2016 may have been designated as the Year of Finishing, but let's face it, things happen in knitting and in life that thwart the best of intentions and provide me with yet another excuse to leave my unfinished pile in its sad, neglected state a bit longer.
First is the upcoming arrival of a new baby in my family. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to contribute to her baby wardrobe, and I only got started recently, which means that my gift may arrive a tiny bit late. No photo today -- but I am making up for lost time and already thinking of other must-knit projects in order to mark the occasion properly.
Second is another baby project; this one is a simple cardigan, which I intend to contribute to a project spearheaded by a friend. Maureen has committed to putting together baby kits to be distributed to families in need by World Church Services, with a baby sweater in each kit. I settled on a simple cardigan and combined an old pattern with some stash yarn.
I decided to experiment with the edging and tried a couple of rows in reverse stockinette, hoping it would roll under the edge in an attractive fashion, but instead, it behaved exactly as regular stockinette, rolling up on the body of the sweater. No amount of steaming could make the edging behave, so this happened instead.
In about one hour, I had the offending edging removed, with live stitches at the bottom of the sweater ready for a new and improved edging -- most likely garter stitch, once I have a chance to return to this project. The body was knitted in one piece with phony seams at each underarm, and the shoulders assembled with a 3-needle bind-off. Next, I will knit the sleeves circularly down from the armholes. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Merino DK, a nice wool that should keep a baby properly warm.
As for my last infidelity -- here it is. On a recent vacation in New York, I replenished my modest stash of sock yarns and cast on at JFK airport, waiting for my flight home. A couple of days later, my knitting gurus Kay and Ann started a one-sock-knitalong which I could not possibly resist joining. In my case, this will be a one sock and 3/4 of another one KAL. I rarely participate in KAL's, and this one is a nice opportunity to educate myself about all aspects of sock-knitting thanks to the project thread on Ravelry and the fantastic compendium of links that Ann posted here. My plain ribbed socks should be finished in a few days, and then it's going to be all baby knitting for a while -- infidelities for good causes, all.
A new baby to knit for...does it get much better than that? I also have a tried & true baby sweater that's my go-to pattern. Yours looks lovely.
Posted by: cathy | May 22, 2016 at 05:13 PM