Knitting Through the Year - February

If there is one fact on which all grandmothers agree, it is that no daughter-in-law knows how to wash wool. This may be true, but it is no reason for the grandmas to stop knitting. Do they expect their handmade offerings to be carefully preserved in layers of tissue paper and never worn? They have perhaps forgotten how often baby things have to be washed. The baby surely doesn't mind if they do become a little shrunken and yellowed. Let the grandmas keep up the supply of soft woolies and avert their mind's eye from the ultimate fate of their knitting - at least it is being used. ~ Knitter's Almanac, by Elizabeth Zimmermann

Knitting for babies is delightful even when you don't have a baby to knit for, which I currently don't. When I find a pattern I like I just knit away and stash it for future use. I generally try to knit at least a 12 month size, if not larger, which insures that my sweater will probably be worn more than once.

In true EZ fashion, I set aside her very good instructions and attempted to make the arms and chest at the same time, with extra stitches to make into steeks later on. (Steeks are where you take scissors to your knitting, cut it into pieces and then sew it back up again. It's crazytown, but a very useful technique.)

My reasons were very good. The yarn I was using (Crazy Yarn left over from the kids' Baby Surprise Sweaters) has uneven stripes, and it would be very difficult to make the stripes the same on the sleeves and the body because there are different numbers of stitches in each.

I used the crochet method of securing the steek edges, which was very easy if you are already familiar with crochet. You can also use a sewing machine if you prefer.

I think that somewhere in the process I misplaced some stitches or ignored something crucial because the sleeves are a lot skinnier than I was intending. Knitting stretches, which is good, but this might be recast as a full length infant sweater instead of a waist-length toddler sweater.

Ah well, I'll be more careful next time.

A Bundle of Baby Things

One of my dear friends just had a baby, and of course he needed some woolies.

Let us pause for a moment to revel in the wonderfulness of babies in general and knitting for babies in general. The startling smallness of the little humans. The tiny little sweaters and hats. So many soft lovely things. Squee!

And this baby in particular is so adorable, just a little morsel of cuteness. But in the interest of privacy and good decisions, he won't be making his internet debut just yet, so it's just pictures of knitting today.

So much knitting!

I'm really happy with this layette. My friend has wonderful taste and is always dressed beautifully and fashionably. Which makes her a little intimidating to knit for, because my idea of high fashion is putting a necklace on with my t-shirt and jeans. But we cruised around the internet together and came up with a lineup that was simple and classic and also a touch sophisticated. Just a touch, because my friend and I decided that babies do not lend themselves to sophistication. Babies are about round and cuddly and not about standing tall and being sleek and elegant. But we tried, and I like it.

So here's what I did.

Title: a complete knock-off of this hat. It's a free pattern, so I don't know why I copied it instead of just following the pattern. 

Design: a garter stitch hat knit vertically, with a paper-bag top, gathered with a twisted rope of yarn, size small

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash, in 1910 Summer Sky Heather (I think? I can't find any of my labels.)

Finished: October 2015

Title: a total knock-off of this hat. Again, no idea why I copied a pattern that was available for free. So much unnecessary effort.

Design: a toboggon-style hat with a garter stitch brim and ear-muffs. The body of the hat is ribs of stockinette with garter stitch in between, topped with a pom-pom. Size large (for a baby)

Materials: Berocco Vintage, in Dove

Finished: October 2015

A hat with a pom-pom on top is ideal for a baby that still is going to spend a lot of time lying on his back or in a car seat. And ear-muffs are both adorable and practical on a baby. 

Title: First Outing (designed by me!)

