the blue blog archives: not so wee shrug

I'm so relieved to have finished this just in time for the fall weather. The shrug is a perfect way to keep the chill off of wee one without adding too much more bulk to the whole baby bundle. She's usually wearing a dress over pants and so really only needs some covering on the sleeves and upper body anyway. This pattern - Sirdar Baby Bolero #1676 - was discovered by one of my best buddies, Shannon, who knitted a tiny version of it for wee one when she was still a work-in-progress. Now that wee one is seven months old, she needs a larger size, so it was up to me to make a bigger one. And get this, now that I'm making a baby bolero, Shannon is making her own wee one - go congratulate her!!

The pattern was great. It was simple and the result is really cute. As with most all Sirdar patterns, that pattern pic you see on the cover is probably the worst picture you'll ever see of the garment, so don't go by that. After watching Shannon and Johanna make many very lovely Sirdar things, I've learned that you just gotta trust that it's going to look way better than their kinda blah version of it.

And how much do I love this Rowan soft lux yarn? It is so snuggly soft and the sparkles are just right for a classy and sassy little baby garment. It was such a pleasure each time I returned to this project and picked the yarn up again. It wasn't the exact right gauge, so I had to play with the numbers, as per my usual. I think I ended up making about a 1 yr size, which means that there's a good bit of extra room in the body and sleeves for wee one to grow into.

posted by alison at 9:56 am | in a wardrobe for wee one

Comments

Oh, that came out so cute! I have a question for you if you don't mind...inspired by your sparkly bolero and the fact that Webs was having a 50% off sale on the Soft Lux yarn, I picked up a few balls of my own to make a bolero for my 8 month old. I decided to use the Baby Bolero pattern from the One Skein book, but it's written for a newborn. Rather than do any actual maths (the horrors!)I just decided to go up a couple needle sizes so that it would be knit a little looser and hopefully have the extra room for an older baby, but now that I am almost done with it, I am not loving the fabric knit at this loose gauge...so my question (finally), is did you wash and block this and if so, did the fibers plump up and fill in a little? Or did they stay pretty much the same? I'm not going to rip it out either way, I will just deal with it, but I am hoping a bath will help a little?

Posted by: Bertha at October 17, 2007 10:21 AM

That looks great! I'm so happy for you that you have a wee girl to knit for finally. MY little boy is now 2 inches taller than me and no girls are about. Everyone I know keeps having boys :(

Posted by: Jenny at October 17, 2007 10:40 AM

Wee one looks great in the shrug. Pink is so her color and the sparkles are the finishing touch!

Posted by: Amy at October 17, 2007 10:44 AM

Me love your baby. Me want to eat her, gnam! ;-P

Posted by: Typesetter at October 17, 2007 10:46 AM

And the shrug is harder to get off compared to a hat, so maybe it will stay on Wee One even though it's snuggle-able!

Plus, with a shrug, sizing is not as critical, so she should be able to wear this lovely thing for a good long time -- great choice of project.
I have some Soft Lux in the stash, destined for some Fetching fingerless gloves in the near future, I think. Glad you're happy with the yarn after knitting with it. The shrug turned out SO well!

Posted by: Cathy-Cate at October 17, 2007 10:57 AM

Yeah for a wee bolero! Just in time for a Rhinebeck debut. :-)

...and yes, I do love the Sirdar patterns. I just finished another one and it's another example of a great classic pattern.

Posted by: Johanna at October 17, 2007 11:00 AM

Lucky Baby! That's a super-sweet sweater!

Posted by: amy at October 17, 2007 11:04 AM

I have a 6 week old and I still can't find time to knit, how do you do it? what is she doing when you knit? sleeping? Playing? When my girl sleeps I find I need to be sleeping myself... lol

Does your girl sleep through the night, how many hours?

Posted by: pixie at October 17, 2007 11:15 AM

Hah! She's all "Check me OUT!" That yarn is fantastic, the sparkles aren't even itchy like most metallic yarns.

I'm glad the fall weather is here too, I'm wearing your socks =)

Posted by: Cirilia at October 17, 2007 12:18 PM

Any ideas where I can get that book. must have shrug pattern....

Posted by: Angie at October 17, 2007 1:03 PM

Very cute shrug!

Posted by: Terrie at October 17, 2007 1:17 PM

Oh the bolero & wee one are sooo cute. You have inspired me to order the pattern & a couple of other Sirdar patterns - all go up to a size 6 so I can use the not too girly ones for big brothers as well as baby M.

Posted by: Donna at October 17, 2007 1:37 PM

What a lucky baby to have that on! She really seems like she loves those textures, between the hats and all her beatiful knits. It would be cool to knit her a leftover yarn/swatch book, no?! We could do a bunch of squares out of all our leftover yummy yarn and them put them together book style..

Posted by: Dani at October 17, 2007 2:59 PM

She is just absolutely gorgeous! (the little cardi is cute too!)

Posted by: Cheryl at October 17, 2007 7:09 PM

Ooh, so sweet! I love the turnback cuffs. And the pix of wise baby exploring her finery knock me out.

Posted by: Ina at October 18, 2007 9:55 AM

So adorable! And nice to see that shehasn't tried to convert it into another hat-blankie. :P

Posted by: C at October 18, 2007 2:43 PM

That is very cute! I love the little eyelets in the edging.

Posted by: Seanna Lea at October 18, 2007 5:20 PM

Gorgeous!

Posted by: tracing at October 20, 2007 5:28 PM