A Baby FO

Hello there! I have been busy, a-knittin’ and a-stashin’. First, I am proud to say that I finally finished seaming the sleeves on Poppy. I just could not figure out the seaming for set-in sleeves, so she has been languishing for some time now. Knitting has taught me that I am a really visual learner, so I usually need more than one knitting book diagram to figure things out. But this time, I read every knitting book I have, and none of the descriptions or diagrams really clicked. Luckily, I have recently subscribed to Interweave Knits, and had access to the Subscriber-Only Content. They have a section called “Beyond the Basics” where there are tutorials on lots of aspects of knitting. The one called Perfect Seams, Part II was my key to finishing this cutie:



Pattern: Poppy, Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora magazine
Yarn: Blue Sky Dyed Cotton, Color 618
Difficulty: Harder than it looks! Lots of picking up stitches. May have been more of a challenge because the yarn I used had a larger row gauge than the yarn specified in the pattern.
Completion Time: I knitted the pieces in a weekend – the finishing took much longer!

The Dyed Cotton (at least the skeins I bought) has a really odd smell – this garment will need a good washing before I can send it off to its recipient. But, I can see now why set-in sleeves can make a really nice-looking garment. And now that I’ve done it in baby size, maybe I can tackle some me-sized set-in sleeves!

In other knitting news, I have made a good start on the Rebecca Wrap Cardi. Apparently, I have a purple fixation going on - check it out:




This pattern lays out a really nice road map for the stitch pattern – it’s so easy to follow and you don’t have to worry about partial motifs, because they’ve already figured out how many will work on a row. My goal is to finish this before the second weekend of May, when the b.f. and I will be going to NYC. We are going to see Avenue Q, and just generally enjoy ourselves. I have never seen a show on Broadway! It will be great fun.

Anyhoo, I guess that’s it for me today. Next post – stash enhancement! Why someone who is going to Maryland Sheep and Wool in two weeks would buy yarn is beyond me. But it’s cotton, so that’s okay, right? ;-)

Happy knitting, everyone!