baby love

 

Tea for Two baby sweater from Miss Bea's Rainy Day knit in Rowan Cashsoft DK
and Tide from Miss Bea's Seaside in Knitpicks Shine Sport

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I've got a bit of a Robitussin hangover this morning. Still, housecleaning, laundry, and the internet wait for no man (sick or not). And I'm beginning to realize that babies also don't wait until you've finished their baby sweaters to be born. So it's time for me to get back to work on the baby sweaters!

I had planned to make this Mandarin Petit sweater for one of the many babies-on-the-way I have to knit for. But the gauge was a bit daunting and the babies just keep on coming. (There is some relentless baby-making going on out there these days!) I rethought my baby sweater plans on my weekend yarn crawl in DC and Shannon helped me pick out Rowan Cashsoft DK to make this sweater from Miss Bea's Rainy Day for said baby girl. (Fellow Knitsmith Lisa knit this one in a green Cascade 220 Superwash and it was fabulous!) I've recommended the Cashsoft to so many customers in the store, I'm embarrased to admit that besides the collars on the boys Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts, I've never used the yarn. Thankfully, I can now say that it is just as amazing as I promised all those customers!

It's just soooo soft. The cables are standing out very well. And the whole thing is machine washable. You can't beat that. Cashsoft, where have you been all my knitting life?

And now that I've done my housecleaning, laundry and internet duties, and restarted the baby knitting, I'm off to see if some hugs and kisses from the boys might not be enough to kick this cold. Boy medicine to the rescue!

Love these x's and o's! They make me so happy. Wheeee, fun, happy, joy, and the wee little back is done.

You know what that means: back to the weasley for a while....

And I don't mean the little one growing in my belly (she's more than a blob by now and still may turn out to be a boy). No, I mean this yucky unspun, undyed section of yarn that has popped up right in the middle of the front of my hugs and kisses sweater.

can you see it in the top row of ribbing there?

Blech. I didn't even notice it when I was knitting that ribbing. Suddenly, as I was doing the cables, I spotted it. Arrrrgh! What am I going to do about it? Nada. I'll just make this the back and unravel a few rows of the already finished back, add the front neck shaping, and make it the front. The baby shouldn't mind a bit.

And no all this pink really isn't for my little one on the way. I honestly don't know yet if it's a girl and I honestly do have about 5 other babies to knit for right now (two or maybe three of whom are already here and impatiently awaiting their sweaters!!). Son't worry babies, I will not be deterred by one little pink blob!

After working hard all last week on design stuff, I treated myself to a little baby knitting. Nothing'll cheer you up like hugs and kisses.

can you tell that my gauge tightened up between pieces?

I finished the new back and then took out few rows from the first back and added neck shaping to make it the front. And now that pink blobby thing is on the back.

little blob hiding above the back ribbing

The baby will never see it!

[Remember, this is not for my baby. I still have to wait two more days to know if I should make another pink hugs and kisses sweater for my little one. This one is for a friend's baby, who is already here and waiting patiently on her sweater!]

The stars have aligned to actually allow me to make some progress (finally!) on one of the for-friends baby sweaters I've had on the needles since the spring! I've started taking these much-neglected projects with me for playground knitting. Yes, playground knitting in Boston in November. This is turning out to be like the BEST Fall I've ever experienced here in Boston - it's 55 degrees out today! We are still going to the playground every afternoon after school and have only been rained out a couple of days since school started. And since my design projects require so much more attention (and decision-making and tweaking and fussing), I simply can't work on them while watching the boys as well. So thanks to good weather and active boys, we're one sleeve closer to a finished hugs and kisses sweater.

A little girl came up to me on the playground while I was working on the sleeve the other day and she was so into it. Often little girls walk by me slowly while I'm knitting and stare while pretending to be on their way to play something. Some will sort of forget themselves, and really stop and stare for full minutes at a time. But this girl started asking me all these questions about exactly what I was knitting and how I was doing it. She wanted to know about crossing cables and which one I was doing (the "x" or the "o"). She wasn't that old, so I didn't get too technical with my answers, but then she brought over her own knitting bag! She was working on a garter stitch scarf for her sister and explained that she was 7 and had been knitting since she was 5. She knew her stuff too. She had straight needles and immediately asked me about my circulars. I was still keeping things simple and just said the cable helped keep the two needles together so I wouldn't lose one. But she immediately asked if I couldn't knit something in a circle with a needle like that. Oh, yeah, that too. Smart girl!

Is it okay that now I'm more looking forward to meeting up with her on the playground than some of the other mommies?

After seaming the circle of friends blanket, I'm on a little seaming jones. I perused the current projects and found the hugs and kisses sweater in need of some seaming.

Body together and one sleeve in. Ahh, that felt good.

So, what are you seaming today?

I finished the last of the x's and o's on the hugs and kisses baby sweater! I'm happy to have the finish line in sight finally, especially as this is officially the first of my holiday knit gifts and it'll be nice to cross that first one off the list. But I'm kind of missing it already. It's been such a sweet little knitting companion in my extra time at the playground or in the doctor's waiting room. But soon it'll be companion to another little sweetie.

Mmmmmmmwah!

