It’s been a while since my last update, but I am still knitting! I have done lots and lots of doll dresses (which I still love doing, even after 20+ of them), and lately I’ve been making baby sweaters. A few months ago, I found out that three of my friends at work are expecting! So of course I had to take the opportunity to take on some knitting projects.

The first cardi is the popular February Baby Sweater for M. She loved it and got a little verklempt at her baby shower. :) I used Gedifra Extra Soft Merino in a pale pink. It really is so very soft and perfect for a baby! The shank buttons are vintage. M’s colors are pink and brown. She had her baby girl on 9/10/11!

The 2nd cardi is also a February Baby Sweater. I think this brings the total to 8 of all the Feb Baby Sweaters I’ve made. I swear everyone loves them, and thankfully I’m not sick of them yet! It’s for my friend Y who is having a baby boy. Y loves white and so I kept everything classy white, from the yarn (Gedifra Extra Soft Merino again, I love it) to the shank buttons. I decided to play with the pattern a bit to make a little collar. I think it turned out nice.

And last but not least, I made a fun cardigan for my friend J who is also expecting a baby boy. J likes stripes so I took the opportunity to practice knitting with two colors. I had forgotten how fun it was!

The yarn I used are Classic Elite Yarns Classic One Fifty in Blue Sky, with Gedifra Extra Soft Merino in White. The pattern is “Little Coffee Bean” which is available for free on Ravelry. It’s a seamless sweater knitted from the top down, and the button band is picked up along the front and knitted on after. I used plain white 5/8″ buttons but added a little splash of color with bright orange thread!

I knitted the last two sweaters in 2 weeks, which is a record time for me. I just wanted to see if I could do it! It felt like cramming for finals 8-)

Phew. After these, I think I’m going to continue finishing some projects I’ve had laying around that are for myself. Then it’s time to start thinking about holiday knitting! This year has gone by so fast.

I completed Nimbus tonight, hooray! I spent Saturday afternoon seaming the pieces after blocking/drying last weekend, and decided to add the collar by picking up stitches and knitting on directly rather than seaming. I’m still not so great at seaming, but doing the shoulder seams, attaching the sleeves, and then finishing up the sides was really good practice.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It was fun to knit with size 11 needles and the Peruvia Quick yarn has such a nice feel and was great to work with. Now that I’m looking at the finished cardigan, I’m really glad I decided to make the bodice longer, it would’ve looked really silly on me had it been only 8″ long.

As a finishing touch – a vintage red button from my personal collection. I love bright red with gray. Now I only hope it will get cold again here in sunny Southern California so I can get all cozied up in this cardigan. It will be in the 70F~80s all week!

The Lace Stitch Cardigan is finally finished. Hooray!

I finished the cardigan last weekend but haven’t had time to properly block it (shape it into place) until yesterday. I love my new blocking mats from KnitPicks. I had considered purchasing blocking boards, but they are much more expensive and take up a lot of space. The KnitPicks mats come in 12″ x 12″ squares and store nicely in my craft room.

Now I just have to wait until Christmas to give it to my Mom-in-law. I hope she’ll like it!

Everyone who knows me knows that I adore vintage styles. If I could, I would love to travel back in time to the early 1960s when fashion was classy – with simple lines, sleek silhouettes, and fit that flatters every figure. Whenever I go thrifting, I often go through old books and magazines in hopes of finding old knitting and sewing patterns. One of my most recent favorite finds is this 1963 knitting pattern booklet by Spinnerin:

Isn’t that fantastic? That might as well be Betty and Sally Draper from Mad Men (if you’re not watching, you’re totally missing out on one of the best TV shows ever – Season 3 premieres Sunday, August 16th)!

And yes, I got it for one whole dollar.

This booklet has many great patterns that are perfect for an advanced beginner, and all garments are raglan style, so there is no seaming involved (yay!). I decided to try one of the cardigans patterns to make as a gift for my Mom-in-Law.

So. Adorable.

I started a little over a month ago and now I’m down to the last sleeve, then it’s button bands, block, sew on buttons, and voila! Here is a quick progress photo taken on my iMac:

I am liking it so much I almost want to keep it for myself =)

Well, here goes nothing.

This project officially marks my entry into knitting non-raglan style garments. I haven’t really felt confident enough to try it because basically, it is much like sewing, where you have several pieces that you construct together by stitching them at the seams. I’m terrible at hand-seaming, but I thought I should just try it just to see what happens.

So far, I am totally loving the yarn I’m using – Optimum DK by South West Trading Company in color Desert. I bought six balls on sale when I went to Unwind in Burbank with my dolly friends Paula and Clarissa. The yarn has been discontinued, so I hope I have enough for the project! If not, I’ll have to track some down via Ravelry.

The lace part is going well – after doing four inches of 1×1 ribbing on sz 2 needles it was good to dive right in. The pattern is well-written and I love the leaf shapes! After doing three repeats, I realize that I need to loosen up my stitches because the lace part doesn’t look as nice and even as I’d like (I know I always tend to knit too tight), but hopefully it will open up when I block the pieces into shape.

The Leafy Lace Cardi pattern is available for free via Craftster.org.

Okay, is that super-duper sweet or what? I’m so proud of myself for finishing the set: Elizabeth Zimmermann’s February Baby Sweater, with an inspired-hat (pattern from Ravelry), plus a little crocheted flower for a little extra sugary goodness, just in time for a February baby!

Now that I’m pretty comfortable with the gull pattern from the sweater and the gradual decreasing needed with the hat, I’m probably going to make a few more sets to give away. There have been so many babies arriving in my circle of friends that I feel like a baby sweater factory, but hey, the more practice the better :)

Ah, I finally figured out EZ’s pattern and finished my second February Baby Sweater! The second time was definitely easier than the first. I guess I was too excited and didn’t read the pattern correctly the first time and made the increases around the collar too soon. The second time around, everything started to look right. Yay! I love this pattern so much!

The only thing I did differently from EZ’s instructions – I put the two sleeves on waste yarn and finished the body first, then I picked up the sleeves and continued. I added seven stitches under the arms and they felt just right to me, not too bulky like a few people mentioned on Ravelry.

With more friends having babies this year, I think I’ll be making a few more of these EZ sweaters!

Pattern from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac