Eyelet Yoke Cardigan

Continuing on with my list of really great free knitting patterns I used to prepare for Baby's arrival is the eyelet yoke cardigan. The eyelet yoke detail is lovely and might seem a little bit girly, but I think depending on your choice of yarn it could be appropriate for a baby boy, too. Since we didn't know whether Baby would be a boy or a girl, I opted to omit the eyelet details on the sleeves and lower border, and just used it on the yoke. This could be made even more masculine by using a nice navy or deep blue yarn, but I opted to use yarn already in my stash: a beautifully soft and warm alpaca yarn that my Mom had purchased for me while traveling in South America. The yarn, Indiecita DK, is truly lovely, though it does shed quite a bit. It leaves my black fleece looking a mess, but V doesn't seem to notice. (Rav details here)

The pattern is written in great detail up to the point where you separate for the sleeves. After that, you have to have a good idea of what length you want to make the sleeves and the body, because little guidance is given with regards to either. I used the same sleeve and body length measurements I used for my puerperium cardigans. I probably should have made the body and sleeves just a touch longer, since the resulting sweater has the 3-6 month width, but is a little on the short side. Nevertheless, I love this cardigan, and will likely make it again as a baby gift.

Puerperium

Without a doubt, my favorite newborn sweater to knit and to put on V is puerperium. It is a great little cardigan, entirely seamless, which knits up in no time. I loved it so much, in fact, that I have made three so far (Ravelry details here, here, and here). These are so adorable on babies, and truly so easy to put on and take off of newborns. 

I used Superwash yarns for all three sweaters, knowing that I would probably not be doing a whole lot of hand washing those early weeks. The cream and pink sweaters were knit using Cascade 220 Superwash, which felt a little scratchy at first but softened up beautifully after blocking. The gray puerperium was knit using Knit Picks Swish DK. That, too, softened up quite nicely, but felted slightly upon machine washing. It's the first time I have a problem with Swish felting, but at least it was only a tiny bit and nothing to extreme.

One thing I love about these sweaters is that they work equally well for a boy as they do for a girl. We didn't know we were having a girl, and so the first two sweaters I knit were done in gender-neutral colors: gray and cream. I also like that you could totally personalize the sweater by making it striped, adding an intarsia pattern, or even adding some texture to the body. And since they are so teeny tiny, you don't mind the stockinette body at all - by the time you are beginning to get bored of it, it's time to knit the bottom border and bind off!!

V just recently outgrew her pink puerperium, which I knit at a slightly looser gauge than the other two. By simply adding a little bit of length to the body and sleeves, she was able to wear this one from one and a half months to around 3 months, right after outgrowing the other two.

Saartje's Booties

First up on the free baby patterns I love list: Saartje's Booties. This pattern is incredibly easy and these adorable little booties fly off the needles. I knit these up over a few days after V was born, but waited a while to seam up and add buttons. I know lots of knitters have an aversion to seaming (myself included), but these really are not that bad. Just in case it's a total deal breaker for you,
 you can do a search on Ravelry -- I think I spotted a seamless version of this pattern on there.

I made mine using some gray KnitPicks fingering sock yarn, figuring that would ensure they were soft, durable, and washable. I didn't do the color change because at the time I only had this color of fingering sock yarn handy, but the pattern calls for a color change between the sole and the top of the bootie, making them all the more adorable. I searched through my stash of buttons, and unearthed these fun hot pink flower buttons I got from my Mom's button collection a while ago. I love them so!

I would totally recommend making these booties - they are beyond adorable and easy to put on. Of course, that makes them easy to kick off, too, but I think modifying the placement of the straps would go a long way to remedying that. For my next pair (yes, I will knit another pair using thicker yarn and bigger needles, in hopes they will fit baby in the next three months), I think I will use a single ankle strap to keep these guys on. Hopefully that will do the trick. (Ravelry project notes here).

Nesting

Before our baby girl arrived, I had this overwhelming urge to get ready for her arrival. Now, I know that traditionally, women who have this "nesting" instinct clean their home, cook meals to stock their freezer, and prepare the nursery. I did some of that, of course. But for me, nesting took the form of knitting. Yep, knitting.

