Thursday, May 29, 2008

I've Been Knitting

I have been knitting up a storm lately. Of course it's a wee baby sized storm which made it quite easy to weather. Traci's due to become a mom is less than a month, and since I'm a fantastic knitter now I figured I'd better make with the hand made gifts.

The first project that I under took was Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. It's funny because it's such a simple pattern, but I couldn't have done it without the help of the notes I found here. The reason that it's called a surprise is because it starts off looking like this...
then you magically transform it into this!
This is actually a picture from before I seamed it up. But take my word for it, I did a good job. The jacket is sewn together (across the tops of the arms) and I added crochet around the neck. The only thing it lacks are buttons, because I don't have any buttons... It's possible you will see another photo of this once I procure and add said buttons, so lets move along.

I finished that baby hat that I was talking about. Even after knitting it a third time I still love the pattern. It has a nice rib to help it snug up to the head, and then these cute little ridges of purl rows then you leave holes so that a little braid can cinch it up at the top into this cute little poof.I apologize for the ugly baby doll in this and the sock pictures to follow, but I haven't got a baby of my own and I would feel weird asking a friend if I could borrow theirs for a bit so that I could post better knitting pictures on my blog.

I've knit one and a half pairs of socks for Lily so far. I'm working on sock #2 of the second pair. The first sock is a variation on Cookie A's Monkey socks. The pattern mod is called Baby Monkey by Nikkiana. The second sock is High Energy Baby Socks by Jodi Green. They're plain stockinette for the most part, but the CUTE picot edge at the top of the cuff makes the sock. I like to think that my color choice screams high energy.I find it fascinating that although both of these socks were knit on the same needles with the same yarn, and only a 2 stitch difference in width, they came out much different sizes. The monkey pattern really pulls the fabric in a lot, while the plain stockinette spreads out a little more. See what I mean? The high energy is knit a bit longer, but I didn't think they'd come out quite that different in size. Hopefully Lily will fit into one of them.I'm going to need to start working on the gift idea I have for my step-mom next. I know what Bree's getting for her birthday (and so does she) so that's no biggy. My step-mom is harder though. I have an idea, but it's crochet so as soon as I finish the baby socks I'm going to need to get cracking on it, since I still don't really know how to crochet. The deadline is June 13th, since that's when we go to Dallas next celebrate this pair of birthdays.

2 comments:

Jane said...

I remember my mum frantically knitting before my first was born. She was doing a shawl, and couldn't get the last corner right, she had redo it about 3 times. Not surprising as I was in labour at the time!!

Hope all goes well

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