Little Cardi's

This is (barring something strange happening) my last post from a baby-free zone... and possibly my last post for a while.

In addition to all the baby gifts and little bits and pieces, I've also been working on a couple of more substantial baby knits.

First up is Snug (ravelry link), a little hooded jacket:

The yarn is Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky in Oak, knitted on 6mm needles. As the baby is going to be growing rapidly over the warm summer months, I'm hoping that this will do instead of a proper jacket at first. It's very stretchy and lovely and warm, and will hopefully see lots of wear.

The other project is a Drops Baby Jacket:

I've been working on this for ages due to yarn availability issues, but finally got it off the needles last week, crocheted the edging and blocked it. The last step was putting on the buttons yesterday.

The yarn is Artesano Alpaca 100% Baby Alpaca 4 ply, knitted on 2.25mm needles. I knitted the 6-9 months size as I wanted the baby to get a decent amount of wear out of this top, considering the amount of work that went into it!

The only modification I made was to crochet an edging all the way round the piece, rather than pick up and knit an edging onto the neck-line alone.

Both of these projects have an unusual end-on construction which seems to work really well for baby projects where shaping isn't too much of an issue.

More Baby Gifts

The march of the baby gifts goes on...

Today we have another Celestine Sox containing a jingle cat toy for a friend's little boy:

The yarn is Regia Colour Sock yarn in Zanzibar. Knitted on 2.25mm needles and stuffed with polyester stuffing and a pile of old yarn ends.

Next up is a Toadstool Rattle containing another jingle cat toy for another friend's little boy:

The yarn is the left-over Old Maiden Aunt Merino Sock yarn from the Resident Radiologist's scarf. Knitted on 2.25mm needles and stuffed with polyester toy stuffing.

Finally, I've made another Baby Berry Hat for my sister to give to one of her colleagues:

The yarn is Pisgah Peaches and Creme in Shocking Pink and Apple Green. Knitted on 4mm needles.

One of these has already been delivered, and the other two go in the post today. I'm working to a pretty strict timetable now as I fully expect the bump to be on the outside on Wednesday this week...

Labour of Love

The longest and least interesting project in my work pile is finally off the needles.

This scarf originated with the November 2009 installment of the Old Maiden Aunt sock yarn club. I unwrapped the package and my husband pounced immediately, noting that the colours were a slightly more tasteful version of his house colours from school.

He already had one scarf that I had crocheted for him, which was in pretty much constant use, so another would allow for laundry breaks.

The pattern is a straight-forward 2x2 rib over 80 stitches on 3.5mm needles for 72 inches. There's a two inch border in brown at each end and the rest is two-row stripes with the yarn carried up the edge. The yarn is hand-dyed on a 100% merino base which is absolutely beautiful and has a lovely drape on these size needles.

I'm thinking it looks a bit Gap-does-Eton. He likes it immensly and has already worn it, despite the improving weather.