Baby Cardigan & Trousers

I made this little outfit for a friend of mine who recently had a bubba (well, obviously, would be weird if she didn't have one or wasn't even expecting!).  She'd seen some pics on FB of some other knitting and crochet items and asked if I could make an outfit for her little boy.

I set about researching outfits on the best site ever, Ravelry!  I tried out a few search terms before realising it was better looking for a cardigan and bottoms separately and picking ones that matched.  By coincidence, the two I settled on were both by Drops!  I picked the cardigan as I wanted to practice my colourwork - I've only ever done swatches of fairisle before so thought I'd try my hand at an actual item.  As for the trousers, they were the simplest looking ones that I liked, and I especially adored the ribbing detail on the side of the legs.

The yarn I decided on Rico Design Baby Cotton Soft DK, a cotton/acrylic mix.  I chose this for two reasons: 1. the material mix and 2. because it had the colours that I wanted to use!  It is a gorgeously soft yarn, however it probably wasn't the best choice for this project.  Hard to describe, but it didn't leave a nice fluffy texture like I wanted it to.  But still, it had a lovely sheen and was wonderful to work with.  It would be perfect for any summer clothing as it's quite light, would definitely use it again for a better suited project.

It started of pretty well...

The first mistake was not keeping track of the button holes!! These were worked in at the same time as going up the body - if you look closely the gap between the second and third button is huge!  It took me AGES to figure out this was a bottom up pattern as I'm such an idiot!  Then the panic set in, how on EARTH was I going to do the sleeves.  I decided to read the pattern more carefully - knit them separately and then attach them.  Knit, separately, attach.  Oh.

The sleeves themselves went pretty well.  I used the wrong increase though, but after consulting my lovely Instagram followers, they all loved the symmetry and extra detail so I decided to stick to using the K1fb increase :)

It took about 3-4 attempts to get the sleeves onto the body.  I googled it and asked for advice from one of my Instagram ladies who was also doing a bottom up - but all of the advice was for attaching to knit row, I had to attach to a purl row :/  The first couple times, no matter how much I tried to plan, I always attached them upside down!  I eventually got it right however, phew!

Then came the fairisle! I have to say, it was a lot easier than attaching the sleeves to the body, in fact it was pretty fun!

Then the bottoms - I was looking forward to making these, only because I never thought I'd ever make knitted bottoms.  These were pretty straightforward and actually uneventful!

I had a great time with this project and I loved making these!  I got to practice fairisle knitting and make little knitted trousers! :)  I'd definitely put these patterns in the 'to make again' pile!

Pattern links:
Cardigan - http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=4564&lang=us
Trousers/Pants - http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=4906&lang=us

Yarn Details:  Rico Design Baby Cotton Soft DK
Cardigan - Light Blue (Main Colour), Jeans, Beige, Silver.
Trousers/Pants - Jeans.

Baby Hat & Booties

It's been AGES since I last posted!  Life's been a bit crazy since my boy moved back to the UK.  For those of you who don't know, he's been living in LA since 2010 so it' crazy exciting that he's back!! It's just all starting to settle down now which means I have more time for crafting...woohoo!

To no surprise, another one of my friends had a baby last month and I went to see them on Monday.  I didn't have time to go shopping, so I had to frantically buy some yarn online hoping it would be supersoft and thankfully it was!  I ended up choosing Red Heart Soft Baby Steps which is 100% acrylic and aran weight. It is really soft and has a lovely sheen to it.

I searched for patterns on Ravelry for booties and a hat using aran/worsted weight yarn.  I decided on the Basic Beanie by Busy Mom Designs.  It looked like it needed a little something so I made a flower for it that I found through another pattern (click here for pattern).  It was super easy to make; I decided to use a 6mm/G hook so it crocheted up a little smaller with tighter stitches.

Next...the booties!  Having made the flower for the hat, I knew I had to put some on the booties too so they were all cute and matching!  The pattern I used for the booties were Cute Baby Boots Crochet Pattern by Teri Crews.  The flower I made up with a pretty simple design:

ch5, join with slip stitch.
*sc, ch1, 3dc, ch1, sc* in each stitch.

That's it!  I was really pleased with how these turned out.  I haven't made anything for a 0-3 month baby in such a long time that I forgot how teeny tiny they were!

Pink Baby Cardigan!

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine commissioned me to make her BFF a baby cardigan who is expecting her little bundle of joy in October.  The only pre-requisite is that it had to be some shade of pink!

I've never been given such artistic freedom for a commissioned project and so I emailed my friend like a fiend of cardigan pics and yarn types.  We soon decided on the 'Baby Sophisticate' pattern that I found on Ravelry for free, and to use Rowan's All Seasons Cotton in Cosmos.

