Magic Baby Slippers

Just a fly by post to show you the adorable Magic Slippers I whipped up for Baby.  They were made using leftovers from the Twist and Melody hats.

Terrible photograph using my belly as a table.  Mods and notes are here on Ravelry.

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FO: Puerperium Cardigan

A while back I finished a sweater for Baby, but only recently got around to uploading the pictures.  Despite being a June baby, I felt he needed at least one hand-knit sweater.  Hospitals and air conditioned buildings can all be chilly for a newborn, right?

I’ve been dying to knit the Puerperium Cardigan for a while.  (Look familiar?  This adorable little cardigan has been knit by such famous figures as the Yarn Harlot.)  It seemed like just the right thing for my little guy.

I knit mine out of RYC Cashsoft Baby DK in #800 Snowman, #804 Chicory, and #805 Cloud.  Sadly, all of these colors are soon to be defunct as Rowan is discontinuing the entire Baby Cashsoft DK line.  All three skeins came out of my stash and were purchased over several years out of the orphan bin at the Shoppe.  They just happened to coordinate perfectly.  I chose to do a striping pattern of 4 blue, 2 white, 2 green, 2 white, while keeping the border in blue.

The buttons were purchased from JoAnns as I didn’t have enough of any one complimentary button in my stash.  They’re sewed on with a bit of Perle Cotton #5 in a matching color.  (Pro-tip: Perle Cotton #5 makes for great button thread.  No need to double it and it is quite strong.  Comes in a huge variety of color to match just about anything.)

I have to admit that I’m totally smitten with this sweater and I kind of want to make another.

You can find my Ravelry notes here.

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Hat Parade: Mistake Rib Baby Hat

The Mistake Rib Baby Hat is a freebie from Ravelry.  I found it while browsing for a pattern to use up this one lonely skein of discontinued Rowan RYC Cashcotton DK that I had bumming around the stash.

The color is #602, but that’s about all I can tell you.  I picked this skein up from the orphan bin a couple years ago because it was too pretty to leave behind.

The hat features a simple mistake rib brim that is a little more interesting than your traditional 1×1 or 2×2 ribbing, but doesn’t have quite as much give.  Then it flows into normal stockinette hat construction.

I chose to alter the hat slightly and gave it a traditional swirled decrease top as opposed to the ties that are on the original pattern.  I also made the smallest size in this hat and it was too small for Izy, so it’s somewhere around the newborn head range.

All project details and notes can be found here.

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Hat Parade: Tipper

Tipper is a quick, easy knit with clever construction from another of my favorite designers, Woolly Wormhead.  Published in her book Bambeanies (available electronically or in print), this little cutie knits up flat and then is seamlessly grafted together.

I worked this one up in some Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran I’ve had in the stash forever. I’ve had it so long that I’ve long since lost the tag for it, so I can’t tell you what color it is.  I do know I purchased it before the Yarn Shoppe moved to its current location, so I’ve had it at least 4 years.

I love how the bias detail gives a simple stitch pattern such a dramatic look.  Plus,  it has little “ears”.  This one is definitely newborn size, as it was too small for my 5 month old nephew.

You can view all details and notes for this project here.

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Hat Parade: Melody Hat

This hat is probably my favorite so far.  It knits up quickly, the colors are amazing, and it’s in one of my favorite yarns.

Knit very traditionally from the bottom up, the real beauty of the Melody hat is the color changes and the clever slip stitch pattern.  I bought the kit  (containing Hazel Knits Artisan Sock) from designer Melissa of Stick Chick Knits at Stitches West, but you could do it in any assortment of sock yarns.  If you buy the pattern separate from the kit, you also get Rhythm.

I knit this pattern without any modification.  It was another one nighter and I’m seriously considering knitting another one.  Project details can be found here.

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Hat Parade: Green Baby Bonnet

Today’s hat is really more of a bonnet.  I saw this adorable thing come through my Reader recently and just had to make one. Unfortunately, my plastic container stand-in doesn’t do this piece justice.

Wanting this to be closer to infant size, I dropped the yarn and needle sizes down.  I used Classic Elite Yarns Chesapeake in color #5981 “Tendril Green”.  I picked up this yarn at Knits by Nana when I was in Louisiana visiting a friend.  (The shop is lovely and the staff is friendly.  If you’re ever in Baton Rouge, I highly recommend a visit.)

The construction on this was definitely interesting, but not hard.  The applied i-cord was done with a technique different from the one I’ve used before, but it seemed to work out just fine.  I’d estimate my hat came out more of a 6-9 month size, but I’ll have to try it on a baby of that age to be sure.

All notes and mods can be found here.

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Hat Parade: Baby Armando

Lest you think this blog has turned into all gardening, all the time… I have been doing some knitting!  Quite a lot of knitting, actually.  I’ve just been rather busy and haven’t had a chance to photograph it.  Since Baby will be in the NICU for the first week or two of his life, I’ve been churning out hats.  Rather than show them all in one post, I’ll be presenting them one at a time in a multi-post hat parade.

Shall we begin?

First up today is the Baby Armando.  Since Sam will only wear the Armando hat, I thought Baby should have something to match.  (The pattern available is only for a Baby Amanda, but I’ve included my modifications at the bottom of this post if you’d like an Armando instead of an Amanda.)

I used Malabrigo Rios in color #871 “Playa”.  It was a partial skein, leftover from a quick Amanda hat that was knit for a friend’s wife between Santa Clara and Petaluma.  I still have a little leftover, so it may get some matching booties.

Baby Armando Hat Mods:

• Work first 6 rounds as written for Armando Hat
• Work 9 1/2 repeats of Background Lace Pattern
• Finish top as written

You can view all of my project details here.

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FO: Plaid Scarf

Pictured above is the Shades of Plaid Scarf by Julie Armstrong Holetz from Crochet Me (Ravelry Project Details).  Made with three colors of Berroco Ultra Alpaca, it was a quick and easy project.  You basically crochet a large mesh scarf and then weave chains through it.

The placement of color is the key to getting the nifty plaid look.  This particular scarf was made as a sample for a workshop I’m teaching this fall.  I would totally make this project again.

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FO: Little Cabled Sweater

Sweater #2 finished for Baby Blew is technically called the Hooded Cardigan and Collared Jacket from Sirdar #397.  I called it the Little Cabled Sweater (Ravelry Project Details).

Knit with 3 skeins of Sirdar Snuggly DK, it was another fun knit.  With the knit-below yoke and sleeves and the horseshoe cables, this project is definitely not for beginners, but it’s not super hard either.  I would say that a confident intermediate would have no issues with it.

No modifications to this project were made from the book.  The only thing I did outside of the instructions was knit the sleeves two-at-a-time.  (It has a matching hat that’s not quite finished yet.  I’m hoping to get that done before the baby is born.)

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FO: Matelot Sweater

Hey look!  Actual yarn content!  Crazy, eh?  I’ve been finishing up a ton of projects lately, but the whole “photographing and posting” bit has been somewhat neglected.  I’ll try to catch up on some of the things I’ve finished (like the last 4 shawls…), but don’t hold your breath.

–

Our friends are pregnant with their first baby, and being that it is the first baby born this year that doesn’t live in the desert or the south, I knit *two* sweaters for him!  The first is the Matelot Sweater from Sublime Book #612 (Ravelry Project Details).

This little sweater was a breeze to make and fun to boot.  I knit it out of three orphan skeins of Berroco Comfort DK I had rattling around in the stash.  The only problem I had was forgetting to change needle size on one of the sleeves and having to reknit it.  Otherwise, easy peasy.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you the second sweater knit for Baby Blew.

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