Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everybody!



I had my first ultrasound today!!! very exciting!
The technician wouldn't tell me the sex of the baby (although she said it was visible) It is their standard policy to tell my doctor, who will then tell me at my next visit. I am looking forward to finding out so I can start knitting up a storm. I've made a few things already but I would like the "go ahead" to make a bunch of super-girly things or little-manly things. :-)

and baby makes three

The boys did the black felt face pieces on their costumes and I stuck a few on the baby bump for a whole family of pumpkins on Halloween! More pics on my blog.

Hope to see more Halloween baby pics from you new moms out there!
--Alison :)

A Cardi Named Sid

I'm new here. I knit for my nieces' children and any others that wander into view. My nieces had boys for a while but one of them produced a girl last year, so we're in a frenzy of pink and purple, or purp and pinkle as a friend of mine once said.

First of all though, I'm posting the chunky cardigan I knitted for a friend's little boy. He's called Seamus and the cardigan is called Sid, from Rowan's Junior Knits. It seems to be a larger version of the one Aimee knitted from Rowan's Babies, called Dumpling.

It's made from Rowan's Big Wool in a melange of blues, called Bubbles, on 15mm needles: it didn't knit up quite as fast as I expected but the construction of the rolled collar was interesting. The pattern doesn't have pockets but I thought it was crying out for them and it turns out that Seamus loves pockets, so I added them. It would have suited those folded leather buttons but settled for some big old brown ones from the button box - I love Aimee's toggles and would get some if I knit this again. I would also make it slightly longer, maybe an inch or two.

Here is a photo of it as finished. I can't help feeling he should have a little pipe to smoke when he models it, it's just like the men's cardigans on those old knitting patterns.

my first post!

hi all! it is good to be posting. i had a baby shower to go to this weekend and have done what i think it a quite cute baby basket. it is a boy due in december. these projects mostly come from the mason dixon knitting book. i just love the mason dixon projects because they are so simple and adorable. there are a couple of bibs in the basket:




















then there is a matching burp cloth:
















Then i decided that the teddy bear i found also needed a bib:



















I paired all of these with a baby hat, baby blanket that i crocheted edgings on to, bible fish stories book and stuffed fish toy. all in all i think it turned out pretty well. i can't wait to give it to the mom-to-be tomorrow! she will be very surprised. here is the finished basket:





















This is the finished project! i thought it turned out well. it is a pleasure to see all of yall's beautiful projects!

Another Last Minute Knitted Gift

Angora baby booties!

I don't think that my friend's week old baby really knows what to think of them:



Details:
Pattern: Angora Baby Booties from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Angora on closeout from Webs
These really only took 2 hours (including a break to have dinner) to make! Neat construction. Of course, they feel off her feet moments after they were put on... but I think it is because the baby is still so tiny. I'm hoping they have a little more staying power in the weeks to come!

Just for you, Laura J.

The details are over on my blog but I'll spill here too. I knit the Hooded Cable coat from Debbie Bliss's book Baby Cashmerino. I substituted the cashmerino for cotton angora (my guy is alergic to wool) on 4mm circular Addi Turbo's in size 3-6. Due to the row count being off and the yarn growing after washing, the finished product was closer to the 6-9 month size but that's okay because so is Alex! Buttons from JoAnn's in North Attleboro, MA... 3 cards with 3 to a card and I used 7 so I sewed the other 2 to the inside of the coat. I used about 8.25 balls of cotton angora and plan to use the 2.75 I have left for mittens. If I missed anything, pop over to my blog and the rest is there.

Here's a little sweater I made for my niece out of Simply Soft. I hope her mom likes it! Knitting little pink things is fun. :) 

Newborn socks

Hi everybody! It's Diana again. As we are in Socktoberfest, I've been interested in knitting newborn socks, which I had never done before. I was looking for patterns, getting ideas from from different places and finally I ended up writing a pattern. It's a very quick project. I used Knitpicks yarn, which is easy to order and not expensive. This kind of yarn (I think it's called self striping) allows different color combinations. I thought it would be funny to make a set of 6 different socks that match altogether. Of course, you can adapt it and make identical socks. I have published the pattern in my blog. Please, tell me if you find something which is not correct. Also, English is not my first language, so don't hesitate in telling me if I said something wrong.

