Bootilicious

I've been on a booty making kick lately. Wait till you see how many baby bootees I have made in the past few months. There's a good reason for it of course. A friend of mine had a baby and usually that's reason enough to make a pair of booties.  But my friends baby got sick, real sick. And I thank God that she is well and healthy and thriving today. But she did lose a foot. She is too small for a prosthetic but her mom likes to put bootees on her. So she asked me to knit some for her. How could I say no? 

 

 This is the most recent pair that I finished. The pattern is from The Yarn Harlot. I love them. I love the look of garter stitch in variegated yarn. The yarn is socks that rock by blue moon fibre arts.  It is so vibrant and beautiful. And I just love those little pom-poms.

 This pair is also garter stitch. This time in a worsted weight yarn from Rhichard Devrieze that is speckled. Speckled yarns are all the rage right now.  The pattern is from The knitted slipper book by Katie Starzman (which is an absolute joy by the way). There are so many great patterns in this book!! I knit another one from this book too. 

 

 

These little slippers are knit and then felted down. They also come from Katie Starzman's book. I love the needle felted flowers. My daughter gave me some textured paint to use on slipper bottoms along time ago. This is the first time I've ever used it and I love it. Reagan tried these out and they definitely make for a no skid surface. They aren't sized for a baby of course. These were for the baby's older sister. There was no way I could gift a bunch of baby booties and not have something for the older sibling. That's just not how I roll. 

 

Now these mock shoes are to die for!! I love love love them. Whenever I talk about them my voice automatically switches into babyspeak and it's several octaves higher than it should be. I can't help myself. Amy says there's an actual name on this phenomenon. People do this all over the world. It's been studied extensively by linguists. Good to know i'm not the only crazy person out there. I thought they couldn't get any cuter and then I sewed the Daisy button on. Swoon!!! The pattern is by Bekka Knits and it's called Baby Merry-Janes. 

 

These also have the potential to make my voice go several octaves higher. Just look at those tassels. The pattern is from a Norwegian designer named Heidi Pettersen. It's called Lillebrors vintersko. I knit them using Spud and Chloe Sweater yarn. This yarn is super wash and it's a wool/cotton blend.

 

These aren't quite finished yet. There is no pattern for them. I'm making the pattern up as I go along. I love the way the bootie looks.  I'm sure when there's two of them they will look even better. I'm crazy about the picot edge. It's so much fun to knit. I'm worried they may be a little small for my friends baby. But that's ok because I'm gonna need some test knitted when I decide to publish this pattern. A larger size will fit the bill. 

Sweet Things

It seems to me that certain types of babies are born in batches. I don't know if its something in the water or what it is, but there is a phenomenon afoot. For the past 5 years it seems we have had an abundance of boy babies being born. Any coworker who had a baby - turned out to be a boy! Young friends - all boys. Family members - all boys. We have 3 grandbaby boys to prove it!! But lately, I've been noticing a shift. It started with Lisa (a coworker) in January. She had a little girl. I was so happy to knit for her!! Its been forever that I knit anything for a baby girl.

Next up was a young friend of Kev's. They too had a girl. Kev requested something special for this young couple so I set to work knitting. Now, this baby is also the great granddaughter of my local LYS owner! I had to knit something special!!

So I set to work. I picked out a special yarn. Its a club yarn no less - supposedly destined for a different project, but this is superwash (which is important for new moms) and the colour was outstandingly gorgeous (which is important for impressing your local lys owner) The yarn is by called Andrea May by Studio June on etsy. It was a club colourway from Ann Hanson's Fall into Full Colour Club. Ann's pattern for this shipment was lovely, but I could envision this baby sweater so clearly. It just spoke to me.

The pattern I chose is Cascade from the emagazine Petite Purls The reason I chose this pattern is in no small part due to Jasmine of the Knitmore Girls podcast fame. She has been knitting her daughter this little sweater and talking about it on her podcast. She has also been posting pics on Instagram I've been smitten.

Now, to push this little sweater into even more awesomeness, I sewed a grosgrain ribbon into the button band. The Knitmores have been big advocates of this. It makes the garment more special and it has the benefit of preventing the button band from stretching out and pulling out of shape.











It is a special little sweater and I couldn't be more pleased. If you are interested in sewing a grosgrain ribbon into your cardigans, I highly recommend checking out the Knitmore girls video tutorial! I am certain that you will learn something!

Next up - booties. My coworker Jody is having a baby....and yes, its a girl. There is something in the water, I tell ya!

Still with the cowls

I seem to be on a never ending quest to keep knitting these things until I find the perfect one for myself. I may keep the green one. The orangey one is knit in Fleece Artist kid aran. I liked the colours in the skein, but not so much as it is being knit. I will be gifting this. They are both from free pattern recipes that I found on ravelry. One is here...http://newtonsknitting.blogspot.com/2008/10/garter-cowl.html

The other is here....http://www.ravelry.com/projects/insaknitty/wham-bam-thank-you-lamb-neckwarmer

I also made another pair of saartje booties. I forgot how cute they are.



These are done in Dream in Color Classy (or smooshy?) leftovers from the tulips baby cardigan kit that I bought a long time ago.