Design: a stockinette vest with garter stitch trim and buttons on the side and straps, size Newborn

Materials: Berocco Vintage, in Dove

Finished: October 2015

Title: baby pants in the method of Elizabeth Zimmermann

Design: stockinette pants with ribbed cuffs and waistband, gathered with an i-cord tie, size 0-3 months

Materials: Berocco Vintage, in Dove

Finished: October 2015

Title: On the Go-veralls, by Heidi Lehman

Design: stockinette overalls with garter stitch trim and buttoned straps, size 0-6

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash, in 1926 Doeskin Heather

Finished: October 2015

This was a really fun knit, and I love the idea of knitted overalls. However if I make them for a older child in the future, I'll use a chunky wool instead of the worsted that the pattern calls for. The fabric that the worsted yarn makes is a little thin for something that a child would be crawling around in on their hands and knees. Also, the pattern calls for 200 yards for the smallest size, but it used all but a smidge of my 220 yards of Cascade 220.

Title: Pull Gaspard, by Christine Rouville

Design: a stockinette pullover with garter stitch cuffs, sailor collar and kangaroo pocket, size 0-6 months

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash, in 1910 Summer Sky Heather

Finished: October 2015

I very rarely buy patterns because there are so many great free patterns on the internet, but I bought this one and I'm very glad I did. It's such a clever, stylish design, and it would not have been easy to reverse-engineer from the pictures. 

I finished off the layette with a wee little gnome. I'm slightly obsessed with gnomes, peg dolls and other simple dolls with blank faces. I think they lend themselves to imaginative play very well and they're so iconic. 

Title: garter stitch gnome. I used a pattern once but now it's just in my head and I have no idea whose pattern it was

Design: stuffed gnome with garter stitch body and stockinette face and hat, 6" tall 

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash in 1910 Summer Sky, white cotton

Finished: October 2015

Ta-da! I hope you enjoy your woolies, little one; it's starting to get cold! 

While I was taking these pictures, Munchkin wanted me to take a picture of him digging ... 

Munchkin's favorite outdoor play right now is digging in his dirt hole.

And then Twinkle had to get in on the action, too ... 

That smile! The dimples!

Cutting Up Your Knitting

A few weeks ago, I was knitting what I thought was a tiny pair of pants. I was using the wonderful Elizabeth Zimmermann's pattern/method, which more or less starts by saying "Cast on enough stitches and start knitting." This is not as crazy as it sounds, because if you knit a swatch, and measure how many stitches per inch you are running (This varies depending on how tightly you knit, and the size of your yarn and needles.), and if you know how many inches wide you want your knitting to be, then you just multiply stitches times inches and that's how many you cast on. Accuracy is key.

Unfortunately accuracy is not always my strong point. (Clearly.)

I wanted these pants to be 0-3 months size, and the more I knit, the more that seemed unlikely. They were looking much more like 6-9 months or even 12 months. By the time I realized this, I had knit enough that I really really didn't want to rip it out and start over.

So I made a steek.

A steek is a crazy crazy thing where you cut your knitting and somehow everything works out. It's a technique most commonly used in two-color Norwegian sweaters to make cardigans and armholes and it can be re-purposed to make a piece knitting smaller.

The first thing that you do is sew a line of machine stitching just inside where you are going to put your seam in the knitting to make it smaller. I used very small stitches and went over it twice.

Can you see the lines? Unfortunately I used tan thread on gray knitting, which was a poor choice from a blogging standpoint.

You can see it slightly better on the wrong side.

Then you cut (yes, cut, as in, with scissors) in between the lines you've sewn, and then you sew the edges together with a darning needle and a piece of yarn, using mattress stitch.

Look how you can't see the seam at all! 

If I was knitting these pants for an older child who was going to wear them for a long time and who would be walking and crawling around in them, I would have knit a little rectangle and sewn it on to cover the raw edges. But these are for a baby and probably the most athletic thing he'll be doing in them is trying to touch his toes. I'm confident this seam will hold up well and that the machine stitches will keep the edges from fraying further. It's nice and soft for his little skin and doesn't add bulk the way covering the seam would.

Here's a little sneak peek of what they'll look like. More pictures coming soon! 

First Outing

This is a simple vest for a newborn baby. I designed it for a very young friend of mine. A great beginner project, strategically placed garter stitch gives the appearance of curves without the difficulty of curves. With buttons on the side and straps, it will be easy to put on. Based on the weather in October (in the American South), it should be an ideal layer over a little shirt and pants for his first outing.