Update this week

I finally found my camera, and have posted some pictures on my blog here. Here's the cardigan I made for a woman at work, whose son was born about a month ago:
I just have to find some buttons. I started a sweater for my little one, in Bernat CottonTots in Sweet Dreams. I had 3 skeins that was a partial baby blanket, but I decided a little cardi for my dear one would be a better use of it. I think I can get booties and a hat out of it as well. He might just come home in those. It has some pink in the variegation, but I think with blue buttons, it'll look boyish enough. I'm making it on my own (making up the pattern as I go) and it's simple, since the yarn is variegated. I'm sure another one will come whipping off my needles with some interesting cables soon. I love making baby cardigans...they go so quickly, as long as you get the sleeves in right the first time. =0)

Just popping in to show what I've been working on this week. It's a little sideways knit wraparound baby sweater from Greetings from the Knit Cafe. I'm using Atacama by Araucania yarns in colour 502 that I got in the bargain bin for like $3 a skein. It's 100% alpaca and deliciously soft. This is an ingenious little pattern with hardly any seaming needed. Here are a couple of progress shots:

And a close-up of the stitch pattern can be seen at my blog (blogger is taking ages to upload my photos). I just have the sleeves left to do, so I will hopefully be finished in time for the baby shower next week.

After washing and blocking, I added buttons. I was afraid that it wasn't going to dry before starting to smell moldy. After sitting out all night it was still no dryer than the night before, so today I took it upstairs and layed it out on the floor on towels and turned the super fan on it for several hours.

I put the extra buttons on the inside of the coat so that if I lose one I won't have to tear the house apart looking for the replacements. Then I put the coat on the baby, and he loved it. First thing he did was eat it. He's been trying to get it in his hands and there by in his mouth since I started knitting it. It fits well, with room to grow in, and I must have really been off on the row count (thank goodness too...) because it's a little big and pretty long, and this child is now wearing 6-9 month clothes and won't be 5 months till Thursday.

Hello from Norway

I'm a Norwegian knitter expecting my second child on the 28th of March. I was googling for a knit-along for babyclothes when I first learned I was pregnant, so thanks a lot to Alison for hosting this one:-) Since I already have a 3-year old son who attends an outdoor kindergarten I had to finish his winter woolies before I could start anything for the new one. This picture shows the beginning of my first baby garment - it's the back of a wrap-around body stocking, sized newborn. I made one just like this for my son the week before he was born, and it was the first thing I put on him in the hospital after he was born. It was wonderful to see how the warmth of the garment calmed him down immediately. His was made in pure merinowool which had not been treated with any chemicals or superwash, and with the lanolin (wool fat) remaining in the fibers. This one will be made of the same kind of wool, but with silk added. I'm a major fan of woolen clothes for childen (and adults), and especially home knits. My son wears woolen underwear practically all year round - we live above the Arctic Circle. I have however given up on providing him with home knit underwear, as that would have meant knitting nothing else for the last three years... I have a knitting blog in Norwegian: www.fuglemamma.sprayblogg.no - if you see anything there that you would like to know more about just leave me a comment and I'll provide an answer in English.

Phildar Cardigan and scarf

So, a weekend tranquille a la maison since in less than a week we'll be boarding a plane for our month long vacation to the US. We stayed in last night catching up on Lost and Grey's Anatomy all the while I cranked out the Phildar baby sweater:




Pattern: La Brassiere and L'Echarpe No. 6 from Phildar Tricotez Calin
Size: 6 months (sweater); One size fits all (Scarf)
Yarn: Phildar Oxyene color Emeraude (sweater) & Bowling in Folk & Partner in Petunia (Scarf)
Needles: 5.5 mm & 6.5 mm
Started: October 20, 2006
Finished: October 28, 2006

I can happily say that I think I've gotten over my fear of Phildar patterns and sewing sweater parts. It took me a couple false starts but seaming stockinette and garter stitch are very easy! Sewing on snaps on the other hand, I don't like at all. If I make this again, I'm going to add button holes. The scarf was just an added bonus, I fell in love with how it looked on the baby on the cover of Tricotez Calin. The sweater is worn with the buttons on the back but I think that it looks just as good with the buttons to the front. So, this will be put in the mail next week and hopefully the recipient hasn't already grown out of it! :)

Pregknits

The first hand-knit sweater I knit for my first baby is done.

I'm not sure if we're having a boy or a girl, but I argue that this teal sweater is "unisex," even though it's probably more blue than green, and the button placement is on the "girl" side.

I just finished it, so I haven't gotten a chance to photograph it in daylight so the coloring is a bit off. This is the picture that best represents the color:



The pattern is called "Jacket with Seed stitch Bands" found in Debbie Bliss' book Baby Knits for Beginners, and it was knit with Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino yarn.

The size is Newborn/3 months.

Yay for Super-Quick Baby FOs!

Hi ladies!

I've really enjoyed reading all of your posts! I think that I now may be suffering from inspiration overload. I haven't gotten in too much baby knitting lately, but I did finish this little baby beret the other day. I was having some trouble finding a baby beret pattern that I liked, so I just winged it. The details and pattern are up on my blog here for anyone who wants it.