The actual knitting went along quite nicely, because the yarn is aran weight, I managed to do the body in one weekend!  I've been using 4 ply a lot recently so I forgot how big a piece gets so quickly with aran!  Plus it was nice to hold some chunky needles and yarn.

The one bit I had trouble with was picking up on the right side, I kept getting this weird flat bit and frogged it about 2 times but with no improvement, other than that I'm pretty pleased with the result - so was the yummy mummy that I made this for :)

Another Baby Cardigan!

Guess I'm at that age where mostly everyone I know is either getting married or having babies. Some friends of mine are expecting a little bundle of joy in October and had a baby shower last weekend - so I did what I do best and made the little bubba something from yarn!

I was talking to another friend (the mum of the little girl I made the last cardigan for) and she said a baby cardigan for them would be perfect especially as it'll be a winter baby.

I decided that I wanted to knit a seed (moss) stitch cardigan with ribbed edges and a hood.  So, you know, not really that specific at all.  I spent quite a few hours looking for patterns all over the place but to no avail.  But alas, whilst browsing Ravelry I came across a raglan baby cardigan in seed stitch, ribbed edges and a hood.  I couldn't believe my luck! I purchased that pattern in a heartbeat!  

There I was, all excited that I was going to make this amazing cardigan and started reading through the pattern and saw...Circular needles...what?!...knitting in the round with double pointed needles (DPN's)...whaaatttt?!  I've only ever knitted on single points :/

I saw this as a challenge and I couldn't avoid these things forever, especially if I am to become the knitting extraordinaire that I want to be.  I went out a bought me some bamboo circulars and DPN's and got to work. Again, I used Rowan All-Seasons Cotton as it's easier to take care of especially where babies are concerned.  I cast on, then got into my head that I was knitting the body in the round with the circulars and got into a major panic.  How could I join 30 stitches across a 80cm circular?!  I decided to email the lovely lady who designed the pattern and she cleared things up for me instantly.  Eventually it would be 108 stitches long; the circular is used just to hold all the stitches and not to knit in the round.  Phew!

Then came the sleeves, DPN's and knitting in the round.  Whenever I've seen pictures of socks being knitted and seen all those DPN's, I'd get scared.  Plain scared.  It looked so complicated! Thank goodness for YouTube.  Is it bad that that it taught me how to knit in the round?!  Well, I am glad to say it was no where nearly as scary as it looks, and actually pretty enjoyed it!

Anyways, two weeks later, ta da! I finished the cardigan on the morning of the baby shower so I cut that one really fine!  The parents-to-be loved it.  I can't wait to see the little one wearing it when he/she is born :)

Baby Cardigan

So a while ago, my friend had asked me to make her gorgeous little daughter a little cardigan.  Other than a scarf and a snood, I'd never made a real item of clothing.  But seeing as my eventual aim is to make a penguin jumper, I accepted this new challenege!

One afternoon, me and my friend searched Ravelry for knitted baby cardigans.  Her only requirements were:
1. A very simple design (i.e. no fancy cable work or moss/seed stitch patterns)
2. Buttons that do up all the way down the front, not just at the top.
3. Greyish/Lilac colour.

I set to work on finding a pattern first as thought there was no point in finding the perfect yarn until I knew what yarn weight I needed!  Eventually I found a pattern through Ravelry on the Lion Brand Yarn site.   Now, their pattern requires their 'Pound of Yarn'.  It was a bit of a problem as a) LBY has no distribution in the UK and b) it's crazy expensive to get it shipped over.  Good thing is after some investigation I discovered it was of worsted/aran weight!

I wanted the yarn to be supersoft, but also breathable and hard-wearing, so ideally a cotton/acrylic mix.  I went to the first place I thought...John Lewis!  After a bit of a faff - I found my perfect yarn! It was the All Seasons Cotton by Rowan in Shade 253 (Fez).  Unsure of how many balls I'd need, I bought 8, just in case so they'd all be in the same dye lot too.  Now I say faff as the label on the yarn doesn't overtly say what weight it is and one lady in JL was convinced it wasn't as the needle requirements were 4.5-5.5mm which was what I needed anyway.  To be on the safe side, I came home to investigate and if you search yarns by weight on the Rowan site, All Seasons Cotton appears on the Aran weight.  In case anyone wants to know, I only needed 4 of the 50g balls for the 12 month pattern, which included the tails for the start/ends of a piece and sewing the seams.

I had so much fun making this, especially the pockets (cos I'm totally sad).  I need to get started on more baby clothes now...this has given me a bug for it!

Can't wait to see little J in this cardigan, she's going to look totally adorable :)