Having had a summertime babe the first time around, I was a little worried about keeping our newest addition warm in late fall. So last summer, just as soon as the last box was unpacked and the house felt like it was moderately under control, I started on a list of gender neutral pieces I wanted to knit for our Fall baby. I didn't get to knit all of the items on my list, but enough to see this baby through her first two months in cozy handknits. Over the next few days, I'll share the wonderful (free!!) baby patterns I used for these handknits, in hopes you can use them and love them as much as I did.

A puppy for Ellie

One of our little friends has a birthday coming up, so I dusted off my copy of Itty Bitty Toys and cast on for a little brown puppy this weekend. The pattern calls for a cotton wool that my LYS doesn't carry, so I chose Rowan Handknit for this project instead. I'd forgotten how much I dislike knitting with 100% cotton wool until now. I find it stiff and hard to make the increases, and my hands constantly ache from knitting. Thankfully it's a quick project and the bulk of it is done, so my hands won't be aching much longer.

As I flipped through the pages of the book, I was reminded about how much I like knitting toys and wonder why I don't do it more often. I'm thinking I need to cast on a few more toys for other special little people in our lives - after all, Easter is right around the corner!

Green Tea Leaves

Last Friday, my Green Tea Leaves cardigan finally dried and I could wear it. M, who is now home with me on Mondays and Fridays, "helped" me attach the buttons by handing them to me one by one while reminding me that "needles are very sharp, so please be careful, Mama!". It was very sweet, but it slowed down the process significantly. I had held off putting the sweater on until the buttons were all in place, and I'll tell you, it was really really hard not to rush it. 

Once the buttons were finally in place, I put the cardigan on, and my first thought was how incredibly soft the yarn was. It's so soft, in fact, that I've been wearing this sweater with tank tops (it is pretty warm here now, after all). I used Knit Picks Swish Tonal, and I guess it's not a very popular yarn to knit adult sweaters with, because a search on Ravelry yielded few adult sweater projects using this yarn. Anyway, yes, the yarn is very, very soft. But having said that, after just 4 days of nearly around-the-clock wear, I'm starting to see some pilling on the inner sleeves.

Knitting up this pattern was a delight. I made a size 36 thinking I wanted this sweater to be an everyday sort of sweater, comfy and roomy. I should have made the next size down, and it would probably still have been roomy enough. The yoke is just a teensy bit too deep, so the arm holes feel a little too big. I prefer my sleeves to be on the long side, so next time I'll definitely be adding to their length. I've heard folks complain about the wide neck of this sweater, but I think it's lovely. I've been wearing mine in place of my much worn black fleece jacket. Luckily, it appears my outfits mostly consist of jeans these days, so it works perfectly.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with how this sweater turned out. I'm feeling pretty pumped about finally finishing an adult sweater (poor Mike is still waiting for his, and I started his 5 months before this one!), and I've already cast on for my next one. Errr... wait, maybe I should go finish Mikey's sweater first.

Neglected

Last year, Mikey asked me to knit him a sweater. At the time, I hadn't knit much more than baby and toddler wear, mostly hats. He bought me the book Knits Men Want, and even picked the sweater he wanted me to knit for him. I even took him to the yarn store to pick out non-itchy yarn.

And then the yarn sat, untouched, for months.

I finally cast on for his sweater last August. The knitting went pretty fast, and was enjoyable. I blocked the pieces of the sweater back in December. And they have sat, untouched, since then.

I feel really bad that this poor sweater is being neglected. But the truth is that I really do not enjoy seaming. It's, without a doubt, my least favorite thing to do, and that's probably why I gravitate towards seamless sweater patterns.

Ahh.... winter is pretty much over in our neck of the woods, but I must finish up this sweater in the next few weeks. I must. Or it will never get finished.

From our weekend

cast on for a new project

moved the creating outdoors to enjoy the sun and mild temps

swatched, planned, and painted in the sun

We had a lovely, low-key weekend together. The weather was delightful, and we made sure to spend plenty of time outdoors, even moving the creating and painting out to our back patio. M has been really into drawing, painting, and coloring these days. I wore my Green Tea Leaves cardigan all weekend long, but managed to get no good pictures of me wearing it. You'll have to take my word for now that it's delightfully soft and comfy (but a little big). More on that later this week.

Hope your weekend was a lovely, restful one, and that your week is starting off right.