Happy knitting!
Laura

Well, it's done! I just finished the finishing.... That sounded really dumb, but I did. I decided to wash and block it before adding the buttons and then I'll take a photo. I'm thinking one with baby, one without. It's raining soooo hard here that there's no light and the photo would be bad anyway. Anyway, it's done and it took about 3 weeks and 8.25 balls of Debbie Bliss cotton angora in Burgundy. (The yarn has been discontinued last I heard.)
I loved this knit! It worked up fast and was easy to do with a baby on my lab, or on a boob, which ever. It fits well, and looks great on him, and my husband was actually impressed with it. And as we all know, after about the 20th completed garment, husbands just aren't impressed about it anymore. He actually bragged on the phone to his mom about how cute it was and how she had to see it.
On the down side of this pattern, I had a hard time with the hood construction and I had to wing it. I'm not satisfied with how it came out, but the rest of it is wonderful and the fact that it's designed to be a coat means that he'll get a little wear out of it. I can just lengthen the sleeves at the cuff if necessary and he can wear it till it looks like a regular sized cardi, or at least that's my thinking. It's one of the first things I made for him that I think ended up being worth the time and the expense. I'd make it again (if I did that sort of thing)

First knitted garment DONE

I finished the sweater I've been working on for our batata, and a hat to match. I'm still contemplating using the turquoise yarn to do some kind of embroidery on one side of the sweater, but I think that will have to wait until I get back to my knitting library (currently mostly in storage). Both the hat and sweater are from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. The sweater is the Child's Placket-Neck Pullover, and the hat is one of "Kim's Hats" modified for gauge and to better match the sweater. I left off the buttons on the collar of the sweater and turned down the collar instead. I like the look; I was dubious about pushing beads through my knitting; and I think it will be easier to get on and off a baby. The sweater is size 6-12 months, and the hat is the "baby" size. Hopefully both will fit next winter. The yarn is Zara, an extrafine merino from Filatura di Crosa. I like how soft it is, and the wide variety of colors available. I have some left over, and I think I'll try to make some matching socks, and see how far I get.

Problems -- I knit tightly, generally, and you can see some transitions that I would rather were invisible. First of all, you can see where the transitions between dpns were, both in the sweater sleeves and in the hat. Also, at the start of the placket, you can see in the brown yarn that my gauge changed when I went from knitting in the round to knitting back and forth. Is there any way to fix that? I thought the blocking would magically do it, but this is the first garment I've ever finished, and I have little experience with blocking. Either I blocked incorrectly, or I was hoping for too much. Any tips? The hat is not yet blocked, but the sweater is.

I really enjoyed the way this sweater was designed. There are very very few seams, and it made for good knitting on the train. The yarn is also wonderfully soft.

babies need hats!

Hello all,

My kiddo, Little Sir, is 7 months old and I have many friends expecting so I will be doing many many baby knits..for quite some time, I am sure!

Leaving school/daycare the other day I realized Little Sir's head was probably cold, so that night I knit him a hat. I think he likes it!

I just used the guidelines for a basic hat from Ann Budd's A Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. It's a hat, a relatively simple knit--it took me all of 4 hours; but it was needed and knit with love, and the colors are pretty snazzy I think!

I am really enjoying seeing all of your baby knits! Keep them coming!!

Nova

Toddler Knits

This isn't technically a baby knit, but I thought
a toddler knit would sneak in. This is my son's preschool picture and I loved how this sweater turned out. The details are on my blog.

Sweet Baby Bonnet

I made the Baby Bonnet from Last Minute Knitted Gifts to add to my 'baby stash':



This is a really cute knit... and I was able to finish it in the books projected 2 - 4 hours (I think it took me around 3 hours). I did have some trouble keeping the i-cord cast on loose and not 'bunchy'.

Cute, huh? I used Koigu Kersti, and I have enough of the yarn to make the Child's Placket-neck Pullover from the same book. I'm also going to try and make a second bonnet in reverse colors out of the leftovers from the first hat - I'll let you all know if the yarn stretches that far.

The Royal Baby

Now that I am back from my vacation, I can finally post! I'm not having a wee one of my own, but lots of people around me sure are! While traveling, I managed to knit up this cute little Blue Sky Alpaca Royal Alpaca baby set.. Who could resist?!

Intro and update

Hello All! Alison kindly sent me an invite after I requested admission, so here I am! I've been reading for the past couple of days, and seeing all the baby projects makes me excited! I'm Laura, I live in GA, and I'm due January 18th. I'm currently working on a layette set for a woman who just delivered about a month ago (I'm a little behind). I think this is the last project that will be given away for a while. The rest of my attention will be focused on my little bundle of joy once I'm done with these. I'm having a boy, so lots of blues and greens are in my future. Please feel free to visit my blog here, where I try to post at least weekly, and sometimes I manage to post daily. Comments are always welcome!

