Thoughts on knitting a baby sweater

No, it's not for me. It's for a relative and I'll tell you all about THAT later on.

Things I will rip back for:

• miscounting
• not liking the way I did the increases (it made really obvious gaps)
• realizing that I want the button band to be knit when the main body is purl and vice-versa (so it shows up better)
• realizing that the lace pattern for the main body is not only too froo-froo (for an infant - my own opinion), but it will also take too long, and I will be guaranteed to mess it up at least once. This sweater needs to be done before the end of January. It CANNOT become a pair of aran socks. And since Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swanson practically BEG you to switch out the pattern in the main body...I did. I'm using sand stitch instead.

Things I won't rip back for:

• a sudden slubby section of yarn (either it will get lost in the nubbly pattern I chose after blocking, or it will just be a charming imperfection). Yarn is imperfect. Get over it.
• Not including button holes. I hate button holes. Buttons have no place on baby clothes in any case - except in a purely decorative capacity. This sweater will have snaps and decorative buttons. So there.

Sweater and hat for new nephew

He shares his birthday with Muffin Man. Born the same day, eight years apart. He is sooooo small! I'd forgotten how tiny three-week-old babies are!

And here, here is the sweater and hat I knitted for him as soon as we heard that he might be coming home with my sister-in-law and her husband.



The sweater is knitted in Lamb's Pride Super Wash Galaxy. Hat is knitted in red cotton/elastic (can't find the label...oops!). Buttons are from A.C. Moore.

The whole time I was knitting on them, I was thinking, "I hope you come home with them, little boy. I hope you come home." I'm so glad he did.

Mazel tov on the arrival of the shayneh yingeleh.

Sweater done. Buttons and snaps sewed in.

I'm pretty darned proud of it, actually. I'll post a picture after I've given it to the recipient.

Sweater knitted.

Now I just need to make up the sleeve seams, block it, sew in the snaps and put on the buttons.

It actually looks very nice. Very cozy. I made several rip-back-worthy errors and several I decided not to rip back for.

The biggest of that latter category is one spot on the back where I messed up the pattern on one row. Super obvious to me. No one else will ever notice.

Happy New Year to you all.

First Posts

A bit different from the way I've done it before, the title and first sentence of the first post of each month for 2010.

January: Sweater knitted.
Now I just need to make up the sleeve seams, block it, sew in the snaps and put on the buttons. I loved the way it turned out

February: Gryffindor scarf update.
Knitting done. Weaving in ends 3/4's done. Need to block and add fringe. Wow! I knitted a bunch in the first part of this year!

March: I would say something if I had something to say...
Will catch up here later this week. Sorry for the silence here, but I'm noisy at my other blog and on Twitter. Yeah, my posting everywhere went way down this year.

April: Things I wish I would make time in my life to do

* Hawaiian Dance lessons. I still would like to make time in my life to do this.

May: Cropped!
From this: (pic) To this: (pic) I wonder what he'll do with his hair next?

June:Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysteriously Knowledgeable 8-year-old
I would accuse him of reading ahead, but MY SON would NEVER do THAT. He's a reader, that one.

July:Briefing in brief.
We went to Vermont on Amtrak. Ah...Vermont. Ah...Amtrak.

August: Whatever you're interested in, Dick Francis has a book about it (Part 1)
Photography? REFLEX He died earlier this year. I am so glad I got to tell him several times how much I enjoyed his books.

September: View from the Waiting Room
Sitting in the waiting room at the car shop, waiting for them to change the oil, rotate the tires, and do all the stuff one likes to get done before traveling in holiday traffic 6 hours each way. He really is an amazingly patient boy

October: What we're doing around here
MM is acing tests (spelling, math, geography: all A+) and enjoying school immensely. I can't tell you how relieved I am about this.

November: Was gonna post last night for NaBloPoMo
but something came up. That was really not fun. At all.

December: A Scene From Thanksgiving
MM starts a book club: Now that was a really fun time.