two baby outfits

I have finished my 37th pregnancy week. Yay! The hospital bags are packed and these are the two knitted outfits that I am taking along. I did not knit any other newborn items, I believe, but my pregnancy memory might be tricking me. Normally I opted for a size 3-6 months or up. This way the baby can get some wear out of the knits before those are outgrown.

1) This is Lilie cardigan.

 

2) And here is the Offset Wraplan pattern once again.

More details on the actual patterns to come later once I actually know how they fit.

I could not resist casting on...

... for yet another baby project.

I must say, Vintage Baby Knits book is a must have for all moms-to-be and those who want to knit for babies. It has it all - baby blankets, pants, soakers, cardigans, socks, hats, toys and and and... Most of the patterns are knit in one piece - really, who would want to assemble those tiny items? A plus for me is that most of the patterns require fingering weight yarn which is available everywhere, is machine washable and comes in a variety of colours. And let's admit, all of us have that special sock yarn skein that is too nice to be hidden away in shoes.

What I do not like much about the book is that it only states the yarn needed for the pattern, but does not say what weight it is. Sure, with gauge info and Ravelry it is easy enough to find this out nowadays. It is just a simple information that could have been included.

I also enjoyed reading about knitting in the past and what influenced the changing styles of knitting patterns. Moreover, the author gives great suggestions when choosing the right yarn, pattern and size for a baby knit. There was nothing I had not thought of myself, but it was nice to see it all written out on one page.

All in all, a very recommendable purchase.

disappointing

Yesterday was spent very well planned in a wine county here in Northern California. I had chosen a few nice wineries where my husband could do some wine tasting and in between the stops I had a yarn shop in mind that we could visit. It would have worked out perfectly, after the first wine tasting my husband was willing to give me all the time in the world to spend in the said yarn shop. And the reviews on knitmap were promising. However, the shop was a total disappointment. The selection was not great. I am all for local yarn shops, that is why I will not name the place as they do have some nice yarns and were very friendly. However, on my next visit to the valley, I'll be sure to check out some other shops. Thus, I have no yarn pictures to share, but will leave you with an image of Sequoia sempervirens.

FO: Tosh Vintage Circle Shrug

CO: March 7th, 2011

BO: April 3rd, 2011 (there were 2 weeks in between that I did not work on this at all, however)

Pattern: Textured Circle Shrug by Stefanie Japel, KAL entries from Lion Brand were very helpful at different stages of knitting this up.

Needles: 4.5 mm (US 7) for the body and sleeves, 3.5 mm (US 4) for the neck trim and 5 mm (US 8) for the bind off.

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage, 100% merino, worsted weight, superwash, about 5.6 skeins in lepidoptra colourway. I used just a bit over 1 skein for the back section, then 1 skein per each sleeve and somewhat over 2 skeins for the neck trim. If knitting the sleeves shorter and maybe tighter, one might get away with 4 skeins in total.

Mods: 

- Cast on 50 sts, 10 for each sleeve and 30 for the back.

- Separated to be worked on the back when there were 62 sts for each sleeve and 82 sts for the back. Reduced the back sts to 26. Reduced sleeve sts to 46 sts.

- Added some short rows to make the back portion somewhat longer.

Fit/ thoughts:

This is a very genius pattern. The ribbing section for the neck trim lies down very nicely and hugs one's figure around the waist. The seed stitch pattern then opens up the tight fabric and gives it a nice finishing touch. I'm tempted to knit another one, maybe in some lighter yarn, but I don't think I'd go for the textured stripe pattern on the back and sleeves portion again.
I am looking for a nice brooch for closure as once the baby is out, I'd like to be able to wear it closed as well. All in all, this is a success knit. And it's been awhile that I knit something for myself and actually wore it afterwards. It's a nice feeling that I had almost forgotten.

beware

These are the baby knits that are done so far and there might be a few other ones upcoming. If you are not interested in baby knits at all, you need to run now :) as there will be loads of blogging about patterns for babies and how they actually fit.

next winter knits

First of all, thank you all to your warm comments on my last post! I tried replying most of you directly (as far as blogger allows that), but in case you have not heard from me - all of your comments are most appreciated.

Now onto some knitting content...

Two knitters were surprised to hear/ see how I knit colourwork, so I thought I will post a picture here.

I do hold both of the yarns in different hands, this prevents knots and the need to untangle them. However, I also turn the knitting inside out. It helps with the tension a lot. I thought that's the way everybody does that, but some surprising faces taught me otherwise. So that would be interesting to know - how do you do colourwork?

This particular pair of mittens was started on a skiing weekend in January (well, I was not the one skiing, obviously), but I broke one of the needles and did not have a spare one with me, so it accidentally went into hibernation. I took this along now, though, and pick it up inbetween all the baby knits when I feel I need some challenge.

some great news

Some of you might already know this as in my über-excitement back in September, I accidentally put a very private post on this blog. Even though I deleted it a second later, google never forgets.

There are only 6 weeks to go. Needless to say, my husband and I are ridiculously happy about this. And excited of things to come. We decided to spend this time of transition into a family of three somewhere far away (and warm, yay California!). We are fortunate and crazy enough to do this (put a stress on whichever adjective you think is right).

There will be many baby knits and general baby talk upcoming. I have quite a bit done and will share them once the little one is here. As I've seen different practitioners during my pregnancy, I've had my due date set on May 12th, 15th and 18th. The big day will be somewhere around mid-May.