First Outing

Materials:

Worsted weight yarn (less than 110 yards)

Size US 8 knitting needles

5 half-inch buttons

Darning needle and scissors

Needle and thread

Size: Newborn

Cast on 70 stitches.

Slip all first stitches. A slipped stitch counts as a knit stitch. 

Knit back and forth in garter stitch for 8 rows.

Row 9: K 5, P 60, K 5.

Row 10: K 2, YO, K2tog, K to end of row.

Row 11: K 5, P 60, K 5.

Row 12: K to end of row.

Repeat rows 11 and 12 four times.

Row 21: K 5, P 60, K 5.

Row 22: K 2, YO, K2tog, K to end of row.

Repeat rows 11 and 12 four times.

Row 31: K 9, P 18, K 15, P 18, K 10

Row 32: K to end of row.

Row 33: K 10, P 16, K 17, P 16, K 11

Row 34: K 2, YO, K2tog, K to end of row.

Row 35: K 11, P 14, K 19, P 14, K 12

Row 36: K to end of row.

Row 37: Bind off 7, K 5, P 12, K 5, bind off 12, K 5, P 12, K 5, bind off 7, break yarn and pull through.

                Begin knitting on left set of live stitches.

Row 1b: K to end of row.

Row 2b: K 5, P 12, K 5.

                Repeat rows 1b and 2b once.

Knit back and forth in garter stitch for 4 rows.

Row 9b: K 3, YO, K2tog, K 12, ssk, YO, K 3.

Knit back and forth in garter stitch for 2 rows.

Row 12b: Bind off all stitches, break yarn and pull through.

                Begin knitting on the right set of stitches.

Row 1c: K to end of row.

Row 2c: K 5, P 12, K 5.

                Repeat rows 1c and 2c twice.

Knit back and forth in garter stitch for 8 rows.

Row 15c: K 11

Row 16c: K2tog, K 9

Row 17c: K 10

Row 18c: K2tog, K 8

Row 19c: K 9

Row 20c: K2tog, K 7

Row 21c: K 8

Row 22c: K2tog, K6

Knit back in forth in garter stitch for 31 rows.

Bind off all stitches, break yarn and pull through.

Repeat for other strap, reversing the shaping so that the straps come down to a V in the middle. Weave in all ends. Block lightly. Sew on buttons. 

Where's Buttercup?

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... 

My sister-in-law, my sister and myself were in the same carpool. We spent HOURS in the car together every week, shuttling between ballet lessons, art lessons, swimming lessons. When you have that much time hanging on your hands, you tend to turn to odd things for amusement. In between singing endless rounds of "His Cheeseburger," my sister and sister-in-law had a little performance piece they liked to tease me with. If it had a name (which it probably didn't), it would have been called "Where's Buttercup?"

At this time, one of my favorite movies was The Princess Bride. I adored it. Everything about it, and when I read the book I was crushed to find that it was written as a satire, and not the sweeping romance I believed it to be. My sister and sister-in-law, being less romantic or possessing better senses of humor (both equally possible, in that period of teenagerhood), immediately seized on the more satirical aspects. From the the (I thought) thrilling scene where Wesley wakes from being mostly dead and immediately his thoughts go to his lady love, they developed a little comedy routine wherein one of them would pretend to snore odiously and then suddenly pop awake with an Igor-like tilt of the head and demand to know "Where's Buttercup???" The other would laugh uproariously, and I (depending on the mood of the moment) would either roll my eyes or seethe inwardly at the outrage of such a desecration.

Fifteen years later, when I was knitting a very yellow little sleeper for my sister-in-law's first baby, I realized that there could be no other name for the pattern I was designing other than ....


Where's Buttercup? 

Note: When I designed this, I originally meant for it to be long enough to completely cover the feet and pull the drawstring closed. Unfortunately, not having a newborn handy at the time for reference purposes, I made it too short. I have corrected this in the pattern, but the pictures shown are of my own too-short version. Expect yours to be considerably longer.

