A Bevy of Baby Knits (in Chronological Order)

What is this? An early Christmas miracle? I think the last time I posted twice in a week was back in 2006. Let's hope the momentum continues!

Okay, let’s go back when back when I started my nearly a year-long hiatus on the blog (before yesterday’s post that is). I had a baby. Like any self-respecting knitter, I made an abundance of baby knits. Most of these knits were created during my two weeks of maternity leave before Alice was born. Some people nest, some people knit. Who’s to judge what’s better?
While I’ve been slow to keep up the blog, I’ve been relatively good about maintaining Ravelry. Good thing, because I don’t think I would even remember what I knitted, let alone the little details.

I started with a few sweaters, because a baby born in November needs lots of sweaters, right? And when a knitter talks about baby sweaters, they’re really just talking about EZ. With that, I made:

A BSJ

She grew out of this in like five minutes. But she looked damn cute for those five minutes! Okay, maybe a couple months. It was the perfect little newborn sweater – trim and close-fitting and just plain adorable. Also gender-neutral for future babes.

Oh so teeny! Just a couple days old!

Ravelry Link
Pattern: BSJ
Yarn: Vesper Sock Yarn in Meteor
Needles: Size 5 Addis
Dates Knitted: September 8, 2008 to September 30, 2008
Mods: No need to mess with perfection.
Comments: A great project for the Non-Superwash Vesper Sock Yarn patiently waiting in my stash.

In her beloved swing. I don't know what we would have done without that thing!

One Fish, Two Fish

Another project in my queue of baby knits well before I saw pink lines or ultrasounds were these little guys:

I mean, what newborn doesn’t need two bigger than life-size knitted fish?
I started the big guy at the end of October, but seemed to forget about him and his little friend. With Alice still refusing to make her entrance, I finished them up.

These are the softest, most adorable, most useless baby knit ever, but I lurve them. She’s too young to really enjoy them, but I know she will grow to love them (har, get it, grow! Sorry J ) I’ve started using them as props in photoshoots as a reference point for Alice’s growth and letting her play with them a bit. By play with, I mean gum and suck.

Ravelry Link
Pattern: Big Fish, Little Fish
Yarn: Blue Sky Dyed Cotton in Lemongrass and Aloe
Needles: Size 8 Addis
Dates Knitted: October 30, 2008 – November 17, 2008

With still no sign of Alice despite her impending her due date, I was worried about starting any big, valiant projects in fear that I would go into labor and not finish in time. I’m not quite sure why this prospect was so unsettling to me, but I stuck to knitting hats those last couple days before she was born. Of course, knitting a baby hat takes no time at all, so I knit a couple.

Sheep Hat

Sweet Little Alice, only 1 day old!

I started with a hat that I had been ogling for awhile. Who doesn’t love sheep? And how clever that the sheep’s wool is purled? Love. Unfortunately, this hat really did fit for only about a week and it was never a great fit. Weighing in close to 9 pounds, she wasn’t the teeniest baby after all. I still made her wear it because it was too stinkin’ cute not to.

Ravelry Link
Pattern: Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt
Days Knit: November 17-18 (my due date!)
Needles: Size 5 and 6
Yarn: All scraps from the stash! Boo-yah!
Mods: I added pink to the color scheme to make it a touch more girly. Who knew pink would become such a staple in my color palette?

On a high from my yarn thriftiness and ingenuity, I pulled some leftover scraps from a few Big Bad Baby Blankets I knitted for some other babies together into this little hat:

Flour Sack Baby Hat

Getting ready to leave the hospital

Ravelry Link
Pattern: My own, made up on the fly.
Needles: Size 7 and 8
Yarn: Blue Sky Organic Cotton in Sand, Nut, and Bone
Days Knit: November 18
So adorable. My all time favorite for her. I might need to make her another for next fall, I loved it so much. Blue Sky Cotton is just delicious and perfect for baby knits.

4 months old



A February Baby Sweater

Despite my purchasing the yarn for this sweater well before she was born, this knit did not make it to the needles until she was a couple months old. That’s fine because it would have been huge on her. In fact, it didn’t start to really fit her until the spring and still fits well, although it’s getting a little short. While I love the sweater and have received tons of compliments on it, I’m always nervous when she wears it. Especially now that she loves pulling on buttons. I think this will be the last buttoned baby sweater I’ll make for her for a little whilet. I weaved the ends in for inches, but I’m still anxiety-ridden the entire time she’s in the sweater. You think that’s bad? What would you think if I told you that one morning after dressing Alice, I decided there was no chance I could send her wearing her peapod sweater as the buttons were starting to loosen up. So, I took the scissors to the sweater and snipped the buttons off. Each and every one. For someone usually laid back, I’m really taking the button thing a little far. I can’t help it.

Ravelry Link
Pattern: February Baby Sweater
Needles: Size 7
Days Knit: February 21, 2009 to March 18, 2009
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy in Blue Lagoon

Digging through all my pictures since Alice was born makes me so nostalgic. And seems appropriate with her 1st birthday next Friday. I know it sounds cliche, but it really goes so fast. My baby is barely a baby anymore! Sniff sniff.

PS - I still have some other projects to catch up on. They’ll be trickling on through…