Rogue – Really and Truly Finished
I know I said that Rogue was finished last May, but the sad truth is that it has taken me EIGHT MONTHS to work up the courage to put a zipper in her. What can I say? I had the Zipper Fear. But no more! She’s all done. The backstitching is a little wonky on one side (my handsewing was a bit rusty) and it probably zips a little higher than I’d like, but on the plus side I did a really good job of hiding the teeth when it’s zipped. I’m calling it a win. (For my fellow zipper virgins, this site was particularly useful – especially the tip about basting the edges together first.) Now I just need to steek the Cabled Jacket of Doom and put the zipper in her…
Tag: knitting
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Rogue – Really and Truly Finished
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Lara and her boys!
It’s getting crazy here, and it’s still 3 hours til the opera starts! I’m not getting much knitting done… 🙂
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More Baby Stuff
I just can’t stop. First are a bunch of accessories to go with the argyle vest: a hat, booties, and stripey socks. The hat and socks are both out of Debbie Bliss’s Baby Cashmerino 2, while the booties are from Patons’s Quick & Easy Baby Knits. (Note: I still have to thread ribbon through the eyelets on the booties. I just didn’t have any handy.)
The other thing is a fancy washcloth, knitted solely because I still had a bunch of cotton left over from the tart hat. The stitch pattern is a garter stitch basket weave with a moss stitch border. I think it’s finally time to send all this stuff off while Penn can still wear it!
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Craft Weekend
What do baby pirates wear? Arrrrrgyle!
This was a very crafty weekend. I just can’t stop knitting baby clothes! They’re like knitting crack. As soon as you finish one, you’re on to the next. My sister made an offhand comment in an e-mail recently about dressing her kid (who is now two weeks overdue) in an argyle sweater, and I immediately thought of this design. It’s Debbie Bliss’s Argyll Slip Over from Baby Cashmerino 2. I casted this sucker on Thursday night and I finished it up this morning. Isn’t it cute? It’s got two buttons at the back of the neck too so it’ll fit over the bub’s noggin. And while some might laugh at the idea of knitting a sweater vest for a newborn, I say with a name like “Penn” we might as well get the kid started now! (I’ve also got enough left over to make some matching socks, I think.)You’d think that’d be enough craftiness for one weekend, right? WELL, YOU’RE WRONG. On to the baked goods! The Snook made the sort that you can actually eat… while I made the sort that a baby can wear. Miss Fee came over for a visit today, and the Snook stunned us both with this tea of homemade scones with whipped cream and jam. They were delicious. (For those wondering, a scone is not real far off from an American-style biscuit. Maybe just a little sweeter.) And then, the most frivolous baby knit of all time – the Baby Tart Hat. I couldn’t resist. Of course, I now also have arthritis. I knit that sucker TODAY, folks! The “crust” is Lana Gatto Jaipur while the “filling” is Debbie Bliss Cathay. So it’s basically all cotton, and the majority of it is purling bobbles. I’M SERIOUS; MY HANDS HURT. I think it’s worth it though. We’ve blown up a balloon to the appropriate baby head size and the dampened hat is now blocking. (Sis, I don’t care if you think this is the stupidest thing ever. I just want one picture of a chubby-cheeked baby wearing this thing.)
