Out of Order...Baby Knitting

My Blog's knitting order is all messed up.  Usually I post in the order that I cast on and finish items.  Right at this moment I'm 3 or possibly 4 posts behind because I have not taken the proper pictures to go along with my posts.  Why?  The usual reasons...don't think about it when the light is good or I think about it and it decides to rain or is cloudy for DAYS.  As luck would have it I do have pictures of two of my latest finished items. I had to mail them off to the recipient so the need for finished pictures outweighed the weather.  My Fall Acer cardigan will have to wait on sunshine as will my churro and Montana cardigan...for shame. 

Anyway I started a baby project well after the baby arrived (5 months? Jeez).  In my defense I wasn't aware of the impending birth until a couple weeks before the arrival.  With Christmas and Dad's knee surgery all converging together baby knitting wasn't on the top of my list.  Then Bozeman got in the way and I knit myself a sweater while in Montana...the yarn came from Montana grown sheep after all.  Once that was done and we were back in Virginia I broke out the baby book to find a pattern.  I decided on the Cabled Tunic and added a pair of Leaf Laced Booties to go along with a bright set of leggings.  Let's hope for a good fit since I have no idea how big she's grown.

The nice thing about baby knitting is the quickness of the knitting...once you start the knitting.  These items would have been done in well under a week, but my knitting time has been interrupted by tired hands.  I have had to cut back on the knitting time to keep my thumb from doing it for me.  Anyway the Tunic was fun to knit and turned out so darn cute.  A bit fiddly when it came time to seaming the ruffles, but I did not want to knit this in the round. 

As for the booties all I can say is I wish the patterned leaf popped more on the toe.  It was lost a bit due to the softness of the yarn.  I wonder if I had dropped down a needle size things might have looked better.  These were soft and the strap through the top loop was simple once you started knitting.  I did misread the pattern (skipping past a whole paragraph) while knitting the left bootie, but easily turned it into the right side bootie so no time or effort was lost.  Overall I'm pleased this little package is done and on its way before the youngster starts school.



Details:
Pattern #1:  Cabled Tunic by Lee Gant from 60 Quick Baby Knits 

Yarns:  Sweet Delight Baby by Baby Bee; Sport / 5 ply; 60% Acrylic, 40% Nylon ; 377 yards / 115 grams in Grape Jelly (230 yards) and Berry (256 yards).

Needles:  US 4 and US 6, Addi Clicks

Gauge: 23 stitches by 29 rows over 4 inches of stockinette

Size:  12 month

Modifications:  As always I rewrote the shoulders for three needle bind off. 

I also should say something about the yarn.  The yarn snob in me really didn't want to use this yarn, but it was available and I wanted something washable since it is so much easier on the parents.  It didn't split and seems soft to the touch,  The cables looked nice.  I hope that over time the shape holds up well.  It isn't a cotton blend so maybe it will be fine and won't grow with the child.  I used 2 different colors...grape jelly for the body so the cables would pop and berry for the neck and arm trim, as well as the ruffles.

Details:
Pattern #2:  Leaf Laced Booties by Jacqueline van Dillen from 60 Quick Baby Knits
Yarns:   Sweet Delight Baby by Baby Bee; Sport / 5 ply; 60% Acrylic, 40% Nylon ; 377 yards / 115 grams in Grape Jelly.  I used only 71yards for these.

Needles:  US 4,  Addi Clicks and DPN's

Gauge:  22 stitches by 44 rows over 4 inches of stockinette

Size:  9 month

Modifications:  None

Hopefully the rest of my knitting will get posted soon...if the sun comes out so I can get decent pictures.  At the moment it seems unlikely to happen this week.  Since I only have a single pair of socks on the needles I need to choose my next project.  Thinking about lace...
 

 

As you can see Blogger is not playing well with my pictures...no idea what's up with these, but my Ravelry pictures for the Cabled Tunic and Booties are fine