Another Babies & Bears sweater finished!

I just realized that this is the fourth Babies & Bears sweater I have knit this year. It is, however, the first one I've done in a solid yarn:

yarn: Ironstone Farms Harmony (MC = #11016/CC = #13060)
pattern: Babies and Bears sweater by Cottage Creations

I really like the way it turned out, but must confess .... the buttons are my favorite part.

from my LYS, made by Incomparable Buttons (http://www.buttonmad.com/)

Not so fast

A quick update on the gift sweater I was knitting for my friend's new baby ....

When I called last week to confirm the child's name, I learned that the boy -- who was born weighing just over eight pounds -- has been gaining a pound or more a week, and is now, at the grand old age of seven weeks, weighing in at over 17 pounds. Which means that the red sweater I knit him wasn't going to fit.

O.k., I thought, no problem. He can have the stripey one I was going to keep for my baby. It's bigger, the colors are gender neutral, and Babies and Bears sweaters are a fast knit. He'll have it in more than enough time for fall. Four days later, it was done.

yarn: Nashua Handknits Wooly Stripes (Key West #WS03)
pattern: Babies and Bears sweater (from Cottage Creations)

I even had the perfect leather buttons tucked away into my button box:


Just before I mailed it off I decided to check the size one more time. Good decision.

rats

O.k., fine. I'll keep BOTH sweaters for my baby. Which is fine, but leaves a baby boy in Iowa sorely lacking in handknits, a state of affairs that offends my knitterly soul. Luckily for my peace of mind, however, a solution was easily found ... all it took was a trip to my LYS and the purchase of some bulky weight yarn:

yarn: Ironstone Farms Harmony (MC = #11016/CC = #13060)

I'm pretty sure this one will fit him until December at least.

A tale of two sweaters

A friend of mine had her second child, a son, last month. They didn't find out the gender beforehand, so last May I started this cardigan for her, on the theory that red would be appropriate no matter what flavor she got.

yarn: Cotton-Ease ("Cherry Red" #113)
pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple Babies Neck Down Cardigan #982

I finished the edges with applied I-cord, planning to put button loops on later ... only to find, when the time came (it's a boy!) that I didn't like the way they looked. So I added ties at the neck and am calling it a day.

I've also started a sweater for our new baby, due in September.

yarn: Nashua Handknits Wooly Stripes ("Key West" #WSO3)
pattern: Babies & Bears Sweater by Cottage Creations

I love the way this version of my standby baby sweater is working up, and contemplated sending it to my friend instead of the red cardigan, until I ran into stitch count issues on both the right and left sides. I'm going to have to put them back on the needles and do some tinking until I figure out where I went wrong (one stitch too many on the right, one too few on the left), and don't want to wait until I've done so to get the new baby's gift in the mail. Besides, I think that it's going to be a great sweater for an autumn baby. So I'm claiming knitter's perogative and keeping it.

I hope to get things back on track later today.