Jul 24 2007
Labor of Love
I knit this sweater and hat for Miss Z. I believe I started the sweater in mid-June and finished knitting it a week ago. I finally sewed in the sleeves on Saturday night and started the hat. The hat got finished today while AJ played at McD’s Playland.
The pattern is from Interweave Knits and is called Pea Pod Baby Set. It’s free if you sign up for their new blog, Knitting Daily. The yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Cotton Ball. I used Brittany DPNs size 5 to knit the hat and my KnitPicks Options needles in size 5 to knit the sweater. It took me a bit longer than it should have for a few reasons:
1. There were 3 false starts on the sweater due to me being confused about how to follow the pattern for the bottom ribbing.
2. There were 3 false starts on the first sleeve because I didn’t know how to follow the pattern for the bottom ribbing (but I blame that on mommy brain mostly!) I felt the pattern wasn’t as explicit as it could have been.
3. When I started the second skein of yarn, I ended up pulling the yarn from the wrong end of the skein and had a HUGE, and I mean huge mess. I tried to untangle it for about 2 hours by myself. Finally, last week AM kindly offered to help me out. It took the two of us about an hour to untangle the knots. We couldn’t believe how long it took us to get it straightened out.
4. I needed to find buttons that suited me. (Okay, technically, this only delayed me by a day, but I still had to do it!)
5. I have a life.
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on July 21 causing me to be torn between two things that were important.
I recommend this pattern in spite of my problems with it. Zoe’s wearing her hat right now and seems quite content. I chose the neutral color because I want her to be able to use it for her babies some day whether she has a boy or girl. I hear I may be dreaming and my expectations may be set too high. I just hope that I’ll have a sentimental daughter who’ll see value in reusing clothing that she wore. I may make a pair of knitted pants to go along with this. I found a pattern I like that has a seed stitch cuff on the legs. I have a few other things I plan to knit though, so we’ll see what happens there!