Blocking

Blocking is an exercise in patience. I feel like I keep checking my cardigan to make sure it's dry... and it's still not. 

I have to admit that blocking makes me a little bit nervous. I know that it can make your garment look so much better, but... still. I always worry something unforeseen will go wrong and all those hours will be wasted.

But nothing went wrong. In fact, aside from the incredibly long time it's taking to dry, all is good. I've knit a few baby and toddler sweaters before, but this is the first adult sized sweater I've finished. I'm feeling pretty good about it - and can't wait for it to dry to actually put it on.

From our weekend

first swimming lesson

fun with friends

picked out buttons for my Green Tea Leaves

finished up my first cabled knit

Our weekend flew by, as all good weekends do. We managed to fill it up with friends and good times, but surprisingly little crafting time for me. M had his first swimming lesson scheduled, but it was unfortunately canceled. No matter, he still enjoyed a good hour in the pool before we made our way home. Between playdates, I snuck away to find buttons for my (now finished!!) Green Tea Leaves cardigan and wove in the ends to my Snappy hat, which felt good. I never made it to my sewing machine this weekend, so the quilt will have to wait. 

I love weekends like this one: full of fun times and laughter. I feel refreshed, ready for the week ahead.

Chunky cables!

I dug through my yarn bin this afternoon and located a lone skein of Cascade 128, a bulky Peruvian highland wool that I bought on a whim a few years ago. I remember buying it, with no real project in mind, back when I first started knitting in 2009. It has sat, lonely and ignored in my yarn bin until now. I was delighted that I could get a jump start on my cabled practice project right away - no need to go buy yarn or anything. I am loving the natural cream color of this yarn, and am so totally psyched that I'm actually knitting cables!!

The pattern is a free Ravelry download, Snappy Hat, and it's really easy to follow. It's definitely a great first cabled project, and the fact that it uses bulky weight yarn makes it go pretty fast. I took these pictures after knitting for just a couple of hours. I am really looking forward to seeing how this hat turns out - if it looks half as cute as the ones people have posted on Ravelry, I'm in for a treat!

Planning

I had grand plans to stop by yesterday and share some of the fun we had this weekend with my Mom in town, but the truth is: we had so much fun that I hardly remembered to take any pictures at all! It was so great having her to ourselves for a whole weekend, and M especially loved getting to spend some quality time with his Biti. It was very sweet watching him tell her all about his passion for dinosaurs and superheroes, and asking her to read to him. Thanks for the fun visit, Mom. We're all missing you already.

And now, it's back to reality and the routine of the everyday. I'm finding it hard to get back into the swing of things after her visit, but that's usually how it goes after having an all-fun-and-no-work sort of weekend. It's taking me a little longer today to make my usual to do lists and actually getting things done.

One thing on my to do list is to finish up my Green Tea Leaves cardigan. I am making good progress, with both sleeves finished and only the button bands left to go. Unfortunately, I've only got enough yarn for one of the button bands left, and will have to buy one more skein for the other one.  

While I wait for the yarn to arrive, I'm starting to plan my next big knitting project: a Rocky Coast cardigan. It looks divine, and I cannot wait to cast on. Having never knit cables, I'm thinking maybe tackling a smaller cabled project first might be a good idea. This hat, maybe?

Ellie's Tiny Tea Leaves

My green tea leaves cardigan is coming along nicely. The body is finished (felt like it took forever) and am nearing the end of sleeve #1. The end of any knitting project often feels like it can drag on, but I'm surprised at how quickly this one is going.

In the meantime, I wanted to share the pink Tiny Tea Leaves cardigan made for our little pink-loving friend in Seattle. Ellie is M's best friend, the little girl that he grew up with and had nearly daily play dates with from the time they were only a few weeks old. One of the reasons leaving Seattle was so hard was because the mere thought of not seeing Ellie and her family on a regular basis made me cry -- and, really, it still does.

This girl is pinkalicious. Having a boy, I of course love any and all opportunities to make pink anything. And so, last September, on our flight to a friend's wedding, I cast on for a pretty little short sleeve tiny tea leaves. It took only a couple of weeks to knit, but it sat, untouched, for months.

What is it about weaving in ends that is so daunting? Whatever the reason, ends got woven in, buttons attached, and sweater blocked in time for it to be mailed along with some very, very late Christmas presents.

