Small Things Baby Sweater

I've got babies on the brain lately.  Two of my sisters-in-law due this month, both with little girls, and one delivered this week.  Heaven!!!!

Personally, I'm going back and forth between worrying about how on earth I will manage six kids, stressing out about the five I already have, and daydreaming about stuff I want to do:  the garden I want to plant, the decorating I want to do, and the knitting ahead.  I'm pretty sure that most of what I plan to do will get lost in the shuffle as it usually does.  Those chickens will probably have to wait a couple more years, as will that kitchen makeover.

Thank goodness for the knitting.  It's the one thing that I never have to set aside, since it goes with me, to appointments, on road trips, while keeping the kids from coloring on the walls, or listening to them recount every last little event from their days..........

And baby knitting, it's the best kind.  Who doesn't love stuff in miniature anyway? The fact that smaller things finish really fast isn't lost on me either.

I'm getting pickier about what I knit for babies though.  Especially when I remember those first little things I made for my own kiddos.  Blankets, booties, hats, soakers, leggings.  It was fun, but I'm not so quick to cast-on to just any pattern anymore.  It's not like I don't want to try out new patterns, because I certainly do, like the Small Things Baby Sweater above, it's just that I look for patterns with certain details, like no seams, growability (is that a word?), etc, that I didn't before.

Since I've much more baby knitting yet to do, including some things for my own kiddo coming this summer, I'm planning to post sometime soon about my favorite baby knits for both boys and girls.

For this gift for my littlest neice, I had set out to knit two other sweaters, but at the last minute this pattern jumped out at me. That, and I had this amazing yarn that I bought during our anniversary trip this summer.  I am in love with hand-dyed yarns.  This one is Madelintosh, Tosh Vintage, Superwash Merino Wool, and the color is Blackcurrant.  It was hard to get my camera to expose properly for the pictures, I am currently in the process of learning about how lightmeters get tricked by dark and light colors, so it looks a bit more purple than it is.  It is a dark burgundy color, with flecks of wine in it.  Never had seen a yarn like it before. Stunning colors.

Eric (hubby) helped me make a new batch of tree branch buttons.  This time some from cherry and cedar besides the original fir buttons. The cedar is the clear winner, they came out beautifully.  And since we live smack in the middle of a grove of cedars, I'm thinking I'll always be able to make them.  Which is a very good thing because I don't think I could ever tire of them!

I love the shaping in this sweater, almost Kimono-like.  Lots of detail in the stitching, but not a difficult knit at all.  This one definitely makes my list of favorite baby knits.  I'll be making this one again.

All it needed was my favorite pixie hat and booties to go with it!  I have modified the Pixie Hat pattern to add in eyelet holes along the bottom for the ties.  It makes it really fit a variety of sizes - always a consideration with baby hats!  My mods are on Ravelry if you want to see how I did that.

And after knitting a million pairs of my favorite Stay-On Booties, I finally figured out how to slip stitches on the instep for neater edge detail, don't know why it took me so long there.  This yarn is Malabrigo Arroyo Merino Wool in the color Lotus. Love the tonal colors.

Now I'm on to knitting for the next baby!  Baby sweaters are so addicting, I can't remember the last time I knitted an adult size sweater - though I mean to, but babies always come first.  At least in my book :)

Happy Knitting.
Sharing with Frontier Dreams Keep Calm Craft On
and Ginny's Small Things