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.....:-)