February Baby Sweater

February Baby Sweater
from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, color #829, one ball plus a smidge of another, approximately 300 yards or fewer altogether.
Needles: Addi Turbo US7/4.5mm
New technique: The Russian Join!

I really wanted to knit one of these for my own little peanut, but as she's quickly growing out of the little sizes and into bigger and bigger ones, and since Elizabeth Zimmerman doesn't include schematics with her pithy instructions, I decided to knit one for a tiny baby first. I think this one knit up at about a size 6 months. Now I know approximately how to size the sweater up if I were to knit it at this gauge again.

One modification I might like to try is a stockinette stitch, raglan increase yoke, a la Linda. Garter stitch has never been my thing, aesthetically, and I really like the cleaner look of the stockinette stitch yoke she made.

I really wasn't so sure that the Cascade 220 Superwash was the right yarn for the project. It didn't feel very soft and I didn't want to gift something that felt acrylic-y. So when the knitting was all done, I tossed this little lacy number into the washing machine with a load of towels. If the color bled, I'd rather it happened on my navy blue towels than on a load of Julia's pretty baby girl things. In the end, the sweater came out very, very soft and has a slight halo. I've completely changed my attitude toward 220 Superwash. I want to use it again, soon. As for colorfastness, there was one light blue towel in the load and it didn't seem to change color at all.

I also want to say mille grazie to Kristen and Amanda for answering questions about adding the underarm stitches.

For Baby Julia, born February 2007

Cross posted to the Zimmermaniacs.

edited to add:

Here is a picture of Miss Julia at about seven months in her FBS. Notice that I would have made the sleeves a bit longer if I had to do it all again; as EZ says, babies come in all sizes!

iHop

...onto the Wren bandwagon, that is...

My WEBS package arrived today. Yippee! This will be my spring break project. I ordered extra yarn, just in case, and want to knit up Wren soon so that a) I will actually be able to enjoy the sweater during the right part of the year and b) if there is any extra yarn, I can send it back.

Wild Bear in Captivity

This one's for Meredith... she sent this sweet hat to Baby A long ago and I wanted to let her see how stinking cute it is on our scary little bear.

Roar!

Tink, Tink, Wash, Spin

Friday:

You know at the very moment you think these thoughts: "Ooooh I love this lace stitch, it's so easy to follow without even looking at the directions anymore!" that you'll look proudly at your work and realize your stitch count went off on a lunch break a row or two back?

Tink, tink.

Enjoying EZ's February Baby Sweater, thankyouverymuch! It should be finished this weekend. Did I just jinx myself again?

Saturday:

FBS knitting is done (need buttons) and currently taking a bath with a load of towels. It's knit with Cascade 220 Superwash and I want to test the superwashyness of it before gifting it to my friend.

PS I heart Ladytron.

Koigu Love

Perfect example of me being stubborn and insisting on figuring it out all on my own when there are a kazillion sock patterns out there in the world. This simple pair of socks should have taken a couple of weeks to knit but NO, I had to do it my way, and use up literally every inch of my two skeins of Koigu while I was at it, and I'm actually quite proud of myself. They're perfect. The leg is just the right length. I don't understand why I kept reading that two skeins wouldn't be enough. That's a MYTH! Trust me, I don't have tiny feet. I wear size 40/9.5US.

Karma's Toe-Up Ribbed Socks:

The Cast On: 28 stitch Magic Cast On For Toe-Up Socks. This is a truly magical, and yet easy and logical, way to start a sock. I'm in love.

The Stitch Pattern: 2x2 Rib with a stockinette sole. Normally, that much ribbing would make me die of boredom. Thank goodness for Koigu's short bursts of color changes.

The Heel: Wendy's Short Row Heel (.pdf). This is the excruciatingly detailed version of her Generic Toe Up Sock pattern. Because the short rows are double wrapped, there are no holes!

The Bind-Off: EZ's Sewn Bind Off. The first time I heard about this bind off method, it sounded complicated, but really, it's simple, easy to do, stretchy and perfect. Of course it is, it's EZ's.

The Yarn: two skeins of purple Koigu goodness, P426

The Needles: two Addi Turbos, Size US1/2.5mm