the back.

I love this diamond eyelet. 🙂 Full details of the yarn and pattern are up on ravelry.