Smocked Dress

 This is the "Smocked Dress" from Mel Clark's book titled "Knitting Gifts for Baby." I knit this in a butter yellow sock-weight yarn, and it is very simple to knit, and would make a very nice baby shower gift, or as I have done here, I made this for a grandchild. This little dress takes about 420 yds of fingering or sock-weight yarn using a size 2 and 3 needle. The construction is top down and knit in one piece. You will need to pick up stitches along the front for the button bands. If you want the dress to be a little longer, you might need 2 skeins of yarn. After washing and blocking, this dress measures 13.5"inches from top of shoulder to bottom hem, (size 3-6 mo). This one is worth doing again and again, it really is a fun knit. Check out Mel Clark's book, there are other fun knits in her book.

Baby Dress

 I found this sweet and fun to knit baby dress on senimengait.com
It is a free pattern, and is knit using one skein of yarn as long as the yarn has 365 to 370 yds. It is knit in any DK weight yarn. I used Berroco  "Boboli Lace", 42% wool, 35% Acrylic, 23% Viscose, 350 yds. I really wanted to use the entire skein, even if I cut the lace repeat and the bottom of the dress to only 2 or 3 times, pattern suggests doing the lace repeat at least 6 times. But I found that 3 times gives plenty of length for this size pattern. If you want more length or want the dress to be at the ankle, then you would need more than one skein of yarn, or a skein that has about 400 yds. The dress has a one button closure in the back.

Little Blue Shrug

It's been a while since I have posted to this knitting blog, but it hasn't been because I have not been knitting. On the contrary! I have been knitting like mad.... I just have so many projects going that I haven't quite finished them, except for this one, and a few more that I am almost done with.
This little shrug is quick and easy to knit, and would make a great baby shower gift. The pattern is #288 "Little Girl's Shrug" by Knitting Pure and Simple. I chose a different lace pattern for the bottom of the sweater, just because I wanted to. The yarn I used is from Plymouth Yarns and it's called  "Cleo." It's a 100% Mercerized Pima Cotton yarn, 125 yd hanks, and comes in a lot of beautiful colors. I used a size 7 needle, and this size will fit 18 months to 2 years.

Sock Weight Baby Sweater

Here is a baby sweater that I just finished, using sock weight yarn. I found the pattern several years ago on ravelry, so I don't know if the pattern is still available. Just do a search for sock weight baby sweaters and it might be under that. I changed the pattern a bit, by adding some ruffling in the front. This would fit 6-12 month old baby. It's a top down one piece knitted sweater.

Prim Rose Bonnet with Knit Lace Edge

This baby bonnet pattern was a free pattern from a blog. I'm not sure it is even available any more, but I finally got it knit. It's really easy, and so cute with the lacey edging which is knit separately, and sewn on. If all you have time for is to knit a bonnet for a baby shower, this is a quick knit.
The pattern is called "Prim Rose Bonnet" by Becky Bright of Bright Creations. You might find this on Ravelry.com

Baby Blossom Turtleneck Sweater

This is a toddler sweater made from the left over baby blossoms yarn of the sweater I did in a previous post (see below). I used a skein of white yarn and mixed it with my left over blossom yarn to create this turtleneck sweater.

Lace and Leaves Baby Sweater

This is an adorable little sweater to knit, and makes a quick project for a baby shower. It comes from the Leisure Arts pamphlet #4577 titled "Knit Lace and Leaves for Baby." Sizes are preemie, newborn, 3-6 months. There are two sweater patterns, one with a hat, one with a bonnet, and blanket patterns to match the sweaters. The sizes of the sweaters depends on the weight of yarn you use, super-fine weight #1 is for preemie, DK weight #3 is for newborn, and worsted weight #4 is for 3-6 months size. This sweater is knit in a #3 dk weight.

Baby Blossoms Sweater

This baby sweater and yarn came from a kit from the Mary Maxim catalog. The yarn is fun to knit with, because it creates these little impressions of blossoms, and has a self-striping character. The pattern does not include the ties and pom-poms, I added that myself as a last idea for a closure for the sweater. It was fun to knit, the yarn is soft, and is 100% acrylic, so it's washable and dry-able. I don't know if this kit or yarn is available anymore, you can check out the Mary Maxim website for this and other baby kits and yarns.

Baby Surprise Jacket

This is the famous, "Baby Surprise Jacket," by Elizabeth Zimmermann.
(See original pattern below). I have been wanting to make this little jacket for a long time, ever since I saw this displayed in several yarn shops. So this is my version of her pattern. The construction of the sweater is ingenious and very easy. It's knit in one piece from beginning to end, and only seamed at the cuff to shoulder. It's knit in garter stitch which makes a heavier fabric so it's more of a jacket instead of a sweater. When your done knitting the jacket, you can pick up stitches around the neck and knit a collar or a hood. The yarn I used is: SMC select Riana Color, plus a second solid color to create the wide stripe beginning at the underarms. The yarn is 50%wool, 45%acrylic, 5%viscose, so it is more washable. The pattern is available on ravelry.com and has directions for adult sizes as well. This is a really fun jacket to knit, I want to do another one in a different color way. If you purchase a yarn with streams of color in it like I did, you get this self striping effect, which gives an interesting look.

