My First Freeform Garment

I finally finished my first freeform garment--a cropped sweater for my infant daughter Keira in size 12 months. It should fit her in a few months when she turns 1. I started the sweater before Keira was born, took a break from it, and then went full-speed ahead until I finished it.

I drew out a template for the sleeves, fronts, and back based on a knitting schematic so I'd get the correct sizing. I had to make the sweater a little wider and the sleeves a little shorter in the end to make sure it would fit my daughter. It was easy to do since all I did was add some freeform bits to the width of the sides in front and back after I had already sewn the sleeves on. That widened the body and shortened the sleeves at the same time. After seaming up the sides, I added a sc border to the sleeves and sweater edge, which added a nice finishing touch. It also gave me an opportunity to add a buttonhole for a button I had in my stash.

I'd say I gravitate towards the circular shapes, shells, and garter stitch shapes the most in my freeform, probably because they're easy, quick, and look good. I also love to throw in bullions here and there, too. I tend to overthink the color and texture blending while freeforming, which slows me down, so it's good that I can at least make up some motifs quickly once I finally decide on the yarn to use.
I'll have to post more pictures of it being worn once my daughter is big enough for it.

Labor of Love

I finally finished the Vogue Knitting Baby Cardigan. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. For a baby knit, this sure did take a long time. I started this last summer before my daughter was born. I lost interest in it after she was born, mostly because of the weird shoulder shaping that I just couldn't seem to figure out, and the second sleeve became monotonous.

I finally got a chance to use my embroidery stitch book since I had really never hand embroidered before at all. The french knot was the most difficult for me to master, but I found a great video tutorial that helped me figure it out.

The sweater took longer to complete in the finishing stage, too. I ripped out the colloar and redid the back neckline because I didn't like how it dipped in the back. It made the back piece look shorter than the front even though they were the same length. If I were ever to make this sweater again, I would not place the middle back section on a stitch holder until I were finished with all the shoulder shaping. After that was said and done, I noticed that my buttons were placed too low, so I fixed them.

Here are the sweater variations:

• Yarn substituted: Knitpicks Shine Sport in pink
• Modified the back neckline and added 2 extra buttonholes

I'm glad I perservered and finished this even with all the setbacks and changes. It definitely was a labor of love, and Keira should be able to fit into it soon.

Sewing Kit

I went to Sarnia Artwalk last Sunday. It's always neat to see what other craftly people are doing, and I like to support independent artisans. While there I found an adorable halter dress sewing kit by Stacey White of Snug N Luv using Amy Bulter fabric. Stacey has some adorable things for sale and is quite talented!

I'm hoping to find a spare moment to sew this dress together for Keira. I don't think it'll fit her this summer, though, but definitely next summer.

Finishing Projects

I have so many projects for my daughter that I need to finish up so that I can post them. Right now I'm working on the following:

• Kids' Club Skirt--It looks like it won't fit her anytime soon. It was supposed to be 12 months size but looks like 2 years instead.
• VK baby sweater designed by Michelle Rose Orne--I just have to weave in ends and add the buttons.
• Freeform sweater--It now needs to be made larger for her, which is easy with freeform.

In the meantime I managed to make another Economical Baby Blanket. I just need to add the birth information and will take a picture of it. If I get around to it, I'll post instructions for how to add the edging to the blanket along with the modified edging pattern.

There are so many other patterns I want to try out for Keira before she gets too big. The problem is that I don't have time to knit them all. I probably will need to get out the calculator and resize the patterns for a larger size and/or use bulkier yarn for the project to get a larger size. A lot of the baby patterns use fine guage yarn, so I substituting sport or worsted weight yarn will proabably do the trick. It's a good thing I have a large stash!

Upside Down Daisy Hat

I finally took a picture of my daughter wearing the hat I made for her. She's pretty much outgrown it, so I'll have to make her another one for next winter.