I started the February Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmermann during my weekend of recovery. I’m sure quite a few of you heard me whine about my wisdom teeth extraction so I shall spare you.

EZ’s pattern took some getting used to – the way it is written is not like any pattern I’ve learned, there is a lot left open for interpretation. Plus I’m not very good at doing lace – it always takes me at least a few runs before finally “getting” any lace pattern.

This was my first EZ garment, and I have to say she is quite a writer. She is such a funny lady, and I love how much of a wool snob she is. That said, I bet she wouldn’t approve of the Berroco Comfort I’m using here, but it’s for good practice. I don’t know about the babies around EZ, but most of my friends would probably not let their precious babies wear wool in fear of allergies. Whatever happened to the good ole days when babies actually wore wool?

After a few days, it started to take its shape, but not without hiccups. I could totally see what I did wrong here too!

Here is the completed February Baby Sweater, complete with dark lilac buttons. It kind of looks cute in its own wonky sort of way. Another great learning experience! Now that I know what to do the next one will be much improved.

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Pattern from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac

I loved the Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet so much that I made one for my friend Yvonne. She loves the color orange, and I thought this style would look super cute on her. It took me a few days to complete, and I gave it to her about a week before Christmas.

Today she wore it for the first time and sent me a photo and it totally made my day!!!

Is that super cute or what?! She was happy that it fit her so well, and so was I. I love seeing people wear something I made. This keeps me want to keep knitting.

Thanks Yvonne!

Anthropologie is one of my favorite clothing stores, but boy can I do without their prices. I always head straight to their sale section at the back of the store whenever I go. What can I say, a gal’s gotta watch her wallet! So when I saw a pattern for this Anthropologie-inspired shrug/capelet on Ravelry, I just had to give it a try.

Here it is, freshly blocked. For a Secret Santa handmade swap at work :)

This was a quick and fun little project using bulky yarn on sz 11 needles. I decided to put the WS as the RS because I like the way it looks better (The pattern calls for the WS of the stockinette as the RS). I also added more rows on the bodice to make it longer so It looks more like a cropped cardi, since the person I’m making this for is tall and thin. I’m thinking of threading dark burgundy velvet ribbons along the collar/neckline as tie closures.

All packed up & ready to go!

Ah yes. Baby(sweater) fever has been running rampant here at my crafting headquarters even though it’s been a very, very warm summer. Someone on Ravelry saw this photo and sent me a message asking if I knitted these for triplets. Haha! I even made little hats to match every single one of these, and now two of them have gone to new homes. Hopefully will do their jobs and keep two beautiful baby girls warm and cozy this winter. The green set is supposed to be for my little niece this Christmas. I haven’t seen her in a while (long story), but I hope it will fit her.

Having knitted three baby-sized cardigans had given me courage and confidence to follow and decipher knitting patterns. I actually got really brave and made something for… myself!

Tada! I present my very first adult-sized sweater!

Okay, so it’s probably not obvious to anyone else, but I made a ton of boo-boos while knitting this. It’s not even really my color, either – I only bought the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece because they were $2 a skein at the swapmeet (they’re normally $6-7 a skein at frou-frou yarn shops). I figured at $2, that’s cheaper than the cheapest quality acrylic yarn at the local mega-mart. There’s no pressure if i mess it up, right?

After taking it apart a gazillion times, many nights of watching Heroes, Good Eats, Iron Chef, No Reservations, Bizarre Food, Fringe & Mad Men (my new favorite show), I finally finished my very first sweater. I almost always give my knitting away, and now I finally have a knitted garment for myself. For my first adult-sized sweater, it turned out a lot better than I thought. I learned so much from this project – I feel more confident about knitting and using patterns now. It was definitely a great learning experience to work it from start to finish. After nearly five years of knitting I am so dang proud of myself that I might just wear this out in public.

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The details
Pattern: Rusted Root
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Tea Rose
Needles: KnitPicks Options in sz 6 and sz 4

This is the (nearly) finished baby cardigan. It just needs buttons and the ends weaved in. I can’t believe I actually made my first human-sized sweater! There are a few booboos here and there but I’m really glad it turned out okay – I was picturing a sweater with three sleeves or something ;) The only problem is, I made it to fit Baby Natalie at six months, and er, she is six months now and it’s the middle of the summer.

*smacks forehead*

So I’ve started another one in a really pretty light lime green. I think it’ll end up being size 18 months and it’ll be a good Christmas gift. I don’t know what I’m going to do with this cardi though. Oops.

The pattern for the cardigan is available for free at Knitting on the Net.

I finally decided to be brave and venture into people-sized knitting after over four years at it. I know, I’m slow. It was after trying the piglet that something sort of clicked in my head, and strange algebraic formula-like knitting patterns started to make a little more sense. Of course, I can’t do big-people knitting yet – with my patience I’ll probably never finish the project. But baby-size knitting! That seems more manageable for now.

I decided to get this really sweet pale lilac Italian yarn to make something for my niece Natalie. It’s my sister’s favorite color, hopefully the sweater will fit the little one. I’m really excited about making a bunch of baby sweaters now. I almost want a little one so I can dress them up in cute knitted garments. LOL.

Do you recommend her books to a knitting pattern novice like me? Let me know!

Most of you know I am a big fan/collector of Blythe dolls – I’ve been collecting Blythe longer than I’ve been knitting. Actually, Blythe was what made me get back into knitting after all these years!

Knitting for dolls was naturally what I did first, because doll size just seems so much easier to handle. And you don’t need too much yarn, either, even though Blythe has quite a large head :)

I made this cardigan as part of a dress set that I sold on eBay. Both the hat and cardigan were done using Lion Brand MicroSpun on size 4 needles, and they work great as chunky sweaters!