I loved knitting this pattern - so easy and straight-forward, and it totally got me psyched to make an adult version. The stripes were more a matter of necessity than a design choice: wanting to use yarn in my stash, I had three skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash in three different shades of pink. No idea what the original intent was for that yarn, but it doesn't matter: it worked and Ellie loved it.

I wish I'd been there to see her put it on, but with any luck, I'll get to see her wearing it this summer at our annual family vacation. (Yeah, right... at the rate toddlers grow, I'll be lucky if she can still wear it past April!)

Making Progress

Because this weekend was a busy one, with lots of time spent outside running around, I got very little done on my Green Tea Leaves cardigan. It has reached that size where it is no longer practical to carry around and try to sneak in a row here and there, so I have resigned myself to working on it mostly at night, after M is in bed. Over the last week I managed to finish the body and am working on the first sleeve, so I am making a little (if slow) progress. 

I have to say that while the color seemed a little jarring at first, it's definitely growing on me. I'm thinking it'll look really cute with dark wash jeans and boots -- and now I cannot wait until I can wear it!

First finish of 2012: Wonder Years

I considered setting the goal of knitting 12 sweaters in 2012, but I am notorious for setting crafty goals and not meeting them, so I figured: why set myself up for failure? Instead, I'm challenging myself to knit all the sweaters on my wish list that I've actually purchased yarn for. Luckily, I've only purchased yarn for 4 sweaters (one of them toddler sized), so it's definitely feeling doable. And until that goal is achieved, I just can't justify buying any more yarn.

There's nothing like putting oneself on a yarn diet to motivate one to actually knit. Go figure.

I have two sweaters in the works with said purchased yarn, and one of them will be finished by the end of the week, come what may. But today I wanted to share a sweater not originally on my sweater knit list, which also happens to be the first sweater I finished in 2012.

Back in December, when I should have been working on holiday gifts, I cast on for this Wonder Years cardigan for M (details here). It's a really great top-down raglan sweater pattern and I love that it comes in a wide variety of sizes (up to a size 8-10 years!!). This pattern is so clearly written and very easy to follow, and I know that I will definitely be making more of these in various colors and fibers. I worked on it a bit over the holidays, while in the car heading down to visit family, but the truth is that it mostly sat untouched until January, when I really made it a point to finish it.

I used Knit Picks Comfy Worsted (a Pima cotton/acrylic blend) for this sweater for two reasons: 1) I wanted it to be an easy-care garment to encourage wear, and 2) I had previously bought the yarn for a project that never materialized, and I wanted to use it up. I don't normally enjoy knitting with cotton, but this yarn was very easy to knit with and is incredibly soft. I seriously loved working on this, and would use this yarn again for this pattern.  Having said that, though, the next time I make this pattern, it will likely be with wool (Cascade 220 Superwash maybe?).

I loved making this sweater for my little guy. Sadly, this little boy of mine who adores his mama-knit hats really, really, really doesn't care for this sweater. He tells me it's because it doesn't feature a dinosaur, truck, or other trite boy motif. Ah, well... good thing a Digger Jacket is in my knitting queue.

Happy New Yea -- wait, it's February?

I can't believe that it's already February. I have been away from this spot much longer than I'd intended to. I won't lie: this move has really taken it out of me. I feel like all my energy over the past few months has been devoted to getting settled in, making our house a home, and making new friends. And then we had the holidays in there, which were good and lots of fun, but really exhausting.

And, just like that, it's been months since I last stopped by.

One really good thing about that is that I've got lots of crafty projects to share here, most of them yarn related. Over these past few months, I've really found knitting to be my source of comfort and relaxation. And I've moved on from baby garments and hats, partly out of necessity (those babies grow, after all) and partly as a challenge to myself.

Currently on the needles is what I hope will be the perfect Spring sweater for me (not that it's been all that cold here, so maybe a wool sweater is a little silly). The pattern is the very popular Tea Leaves Cardigan, and it's a delight to work on. The yoke is fun and quick to knit, while adding interest to the design. I'm using Knit Picks Swish Tonal in Springtime (which I bought on their Cyber Monday sale specifically for this project). It's a little bit brighter than I envisioned it, but it's very soft and I love really colorful garments, so I think it might just work. 

