Baby Jasmine

Gosh, this last week has flown by! The sun came out and the gardening started and that was it! Woosh! Week gone! But, I have been squeezing in some knitting in the evenings so I do have a little progress to show you.

This is the baby Jasmine cardigan designed by Louisa Harding. The yarn is the lavendar Sirdar Snuggly DK so its very soft to the touch. So far I've knitted the stocking stitch parts and added the lace border to the main section. I'm still knitting the lace border for the sleeves and then I can attach them and finish with a decorative edging around the front edge and neckline with buttons as a fastening. It is so small though - very dinky:-) Even smaller than the lacy lily bolero.

I have made a few alterations with this pattern. I changed the lacy edging pattern as it just had too much garter stitch for my tastes. ( I think it has something to do with too much texture next to all that smooth stocking stitch;-) I substituted a lovely wavy lace design instead and although it doesn't look as if it has as much length as the original as you are knitting, it does stretch out when you block it.  I really wanted to get a little flare to the edging to mimic a little dress shape so I deliberately knitted the border longer to compensate. I sewed it up using a 1:1 stitch ratio - a straight edge would probably need more like a 1:2 - 1 stitch from the lace edge to 2 sts from the body (roughly!)

So far, I've finished one sleeve and should finish the other tonight. If I'm on the ball, I may even get the sleeves sewn onto the body too, ready for the neckline edging tomorrow. Then buttons and finished! Then I think I'll move away from lace and think about colour and stripes! A stripey dress? or a little jumper/sweater? I found a lovely pattern for some stripey dungarees too! I don't think it gave a newborn size though so maybe keep that one in reserve for a few months!

Thinking about using this self striping sock yarn - nice and bright isn't it? This is a bamboo mix so it's lovely and soft to the touch, perfect for that baby softness. It may not be quite so stripey on bigger items like a baby dress though but I'll test it out to see. Still no news on the baby front so I still have a little time left, although it can't be that much longer now, eh sis?:-)

Back soon with some lovely stripey goodness - if I don't get hijacked by the garden again!

Baby Knitting progress....

Some baby knitting progress for you. A lot has been going on unfinished behind the scenes over the last few days but now I have managed to snap a few pics for you to see. Just as well I took advantage of the sun as the heavens opened just after I finished and we are back to dull, heavy rain forecast for the whole weekend - sigh! Not quite the start to April I was hoping for weatherwise. But on to the knitting!

First pic is the lovely baby booties - pattern is Saartje's booties. These were a very quick knit and with very simple shaping, you sew these together into booties. I love the crossed strap detailing and I got a chance to use those lovely green apple buttons I've been saving too. I used the fairytale DK 100% wool for these for a sturdier and more durable knit -I'm hoping. The colours were chosen to match a  little dress I've already bought and also to match the lily cardigan I'm knitting.

Progress on the lily cardigan so far.....

This little bolero styled cardigan is based on a magazine pattern but I have modified it heavily substituting their stripes for a lacy pattern and dumping the original frilly edging. So far, I have sewn all the seams and now need to choose an edging that suits this style. I'm thinking a little crocheted scalloped edge all the way around and then a nice button to finish.

I also modified the pattern to knit the body in the round rather than have side seams - as you can see from the blocked pieces. I only had to sew the top seams and inset the sleeves. In theory if this were a solid piece of knitting, this works well but it also means I couldn't mirror the lace patterning for the two front panels so they don't look as symetrically pleasing as I would have wanted.  But maybe it's not too noticeable to everyone else and you know how much of a perfectionist I am!

The lace pattern is a quatrefoil eyelet pattern which is nice and soft, not too lacy and just enough detailing for a solid shape. I stretched this out for the photo so you could see the pattern better but I did relax it a bit when blocking to the right garment measurements, don't worry!! I had fears of stretching this too big and ending up with  6-12months size:-) Lace is so stretchy and I had to remind myself this shouldn't be stretched as much as a lace shawl - habit!

So minus the edging for now, this is what the cardi will look like with the little dress. Now add the booties - all a matching set!

Now, off to finish the edging and then plan a dress or two.....:-)