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Another Baby Surprise
My sister is, like, officially a week overdue now, and I’m getting nervous. I haven’t had any word from the family this weekend so presumably we’re all just playing the waiting game. (UNLESS SHE’S HAD IT AND THEY’VE ALL FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME. Sometimes I get expat-paranoia.) Anyway, I used my day off today to put the finishing touches on the baby outfit I made her (buttons on the jacket and elastic in the pants) and to finish off another of the Baby Surprise Jackets. This one’s in Zara, which is an 8ply and therefore makes the whole thing a little bigger. Hopefully my little nephew will be able to wear this one through the winter! I also changed the button band to be moss stitch instead of garter stitch, mostly just because I was bored. (Pattern note: I just managed to squeeze this out of two balls of the Zara.) -
Baby Outfit
You know, I’d worry more about posting this and ruining the surprise for my sister if I didn’t already know that she hates surprises. (We’re talking about a girl who always wanted to open her Christmas presents the night before.) So she can see it now and then have the fun of opening it when it gets to her in a few weeks! The whole outfit is knitted out of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, which is just really lovely to knit with. The jacket is Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Jacket (the same one I knit for Rohan a few weeks back), with tri-colour Fibonacci stripes. The pants are from Patons’ Quick and Easy Baby Knits. (I used the 4ply pattern but went up to the 3-month size since my tension is always tight.) The hat is the “Umbilical Cord Hat” from Stitch and Bitch. Now I just need to put buttons on the jacket and run some elastic through the waist of the pants. I’d debated on doing booties as well (and even did a trial run of the “sandals” from the Baby Cashmerino book), but I’m almost out of wool. And if this kid takes after my sister at all, he’s gonna be barefoot until he goes to school anyway. 🙂 -
TC News: Jordana Paige
Our new shipment of Jordana Paige bags has finally arrived in the shop! But unfortunately none of the new colours have been sent. (I’m a bit partial to the red satchel myself.) We did get the Knitting Needle Storage Box though, and I’m happy to report that it’s a lot bigger and more solid-looking than it appears in the pictures.
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Beaconsfield scarf
Remember the massive scarf being knit to commemorate the rescue of the Beaconsfield miners? It’s growing…
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Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Jacket
At last, a finished object to report! I’d seen this famous jacket before but this is the first one I’d ever knit. It was for Tia and her newborn little son, Rohan. I took it over to them at the RPA Hospital tonight, and wonder of wonders, it actually fit! I’m also happy to report that this is officially the first knitted item the baby’s ever worn (as poor Tia was too sick to knit for most of her pregnancy). It was knitted out of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and I used size 3.25mm needles.Step One: Knit this thing. Doesn’t look like much, does it? I couldn’t even figure out which bit I was knitting for a while, which interfered with my plan to use stripes. Finally I just decided to throw in some random stripes and hope they turned out well.
Step Two: Fold it up. Believe it or not, that floppy thing actually folds up into this little jacket. The only seams you have to sew are the two shoulder tops.
Step Three: Finished! Here I’ve completed the shoulder seams and added buttons. In an elaborate attempt to avoid actually having to sew, I decided to try picking up along each shoulder and then doing a three-needle cast-off. It worked pretty well! Probably took me a lot longer than it would’ve to just sew the thing, but I’m nothing if not stubborn.
The back of the jacket.
The only problem I had with my shoulder joining method was that picking up on the back side of the shoulders created a weird little strip of stocking stitch on an otherwise all garter stitch garment. I decided that Rohan probably wouldn’t mind, but I may try to find a workaround for this in the future.
So tonight the Snook and I headed over to the hospital to deliver the jacket to the little nipper in person. He was all swaddled up asleep when we got there but that didn’t stop Mum from dressing him up right away. How cute is he? I’m sure he’ll outgrow it quickly, but for now he’s got one cozy little cardigan to keep him warm.
And five seconds later, there I was in a chair with a baby in my arms. He really didn’t like being woken up though, and he really didn’t like being that far away from his Mama. Poor little thing started to buck and cry, so here I’m like, “Hurry up Snookums and TAKE THE DAMN PICTURE ALREADY!” As soon as I handed him over to his dad Daniel, he turned into a little angel again.
Tia and Daniel are doing great, by the way, and it’s wonderful to see them so happy with their new little family. It blows my mind to think back to a year ago when Tia confessed they were trying for a baby, and all the complications and problems that arose. But there in that little hospital room, I got to see the happy ending to the story. Welcome, Rohan Porter.
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Soctober
How’s your Soctober going? Check out this short-row heel tutorial. Very useful! I’ve done short-row heels before but I didn’t do her trick of double-wrapping as you go back and forth picking up the wraps. I also especially like the tip of wrapping the first non-heel stitch to keep a hole from forming. (I always get that hole.) I’m going to be doing socks all summer, I think. (Link courtesy of Lara.)