Note #2: Due to fire hazards, I do not recommend using acrylic yarn for this project.

Size: 0-3 months

Materials: 

440 yards worsted weight yarn

Size 8 circular needles

Size 8 DPNs

Waste yarn or stitch markers 

Darning needle for weaving in ends

5 5/8" buttons 

Needle and thread

Neck

Cast on 52

Row 1: K5, (P2, K2) 10x, P2, K5, turn.

Row 2: Slipping this and all first stitches K5, (K2, P2) 10x, K2, K5, turn.

Row 3: Repeat row 1

Row 4: Repeat row 2

Row 5: K5, (P2, K2) 10x, P2, K1, K2tog, YO, K2, turn

Row 6: Repeat row 2

Row 7: Repeat row 1

Raglan Shaping

Row 8: K5, P6, pm, P1, pm, P5, pm, P1, pm, P17, pm, P1, pm, P5, pm, P1, pm P5, K5

Row 9: (K to marker, M1, pass marker, K1, pass marker, M1) 4x, k to end of the row, turn.

Row 10 passing markers as you go, K5, P to 5 st before end, K5, turn.

Rows 11-24: repeat rows 9 and 10

Row 25: (K to marker, M1, pass marker, K1, pass marker, M1) 4x, k to 4 st before end of row, K2tog, YO, K2.

Row 26: passing markers as you go, K5, P to 5 st before end, K5, turn.

Rows 27-32: repeat rows 9 and 10

Body

Row 33: (K to marker, transfer next 30 st onto scrap yarn, flip work over and using knitted on cast on, cast on 3 st. Flip work back over, remove marker) 2x, K to end. Total st on needles: 92.

Row 34: K to end, turn.

Row 35: K5, P to 5 st before end of row, K5.

Rows 37-44: repeat rows 34 and 35.

Row 45: K to 4 st before end of row, K2tog, YO, K2.

Row 46: K5, P to 5 st before end of row, K5.

Rows 47-64: repeat rows 34 and 35.

Row 65: K to 4 st before end of row, K2tog, YO, K2.

Row 66: K5, P to 5 st before end of row, K5.

Rows 67-84: repeat rows 34 and 35

Row 85: K to 4 st before end of row, K2tog, YO, K2.

Row 86: K5, P to 5 st before end of row, K5.

Row 87-94: repeat rows 34 and 35.

Row 95: K to 5 st before end, slip onto DPN. Knit together 1^st st from DPN and last st from beginning of the row. Knit together 2^nd st from DPN and next-to-last st from beginning of the row. Knit together 3^rd st from DPN and 3^rd from the last st from beginning of row. Knit together 4^th st from DPN and 4^th from the last st from beginning of row. Knit together 5^th st from DPN and 5^th from last st from beginning of row. From now on knitting will be in the round.

Rounds 96-142: K to end of round.

Round 143: K2tog, K1, (P3, K2) 8x, P3, K2tog, K1, (P3, K2) 8x, P3.

Rounds 144-145: (K2, P3) to end of round.

Round 146: K1, (SSK, YO, P1, YO, K2tog) to end of round.

Rounds 147-149: (K2, P3) to end of round.

Cast off in pattern. Finish off.

Sleeves

Transfer sleeve st from scrap yarn onto 3 DPNs. Using 3^rd DPN (the one to the right of the  underarm), join yarn and pick up and knit 2 st (1 to the right of the underarm CO st, then 1 of the underarm CO st) pm, pick up and knit 2 st (the other underarm CO st and then 1 st to the left of the underarm CO st). Total st: 34

Using 4^th DPN, join for working in the round and work in stockinette for 30 rounds.

Knit another round, decreasing 2 st. Total st: 32.

(K2, P2) for 8 rounds.

Cast off in pattern. Finish off.

Finishing

Cast on 3 st. K 20” of i-cord. Finish off.

Weave in ends.

Block gently, if desired. 

Weave i-cord through holes in bottom ribbing, going under K st and over P st.

Sew on buttons. 

