Choosing Patterns – What to Use for My Baby Items?

July 12, 2009| Lindy| 0 Comment | 9:10 pm

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Knitting Projects

I have decided to go with a 100% cotton worsted weight yarn for my baby projects. The trick now is to find patterns that I like that work with my yarn choice.

Since I have been knitting for 46 years (yes, 46 YEARS), I have accumulated a stash of patterns equal to or greater than my current yarn stash. So – if I could find where I stored all of them, I might be able to find a pattern for my baby items without purchasing anything. (Large emphasis on the IF I could find them). Another option is to search for a pattern on the web – there are a lot of free patterns available. But I have also reached the point as a knitter than I am more likely to modify any pattern than to use it as it is written. Now days published patterns are a jumping off point – I always begin to see how I might use the patterning or the shaping or color palette in a new way.

So – as I begin my projects for baby items, I will be using a couple of patterns as my guide, but making changes as I go. I have decided to go with the “Dumb Baby Sweater” pattern in Maggie Righetti’s book: Knitting in Plain English. (One of my favorite reference books). This neat little pattern gives instructions for a raglan sleeve sweater with buttonholes and a seed stitch border. Now I will be modifying things here, because the yarn I want to use has a slightly different gauge. I will use the measurements for the sweater, but convert the number of stitches for my gauge.

For the baby blanket, I am using a pattern I found on the web as inspiration – but again, I am modifying the pattern. This lovely pattern calls for double-strands of a worsted weight superwash wool. I didn’t care for the colors available in this yarn, and had already decided I wanted to use a 100% cotton yarn for my projects. The yarn I chose is Peaches & Cream yarn in a teal blue. It is a worsted weight yarn – but when I double-stranded it for my swatch, my gauge was 2.5 Stitches per inch and the pattern gauge is 3.75 stitches per inch. (Meaning that if I knit this pattern with my yarn double-stranded it would be a larger size than the pattern). I didn’t really care for the way the pattern looked in the double-stranded yarn either. So – I knit a second gauge swatch using a single strand of yarn and I liked it much better. Thus, I am modifying the pattern according to my single-stranded gauge swatch.

Here’s the link to Barbara Breiter’s pattern:
http://www.knittingonthenet.com/patterns/babyafbear.htm.

I have a favorite pattern for baby socks that I will use and another for a simple baby hat. I find that baby bonnets are just not practical and cute little hats are much better.

I am wondering how many of you reading this: have reached the point where a published pattern is a guideline or an inspiration?

Completed WIP’sCompleted WIP’s

I’ve finally finished some projects!

The knitted bunny is done. It turned out a little lopsided, but it’s rather cute.

Knitted Bunny on Teddy Bear Blanket

The lace scarf for my DIL is done. This is a lovely pattern. I especially like the three-stitch slipped stitch edging on this scarf. This is a technique I will keep in mind for future projects.

Lace Scarf

FO: My Traveling Woman ShawlFO: My Traveling Woman Shawl

I started this shawl the end of October and finished it in December. For me, this is a fairly quick knit in a lace pattern. The pattern is free on Ravelry and is quite popular. The shawl is knit in a triangle, starting at the center neck and grows as you knit it. It has a fagotted edging along the neckline. You knit the shawl in stockinette stitch to a selected number of stitches and then begin the feather and fan lace pattern. You are given an option to increase the number of pattern repeats you do so that your shawl will be longer and then you follow the second lace pattern to make the edging.

I knit this using Forsell Superwash Wool, 3 ply yarn and size 4 needles. This yarn is closer to a lace weight yarn than a fingering weight yarn and is actually a machine knitting yarn. If I were to do this shawl again, I would definitely go with a heavier yarn as I think the lace pattern would be better in at least a fingering weight yarn. I also would use a stretchy bind-off, rather than the one given in the pattern as my bound off edge was not as stretchy as I would have liked it to be and did not scallop like I thought it should when I blocked it.

The pattern itself is a very nice one, easy to follow. The finished shawl measured 19.5 inches by 56 inches, so it is more of a scarf than a shawl.

See details on my Ravelry Projects page.

FO: Ruffle Scarf — Birthday Present for MILFO: Ruffle Scarf — Birthday Present for MIL

I knit this scarf as a birthday present for my MIL. She wears scarves all the time and I thought she would enjoy this unique scarf. I knit this using a novelty yarn called “Sashay” by Red Heart Yarns. It’s a very interesting yarn to knit with. And Yes, it ruffles as you knit it up.

The pattern is really simple. You cast on 6 stitches and then just knit every row until you have used up the entire skein. It only takes one skein to make the scarf and when finished it is about 6 feet long.

My MIL was thrilled. She put the scarf on and wore it after she opened the bag. She exclaimed at how soft it was. She said she would be the envy of all the ladies in the independent living facility where she lives. (I made a BIG hit!) 🙂

Here’s the details:
Yarn: Sashay (Red Heart Boutique) Colorway: Hip Hop
Needles: U.S. 9 (5.5 mm)
Finished length = 72 inches Width = 3 inches

Notes about knitting with this yarn: See picture below of the yarn before knitted. This yarn is essentially a stripe of lace — with the bottom edge more finished than the top. The bottom is the finished edge of the ruffles. You knit this yarn using the top two strands of the upper edge of the lace. The yarn is quite slippery and it takes some getting used to — I used metal needles for this project and the combination of the slippery yarn and the slickness of the metal needles nearly drove me crazy! I recommend using a type of needle with some grab for this yarn — if I knit it again I will use bamboo needles. Also — it is not possible to weave in the ends on this yarn. When you are done, get out your sewing thread and a sewing needle — you will need to sew down the unfinished edges of the scarf to prevent the ends from raveling.