a silhouette in dreams

My experience knitting baby clothes is extremely limited- I've not had the chance to knit that many garments, and I think this sweater is about my fourth career baby garment.

This is actually the second time I've knit this sweater, but it's been years since the last one. I love how it's a unisex style, looks nice and cozy, and is interesting but not crazy to knit. You're supposed to use an aran weight yarn, but of course I couldn't find one that was affordable/washable, so I decided that gauge didn't really matter and held two strands of Berroco Vintage DK together. It worked out perfectly!

The buttons (naturally) are my favorite part. It seems like I can't knit a baby sweater without button drama, so it came as no surprise that I would need an additional button. Why on earth would I have bought an extra? Sigh, we never learn. Again, luck was on my side and I was able to get an extra at the yarn shop...which is good, because these buttons worked perfectly and provided all the right kinds of contrast. Hooray, my first finished knitting project in months!

the balance is chasing after

Finally, finally I knit a flower for these leaves! I knitted them so long ago...a year ago tomorrow, in fact, judging by the dates on the photographs.

They worked really well as embellishments for a gift...attached to a safety pin, this could be re-used, worn on a coat or something. My responsibility for this object's creative use ended after the gift was wrapped!


And of course, a button! They make everything better. I'm pretty sure my button obsession is getting out of hand, but they're inexpensive, quirky ways to make things look really cute. I'm still regretting the jar of buttons I left at a rummage sale years ago. NEVER pass up an opportunity to expand your button collection!

try this trick and spin it, yeah

It's finished! Not quite as soon as I would have liked, but it's super cute and I can't wait to give it to the mother-to-be. Knitting baby things is so satisfying because the knitting goes so fast...10 inches and you've got a sleeve! This really would have been done in the weekend I had aimed for if the weather had cooperated...we were in Chicago and it was absolutely frigid outside, so no knitting got done or my hands would have frozen!!!

Funny story about this sweater (and me in general): these are not the original buttons I bought for this project. They look the same, yes...but the little plastic bag with the original five buttons is absolutely nowhere to be found. Those of you who know me well will understand how silly this is...I'm a little OCD about organizing and cleaning, so usually I know where everything is all the time. I fear that this time, though, I got a little overzealous in my cleaning and lost something instead of putting somewhere useful (or logical, apparently). I went to the yarn store right down the road and got SO lucky- they had a whole tube of the exact same buttons! I had originally bought the very last of them at a shop in Plymouth, MI. Phew! Bullet dodged.

I had planned the whole sweater around the adorable fish buttons!

all things go

Thought I would squeeze in one quick blog post to end September...and with it, a knitting challenge...I'm traveling to Chicago this weekend (reference the song in this post's tags) and this baby gift needs to be finished ASAP. I've got the back and one half of a cardigan front done, all I have to do are the sleeves and another front (although this one will be a little slower, it's the band I have to place buttons in).

I'm using an all-acrylic yarn from Berroco called Comfort. I'm usually anti-acrylic, but this one knits up really softly and isn't too snaggy- my only issue is that the ends tend to get tangled around the working yarn and can be nearly impossible to separate. Otherwise, it's a lovely yarn...a good value, good wear, and it's machine wash and dry!

Check out those buttons...I'm in love. Little yellow fish!