In the Mail Monday

I'm late with this baby gift. Katelyn was born in June, and I've had the sweater done for over a month! In my defense, she lives in California, and won't need it until winter. When we're knee deep in snow, she'll be snuggled in my little sweater.

Katelyn has an older brother, and he gets the bug-eyed hand puppet. It looks weird, but in my experience, little boys like strange, buggy critters the best.

I tucked in two bibs, a little on the small side, and the earflap hat is because I remember Katelyn's mom had earaches as a kid. I hear the booties are wonderful because the tall cuff helps them stay on forever.

I'm almost ready to make a delivery of baby hats, only 3 more to go!

Knitter's details: I started with the Seamless Baby Kimono and heavily modified it. I used the same earflap hat I made for Bean last winter, and the booties are EZ's and can be found in one of her books. I used an entire skein of Lion Brand Baby Soft, the color is called Candy Print, and it weighed 4 oz. I used #5 needles. The bibs are the Simple Baby Bib, and the hand puppet is my own creation!

Socks for me, and a picture I forgot

I forgot to upload the picture of my Christmas knitting. I was asked to knit a pair of slippers - 2 strands of worsted weight acrylic and #8 dpns. My wrists survived, and I tackled another pair. It seemed that my knitting mojo was on its way back, so I knit 2 pairs of wristers and 2 hats. Then I added 2 pairs of booties and 3 bibs, and it was all done in time for the holiday!
Now I've power-knit a pair of birthday socks, and am taking it easy on a pair of socks for me. My sock drawer needs some refreshing, a new pair of warm, toasty socks will cheer up my toes.



The Knit Picks tweed is very soft, and my k2p2 instep doesn't pull in the way it did for the Opal birthday socks. As I knit, I am thinking of stopping the rib after the heels, and working the cuffs in plain stockinette. I don't care if the cuffs are a little slouchy, but I like my sock to have a good fit inside my shoe. If the rib doesn't work in this yarn, why bother? It would look strange if I stopped in the middle of the foot, but I think I could live with a pair of socks that had plain cuffs and ribbed feet. We'll see.
Baby hats #22 and #23 are tucked in the side of the picture. I've got #24 OTN, should finish it today, wash the load on Monday and deliver the batch sometime this next week. I think of 24 warm babies and I smile. It's good to be knitting again.

More Bibs for Bean

I had a request from Diametrag for more bibs, and here they are. She said they fit well, and I made two more just the same.

I used Sugan 'n Cream kitchen cotton, #9 needles and 33 stitches. They ended up about 7" square. They might shrink when they are washed, and if she needs more, I'll cast on a few more stitches.

This size is pretty good, because I got 2 bibs from the green variegated skein of Sugar 'n Cream. The label says "New Super Size" and weighs 85 g (3 oz).

I have also finished 2 hats for the hospital. Both are plain k2p2 rib. I'm having a bit of trouble controlling my tension when I knit. I can't believe I'm knitting tighter than before, rather than looser. Who would think you'd need more strength to knit loose rather than tight? That's what my problem is, and so I'm sticking with plain k2p2 ribbing because that makes the stretchiest hat.

I got to see Bean over the last weekend. Oh, he is so sweet. He is almost 7 months old now, and starting to get mobile. He's crawling; getting faster every day. Now he's started pulling himself up on furniture and anything else he can grab.

Bibs for Bean

I'm knitting again! It felt so wrong when I couldn't knit Continental that I didn't even finish a dishcloth. I saw the surgeon Sept 4th, and he said I could ditch the brace.

I've been knitting as usual since then, but slowly. My fingers get tired and I drop the left hand needle when it's empty, but that happens less and less. I knit 2 bibs for Bean; they are about 7" square. He's eating cereal and spitting out all the veggies Diametrag gives him. He cries when he sees something green on the spoon.

I'm also knitting for the babies again! I finished this hat, which I had cast on Before The Break. It's slow going; I'm not able to knit for hours as I did before. I persevere, and see slow improvement. Not knitting socks yet, and I would love to knit myself some slippers with double strands of worsted acrylic. We were camping and it would have been nice to take off my shoes and leave the sand outside.

The bibs are kitchen cotton, knit loosely on #9 needles. When Bean grows out of them, Diametrag can unravel the strap, bind off those 6 stitches, and have a sturdy washcloth to clean Bean's face, fingers and highchair when he's all done eating.

Baby Bibs and Sleep Sack

We visited Diametrag this weekend, and I finished the sleep sack and made 2 bibs from worsted weight kitchen cotton.

The square bib is Simple Baby Bib, a pattern from the Knitlist. Of course, I couldn't do the same thing twice, so I made another bib with a double decrease in the center. It makes an attractive v-shape that also makes a neckline at the top. It looks a bit narrow and I would cast on more stitches next time.

I used 2 50 gr. skeins of cotton sock yarn for the sleep sack, and it's barely big enough for a newborn. If I were to do it again, I would buy 3 balls and make it longer. I have enough knitting, sewing and lace projects lined up, so I won't start another sleep sack.

Here's the details on the bib I knitted: Kitchen Cotton, worsted weight, #6 needles.
Cast on 31 sts. Knit 4 rows.
Row 1. K 2, inc (k front and back next st), k 11, slip 1, k 2 tog, psso, k 11, inc (k front and back of the next st), k 2.
Row 2. k3, *p* k3.
Repeat Rows 1 & 2 until desired length (5 - 6" for 3 mos.)
Knit 2 rows plain, bind off all but 5 stiches, follow the directions for the strap with buttonholes in the Simple Baby Bib.