Made the baby and the sweater

My baby Charlie at 10 months old, modeling his Owlet Sweater.  More about the pattern here.

Introducing baby Charlie!

Introducing our new baby boy!

Charles William Preston
Born on Thanksgiving Day - November 22, 2012

We love him to pieces.  Expect to see more of him, because as you know, I love to work up baby knits.

Here he is at three weeks old, modeling his Puerperium Sweater which was knitted with love by his Gram.
Go here for the *free* pattern.

FO: The Owlet

The Owlet is finished, and I am completely in love with this sweet little sweater.  See my progress photos here.

On my needles: Owlet Baby Sweater

I'm thrilled to begin the Owlet Baby Sweater by Kate Davies.  As you can see from Kate's photo below, it's pretty sweet.  I put it on my Knit List for 2012, and here we are in August.  It will be perfect for a little one to wear this Fall. Can't imagine whooooo. ;-)

It's my first time knitting with Madeline Tosh. This superwash hand-dyed 100% merino wool is gorgeous. Worth every penny to make this handknit sweater extra special. 

FO: Puerperium Baby Cardigan

The Puerperium sweater is finished-off, and here is my adorable niece Charlotte modeling it.

Go here for more about the project and a link to the *free* pattern.

On my needles: The Puerperium Baby Cardigan

I can't help myself.  I love to knit baby sweaters and have a long list of patterns I want to work.  This one by Kelly Brooker of Knit So Quaint has been on my mind for a while.  It's designed for the newest of newborns - hence the name puerperium.  (The six weeks post birth)

It's a tiny little thing, so it may not be worn a ton.  I view it as more of an heirloom - and something made with love that can be worn home from the hospital!

Free pattern available here.

Jenny Baby Shrug

Bound-off and ready to be shipped with lots of love to my dear friend Jenny in Washington, DC who welcomed her sweet baby girl in April.  

Such a beautiful little shrug.  Read more about the process here.

When the Martha Stewart Show called...!

"I'm calling from the Martha Stewart Show.  We are looking for a group of local knitters to join us in the audience for a taping.  Shall I go on?"


Um, YES!

So, eleven of my knitters and I were invited for the taping on February 21st.  When we arrived, we learned that the show was not about knitting or even crafting, but skincare instead.  Pretty puzzling, but still great fun nonetheless!  Everything was even more beautiful in person - the studio kitchen, the greenhouse and Martha too.  We left with gift bags of fancy skin products.  Nice!

In the two weeks leading up to the taping, I decided I wanted to knit a special gift for Martha.  Well, really for her granddaughter, Jude Stewart, who will turn one year this month.  So I chose the Bella Baby Shrug.  It is one that I love and have knitted three times prior, and of all my samples, it receives the most compliments. (See more about the Bella Shrug here.)  The producers accepted the gift on Martha's behalf and promised to get it to her.  The next morning, I received an email asking for my address because Martha has a note for me.  Wow!  It has yet to arrive.  Keeping my fingers crossed...

The Sunnyside Baby Cardigan

I was SO thrilled when I found Tanis Fiber Arts' pattern and beautiful hand-dyed sock yarn at the 2012 Vogue Knitting convention in NYC.  Hand-dyed yarns with a bunch of wild colors are not my thing these days, but I go crazy over hand-dyeds that are sort of monochromatic.  I love subtle color changes and how they vary from slightly to very saturated in color.  Tanis really nails it.  And her free pattern for the Sunnyside Cardigan is exactly what I was looking for.  A simple cardigan with some cabling.  I needed something that is unisex since this one is for a "mystery baby" as I like to call them - my new niece or nephew who is due at the end of April!  As you may have noticed from the placement of the buttonholes, I am guessing it will be a BOY.

Visit Tanis Fiber Arts for your copy of the free pattern, and treat yourself to one of her incredible skeins.  I chose the Purple Label Cashmere blend sock yarn in color Dove.  See Tanis' amazing palette of colors here.

xo -k.

