I know I promised pics
I know I promised pics but I left my card reader at work and I'm stuck at home waiting for the heat repair man to get here. So, pics will have to wait til tomorrow. But, I do have alot of progress to report...
It's amazing how much knitting you can get done on a cold weekend! I did a good amount on Rogue and even pulled out the Cabled & Ribbed sweater!
Rogue
This pattern is just wonderful! I love the way she designed the kangaroo pocket. The decreases are hidden in a purl stitch and the pocket softly curves in on both sides. A couple things I did differently than the pattern:
- I knitted in the hem with the twelfth row. I hate finishing and will go to great lengths to avoid sewing. If you decide to do this just keep in mind that at row 12 you have done a few increases in each cable on the side so you can't go 1 for 1 in the cables. I skipped the cable area and am planning to tack those by hand because I didn't want to risk distorting the cables.
- When you start the pocket it says to join new yarn (but do not break current yarn) and knit the pocket with the newly joined yarn. I chose to work the pocket in the original working yarn and wait to join the new yarn until i returned back to knitting the body. I did this because I didn't want to deal with 2 balls of yarn thru each row of the pocket. Also, when knitting the body I weaved the end in and it is hidden behind the pocket.
Cabled & Ribbed sweater
I got another few inches done on the front and am right at the armholes now. I have another 8 or so inches to get the front done. The rest of this should go much faster because I don't have to deal with the cable rows in the middle third of the back or the sleeves!
What do you think?
OK, I have a few upcoming projects that I need your help on:
Baby sweaters for spring: I have 2 friends who are expecting in April. I don't have kids and I'm not sure what to make for them. I was thinking about a cotton acrylic blend so it would be lighter weight and washable. But I'm so programmed to dislike acrylic. What do you all think? I don't want to give the gift that never gets used because cleaning it is a chore.
Rowan Calmer: Amber and I are trading some yarn and I was thinking about getting some Calmer. I love this yarn but I haven't been thinking much about warm weather knitting. Go figure - it's 10 degrees out right now. I looked thru Rowan's Calmer book but nothing drew me in. Any ideas?
The Bernat "Cotton Tots" yarn is really nice and comes in some cute baby colors, they remind me of sherbet/ice cream!
Brown Sheep "Cotton Fleece" is great too, but it does have a tiny bit of wool in it.
As far as acrylic goes, Caron's "Simply Soft" is not bad. I've made a few baby sweaters out of it. You're right in wanting to keep to an easy care, washable yarn!
The 5 hour baby sweater pattern that is all over the web has been a good basic one for me. Kristi over at "Domestic Sphere" has a few really simple eand easy baby patterns. Finally, The "Whirly" baby hat at "Woolflowers" is a super quick knit and is just darling!
Hope some of these suggestions help you! :)
I'm not up on Rowan yarn, but I can definitely weigh in on the baby knits. Natural fibers are lovely, but the reality is that babies/toddlers will soil/spit up on/smear food on anything they're wearing, within 5 minutes of putting it on them. In my world, if something wasn't machine wash (and preferably tumble dry), I usually didn't get around to hand washing it until my kids had outgrown it. Plus, their skin is more sensitive than ours to the wool itch factor, and the baby acrylics are just so soft. Good luck!
I used Calmer to make Chickami and liked it.