Busy, Busy with the Gifting

I don't think that I'm the only one who has been inundated with life changes of late. Babies are being born. They are being born faster than I can knit. A good friend of mine from undergrad had an adorable daughter back in August. As my first friend with a baby, I went a little overboard with the knitmaking. Not one, but two February Baby Sweaters--one in worsted weight yarn and one in DK weight. But wait, there's more, I also made my first Saartje's Booties with some leftover sock yarn.

Her name is Alice Amelia.

Pattern: EZ's February Baby Sweater

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish DK in Pale Lemon
Buttons: From Windsor Button. Almost like little jelly candies.
Needles: No. 5s

I really like the buttons.

Pattern: EZ's February Baby Sweater
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Tidepool Heather
Buttons: From Windsor Button
Needles: No. 6s

For the two sweaters I made copied the same number of repeats for both of them. This left the sizing (as ad hoc as it was) to the change in yarn weight and needlesize. I have no clue if they fit, or if the arm length is even correct.

Pattern: Saartje's Booties
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Superwash Sock in Foxy Lady
Buttons: From Windsor Button
Needles: No. 2s

I did find these booties a bit fussy on the finishing of sewing the buttons on and creating buttonholes. I followed Ysolda's tutorial for sewn button loops. Even without the pictures on the website, I found the instructions helpful.

Soon after I had finished the sweaters and booties, I received in the mail a baby announcement from one of my cousins whose wife gave birth to an adorable girl named Mary. My baby knits endurance had been tapped with the two sweaters so I opted for a cutesy baby hat.

Pattern: Berry Baby Hat by Michele Sabatier
Yarn: Valley Yarns' Valley Superwash in Grape and Grass
Needles: No. 7s and 8s

The hat turned out great, and I got to work it in the round using Magic Loop. I just may be a Magic Loop convert since you don't have to change from circular needles to dpns when the diameter gets too small.

Another cousin of mine (we have a lot of them: 20+ at least), gave birth to her second boy. After having a good experience with the Berry Baby Hat and lots of the Grass colorway left, I cast on this little hat.

Pattern: Greenleaf Baby Hat by Evelyn Uyemura
Yarn: Valley Yarns' Valley Superwash in Grass
Needles: No. 7s and 8s

This pattern is pretty much the same as the Berry Baby Hat only without the colorwork and with a leaf at the end of the i-cord stem. I found it difficult to find good baby boy patterns but this one fit the bill.

Next, my mom and my grandma just moved into a house together. It seems to be a great move (in more than one sense) for both of them. Grandma is an amazing woman who is quickly approaching 90 years-old and has the most independent and ornery spirit of anyone in the family. Mom has been far away from her rather large family for a very long time and has always wanted to be closer to everyone. In celebration of this, I decided that they need some new housewarming gifts. Namely, some ballband dishcloths and towel. The ballband is usually the territory of Aidan, but as Grandma would say, "tough shit."

Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth by Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc.
Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream in Hot Yellow, Neptune Ombre, Blue Grass and Tropic
Needles: No. 7s

Years ago, on a Hobby Lobby visit in Missouri, high on the craft-store fumes, I bought lots and lots of Lily Sugar'n Cream yarn. I put it to good use with these dishcloths and towel. For the towel, I cast on per the pattern and quickly realized that it was going to be way, way too big to be is dishcloth. I knit on and on until the Neptune Ombre ran out--about 22 repeats of Color B (the Neptune Ombre). For the discloths, I cast on 39 stitches with an extra two stitch for a slip stitch edge to help hide the color changes. I completed 4 pattern repeats for a total of 8 repeats of the Color B.