The x's and o's are done at last! Oooh, I love this little sweater. I just want to squish it and cuddle with it. It's so snuggly and cute. It's was really a perfect combination of a great sweater, a great pattern and a really great yarn. Hugs and kisses to everyone involved: Louisa Harding, Miss Bea, Rowan, and all the adorable little babies who inspire us to make these sweaters. I thoroughly enjoyed knitting this one (maybe that's why I dragged it out for three months - ha, ha). I gotta give it away, but I think wee one needs one of these for sure!

So not only is that one loooooong overdue baby sweater finished, but it's the first holiday knit gift done. Woo hoo!

While I was working on my book and making a baby of my own, a couple of cousins had babies. I felt bad that I didn't get to make sweaters for the new little ones. Last night, in one of those moments where baby gives mommy just what she needs to make it through another day, baby L let me get started on a sweater for one of them.

you can tell the sun's gone down because she's not screaming!

If L lets me, I'll be making another Tea for Two sweater from Louisa Harding's Miss Bea's Rainy Day. I really enjoyed knitting the one I made last year and the final sweater is so sweet with the hugs and kisses cable pattern. I'm using some Jo Sharp classic wool in cherry red that I had leftover from a project for the book. I can say from experience that the Jo Sharp yarn knits up really nice, especially in cables. (Oooh, what could that book project be?? Tee hee.)

Oh baby, it feels good to knit a little bit again!

I do believe I like the hugs and kisses sweater (officially "Tea for Two" from Louisa Harding's Miss Bea's Rainy Day) even more in red.

And even wee one looks cuter in her red Cadenza pixie hat!

Who has time to knit when there's the knit pligg to watch?! (Info here and a faq here.)

And I couldn't even knit when I was away from the computer at knitting group. I brought the baby, of course, and for the first time ever, she slept through knitting group.

Unfortunately, my knitting was stuck underneath her in the stroller! Note to self: take knitting out first before walking baby around to lure her to sleep. After letting her sleep for a half hour, I risked it and jiggled and jostled her around finally succeeding in slipping my knitting out of the basket underneath her. And what do I find? Well, I always keep the knitting bag packed with one easy project (my latest hugs and kisses sweater) that I can pick up at anytime. The last time I worked on it though, I finished up the ball of yarn that was in there. Did I remember to put a new ball in the bag. Oh no, I didn't! So no yarn in the bag. And no knitting. Grrrr.

But when knitting stuck under the baby gets you down, the knitting stuck on the baby can always cheer you up again.

Her marshmallow bonnet and mary jane booties!

After finding myself this weekend with some time to knit and a knitting bag without yarn, I've learned my lesson and have repacked said knitting bag with not one, but two, balls of red yarn. Work on the hugs and kisses sweater can now continue.

Since this is my knit-when-I-can project, who knows when the thing will actually be finished. With a new baby and book signings and the end of school coming up, I'm just shooting for getting it done for sweater weather. No more deadline knitting for me for a while - last year was nuts!

It's a knit-rescue! I just love it when I have a reason to pull a neglected, half-finished project back from the brink of abandonment.

I started this Tea for Two sweater (from Miss Bea's Rainy Day) last year at about this time for a just-born little cousin. Well, time passed and, um, we never see that cousin anyway (bad knitter, bad knitter!). But now there's a new little one to knit for in our closest circle of friends. What better reason to find that cute little sweater and finish it up?!

I only had one side completed when I put it down almost for good. Now I'm sailing along on the second piece, remembering and enjoying how teeny tiny baby knits are and how fast they knit up. If you actually knit them.

Last week I was so upbeat about having saved my poor "tea for two" sweater from abandonment. I knitted the entire second piece, all proud of myself, feeling good to be finishing it and giving it away to a deserving little person. Then I noticed in the picture that I posted that the ribbing was shorter on the second piece and suddenly every tiny thing that I never liked about this sweater just came rushing up and I decided it was a goner after all. I'm done with that sweater. (Love the pattern still, love that jo sharp classic wool still, but together I guess I never really fell in love with it. Hrrmpff.)

But tiny newborn baby Clara still deserves a sweet little sweater. So I dug through my stash and pattern books and within 15 minutes I'd chosen the cutie patootie Tide cardigan from Miss Bea's Seaside and cast on for it with the rest of my cherry red Knitpicks Shine Sport.

lookie, I'm already farther along than I ever was with the tea for two sweater!

Much better, right? Yeeeees, this one I like.

The wee Tide cardigan from Miss Bea's Seaside is almost done! I finished the sleeves and that pretty pretty edging along the button bands and neck.

This is such a delightful little knit. The lace pattern is quickly learned and fun to knit. And the rest is quick, quick, quick. I have yet to meet a Miss Bea pattern I didn't like.

Lookie, patriotic baby sweaters!

And they're all finished too. I've been busy!! Georgie you saw last week. Now joining him in red is Tide from Miss Bea's Seaside, done in Knitpicks Shine Sport with some lovely little red buttons with flower details (the boys helped me pick out these buttons).

And our white sweater is the little smock cardigan from Sublime's new Soya Cotton book in Rowan Denim. I found precious little butterfly buttons for this one.

And it fits wee one perfectly!