Too Many Hand-Knits on One Baby, Part 2

Really, the knitting can get out of hand. The adorable hat was made by my friend Karen. It's chilly this morning, so I stuffed Michael into his Baby Sophisticate as well, and tried to cover his kicking feet with his Zig Zag Pram Blanket.

Part One, in case you've forgotten, is his big brother five years ago:

How It Really Looks: Baby Albert

Last winter, my mom decided she wanted to brush up on her in knitting, so we chose a project to make together, the Baby Albert (Einstein) coat from Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch.

I decided to liven up the plain garter stitch by using Noro Chirimen. Because the sweater is king of wild in color and made of a silk blend, I thought this was going to be a fun sweater to put on every once and awhile, but not very utilitarian. In reality, it has become Michael's fall jacket. He has worn it everywhere!

How It Really Looks: Sock Yarn Sweater and Gift Wrap Romper

I've been wrestling, off and on for the past few months, with a paid pattern that is poorly written and full of mistakes. The pattern -- which will remain nameless, but I imagine you could figure it out -- has been updated a few times since I started knitting it, but really? The mistakes should have been caught in the test knitting and tech editing stage. I don't mind paying for patterns. I love to support the important work of designers. But when I pay for a pattern, I don't want to pay to be someone's tech editor. I'm only persevering with this project because it's important to my son to have the finished object

So with all that frustration swirling in my head, I thought I'd blog two patterns that were both well written and a joy to knit.

The Sock Yarn Sweater, by Hannah Fettig, knit in Malabrigo Sock in Indicita:





The Gift Wrap Romper, by Carina Spencer, knit in 1824 Cotton. If you remember, this was supposed to be the baby's coming home outfit, but the newborn size came out way too big in the cotton. It fit very nicely at the two month mark!

Well, this was unexpected

So about two weeks ago, I went in for a routine OB visit and mentioned that I had a headache and that my hands had swollen up to the point where I looked like I was wearing Minnie Mouse gloves. Because I'd had pre-eclampsia with my son, the midwife took one look at me and ordered a barrage of tests. Suffice it to say that I took a day off work and spent it voiding into receptacles. I stopped by the hospital on Good Friday to get more tests done and then I went off to work, only to be called back to the hospital two hours later. I spent Friday, Saturday, and half of Easter Sunday in the hospital under observation for pre-eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia can be some pretty scary stuff.  Fortunately, the doctors determined that my case is mild -- so far -- and sent me home to rest, while moving up the date of my c-section. I'm being monitored pretty closely, and with a few exceptions, I've basically moved back and forth from my couch to the hospital for the last ten days.

This leaves a lot of time for knitting, which you'd think would be great! My first response to the new due date for the baby was to panic, not because the baby was coming early or because I couldn't get the room ready, but because I had no hat for the baby to wear. Hey, we knitters can compartmentalize like nobody's business. So I made a Sweet Baby Cap out of Baby Ull and some sock yarn scraps:

Then I had to finish a bunch of other stuff. Ordinarily, I think this would manifest itself by scrubbing out some cabinets, but since I'm not allowed to do that kind of thing, I have to sublimate the nesting instinct into knitting.

I'm almost done with a test knit for Cosy:

 

I finished another In Threes for my friend's daughter's birthday:

I put buttons on the Rhino Romper I made for Malabrigo March:

And I finished the knitting portion of the Baby Albert KAL I'm doing with my mom:

 

No, I'm not freaking out or anything. Nope.

Baby Boys

It's baby boy season around here. Everyone I know is having a boy this fall, and of course, these boys must be outfitted in handknits.

Baby Boy #1 is the son of my sister-in-law's sister (did you follow that?). SIL's Sister is pretty conservative, so I went for a traditional baby shape and color. This is the Garter Yoke Baby Cardigan (sort of, as lately I catch myself casting on according to the instructions but then just going off in another direction) in Socks that Rock Mediumweight in My Little Color Brain. The slight variations of the yellow shading is about as wild as I felt I could get. The sweater went off to the baby's Christening party before I could get a picture with the buttons on.

Baby #2 is the baby brother of The Preschooler's betrothed (we have arranged their marriage and have already planned out the cookie table). #2's mother is a knitter, and I knew I could get crazy with the color. I chose three colors of the brand new Malabrigo Rios, a superwash yarn. I'm generally not crazy about superwash worsted, but the Malabrigo broke the stereotype of lifeless superwash: it's crazy soft and springy and still has all the depth of color of regular Malabrigo worsted. The pattern is Cosy's Baby Beau, with a smidge of Super-Natural Stripes thrown in.

Finally, Baby #3 is a serious matter. My good friend from high school went on vacation over Labor Day at 30 weeks pregnant. Apparently her body took the "Labor Day" concept seriously, and her water broke as she stepped off the plane. She's been in a hospital over 1000 miles from home for almost a month in the hopes that Baby Boy will stay in a little longer. He's set to arrive this Friday at 34 weeks, and I started a Baby Surprise Jacket in the fingering weight Mini Mochi, hoping it will be a good size for him to wear in the chilly fall to come. I also thought it was appropriate because I made my very first Baby Surprise for his big sister.

The birthday hat lives!

The birthday hat: year four,
originally uploaded by bookscatsyarn.

I made this hat for Henry for his first birthday. It was a little large at the time, but little did I realize just how very large it has turned out to be. The hat is the Wooderson of knitwear: Henry keeps getting older and the hat stays the same size. All right.

Happy Mother's Day

This is what I made my mother: a Shetland Triangle in Madeline Tosh Sock in Oxblood.

 This is what The Preschooler made for me. I love the "mixed-media" piece.

Twelve Years Ago Today...

My grandmother passed away, as she lost her second battle with cancer. She would have been ninety years old this year. My grandmother is the woman who taught me to knit when I was seven years old, so with every stitch I make, I hope, in my own way, that I honor her. She was a wonderfully accomplished knitter and had a gift with intarsia in particular. She knit for me, and I hope that when I knit for my son, I pass down some of her love to him.