The Layette

Hooray! I have a new niece!

This is fantastic news. She is an adorable bundle of cute, she has initiated my sister- and brother-in-law into the wonderful world of parenthood, she has given Munchkin and Twinkle the thrill of having a cousin younger than them, and with her arrival, and that of a certain pink package on her doorstep, I can finally (finally!) blog about her layette.

'Stache did not know what a layette was until I told him, so just in case, here's the definition, courtesy of dictionary.com:

ley-et 
noun
1. a complete set of articles, including clothing, bedclothes, and other accessories for a newborn baby.

While not "complete" and not including "bedclothes," I do think it is a rather nice little collection.

I had the best time knitting this little basket of woolies. My sister-in-law wanted them to be able to passed down to any future younger siblings, regardless of sex, so I got a few neutrals and one pop of color and basically just went to town. Cute little hats and booties, sweaters that don't take an eon to finish - it's pretty much the knitter's dream. One "finishing high" after another. Best of all, this particular little niece lives where it is very very cold in the winter time, so there's really no such thing as too much wool.

Let's have the grand run-down, shall we? Clockwise from the top left:

Title: Zenith by Parna Mehrbani

Design: Stockinette elf hat

Materials: less than a skein of Cascade 220 Superwash worsted in 862 walnut heather, with a touch of 821 daffodil

Finished: erm no idea. Sometime between after I recovered from Christmas and before I recovered from the last play. I think I'll just put September 2014 on all of them. 

I followed the pattern except for substituting 1x1 rib for the first 6 rows and changing the color at the tip. I love elf hats on babies. The yarn, Cascade 220 Superwash, is now my official Bestest Favorite. Superwash means that it can be machine washed, which is a huge plus for knitwear intended for small, messy humans, and Cascade 220 is just an all-round awesome basic sweater yarn. 

If you're reading this, 'Stache? Easy Christmas gift. Cascade 220 Superwash worsted, some nice gender-neutral color, gobs of it. Gobs. No pressure. 

Title: Baby Buffet Snowsuit (with bear ears! squee!)

Design: Baby Sweater Buffet with the Snowsuit Suppliment by Allyson Dykhuizen. Her website is called The Sweatshop of Love, which is a blog title I adore and deeply wish I'd thought of.

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash worsted in 816 gray, 9 buttons

Finished: September 2014

As you can see, I had some help photographing the snowsuit.

And when I say help ... 

I don't really mean that he was helpful. 

Title: Bumblebee Hat

Design: adapted from Simple Baby Hat 2 from Itty-Bitty Hats

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash worsted, 816 gray and 821 daffodil

Finished: September 2014

Itty-Bitty Hats is my go-to book for baby hats. It has some really adorable designs, but my favorite thing is that it also gives simple hat patterns for a variety of yarn weights, in several different sizes. It's invaluable for when you want to knit your own design but you don't have the baby in question's head to measure.

I used Simple Baby Hat 2, which is the worsted weight pattern, with 1x1 ribbing at the edge, and jogless 3-row stripes. Normally when you're knitting stripes in the round, there's a jog at the beginning of the round. But if you use this method with the diagonal seam, you get perfect stripes. I ended the hat with about 1 1/2" of i-cord, which I then tied in a knot.

Title: Um?

Design: I can't find the pattern I used. I'm pretty sure I at least started with a pattern, but it's a fairly basic top-down raglan garter stitch vest. I might have faked it as I went.

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash worsted in 862 walnut heather, 2 buttons

Finished: September 2014

Title: Baby Chick Hat

Design: Mine!

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash worsted, 821 daffodil

Finished: September 2014

Here's the pattern for my wee Baby Chick Hat. It's meant for 0-3 months.

Cast on 81 stitches join to knit in the round. Seed stitch (knit 1, purl 1) for 9 rounds. Knit 4" in stockinette. (Knit 7, k2tog), repeat to the end of the round. (Knit 6, k2tog), repeat to the end of the round. (Knit 5, k2tog), repeat to the end of the round. (Knit 4, k2tog), repeat to the end of the round. (Knit 3, k2tog), repeat to the end of the round. (Knit 2, k2tog), repeat to the end of the round. (Knit 1, k2tog), repeat to the end of the round. K2tog 9 times. Pull the end of the yarn through the loops, fasten off and weave in the ends. Block gently if desired. 

