My EZ baby surprise jacket is done! done! done! But I don't have a half decent photo to show for it because of lack of light and lack of time. Here's the best I have.
Half the battle for me with projects like this is facing the finishing touches. First, I couldn't decide on the buttons. I found these cute little mice at an LYS.
Then I found some more buttons at Joann Fabrics and decided, afterall, to forgo the mice and forgo making the harder decision of which of the Joann Fabrics buttons to use. Alternating these latter two seemed like the way to go.
Then I struggled with seaming up the shoulders. This sounded easy to me unitl I realized I would be seaming a garter stitch edge to my cast-on edge. Yikes! I've never seamed garter stitch bumps. Though, once I got over the thinking on it, and actually focused on the doing of it, I muddled my way through quite well. But I have no pictures to show my prowess. :-(
And there was a window between the stressing and the ah ha!, I might add, wherein hubby found life in the dining room to be a tad inhospitable to those of the homosapien persuasion. But life goes on. ;-)
What I found delightful is how washing changed the sweater. Using Yellow Toot for comparison, here you can see the expansion and contraction of the sweater:
The left half of the photo above shows the sweater after hand washing and air drying. The right half of the photo was taken before this first wash. This emboldenend me to throw it in the washer and dryer with regular clothes and wouldn't you know it, it returned to its prewash size. Perfect for the parents of a newborn.
So on to the wrap up
Yarn
About 352 yards of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted (175 grams, or 1 1/2 skeins) 100% superwash wool
This yarn felt wonderful knitting. In the first handwash the red bled, but not excessively. The wet garment looked as stringy as a cat when wet, but once dry it was once again soft and lofty. After the machine wash and dry there was some loss of color. It was barely noticable, but I did notice it. The garment felt just as soft and lofty and there was no evidence of pilling.
Needles
Size US6 bamboo dpns and one circular needle.
Pattern and Size
The pattern is from Elizabeth Zimmerman's The Opinionated Knitter. My success with it is directly attributable to the hardwork of Dawn Adcock and her cheat sheet which I found linked at the knitting blog, Doulicia. I would have needed four times the time and an untold amount of patience to have waded through the brief newsletter directions that comprise this pattern.
As far as size, I'm not entirely sure. I just followed the pattern and hoped for the best. The recipient is a 6 month old and it fit her (even though poor Yellow Toot couldn't make it over baby's head!). Based on the EZ's pattern notes, the growth of this garment when wet, and finally, the nature of garter stitch, the sweater is expected to expand with use and grow with baby.
I almost forgot the ARGH! moment. If you follow the directions to a T, you will make button holes on BOTH sides of the cardigan. It was written before the advent of the ultrasound machine to inform expectant parents of the baby's sex. EZ brilliantly made it easy for buttons to be added to the correct side of the garment once the baby's sex was determined, after birth. Well, I knew the baby's sex so I was a little aggravated to have to sew up five holes. I wish there had been some forewarning, but what can you do. This still may come in handy as there are always parents with the will power to wait the nine months and be pleasantly surprised.
Half the battle for me with projects like this is facing the finishing touches. First, I couldn't decide on the buttons. I found these cute little mice at an LYS.
Then I found some more buttons at Joann Fabrics and decided, afterall, to forgo the mice and forgo making the harder decision of which of the Joann Fabrics buttons to use. Alternating these latter two seemed like the way to go.
Then I struggled with seaming up the shoulders. This sounded easy to me unitl I realized I would be seaming a garter stitch edge to my cast-on edge. Yikes! I've never seamed garter stitch bumps. Though, once I got over the thinking on it, and actually focused on the doing of it, I muddled my way through quite well. But I have no pictures to show my prowess. :-(
And there was a window between the stressing and the ah ha!, I might add, wherein hubby found life in the dining room to be a tad inhospitable to those of the homosapien persuasion. But life goes on. ;-)
What I found delightful is how washing changed the sweater. Using Yellow Toot for comparison, here you can see the expansion and contraction of the sweater:
The left half of the photo above shows the sweater after hand washing and air drying. The right half of the photo was taken before this first wash. This emboldenend me to throw it in the washer and dryer with regular clothes and wouldn't you know it, it returned to its prewash size. Perfect for the parents of a newborn.
So on to the wrap up
Yarn
About 352 yards of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted (175 grams, or 1 1/2 skeins) 100% superwash wool
This yarn felt wonderful knitting. In the first handwash the red bled, but not excessively. The wet garment looked as stringy as a cat when wet, but once dry it was once again soft and lofty. After the machine wash and dry there was some loss of color. It was barely noticable, but I did notice it. The garment felt just as soft and lofty and there was no evidence of pilling.
Needles
Size US6 bamboo dpns and one circular needle.
Pattern and Size
The pattern is from Elizabeth Zimmerman's The Opinionated Knitter. My success with it is directly attributable to the hardwork of Dawn Adcock and her cheat sheet which I found linked at the knitting blog, Doulicia. I would have needed four times the time and an untold amount of patience to have waded through the brief newsletter directions that comprise this pattern.
As far as size, I'm not entirely sure. I just followed the pattern and hoped for the best. The recipient is a 6 month old and it fit her (even though poor Yellow Toot couldn't make it over baby's head!). Based on the EZ's pattern notes, the growth of this garment when wet, and finally, the nature of garter stitch, the sweater is expected to expand with use and grow with baby.
I almost forgot the ARGH! moment. If you follow the directions to a T, you will make button holes on BOTH sides of the cardigan. It was written before the advent of the ultrasound machine to inform expectant parents of the baby's sex. EZ brilliantly made it easy for buttons to be added to the correct side of the garment once the baby's sex was determined, after birth. Well, I knew the baby's sex so I was a little aggravated to have to sew up five holes. I wish there had been some forewarning, but what can you do. This still may come in handy as there are always parents with the will power to wait the nine months and be pleasantly surprised.
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