Nine Months of Knitting: Three Little Sweaters

So, I am nearing the home stretch, in my 33rd week of pregnancy, and I'm finishing up some projects for the baby, knitting and otherwise. Here are three little sweaters that I've made for Peapod (who still doesn't have a name!).

They are, from left to right: Garter Yoke Baby Cardi (in yellow), Tiny Tim sweater (in blue-green), and a new sweater pattern that I made to match the Bibendum booties I posted about last time.

First, the Garter Yoke Cardi. I used Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, which I love for baby knits. The color, maize, matches a little onesie I bought a while back for Peapod. I'll be sure to post photos when she grows into this--about a 6-12 month size. I added multicolored buttons in red, yellow, and green.

     I used these instructions from Chronicles of Yarnia for adding a hood to the sweater, and I decided to just knit the whole thing in garter stitch because I wanted a nice, cushy, textured sweater. For more details, see my Ravelry post.

The quilt in the background is from my nursery when I was a baby--my mom made it! I love it.

Next is a Tiny Tim sweater, which I have made three times before. This time, I made it as a cardigan. To do so, I just built in a garter stitch placket, adding buttonholes about every 8 rows.

I still love the back of Tiny Tim, and I love the stitch definition of the (now discontinued) Moda Dea Washable Wool that I used for this sweater. This was a stash yarn that I've had on hand for years! More info on my Ravelry page.

Finally, for the Bibendum sweater I used the same organic cotton from Lion Brand that I used for the booties. I think Katie gave me this yarn years ago. It is finally getting used up for these little projects.

This is a simple top-down sweater, using a garter stitch pattern similar to the top of the Bibendum booties. I'll post a full pattern soon! For now, here's my Ravelry project page.

You can see that the nursery is coming along.  I chose a multi-colored, gender neutral color scheme because we are planning on having at least one more baby, and I happen to love these bright colors over the somewhat sickly pastels that seem to be popular for nurseries. Here's a work-in-progress photo:

You can see that I've made a few art projects, too, which I will post about soon.

Nine Months of Knitting: Sailor Stripe Set

I made this little sweater set using two patterns I've made before: Little Coffee Bean Cardigan and Pimp My Longies. (See previous FO's here, here, and here).

I also used one of my favorite yarns for baby stuff, Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. For a cotton yarn, it holds together well (minimal splitting) and it has good stitch definition. I like the nautical blue and cream colors for a gender neutral little outfit. I figure I'll put it with little red maryjanes and a red onesie for a girl, or these cute Chuck Taylor sneakers (for either sex)--which I'm finding out in a few days!

Overall, it turned out pretty well, although the sweater ribbing skews the stripes a bit--I always seem to have this problem with the placket ribbing shrinking in.

 Here, it makes it look like I did an extra half row of stripes on one side (which I didn't). I usually don't decrease in needle size for the ribbing, to try to avoid this, but it still tends to shrink in. Any tips?

See my Ravelry project pages for the Longies and the sweater.

Sunday WIP

The pattern is Graystone... Loving it so far!

Only I think I'm going to make it into a short-sleeved dress instead of a long sleeved sweater... we'll see how it goes.



















I'm using some Cascade 220 from my stash. I've been attempting not to buy new yarn. Aside from a Ravelry trade, I think I'm yarn purchase free in 2012. Recycling doesn't count.



















More info on my Ravelry page.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Knitting for Change (Sort of)

The World Wildlife Federation is encouraging Canadians to turn down the heat and put on a sweater on February 9th. The effort is meant to combat climate change and raise awareness. I love the knitting imagery they are using in the ads. Why not get on board (even if you aren't in Canada)?

F.O.: Recyled Cashmere Sweater Scarf

This scarf began as an argyle cashmere sweater, a gift from my mom that I loved, but was unfortunately stained and starting to pill. The flecks of brown and pink in the scarf come from the argyle pattern. Because it is cashmere, it is super soft and smooshy. But you could make a similar scarf using any sweater you have lying around that has started to lose its luster (due to pills, moths, or general wear).

To make this scarf:

1) Lay out your sweater flat.
2) Cut off the body underneath the armpits, and make yarn using the same technique as my t-shirt yarn.
3) Cut off the arms, and make yarn out of those in the same way, cutting horizontally across the arms much like the t-shirt tube.
4) For the remainder of the sweater, cut in a spiral, creating one long strip of fabric, starting at the outside edges and going around the neck.
5) Wind "swarn" into balls.

(I forgot to take pictures of this process, but I may create another one and provide pictures for these instructions).

One sweater should produce 4 balls of yarn, enough yarn for a skinny scarf.

Materials:

- "swarn" from one cashmere sweater
- size 19 needles
- darning needle

Cast on 8 stitches.
Knit in garter stitch (knit all rows) until you've used up most of your yarn (leaving enough to cast off). Slip the first stitch of each row to create a nice selvedge.

To join balls of yarn, just knot them--the fabric is bulky enough that the joins will not show.

Cast off.
Weave in ends.
Stretch the scarf gently to extend the length.

Wear everywhere.

Too Cute Not to Share

This may not be a cute baby wearing adorable booties, but it comes close:



Apparently, adorable penguins who have been harmed by an oil spill in Australia are now sporting these cute sweaters to help them avoid ingesting oil.

At one point they were seeking donations, but not surprisingly they were flooded with tons of tiny bird sweaters from tenderhearted knitters:



(Some of these pictures are from earlier oil spills).