Granny Square Hat

 This little rolled brim hat was born out of an idea I had of: "What to do with a crocheted granny square." I had made a few granny squares last year, because I was thinking of crocheting a baby blanket using granny squares with a small pom pom in the center. I got side tracked and put the granny squares off to the side. Every time I would see them sitting, waiting to be finished, I kept thinking, "What can I do with these granny squares other than making a baby blanket." I love knitting baby hats, and it occured to me to take a granny square, pick up stitiches all along the outer edge of the square, place the stitches on a circular knitting needle and just start knitting in the round until I had a long enough hat for a baby. My idea worked!

So, as you can see in the photos, the granny square is the crown of the hat and the stitches are picked up by using a crochet hook inserted in each stitch around, pulling up a loop and then placing the new loop on the circular needles. Each loop counts as one stitch. I pull up 10 loops at a time, then slide the new stitches to the end of the crochet hook and then load them onto my circular needles, 10 at a time, until I have picked up all stitches around the granny square. Then place a marker to mark beginning of round and just start knitting. The size of the granny square will determine the size of hat you want to make. This one in the photo is done with a 4" granny square, which will make a newborn size hat, and about 60-62 stitches picked up around outer edge of square. I used worsted weight yarn and a size 9 circular needle. For a larger hat, crochet a larger granny square. Experiment with the sizes, and yarns and color changes all you want, you can probably come up with a lot of different looks. Click on photo to enlarge.

Easy Baby Cardigan

From sizes 0-6 months to 5 toddler this, "In Threes," baby cardigan designed by: Kelly Herdrich is easy and quick to knit. You can find her pattern on www.ravelry.com. This charming little sweater is done in worsted weight yarn and topped off with 3 buttons. Like the, "Quick Knit Baby shrug," below this is a quick knit for a birthday gift or baby shower gift. The size shown here is 0-6 months, and knits up using a 210-225yd. skein. For larger sizes you will need more. This is a pattern worth knitting again and again. Next time I knit this cardigan I want to make my own covered buttons to give it a more personalized look. Sometimes the right buttons can be hard to find, so covering my own would be fun.

Quick Knit Baby Shrug

This is the cutest, quickest knit, little shrug ever. I found this pattern for free on www.ravelry.com. It is a pattern by Natalie Haban for Nat and Callie Knits. If you need a quick gift for a baby shower or birthday gift for a little girl this is it. I knitted this up in about 5 hours. It uses a size 10 needle and worsted weight yarn. I used white cotton yarn, but this could be done in acrylic or wool/silk blend or even linen yarn. I embroidered the flowers on using worsted weight yarn and lazy daisy stitch for the petals and leaves, backstitch for the stems, and french knot for the flower centers. The pattern does not show you how to do the embroidery, you can look at an embroidery book of stitches to help you. I placed one large button at the top and crocheted a loop for the button instead of a button hole. You could add more buttons if you like, it's really up to your creativity. I think I am going to knit up one more, because it's so quick, and you can knit these in so many fun colorways and add different embellishments. Click on photo to enlarge.

Sweater and Hat for Baby

This easy to knit cardigan and beret was made for my soon to be granddaughter, which will be born in December. I should have done pink, but everybody does pink for a girl, so I chose this Aqua blue. The pattern is by Sirdar, pattern #1760 availble on www.patternfish.com. The yarn is "Red Heart soft baby steps," worsted weight. For a newborn size it takes only one skein of yarn to do the cardigan and the beret. The pattern has this easy lace pattern at the bottom edge of the cardigan and on the lower sleeve edge and on the beret.

 

 

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Divine Little Sweater

This Divine little sweater, was knit with Patons "Divine." A bulky (5) acrylic, wool, mohair mix yarn. Pattern is available on www.patternfish and is a James C. Brett design #JB013. This yarn was my choice, not the specified yarn in the pattern. I added the little butterfly ornament to give a slight embellishment. Sweater is done in stockinette stitch, with cuffs, bottom edge and collar done in garter stitch. And using bulky weight yarn, it knits up fast. pattern also has a hat pattern to match. click on photo to enlarge.

Double Breasted Baby Cardigan

I purchased this pattern from the website "Patternfish" designed by: Susan Mills. The pattern sample was done in Liberty Wool by Classic Elite Yarns. But I used a wool/acrylic blend yarn and it knitted up very nicely. The cuff edges, neck, bottom edge and center front button panels are knit in seed stitch and the rest in stockinette stitch, which by the way; I love stockinette stitch! As for the buttons, I searched through my button box and found 10 buttons that worked together, same size, same family of colors, and even though they were not identical, it stilled worked out, it gives the sweater kind of a rugged, outdoors look. I can see this little sweater worn with brown corduroy pants, and maybe a brown & white checked shirt. The pattern is pretty simple, and uses a worsted weight yarn. Make sure you click on photo to enlarge and look at the sweater up close.

