Best Baby knitting book

Recently I was asked by my friend Michelle where the pattern came from for this sweater that I knit for Izumi.

She also received the bonnet to go with the sweater:

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I have knit almost every pattern out of this baby book.  It is the one that I go back to time and again, as I love the raglan sleeves for little ones.  The front cover shows a carriage blanket that I knit for Ethan when he was a baby, and gave to them for Izumi.  That one was a beautiful coral color, with a sparkly sheen, unfortunately, I do not have a photo of it.

In fact, this was not the only sweater from this book that I knit for Izumi before the was born, I also gave her this one at the baby shower, along with the matching hat:

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You can see that the book is a bit worse for wear, so I decided that it was time to order a replacement.  It was pretty easy to find on Amazon, and not at all expensive.

One would think that I could then give away the scrappy copy, but I opted to keep both.

You might be wondering why.  I want to keep knitting these patterns, and my original book was not going to last long.  However, sentimentality kept me from giving away the first.

This book was published in 1973, I was the big knitter in the house at the time.  Even though my mother had taught me to knit, she was not knitting at that time.  In fact, she never took up knitting again, but delved into crocheting lace doilies, and extensive quilting.  So, when I saw her name at the front of the book, I was not sure why, since this was most likely purchased (at Meijer Thrifty Acres, next to the Red Heart yarn) for me to knit gifts for family and friends.

I know that i knit this green sweater for a neighbor’s new baby:

And here are my favorites, I love the raglan sleeves and how they fit so well on babies.

This coat is on my “bucket list” to make for Izumi.  I never had time to knit something like this when Sofia was little.  I think that this would be a cute coat to have.

If you are interested in this book, it is available on Amazon here.  And, it is only slightly more expensive than the $1.50 we paid IN 1973!

 

Tiny Hands

Tiny Hands get cold too.  This pattern for thumbless mittens was made a few years ago for baby Ria.  I knew that a certain Colorado Baby-to-be would need these also.

Pattern: Nordic Baby Mitts
Pattern Source: Free from Knituition
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull, teal blue and mint green
Needles: US 2
Date Started: 11/?/17
Date Finished: 11/20/17
Finished Dimensions: baby 6-9 months

Next, I decided to try my hand at designing a pair of mittens, ones that the parents would love.  Had to be dog themed of course.  I had a lot of fun with this, and would love to publish the finished pattern.  For years, I have been on the search for a good knitting pattern template that I could use.  If there are any suggestions out there, it would be much appreciated.

The first mitten took a bit of trial and error, both in getting checkerboard pattern that worked and minimized dealing with long floats.  I am really happy with how they turned out, these are a bit bigger than the first, and I also opted for inserting a string to tie them on with.

After looking at the photos, I feel that they both would do with a nick soaking and drying flat to even out the stitches.  So excited to gift these.

Girl’s Weekend

I have not posted a lot recently, as I have been knitting the same pattern over and over again.  For last weekend’s 3rd annual girls away retreat, I made a pair of fingerless mitts for everyone in attendance (Free pattern here).  As the list grew and grew, I had to knit faster.  Luckily there were not any last minute additions.

It was so much fun to give these out.  I laid them on my bed and invited everyone in to choose a pair.

A glove toast!

The weekend was at a beautiful house on the shores of Lake Michigan.  My first step into my home State in over a year (the longest time away ever).

A weekend of great friends

Amazing food

And a few drinks…

So much laughter. Until next year…

Variations on a Theme

Lately I have been making fingerless mitts almost exclusively. These are all a variation on my pattern for Koigu Twisted Mitts.

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Last week I sent out a pair to my son Ethan and his Girlfriend.  They are both in school, without a car, and out walking or biking a lot.  I thought that these would come in handy.

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I have made this pattern so many times, that it is intuitive.  And, it is fun to change it up a bit.  Uses a lot of my leftover sock weight yarn, all you need is about 50 grams total.  Recently I have been making some that are smaller, as I realized that not everyone had big mitts like me.  A very easy take-along pattern to use.  In conjunction, when I have ribbing top and bottom, I use the tubular cast-on and tubular bind-off.  Both of these have been covered here and here.

Keeping Warm Indoors

My daughter has very cold hands in the winter, and her office is definitely not over-heated.  When she told me that she had to type a bit, then sit on her hands to warm them up, then type, I knew she needed some fingerless gloves for working.  Last year I made my husband a pair, and he now brings them back and forth from work (need to get a second pair for him also).  Even though I had been promising her flap mittens, I thought that these were in order first.

A simple pattern.  Since I am a numbers person, all multiples of 4.  Adjust lengths as needed…

FINGERLESS MITTS

• Use a fingering weight yarn of your choice
• Size 1 needles
• Cast-on 48 sts, join in a round
• K2, P2 for 24 rows
• K 12 rows St st.
• Increase for thumb gusset as follows:
  • K 23, PM, inc 1 st (by lifting up bar below)
  • K2, inc 1 st, PM
  • K23
  • Knit next round plain (26 sts, 4 for thumb)
  • Increase row by doing one increase inside each marker
  • Knit 1 row plain
  • When there are 22 sts for thumb, place thumb sts on holder after st st row

• Knit hand portion, CO 2 sts at thumb area (48 sts total).
• K24 rows st st
• *For top of mitt, Purl 1 row, K 1 row (to obtain garter st pattern) for 8 rows, last knit row is the bind-off row*
• Put 22 sts from thumb on needle, CO 2 sts at opening and K 4 rows
• Repeat * to* as for top of mitt.