Thursday 14 April 2011

Anouk

March 2011

I've wanted to make this ever since I first spotted it in Knitty. I'm a huge fan of Kate Gilbert's designs, and this is one of my favourites.

The side seams are held together with tabs rather than sewn up, and so it's both easy to get on and off and able to grow with the baby. And the colour-scheme is cute without being overly girly. There's something about knitting with bright orange which makes me very very cheerful too.


What should have been the back of mine was a bit neater than the front, and so I switched them around, meaning that the button used to fasten the shoulder is visible from the front. I added another button on the other shoulder to balance it out, but it doesn't actually fasten or unfasten.

I cast off the neck knitwise, and if I was going to make this again, I would cast off the tops of the pockets that way too, rather than in moss stitch. I think a tighter cast-off would sit more snugly against the dress itself. Mine gapes a little, although I could probably add some press-studs to fix that.



I made the pockets using intarsia, although it can be done using duplicate stitch. I don't mind intarsia so much, but I hate sewing up, and doing the pockets took me aaaages, and I still think they could be neater...

Total project cost £6.00 (free pattern made using Rico Creative Cotton Aran which is £1.50 per skein at first4yarns.com).

Pattern: Anouk by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Rico Creative Cotton Aran
Amount: 2 skeins (mc)
Colourway: Orange 74 / Cardinal 11 / Red 05 / Pistachio 41
Needles: 4.00mm
Size: Smallest
On ravelry: here

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Saartje's Booties

March 2011

I haven't made a pair of bootees in years. When I was just learning to knit I knocked up a few pairs for friends of mine with babies, because they were so irresistibly cute and quick to make (the bootees that is, not the babies, although they were cute too...)

What eventually put me off making more of this sort of thing is that I've heard babies can be quite cunning at figuring out how to wriggle out of them, and so I'm not entirely convinced that they are as useful as the many other tiny wooly things out there just waiting to be knitted.

Be that as it may, when I finished Aubrey with so much yarn left over that it would have been rude not to make something to match I thought I'd give these a go. They were so quick and easy that I don't think I'll be too upset if they get wriggled out of...

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock
Amount: About 0.2 skeins
Colourway: Rayon Vert
Needles: 2.75mm
Size: Smallest
On ravelry: here