Kiss My Knits!

Just in time for a baby shower tomorrow night, I’ve completed booties and hat. They wanted something pink, so it’s pink with a vengeance. The hat is a combination of the “Li’l Devil Baby Hat” and the “Official Kitty62 Hat” from kittyville.com. I believe there’s an adult devil hat in “Stitch ‘N Bitch” too. In retrospect, I could have gone smaller and it would have been fine. The hat and booties together only used about 2/3 of a skein of Lamb’s Pride Worsted, and I even doubled it on the booties to make ’em nice and thick. So the whole project came in for less than 7 bucks in materials. We’ll leave aside the question of labor, of course.

It’s too small for my five-year-old, but nonetheless I made her put it on (before I attached the pom-poms) so I could see it. And now I must share with all of you.

I do like to do something new for every project, so for this one, the new thing was a provisional cast-on around a crochet chain. And pom-poms. I’d never made pom-poms. Pretty easy, since McGyverish directions are out there on the web. 🙂

I’m pleased! Now, I must wrap. And no, I won’t be hand-crafting the wrapping paper.

Yet another friend is having a baby. This friend was a bridesmaid in my wedding, so whatever I make for her, it HAS to be right. So far I started this, which, making the 12 month size, was way too big. (That’s from the Haiku pattern in Knitty, by the way, and is just too cute for words.) I’m not going to frog it, but will finish it as other projects allow. I’m already halfway around the body and it’s a perfectly good project.

Then I decided to make some felted booties, and thought that I’d do them from a nice high-end yarn. I picked Naturwolle, which is handspun by a woman in Black Forest in Germany. Nice stuff, which it ought to be for the price. We even have a brand new yarn store in town that carries it, and other super-ritzy mildly overpriced yarns, so I picked some up. Unfortunately, the store’s lighting isn’t that hot, and apparently my EYES aren’t that hot either, and I didn’t realize just how much of this wasn’t pink. Morever, I didn’t perceive the green at all until I had knit it up.

I knitted up these booties and then felted them down into these. That shiny thing is a quarter for scale. Now, these are pretty cute little moccasins, and I think every baby needs a pair of earthy little shoes to lounge around in, but whatever I make for my friend has to be pink. This was made known in no uncertain terms. Pink. These aren’t quite what they’re looking for, I feel sure.

So now I get to drop back and do something else. This time, I’m just lettin’ go of all the fanciness and making a nice hat and bootie set in “Victorian Pink” Lamb’s Pride Bulky. It’s about $6.50 a skein as opposed to $22 for the Naturwolle. I figure I can do little felted flowers on the front of the booties and it’ll be a nice touch.

The baby shower is Sunday. Wish me luck.

Yet another friend is having a baby. This friend was a bridesmaid in my wedding, so whatever I make for her, it HAS to be right. So far I started this, which, making the 12 month size, was way too big. (That’s from the Haiku pattern in Knitty, by the way, and is just too cute for words.) I’m not going to frog it, but will finish it as other projects allow. I’m already halfway around the body and it’s a perfectly good project.

Then I decided to make some felted booties, and thought that I’d do them from a nice high-end yarn. I picked Naturwolle, which is handspun by a woman in Black Forest in Germany. Nice stuff, which it ought to be for the price. We even have a brand new yarn store in town that carries it, and other super-ritzy mildly overpriced yarns, so I picked some up. Unfortunately, the store’s lighting isn’t that hot, and apparently my EYES aren’t that hot either, and I didn’t realize just how much of this wasn’t pink. Morever, I didn’t perceive the green at all until I had knit it up.

I knitted up these booties and then felted them down into these. That shiny thing is a quarter for scale. Now, these are pretty cute little moccasins, and I think every baby needs a pair of earthy little shoes to lounge around in, but whatever I make for my friend has to be pink. This was made known in no uncertain terms. Pink. These aren’t quite what they’re looking for, I feel sure.

So now I get to drop back and do something else. This time, I’m just lettin’ go of all the fanciness and making a nice hat and bootie set in “Victorian Pink” Lamb’s Pride Bulky. It’s about $6.50 a skein as opposed to $22 for the Naturwolle. I figure I can do little felted flowers on the front of the booties and it’ll be a nice touch.

The baby shower is Sunday. Wish me luck.

You know what? I’m just not happy with the way the booties are turning out. I did a suspended bind-off for a nice loose edge to the foothole, but apparently that was too fancy for the pattern and now it’s *too* loose. There’s a row in the bottom of the sole that was done wrong, and while I don’t think anybody else would notice it, I’ll know. Then there’s the matter of those puckers.

Knitting’s supposed to be fun, and if I’m looking around, thinking “Hmm… what else can I make?” instead of picking this back up, then I shouldn’t be doing it. I think I’m going to put this bootie aside and try another design.

Finally finished a project. But really, I had to, before the baby grew too big! Here’s another view to show the sole, done in seed stich.

The pattern is a combination of two bootie patterns from “50 Baby Bootees to Knit.” Buying the book may have been overkill, but enough people are having kids now that I’ve gotta be prepared! The yarn is Lana Gatto “Feeling” which is 70% wool, 20% silk, 10% cashmere. I got it on sale at Angel Hair Yarn in Nashville on the way home from Simucon this year, and it is soooooo soft! Perfect for any kind of baby wear, but way too expensive unless it was half off – which this was! Woo, I win!

What did I learn from this project? I learned more about the ‘feel’ of fair isle knitting, which is how the hearts were created. Next time I think I’ll be able to make it more elastic. I also learned that I really like working with little needles (size 2, 2.75mm), so I’m really ready for the next person who wants a baby project. Fortunately, a friend here in town is 6 months gone, and I’ve got a lot of this yarn left.

Here’s hoping the recipient of the booties likes them. I know I enjoyed making them, and thinking about this wonderful person!