Baby Shrug and Booties

Here are some last-minute projects I finished for the baby before she arrived on the 18th. They're both a newborn size, but neither one fits Keira yet! She's a tiny gal, but will grow, so I hope to get a picture of her in them soon!

The shrug is from this pattern I found online and the booties are from an Annie's Attic crocheted booties booklet by Carolyn Christmas.

Socks for the baby

My friend Mary knitted these adorable socks for my daughter using 2 circular needles. She used Panda Cotton for the pink ones and other pair are made with Maizy. Aren't they great? I'll have to take a picture of them on the baby when she arrives.

Freeform Sweater Progress

I've made a lot of progress this week with the size 12 months freeform baby bolero sweater I've been working on intermittently. I have the fronts and back finished and assembled, and have almost finished one sleeve. I'm really enjoying the creative process with this, although I need to stop overanalyzing my placement at times and just get 'er done!

I've been using templates in order to get the shapes right. It's been very helpful but a bit tricky at the end to square off the sides. I used a schematic from a knitted baby cardigan pattern so that all the pieces would fit well.

Bumble Bee Hat and Booties Set

I decided that my baby girl after she arrives will be a bee for Halloween. I wanted a hat and booties for the costume, so I used a MagKnits pattern by Erssie Major for the set, which I modified from the original in order to suit my taste. I knitted the booties and hat with Lily Elite Cotton in black and yellow. I still have to buy the ribbons to add to the hat and booties.

I have a black size 2T turtleneck that I plan to modify to make a smocked dress with some bee embroidery to use for the costume as well. If I have the time, I'll make some tulle wings to finish off the costume.

Pants to Match Cutie Patootie

Even though there was no matching pants pattern for the Cutie Patootie sweater I made, I was determined to find one I could use/modify to make a pair. A friend gave me a Patons Cuitie Pie baby pattern book that had a pair of pants in it that I decided to see if I could modify. I did a little math to recalculate the stitch count, since the Bernat Soy was a heavier weight than the Patons Bumblebee it was written for. I also left off the granny square cuffs at the bottom replacing them with a longer pant and the picot trim I used for the sweater.

I'm very pleased with how the pants turned out. I didn't finish the elastic off yet because I'm going to wait until my baby is ready to wear them and customize the fit.

You can see the set looks like it was made from two matching patterns.

Debby Ware Booties Finished

I actually finished this bootie a while ago, but have just been too busy to post. Here is the complete set. I used fuschia Lion Fun Fur, pink and fuschia Patons Grace, and white Patons Bumblebee for the booties. I'd like to make another pair using colors to match the pattern.

Works In Progress

Here are the projects I'm currently working on: The Debby Ware Girly Girl Bobble Booties and a freeform bolero in various shades of pinks.

I made these booties earlier but modified them to suit a boy instead of a girl. I'm very happy that I got the opportunity to make the girl version! I love the touch of eyelash on them!

For the bolero, I'm using a template so that I can get my scrumbles the correct size. I haven't decided if I'll be doing the sleeves in back in freeform as well or if I'll make them in the tossed salad style of switching up yarns and stitch patterns in a row-by-row format.

Another Upside-Down Daisy Baby Hat

I just finished this hat last week for my baby girl in the oven. It's from the Itty-Bitty Hats book by Susan B. Anderson. I used Lily Sugar 'n' Cream yarn for the 0-6 month size hat. It was a quick knit!

Cutie Patootie Baby Sweater

Well last month I found out that I'll be having a baby girl in September, so I was able to finish this sweater with pink edging!

I have enough yarn left over that I should be able to make a pair of pants to match. I have some baby pants patterns, but none call for the size 8 needles. One uses size 7 and the other uses size 6. I'll have to do some math calculations to get it to work for me.

• Pattern: Cutie Patootie by Berroco
• Yarn used: Bernat Soy, 2 balls Rice, less than 1 ball Raspberry
• Size 8 needles
• Size: 6 months

Rosamund Baby Blanket Progress

I've been working on the Berroco Rosamund granny square baby blanket pattern off and on between other projects. I'm planning on having it done by the time my next baby arrives in September.
The pattern calls for 12, 18-inch squares to be made in order to make up the blanket. I'm only going to make 9 squares, which will be plenty big for a baby.

Instead of the Berroco yarn I'm using Bernat LuLu and Satin yarns in shades of white, yellow, and lavender. I've been deciding my own color order for the squares and just using the pattern as a guideline for how many rows to make for each square or series of squares.

Kids' Club Skirt

I have the book Greetings from Knit Cafe and have been dying to make the Kids' Club Skirt, although I had no little girl to make it for. I decided to make it for my friend's daughter for her 5th birthday because I thought she would like it. Her mom says she definitely will!

The only thing I did different from the pattern was use garter stitch at the bottom of the skirt instead of the 2x2 ribbing. I didn't want the skirt to pull in at the bottom.

I loved using a bunch of bright yarns I had leftover from other projects, including the 2 magic balls I created for the fun of it. This was a quick, easy knit and a lot of fun. It was so much fun that I can't wait to make another one!

Economical Baby Shower Blanket

When I saw a fleece blanket with crochet edging pattern in the August 2006 issue of Crochet Today, I knew I had to try it out. I had fleece and could sew a blanket stitch to use as a foundation for the crochet edging. Shortly thereafter I saw fleece baby blankets at the Dollar Tree store that already had the blanket stitch edging and got the idea to put on a crochet edging on an already-made blanket. I scooped up about 5 of them just to use for future gifts.

Well, I got the opportunity to edge one of those blankets when I needed a last-minute gift for a baby shower. I got out some worsted weight Bernat Satin-type yarn I had on hand to use to edge the blanket. I was planning on using the edging pattern from the Crochet Today pattern, but that was intended for a novelty-type yarn and the stitch pattern wasn't that interesting. I remembered a Family Circle granny square blanket pattern that I had made had a nice edging, so I got out the issue with the pattern and modified the edging to suit the blanket. It turned out really well, and the project only cost a few dollars to make, too!

The next time I edge another one of these dollar store blankets I'm going to embroider the baby's information since I can do that with my sewing machine. That will give it a more personal touch!

Indianapolis Colts Hat with Charted Horsehoe

My brother is a huge Indianapolis Colts fan, so I decided to knit him a Colts hat. I couldn't find a Colts hat pattern, so I decided to use a hat pattern and add the horseshoe.

I looked online for a charted Colts horseshoe but couldn't find one. I decided to give charting my own a try. I downloaded a Colts Horsehoe graphic and overlayed it on some knitting graph paper, tweaking it from there. What I have posted here is what I came up with.

I made two attempts at knitting this hat. In my first attempt, I found a hat pattern for a double-knit hat that I could use to make a reversible hat. I got the hang of double-knitting but found it tedious. It was great for adding a charted pattern, though, since there is no carrying of yarn to worry about. When I finally finished the hat, I was disappointed with it. It turns out that my purl stitches (the inside layer of the hat) were much looser than my knit stitches (the outside layer). Since I couldn't fix the hat, I ripped it all out and started over.

In my next attempt, I used a basic knitted in the round hat pattern. I just knit the hat in blue and used duplicate stitch to add the horseshoe after the hat was completed. This process was much quicker and turned out much better, as you can see above.

Feel free to use this chart for your Indianapolis Colts gear!

A Large Project Finished!

Here's what I've been working on and off for the past few months--a blanket project for a former classmate of mine who found out she has colon cancer. For more details on the project, look here.