Hello from Maine

Hello everybody! My name is Diana and I am a Spanish girl living in Portland (Maine) since July 2005. I am expecting my first baby for march and I thought it would be exciting to share knitting tips with you!
Right now I'm more interested in knitting sweaters for me, something that can cover my growing belly during the cold winter in Maine. So I'm currently ready to knit Mommy snug (somebody already posted a photo so I'm not repeating) as soon as I finish a cardigan from Marie Claire idees fall 2004 (sorry, no photo available). That's not really a maternity cardigan, but it is kept in place with a pin instead of buttons, so I think it can wrap me for a while. And the truth is that I started it 1 year ago and I'd like to finish it sometime.
The photo I've posted is not very recent but it shows the time when I started to feel my belly bigger (around 15 weeks, 1 month ago). Edited: oops, I changed the picture a little bit because my hubby doesn't want my face to be out there in the internet.
You can read about my knitting in my blog.
See you!

I just wanted to show you ....

the two baby sweaters I finished right before Alison started this blog. They are knit from Cottage Creations' Baby and Bears Sweater pattern, and I think they're great .... a quick knit, with very little finishing required.

The first was knit from Plymouth Encore (#7827 "Sky"):


and the second (which I initially compared to clown barf, but it's grown on me) is knit from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted ("Child's Play").


Each sweater (knit in the 6-12 month size) took about three days to knit, and the pattern is written so that you can make a larger sweater simply by using a larger-gauge yarn.

If you're looking for a quick, cute sweater pattern, I don't think you can go wrong with this one.

Greetings from Paris

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Aimee and I'm a 29 year old American living in Paris. I moved here in May 2003 with my French husband, Julien. We have been married 4 years and are expecting our first little bout de chou or as the French say little piece of cabbage baby in April 2007. I've been knitting for over a year now and have it has now become my obsession as many of us kntiters understand so well.

I've knit a couple sweaters in anticipation of new one. They are gender neutral as I don't know the sex yet but will be finding out this Friday! Can't wait! So, here's what my busy little finger have knit in the last month:




Chunky Baby Cardigan from Knitting for Two by Erica Knight
Size: newborn
Yarn: Rowan Summer Tweed in shade 112
Needles: 4 & 4.5mm Clovers
Knitting time: 2 days

This was a great little sweater to start out with because it taught me sweater construction. And this is my first official sweater I've knit! I started Green Gable but got pregnant and it quickly didn't fit me anymore. And this little cardigan helped to get me over the fear of sewing sweater parts together. This was the reason why I wasn't tackling the ever present Phildar patterns that are in such easy access here in Paris. But that's changed now and you'll see later...:)

Ensuite...




Pattern: Dumpling from Rowan Babies .
Size: 6-12mos
Yarn: Rowan Ribbon Twist in shade 113
Needles: 10mm Clovers (adjusted from the 12mm called for in pattern)
Time: One week (two days really but I didn't work on it straight)

I really love Rowan yarns. They are easily accessible here in Paris and the price isn't too shocking to me. I learned to knit on European yarns and I know when I go home in November to visit family I will be shocked at the selection of American yarns I've been missing out on. Anyway, I used Ribbon Twist for Dumpling. The pattern called for Rowan Big Wool. But I had see this color and really loved it. And since I'd never use chunky yarn to knit something for myself I figured this would be a good excuse to use this fun yarn for our future baby. I loved how this turned out. The body is knit in one piece until you split for the arms. You use three needle bind off for the shoulder seams and the cowl neck. I adjusted the sleeves by adding two more stitches through out because it was a little small when I tried the sleeves on a friend's 3 month old. Here's my friend, Sarah's son, Felix modeling Dumpling before I sewed on the toggle buttons. He's 10 months old but as tall as a one year old. The sweater is a little short on him but you'll get the idea of how cute this sweater is:



Currently on the needles I have a Phildar sweater that I'm making for a girlfriend who just had a little girl. It's from Phildar Trcotez Calin.



I'm knitting the cover sweater and have knit the scarf. It was a fun knit and I'm not sure how practical baby scarves are but where they live it's very cold so hopefully she'll use it for a while. You can check my progress on the Phildar Brassiere on my blog and pick up a recipe for banana bread while you're at it!

Thanks to Alison! This is such a genius idea. I've already gotten some great new ideas on what to knit next. I look forward to reading about what all of you are working on. :)


-Aimee