Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Boing! Thump!

Did you hear that? That was me jumping on the bandwagon. What prompted this fit of unoriginality in me? Well my friend M and his wife H surprised me by having a baby. Now I say “surprised” in the most tongue-in-cheek way. M and H have produced kids like clockwork: every two years in June or July a new addition to their family. The first four kids are a girl, a boy, a girl, and a boy. Last fall, I was talking to M on the phone (they live in Austin) and I jokingly asked if H was pregnant. He said yes. Then I teased that baby #5 would most certainly be a girl. (M and H never find out the gender of their children in utero.)

Well, M and H had baby #5, a girl, in mid-July. From their track record, I knew that this would happen even before H got pregnant—it wasn’t a surprise at all. But for some reason, I chose to ignore the impending arrival. When I heard the news about the new baby, I realized that I needed to knit something. Fast.

So for M and H’s newest bundle of joy, a February Baby Sweater and a Vine Lace Baby Hat.

NinaPresent

Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles (actually, I used only one circular) by Elizabeth Zimmermann and Vine Lace Baby Hat by Sandi Wiseheart
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK, color 520, 3 balls
Needles: 3.75 mm (US 5) for the sweater and 3.5 mm (US 4) DPNs for the hat

Comments:
In complete lemming form, I paired the hat with this sweater after seeing it on Guro’s blog. It just reinforces the fact that I could not think for myself on this project.

SlipStitchEdge.JPGThe sweater pattern is not difficult. It should have been knit in a few hours with no problems. However, this is me. I made an easy sweater hard:

* After knitting four or five rows, I decided that the front edges would looks so much better if I used a slip-stitch selvedge. So I ripped and started over.

* After knitting a few rows past the first increase row, I decided that the increases looked better on the wrong side of the work. So I ripped back to two rows before the increase row and increased on a wrong-side row instead of a right-side row.

Increases.JPG* Apparently, my mind decided to take a vacation when I started the second sleeve. The sleeves start by casting on 7 stitches on each side of each sleeve. I managed to do this properly on the first sleeve. But I cast on stitches only on one side on the second sleeve. That’s right: I followed the directions correctly THREE TIMES and then screwed up on the fourth time. Rip, rip, rip.

But all in all, I’m happy with the project. Despite all my foibles, I still managed to finish the two items in three days. Cute, fast, and PINK! Thanks for having a girl, M and H!

15 comments:

Lauren said...

Oh that turned out really cute!

Thanks for the link to the kitty walk stuff. I'd see the strollers, but not the little play pens. I fear that if I got them those then they'd actually start wanting to go outside and dart out the door on us. Right now they are just mildly curious.

Elizabeth said...

Adorable set! Wow, 5 kids! How do they do it?

Meghann said...

So cute! I think I have a lemming moment coming over me!

amylovie said...

They are beautiful Laura.

Amy

Anonymous said...

Always nice to start the pink wardrobe early!! The cap is so incredibly cute!!

Meredith said...

No need to think for yourself when the finished product is so cute! Sometimes you have to go with the tried and true. :)

Anonymous said...

That is absolutely adorable. Good job.

GURO said...

;-)

(Oh, and I have lemming moments all the time, I just rarely tell anyone about them)

Anonymous said...

So cute. Aren't baby girls the best to knit for?

Kyle William said...

gorgeous knitting - what a lucky baby - to have fun siblings to play with, and a wonderful "auntie" to make such a beautiful set for her! :) - I guess if it were a boy, you could have dyed the piece and changed the buttons... maybe cammo dyeing would have worked? (or maybe not!) - I guess it's good that it wsa a girl!

Jennifer said...

What a sweet set! Congratulations go out to them.

5 kids though. What brave, brave people.

Sarah said...

Totally cute!

Funny about H&M's kiddos too, boy, girl, june, july....

Anonymous said...

too cute!!

Amanda said...

Very cute! I'm a little partial to baby girl knits right now, so I give it a two thumbs up!

Anonymous said...

Oh good, now I don't have to do any thinking for myself and can just copy the sweater-hat pairing from your blog. Also I will copy your slipped-stitch edges. Please do not be offended if I don't copy your ripping (if I can help it).