Tuesday, September 22, 2009

FO: Yet Another Baby Hat


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Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk
Doh! Forgot to snap a photo. Well, it looks like this and this and this, only in yellow and no embroidery. It actually looks the most like Niecey's hat, because I purposely used a centered double decrease to make the decreases stick out, like Brunelleschi's Dome (the Duomo in Florence), except the hat has 4 sections instead of 6.

Pattern: My own, still evolving.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
Needles: Size 5, size 3 for casting on in picot cast-on.

I used the picot cast-on, and I've decided it just looks kind of messy. I'm going to try a tubular cast-on for the next one.

I also used centered double decreases (slip 2 tog as if to knit, K1, psso) and they also looked a bit messy. Next time I'm going to do single decreases K2tog, twice as many, evenly spaced, on a knit stitch.

I intended at first to embroider balloons in red and blue. Then I thought I can make red, yellow, and blue balloons knit onto the top, with tails pulled out as balloon strings. Then I ran out of time, and since the baby is breech and resisted efforts to turn it, a C-section got scheduled, 1 week before the due date, so I decided I'd better just finish the thing and send it. My mom and The Sweetie said it looked fine without any adornment (we don't know if it's a boy or a girl, and a daisy seemed too feminine) and I stuck it in the mail before I even snapped a picture.

This photo is my son running down to the shore of Lake Tahoe. (Due to careful framing, it does not appear as if anyone is nearby, but The Sweetie is giving chase just off the right frame.)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

FO: Presto Chango


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Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk
I finished it just in time for my SIL's baby shower. It was still a little damp when I wrapped it in tissue and stuck it in the bag. The party was a great success!

Pattern: Presto Chango, a sweater pattern with the idea that you can knit multiple front panels and change them out as they get soiled.
Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 5. Size 3 for seed stitch cast-on.
Yarn: Mystery cotton from KathyB.
Buttons: wooden, from Fabrics Unlimited in Stateline, NV. Gorgeous shop!

I started out assuming that the gauge would be smaller than 4 sts/inch. So I cast on for the biggest size. However, I realized after getting into the stockinette portion that I was in fact getting gauge, so for the rest of the pattern, I followed the 6 month size.

For the seaming, in the underarm I did that seaming technique where you make it look like another row of knitting. For the side seams I used mattress stitch.

My opinion, now that I've had a baby, is that babies don't (need to) wear clothes (that is, anything but onesies and footie pajamas) until at least 6 months, so there is no point in knitting sweaters for them smaller than that, except by accident.

After blocking, it grew enormous (the panel still needed severe blocking to fit, but that's the fault of the cast-on for the biggest size), so I told the mom-to-be to throw it in the washer and dryer. Hope the buttons survive!

If I am moved (and have time), I will make another panel, although I don't have enough yellow to do the whole panel. Maybe I'll make it yellow and blue stripes. Maybe I can make it for Christmas!

Next up: finishing the birth hat. I ran out of time and my hand hurt. Several days of non-knitting and now I'm back to it.