Some old, some new

Seeing that lovely LTK soaker recently posted reminded me about my LTK adventures and I just *had* to share :)

I fell in love with wool soakers and longies but couldn't begin to think about affording all that my eyes really needed me to buy. In fact, this was my inspiration to learn to knit! So.... I bought the LTK pattern and got busy.

I knitted this for my sweet boy who was then 6.5 months old. I think I used Jaeger Extra Fine Merino for the body of the soaker, and a superwash Lana Grossa Bingo Chime for the ribbing. I LOVED this soaker. I inspired my long time knitter friend to pick up the needles again. She'd put them aside for a few years since having her first child and when she saw me knitting she just had to get back at it. So she knitted another LTK soaker for me with my pattern and yarn. BUT, this friend told me she never bothers to knit a gauge swatch. She just knits, she says.

So, this is what she gave back to me! LOL! Same pattern, same size, same weight yarn, same needles. Just a little bigger :)

Well, then I was knitting-hooked so I went kind of crazy and kntted everything I could get my hands on. Cute hat, yeah, girly colors and he's a boy. I guess I was thinking ahead to the next baby. LOL!

And I'm guessing you can't see the pants in that pic, but man are they cute! They are the knitty cargo pants pattern done in King Stampato extra fine merino in a red/burgandy multicolor tweedy sort of colorway. They were so soft and he wore them nearly every other day for 2 winters! I also made another pair in a much bigger size in a gray colorway, but they're still too big for him now and somehow I didn't take any finished object pictures of either pair of pants.

The next spring when he was 12 months old I made him these two pairs of wool soaker shorts. I used a blend of the LTK pattern and the Wooly Wonders pattern and two very different yarns. Loved both of them, especially the gussets, but the solid tan color has such good stitch definition that you can see all the increases a little too well for my liking (on the seat, not shown in pic). Daniel didn't care though :) (or maybe that's why he got the red juice stain on them so quickly?)

Before I started his shorts I knitted the Baby Albert Coat from Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch for my cousin's newborn. It was neat how it knitted up.

I very much enjoyed making this, but now I don't think I could stomach all that garter stitch again.

And this winter I made him (18 mos in still a baby, right?) a pair of mittens that he never wore more than about 2 seconds....

And a sweater (Knitting Pure and Simple Top Down Raglan #9730) just like his big sister's. (weird format, can't change it)

That's all for Daniel at this point. And I've moved on to knitting for baby#3 due in 2 weeks 2 days AND COUNTING! I'll hopefully get the motivation to do the finishing on my Pea Pod sweater and take some pics and also finish knitting my Debbie Bliss adorable Ribbon Edged Cardign (I think that's the name) and get it assembled before the baby gets here! I usually go past my due date so I'm thinking I've got time.

Love seeing what everyone else is doing!

Deborah in NC