My goal is to have it finished by March 1. Now, I know I've had many goals in the past that have fallen by the wayside, but I'm feeling good about this one. I will get this done - I can't wait to wear it and give my old Seattle fleece jackets a break.

Teddy's baby booties

As I mentioned before, I think baby booties make for adorable baby gifts. And, of course, they offer the added plus of being a quick knit. I recently made these simple baby booties for a special little boy, Teddy, who we are all looking forward to meeting in a few months.

I first made these baby booties a couple of years ago for my nephew, and found the pattern to be really enjoyable to knit. I once again used Baby Cotsoy to knit these booties, as I like how soft it is, adore the color, and really appreciate the fact that they can be machine washed.

They're so teeny tiny and cute. I'm feeling the urge to try a new bootie pattern - do you have any favorites you can recommend?

Earth tone baby booties

You'd think that since we're getting ready for a big cross-country move, the crafting would come to a halt. But I find that when I don't get my crafting fix, I'm just plain crabby. And so, as I make lists of all the things we need to do before we move, I'm making an additional list: little portable craft projects to work on during this time of transition. After all, who wants a crabby Mama?

So, to keep the crabbies at bay (and because baby booties are the cutest and fastest baby gift), I've been working on these earth tone baby booties (Ravelry details here). I've made these before and I remember really enjoying this pattern. I was so happy to find that I remembered correctly -- this is a really fun and quick pattern. And I really love that they have ties, so as to make sure they stay on. So cute!

I used Knit Picks Felici (can't recall the colorway), and think it makes for a funky, boyish pair of booties. They're not quite cuddly, but still pretty cute. I was happy to find I could make 2 pairs of these booties out of one skein, which was lovely. These are so super soft -- LOVE.

And look how adorably tiny they are. They're on their way to Baby Hudson, and I'm so hoping his feet aren't as big as M's were when he was a newborn, so that they'll fit at least for a few weeks!

(A Different) Easy Baby Cardigan

So yesterday I showed you the Easy Baby Cardigan I made for Baby Hudson using the pattern from More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. After finishing up that bad boy, I was really in the mood for another cute baby knit, but I wanted no more stitching up of side seams. So I did a Ravelry search, and found this pattern. It's also called Easy Baby Cardigan (which, funny enough, I hadn't noticed til just now...), but is seamless. It's a top-down sweater, my first, and definitely not my last (ravelry details here).

I used Plymouth Yarn's Happy Feet DK for this sweater, which I had originally purchased intending to make something totally different. What, I don't recall, it's been in my knitting basket that long. This yarn is a dream to work with, and the stitch definition is lovely. The best part is that it's incredibly soft, and machine washable, which is an infant mother's dream.

The pattern calls for ties instead of buttons, but I decided to add buttons and button loops anyway. I wanted to make the button loops big enough so that it wouldn't be a hassle for Hudson's Mom to put it on and off, but they turned out too big for the buttons I used. I'll go back tonight and change the buttons, and next time add 4 or 5 buttonholes (and add the adorable hood). And now they're off, headed to their new owner, along with lots of love from Aunt Lizzy.

Easy Baby Cardigan

A month and a half ago, I posted about the new yarn I'd gotten from Knit Picks and my lofty goals for them. I've been busy knitting, but not finishing anything. It appears I suffer from Knitter's Startitis -- I get more excited about starting a new project than about finishing up the ones I've got on the needles. For a while there, I had 7 projects going at one time.

This past week I finally added buttons to Baby Hudson's Easy Baby Cardigan from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts (ravelry details here), which had been waiting for the right buttons for some time. This little sweater was so quick to knit -- it probably took me a week of knitting on my commute to get it knit up.

But then you have to seam up the sides, and that's where I lost a little steam. Stitching up side seams are, by far, my least favorite part of finishing a garment, and it was no different with this little sweater. Thankfully, it's a teeny little sweater, so stitching up the sides didn't take long. I am very pleased with how it turned out!

I used Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Peapod, which is a brighter green than I'd expected. I was not crazy about the fact that the yarn isn't tightly spun, and thus can easily split if you're not careful. But once washed, it gets incredibly soft and totally perfect for a baby. I will definitely use it for baby garments again in the future. 

Even though I wasn't crazy about having to stitch up the side seams, I'll probably make this little sweater again. It's cute, fast, and easy!