Bonnet for Baby Coat

Ok, here is the bonnet to match the baby coat previously posted. I got the pattern from a "Sublime" baby booklet #648. It's the bonnet on the front cover. This really turned out so cute, I'm very pleased with the pattern and the pattern was very easy to follow. This bonnet pattern comes from a different source, and is not linked with the designer of the coat pattern. But I thought that this particular pattern ended up matching quite well with the coat.

Baby Albert Coat

This baby coat is from the book that I previously posted titled: "The Knitting Experience," by: Sally Melville. This baby coat is knit in garter stitch, which is knitting every row. It is very simple to make and the only seaming you do is seaming the upper arms and neck. The black trim on this coat was added after the coat was finished. I decided the coat was too plain and needed a pick-me-up, so I crocheted all the black trimming on and really liked the effect. The pattern for the baby coat does not include the collar, but I really wanted a collar so I followed the directions for the women's "Einstein Coat" and just modified it to fit this smaller coat. It worked out great. For babies you want soft yarn, and I chose "Caron Simply Soft" which comes in all kinds of fun colors. It was the first time I've used this yarn and wasn't sure how it would knit up, but I really like it, and this way the coat is very washable since little baby's spit up from time to time, and wool can be a little itchy for babies. This could be done in a cotton /acrylic blend or  acrylic / silk or anything soft, and washable. I'm in the process of making a matching baby bonnet. When I am finished I will post a picture of the bonnet.

Oh How Feminine

I'm thinking about posting a baby hat of the month, since I love to make these baby hats. This one is called "Oh How Feminine." This is the same pattern as previously posted, titled: "My Favorite Baby Hat." Knitting with this soft pink yarn I wanted to add some eyelash yarn to make it a bit more exciting and fun. I started out by knitting 2 rows of the pink yarn and the eyelash yarn held together and then repeated the same at the 2 purl rows at the top edge of the crown. Just follow directions for the hat as written, the only difference is holding the two yarns together for upper crown edge and lower brim.Click on photo to see hat up close.

Best Baby Socks

This is the quickest and easiest baby sock pattern and it's free. I found it on Ravelry.com, the pattern name is called: "Socks for Sammy." Pattern has 4 size groups. 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 9-12 months. Each size has a different weight yarn, but pattern remains the same. By using the different weights it automatically gives you  the corresponding sizes. These socks are knit from the toe-up and use "Judy's Magic Cast on" method. To see a video of this method go to "Youtube" and type in a search for "Judy's Magic Cast On."  I'm crazy about this method, once you learn it you will see how amazing and convenient it is.

My favorite Baby Hat

Previously in my blog I posted a red baby hat. This pattern is addictive. Here is another one just like that, only a little different. I think this pattern is my favorite. I love these colors off white/ brown tweed together, they make a great combination. The off white yarn is bulky weight and the brown tweed is worsted weight. So on the lower brim and the upper purl ridge of the hat, both yarns were held together making this hat very durable. The tweed yarn is also used for the pom-pom. This is 0-3 months size.

Materials used:
Main Color (MC) One skein of off white bulky weight yarn at least70yds. I used Deborah Norville "Serenity."
Contrast Color (CC) aprox 15 yds of brown tweed (I used some leftover "Lionbrand" Fisherman's Wool yarn.
Size 9 circular needle 12"inch and 24", or double pointed needles.
Tapestry needle, pom-pom maker, sitch marker and ruler.
Gauge is not real important with this hat. I've used all different kinds of bulky weight yarn and they all come out to about the same size. If you want a little larger hat go up to a size 10 needle.

Directions:
With MC & CC yarns held together, cast on 48 stitches. Purl 2 rounds then break off CC. With MC Knit in rounds until hat measures 4 1/4"inches from beginning cast on row. Rejoin CC with MC and holding both yarns together purl 2 rounds. Break off CC. With MC knit 3 rounds. Start decreasing for crown of hat as follows:
Row 1: Knit 6, k2tog, repeat around.
Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: Knit 5, k2tog, repeat around.
Row 4: Knit.
Switch to 24" circular needle here and work using "magic loop" method. See tutorial on Youtube. Or use double pointed needles and distribute stitches evenly over 3 needles.
Row 5: Knit 4, k2tog, repeat around.
Row 6: Knit
Row 7: Knit 3, k2tog, repeat around.
Row 8: Knit.
Row 9: Knit 2, k2tog, repeat around.
Cut yarn leaving an 8" tail. Thread tail through tapestry needle and through remaining stitches on needles. Draw opening closed and secure with knot. Make pom-pom and attached to top of hat.
Turn up brim on hat. This will make for a very sturdy brim.
Diameter of hat unstretched is 14 1/4"inches.