Booties, Blankets, and a Surprise

I love knitting baby stuff (no secret there) so I was quite thrilled to learn that some colleagues and friends were expecting earlier this year.  Finally, a great excuse to knit up some of those patterns in the queue.

 

It was love at first sight for the Merry Janes and Moc-a-Soc patterns, so adorable that I would have knit these even if I didn't know anyone expecting.  I knit both in the smallest size.  The yarns used  were Filatura di Crosa Cashmere/Seta (less than 20 g) for the red booties, and Rio de la Plata sock yarn (in French blue, about 15g) for the blue.  All the 'socks' were knit in Louet Gems Pearl in white.  The pattern calls for sportweight yarn, so the blue ones turned out a bit smaller than the red, maybe more like newborn-3 month size.  The red ones were a little more fiddly than the blue ones because of the straps and buttons, but it was certainly worth the extra time. 

I don't think EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket needs any introduction.  I used up a whole skein of Fleece Artist's 3/6 superwash merino (sportweight version of their sock yarn) in the Sunrise colorway, and didn't make any alterations to the pattern.  It was as much fun knitting this one as I had the first one a while back.  Certainly part of the fun is not having much seaming to do. :-)

    

As cute as the booties and clothes are, the practical side of me prefers to give blankets, which babies can't outgrow so fast.  Besides, they're great stash-busting projects too!  The pattern for the white blanket is from Sarah Dallas' Knitting.  I used Rowan Handknit Cotton (Bleached, 10 balls instead of the 14 in the pattern because that was all I had in the stash), and for the edging, used remnants of the same yarn from this sweater.  Finally, a use for some of the odds and ends (there was less than 10 g in this case) from all the projects that I keep hoarding. 

The knitting was very quick for this simple pattern, and the final measurements were about 30 x 32 inches.  This went to a colleagues's little boy, along with the little blue suede shoes, way back in March.  He's probably outgrown the booties a long time ago, but I'm sure the blanket is still going strong!

More stash busting by knitting the Mason-Dixon Baby Moderne Blanket.  The white and pink Rowan Cotton Glace were in the stash so I only had to buy some green.  This blanket used up three balls each of Bleached, Bubbles (dark pink), and Shoot (green), and four balls of Glee (light pink).  I knit it on 3.5 mm needles, and only knit more rows in the last section to use up most of the yarn, and also to widen the blanket because the gauge here was smaller than the one in the pattern.  The final measurements after washing was about 29 x 32 inches.

One of my favorite blankets ever! 

Comments

[Ingrid]

Wow! You have been busy. I love the baby blankets - I have quite a few more to finish this year, lots of my firends having babies!

[Nicole]

Holy moly! So many lovely knits for some very lucky babies!!!

[Maryann]

All so cute! The BSJ is especially lovely! And I've been thinking a log cabin with my Rowan Cotton Glace just the other day - and it's so inspiring to see it all knitted up! :)

[sue]

You have been so busy. What lucky recipients they will be to receive all those beautiful gifts. I especially love the cabled blanket, beautiful.

[Joy]

Gorgeous little white blanket!!! So adorable. And I love the jacket too.