I'm going to give you the straight dope on baby knitting and it's this: it's tricky. On one hand you assume that it's going to be mighty speedy because babies are the tiniest of the species. On the other hand, whatever time is trimmed off the project due to the nano-ness of the recipient, you make up for in the sheer amount of deliberation time required. After putting the call out to my Tweeps (who gave a variety of suggestions), I settled on a project that I've done before and that is a sheer delight in terms of ease and cute-factor: the Child's Placket-Neck Sweater.
The Specs:
Pattern: Child's Placket-Neck Sweater by Joelle Halverson
Yarn: Sublime Organic Cotton DK, #98, 1.5 skeins total--maybe?
Size: small
Needles: Size 6
Mods: none
Time: Began on a Monday after work, knit off and on during the week, finished on Friday afternoon with minutes to spare.
This is truly a fast knit--you could crank a whole bunch of these out if you needed to, which come to think of it I sort of need to do given the backlog of babies in my life at the moment. It's waaay faster that the BSJ I'm afraid, and the result is a tiny sweater that has surefire, wide appeal.
The next time I make this I will solve the armhole problem. Both versions of this sweater have had a gaping hole where the arms are joined with the three-needle bind-off--and because I was in my office with the door closed trying to desperately finish the sweater as the recipient and her baby wheeled down the hall, ever closer *cue Jaws music*, I was in a rush and just carelessly stitched the holes closed. Next time I'll come up with a proper solution.
A word about the yarn: I bought three skeins, but used a total of what might be two. Why the lack of certainty? Well, each skein ended up like this:
There's something about the way this yarn is wound that after knitting about halfway through it turns into insta-yarnvomit. Yes--all three skeins did this, and for this reason, Sublime DK Organic Cotton: you are dead to me.
Tomorrow I hit the road with my not-so-tiny-MDS&W pal (she'll be wearing a Penguins shirt) and I'll be dorking out with the button pictured above. I've been so busy lately that I actually haven't put together any schemes for what to buy, except the odd realization that all my stitchmarkers have gone missing. So--if you think that I should know about a hot pattern or yarn that I have yet to detect, let me know!
15 comments:
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Kiparoo farms?
margieinmaryland
PS I will be looking for you...
Enjoy Maryland Sheep & Wool! Sounds like great fun.
Cute little sweater -- the little holes would have made me nuts, too, though. The aqua buttons are a great touch.
Adorable sweater, and so wish I were attending MS&W! Maybe next year. :)
(And we'll see you at NYS&W, right?)
That is one cute sweater; I will have to keep that in mind for similar projects. The yarnvomit-thing happens a lot with me, but more often it's when I first start the skein and out comes a huge snarled mass. In fact, I've been dealing with that problem all week a skein of Misti Alpaca. Frustrating.
Wish I was going too! I'd help you spend your money (heheh) but I'm still stuck in my endless work-time-suck.
Have fun!!! Can't wait to hear all about it.
Great sweater!
I am forever losing stitch markers, so at the lys a couple of weeks ago, I tossed a tiny pack of some cute ones in my basket. Driving home, it suddenly occurred to me that my bill had been rather high. I quick check of the receipt showed I paid $25 for five stitch markers! It's back to those little plastic rings for me.
Hey, I missed you at MS&WF! Bloody hot, hope you did okay. We were only there for about 3 hours but it was nice.
Hi. I just finished my first of these sweaters, and if I don't get some advice on how to fix the gaping holes under the arms, which one can see from the front and back, I will never make it again. Have you, like you said, figured out a way to make them go away? Did stitching them together work? Did you stitch with the yarn or thread? Thank you!
What a sweet sweater, I absolutely adore the little buttons.
I'm just the opposite. Good with the baby knits, but the ones for myself give me the shakes. Love the turquoise buttons.
I am sorry I missed you. I was looking for you, but once the littles started complaining, it was time to go. Also, PNP, I just knit 2. I have to graft the armholes and am so glad to hear that it's not just me with the gaping armhole issue.
Yikes, that yarnvomit does not look like fun, I hope it isn't catchy...
Sweet baby sweater, as usual!
Have yourself some fun!
in love with the turquoise buttons and the yellowy cream color! great sweater :)
I have a plethora of babies in my life... I think this might mix it up a bit. I just dealt with yarn-vomit; it raised my blood pressure and I cursed the maker and was ready to scream. But the result is lovely
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