socky sweatery goodness

 

Candace from Bee's Knees Knits in Trekking #126 sock yarn
and Marshmallow Bonnet from Itty Bitty Hats in leftover Sirdar Snuggly (with pink Trekking squiggles)

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I've got a little bit of sock yarn in the stash (little as in I'd have to grow like fifty more feet to ever need that many socks). The real problem (that's not a real problem is it?) is that a lot of my favorite skeins of sock yarn are in colors that I love, but am not sure I would actually wear that often. Um, mostly because I have yet to acquire the entirely pink wardrobe that would match all the pink sock yarn I've bought!

Apparently when I buy sock yarn, I turn into something like this woman who was on the Dog Whisperer and wears all pink, lives in an entirely pink house and painted her dog pink (check out the video clip - it's like they're living in my sock yarn stash!).

I'm thinking that all this pink sock yarn would be great on a little baby girl though. But since wee one on the way doesn't have fifty pairs of feet either, I'm thinking sweaters. I'm on the hunt for little baby sweater patterns that I can make with about 400 meters of fingering weight yarn. I'm not really in love with the sweater patterns that are specifically written for sock yarn (like "the" Opal baby sweater). I may make one of those, but I'm really looking for pretty, simply constructed sweaters that would be fabulous in a lovely variegated yarn (more like the first baby sweater I knit for wee one). Any suggestions??

Yup, it's the beginnings of a Bee's Knees Knits sweater pattern in my pink/brown Trekking yarn, just like so many of you suggested I make in my sock yarn sweater post last week!

After lots of help from the queen bee herself (thanks, Holli!), I decided to make Candace first for wee-one-on-the-way to wear when she's still small. And I just happened to have some Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra in a natural color (from Rhinebeck, of course) that'll be perfect for the back and the edgings.

So far the pattern is awesome! My only problem is that, for some reason, I was convinced from the picture that the edgings were all reverse stockinette stitch. They're not really, but once I got it in my head, I decided I really wanted it that way, so I changed the first sock yarn row to flip the edging. And unfortunately I'm not in love with the color sequence that's starting the bottom of the sweater. I want to see more of that dark chocolate brown! So I'm going to call the above half front panel a swatch and will reknit the first front panel starting at a different point in the sock yarn's color sequence.

Let the socky sweatery goodness begin!

This is what the boys used to say when they were little and something looked colorful and yummy to them. (Thank goodness they would ask! Usually it'd be like paper or some sort of small choking hazard toy.) And it's all I can think of when I look at this Trekking yarn.

One front panel of wee one's Candace sweater done! I like the way the color sequence came out this time, with mostly brown and pink and cream and one little stripe of the orange near the top. The front panel took just over one complete color repeat, so that means that to make the second side match, I'll have to wind off pretty much a whole 'nother front panel's worth of yarn to start at the same point. I'm going to have some pretty weird leftovers after this one's done!

Two candy fronts!

We actually live over what was once a candy store. I think that's kinda cool. Wish there were places like that still around nowadays. Now we're left to satify our nostalgia with sock yarn and online searches.

Even baby sweater sleeves can seem long. So, since I'm feeling generally crappy anyway, why not tackle baby sweater sleeve hell?!

I loooove how the color sequence came out on the sleeve and how it's just slightly off-set from the sequence on the front. Who would have thought that sleeve hell could cheer me up so much?

Somehow, little by little, over the course of weeks, I managed to knit the back of wee one's bees knees sweater. I don't know when I did it really - stockinette stitch on US2's in white will numb the senses, let me tell you - but after what was probably dozens of brief knitting sessions, I was at the top where the little design goes. The options in the pattern call for either a big stripe or a little rectangle. That was all too square for me, so I gave wee one a tiny pink and brown heart.

And now she needs some serious blocking. I'm blocking in the new year!

Starting the new year off with another fun baby hat. (I am just in love with this Itty Bitty Hats book!)

This is a variation of the Marshmallow Bonnet from said Itty-Bitty Hats book. (It's actually on the page right before the Cherry-O hat that I made last week, so you can tell I've barely begun to knit my way through this book!) The original pattern is adorable, in moss stitch with little curly squiggles in pink at the top corners of the bonnet, but I wanted to make this one match wee one's großmutter sweater and bee's knees sweater, so I changed it to stockinette stitch, put a stockinette hem on the front (like the edges of the großmutter sweater) and kept the reverse stockinette roll in back (to match the edgings on the bee's knees sweater). I used leftover Sirdar Snuggly from the großmutter sweater and the leftover ribbon to close it, so the colors are a perfect match.

I really like the look of bonnets (check out this pattern I got at Purl and plan to make for wee one for the summer!) and am very pleased with how this came out. Still, I'm thinking two little curly squiggles in leftover pink from the bee's knees sweater would make it just perfect! And then all I'll need are some white stockinette booties and baby could have a whole matching outfit to wear home from the hospital.

This was the subject line in some junk mail I got this morning. I like to read them out loud (they always sound better out loud) and then say "Yes!" "Absolutely!" "Just what I wanted!" right before I delete them.

But this marshmallow bonnet with the pink squiggles is the real deal. "Yes, absolutely, just what I wanted!" Why didn't I put the squiggles on in the first place??

The pink is left over from the bee's knees sweater (I'm making use of all those color sequence repeats I had to wind off to get the pieces to match). I'm so excited about how good it looks with the peachy/pink ribbon from the großmutter sweater. I really think this hat will work well with both sweaters. Which means that I can move on to the next page in the book and make a different hat.

"Yes!" "Absolutely!" "Just what I wanted!"

The boys have been desperate for a little fun time with mommy, so yesterday after school we made some candy sushi.

I saw the recipe on a Rachel Ray show and then after the boys went to a Japanese classmate's birthday party and got this toy food sushi as a favor, I thought, oooh we gotta make these. Rice krispie treat wrapped around a twizzler, rolled up in a green fruit roll up and it's the sweetest sushi you've ever eaten in your life!

Then, late that night, I finally finished the second sleeve on baby's neapolitan candy sweater.

I ate some hershey kisses and wee one danced around in my belly. A little mommy and a lot of candy for everyone!

All seamed and ready for our wee one stand in, the fireman. (The boys are so thankful they're too big to do these try-ons!) I found pretty little pearly buttons for the front that have a little pink sheen to them.

And look how well the sweater goes with the booties I got at the shower from fellow Knitsmith, Terri!

Especially with the teeny tiny heart on the back...

All in all, I really enjoyed making this sweater. It was a lot of knitting at that tiny gauge, but the pattern was very clear and keeping a "one piece at a time" attitude made it totally manageable, even in pre-baby stress. (I still can't believe that it's finished already!) And I love the pink and brown Trekking yarn in this baby sweater much more than I would have ever liked it in a pair of socks.

Thanks to Holli for such a great pattern and to all you blog readers who recommended bee's knees knits!