Title: Cabled Tam

Design: Mine!

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash worsted in 816 gray and (maybe) 1946 silver gray

Finished: September 2014

Here is my pattern, but this is reverse-engineered and thus more than a little shaky. It is newborn-ish size.

Cast on 20 stitches. P1, K2, P2, knit a cable pattern, ending the row with a single purl stitch. Continue for approximately 10". Cast off using a 3-needle bind off, seaming the cast on edge at the same time. On the edge that began P1, K2, P2, knit an attached i-cord to the P1. Do this around the edge of the hat and sew end of i-cord to beginning of i-cord. Fasten off. On the other side, pick up 1 stitch for each row. Using new color, knit stockinette for 17 rounds. Decrease at 4 places, evenly spaced. Decrease every round. Switch color back to first for the final 2 rounds. Break off yarn and pull through 8 stitches. Fasten off and weave in ends. 

Title: Baby Boy 5-Hour Sweater by Gail Bable

Design: Stockinette cardigan with round yoke and garter stitch accents

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash worsted, 862 walnut heather

Finished: September 2014

This is only labeled a baby boy sweater because the baby girl version has eyelets around the yoke. Speaking of boy vs. girl, I always put the buttons and buttonholes on the "girl" sides of the sweater. This is because buttons on the "boy" side are positioned for the ease of the person wearing the sweater, because we all know that a gentlemen dresses himself and then has his valet do up his cuff links. Buttons on the "girl" side are positioned for the ease of the person putting the clothes on the person wearing the sweater, because we all know that a lady has a maid to dress her. 

Also ,even I, who believes herself to be a pretty snappy knitter, could not knit this sweater in 5 hours. However, it was still a very quick knit. I think I finished it in about a day of knitting. Presumably I was still eating, sleeping and taking care of the boys during that 24 hours, so maybe ... 8 hours of knitting? 9?  

Title: Baby's Booties (knit) by Bernat Design Studio

Design: Baby booties knit back-and-forth in garter and stockinette

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash worsted in 821 daffodil

Finished: September 2014

This pattern appears to be the gold standard of baby booty knitting. They're really easy and quick to make, because the clever construction lets you knit back and forth instead of in very tiny rounds. 

As you can see, Twinkle was not particularly enthused about me pinning these booties to the line. He very much wanted to wear them himself, which he might have been able to, since they are on the big side, and knitting is stretchy. I was cold-hearted, however, and refused. (Also, I took these pictures in September. It was plenty warm then for him to be in a sleeveless shirt and barefoot.)

Title: Just Right

Design: Mine! 

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash worsted in 862 walnut heather

Finished: September 2014

This is my all-time favorite baby hat, and the pattern deserves its own post. I'm sure I'll get to that one of these days. 

Title: I am not entirely sure but they might be these with 1x1 ribbing cuffs

Design: baby booties knit back-and-forth with garter stitch, stockinette, and 1x1 ribbing

Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash worsted, in 816 gray

Finished: September 2014

Title: Where's Buttercup?

Design: Mine! 

Materials: approx 440 yards of Cascade 220 Superwash worsted in 816 daffodil

Finished: September

I'm going to share this pattern on the blog sometime but it's WAY too long to add to this already very lengthy post, so you'll just have to wait. It'll be good for your sanctification.

I was going to do one of these artsy photography things where you fold one sleeve over to make it a more interesting shape and show more detail, but every time I did that, Munchkin would "help" me by folding over the other sleeve to match.  

Every. Single. Time.

So eventually I let him. He looked up at me with his big brown eyes, so confident that he was being a huge help, making my sweater all symmetrical. What can I say? I melted.

Happy (late) birthday, little niece. I hope you enjoy your layette.