(Featured on CRAFTgawker.com in March 2012.)

Update: Child's Hooded Cardigan Sweater

I worked this one in Berroco's Peruvia Quick - 100% Peruvian Highland Wool in color Olive.
Sizes 2T, 4T and 5-6T.

Blocking Basics

The bottom band of this sweater has been bothering me; it was always creeping up.  (See above) So I finally blocked it.

There are several methods for blocking.  Since this yarn is 100% baby merino wool, I went for my favorite - the wet blocking method.

Soak the item in a bowl of room-temperature water for  a few seconds while squeezing the sweater.  Do not wring or twist.  Do not use hot water.  A few seconds is enough - just enough time to snap this photo.  Squeeze excess water from the work, RESHAPE and lay flat to dry.  A few rust-proof pins may be necessary, but my sweater behaved just fine without being stuck.

For more blocking basics, visit Interweave's tutorial here.

Another Bella Shrug

Since the Baby Janes don't require a ton of yarn, I knitted this shrug with the remainder of the Manos de Uruguay silk blend yarn.  My brother and sister-in-law picked it out for me while they were in Marfa, a wonderfully quirky town in Texas.  If you love the silk/merino blend as much as I do, I bet you can find some at a LYS (local yarn shop) or order some here from PURL in NYC.

The pattern is sized for 3 months all the way up to child size 12(!) and is one of the most well-written patterns I have worked.  I get a ton of compliments on this shrug.  I bet you will too.  The pattern is available here on Ravelry and is WELL WORTH the $5 bucks for the download.

Let me know how it goes!  (Not a knitter, coax that aunt who knits to work one up for you!)

And here is baby Bella herself modeling the original Bella Shrug.  She's just the cutest thing!!  Thanks to her mommy for sharing this photo.


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Meet the Mariner

The Mariner Pullover from Interweave Knits magazine, Weekend 2010 issue.
Sizes 6-12 months...all the way up to women's extra-large!

I knitted this one in Kraemer's Perfection Worsted yarn in color Fauna, a pale grayish-pink.  It's adorned it with mother-of-pearl buttons.  Perfection is a superwash merino and acrylic blend.  Machine wash, tumble dry.  That's perfection in my book!

The stitch pattern running down the front is Half Linen Stitch and requires a technique called "short rows" - something that is common is when knitting socks.  The sleeves are worked as cast-on extensions of the body, so when you bind-off, there's very little sewing to be done.  For those of you who have knitted the One-piece Baby Cardigan, this will sound very familiar.

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Bella Baby Shrug

Knitted in Anzula Luxury Fiber's For Better or Worsted. 
Hand-dyed in color Mulberry.
Made with love for baby girl Kaplan, due in April 2011.

Want to learn-to-knit this shrug?  Baby and child sizes
2 or 3 classes, dependent upon experience = $50 or $75 + supplies

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One-piece Baby Cardigan

Knitting a sweater in one piece means that once you bind-off your last stitch, it's just about ready to wear.

Baby sizes: 0-3 months, 3-6 months and 6-9 months.
2 or 3 classes, dependent upon experience = $50 or $75 + supplies

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Lately...

The Chirp Baby Sweater, 

Circles and Stripes Slip Scarf

On My Needles: The Chirp Baby Sweater

The Chirp Baby Sweater

Knitted in Kraemer Perfection, a merino wool and acrylic blend in chirp color. This is a great yarn. It is soft and washable - perfect for a baby, or pretty much any project. It comes in a ton of beautiful colors that you can view at kraemeryarns.com

The Chirp is worked on long circular needles. The body is one piece, and then sleeves and a hood will be added. The bottom edge is called garter stitch, the main part is called stockinette stitch, then you can see it goes back to garter stitch for a few rows, and now I'm beginning the upper portion that's done in a bumpy pattern called seed stitch.

If you have an interest in learning this project, just let me know, and I'll do a class. All you need to know to start are the knit and purl stitches!

(Click below if you would like to leave a comment.  Thanks!)