Baby stuff II

Once I start, there's no stopping: I'm continuing my baby knit FO parade and there's more to come! I'm still a bit unsure about sizes but if I'm in doubt I'm always going for the bigger ones so that baby can still grow into it.

First one up is the "Little Waves" cardigan based on this jumper I knitted a few years ago and of which I still had some leftover yarn. Just enough for this cardi actually, I'm feeling so efficient using up all of my stash! The wave pattern is taken from Maria Carlander's "Little Scallops" hat, which is also still on my knitting list of future projects. The basic cardigan pattern is the same old "Raglan Baby Cardigan (top down)" pattern I've been using for most of my baby cardis. Originally, I was looking for boat-shaped buttons or anything maritime themed to match but couldn't find nice ones. For now the red ones are doing fine but I might change them later.

The second cardigan is constructed in a different way and knitted in one piece. The pattern is Drops' "Grey Gosling" and it was fun to see how it all came together because the whole cardigan is knitted sideways and then folded in half and seamed under the arms and on the sides. I've read on other blogs that many people don't like the Drops patterns because they aren't well written but I didn't have any issues with the instructions. It was quite straight forward and I didn't make any alterations. I wanted some neon buttons to go with it but again, I couldn't find the right kind. So i opted for those which are more lime green actually than it looks like in the photos. Also, blocking was not so easy with the garter stitch and I didn't want to overstretch it. That's why it doesn't look very neat in the photos.

I don't have any matching hats yet but I'm still debating whether it'll be worth it with the summer coming up (hopefully) soon. At the moment I'm working on something else and trying a new thing for me: cotton yarn. More in the next post.

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"Little Waves" cardigan
Basic pattern: "Raglan Baby Cardigan (top down)"
Incorporates: Maria Carlander's "Little Scallops" hat
Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply

"Grey Gosling" cardigan
Pattern: Drops Design "Grey Gosling"
Yarn: Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 120; colourway 192 (Medium Grey)

Baby blanket

Another one of those lovely Purl Soho patterns! I had an eye on the "Colourful Wedges Baby Blanket" for a long time, mainly because of the original colour scheme (see my previous post about this obsession of mine) and now finally the occasion has come.

Knitting blankets is usually not my favourite thing to do, actually I think it's a bit of a waste of time and yarn. To make a decent size blanket with decent yarn you have to spend a fortune and then you can't even wash it in most cases. Plus there are so many cute baby blankets available to buy (such as this one for example which I splurged on in a moment of weakness) that I'd rather spend my time on knitting teeny-weany clothes.

But this one is different! I had some yarn in my stash that I recycled from a scarf I knitted years ago - I still love the colours but the scarf was a bit meh. Perfect colour combination and amount for this baby blanket, almost as pretty as the original colour scheme.

After finishing the first wedge I realized that with casting on 130 stitches, I'm very very close to running out of yarn at the end. I just managed with the petrol coloured yarn but with the grey I was already playing "yarn chicken" and with the orange it was even tighter. So I decided to do the "wrap and turn" for the short rows every 5 stitches instead of every 4 stitches. That changes the shape of the wedges a little but I don't mind that.

Hooray, in the end I had just enough yarn to finish the blanket!