Last week, my boss and his wife drove to Vernon for an ultrasound. They're expecting their second child and wanted to know whether they'll be welcoming their first son or their second daughter. Apparently, our local hospital/ultrasound clinic will not tell prospective parents until after the 25th week, but the clinic in Vernon will. (I make no judgements; they have their reasons.)
When he came back to work, I asked my boss if I'd be knitting with pink yarn or blue yarn. He told me... pink. They're having another little girl! Well, if that isn't just the perfect opportunity to knit something pretty, I don't know what is!
So, I started going through my pattern stash. After whittling my choice down to two or three items, I decided on one that I've made before. No, you haven't seen it on the blog... ever. I made this little dress 25 years ago, once for my own daughter and once for a neice. I love the pattern; it's cute, it's simple, it's classic. It doesn't get much better than that.
The pattern is from an old Scheepjeswol magazine, Journal 45. The first two times I made this dress, I used Paton's Beehive Baby crystal, the one with the shiny thread spun into it. I don't think they even make it anymore, but even if they do, I didn't want to make it in an acrylic yarn. I'm using Sandnesgarn Lanett, a lovely, soft, washable wool, perfect for baby clothes. The dress is knit on 3.0 mm needles; it's started at the waist and worked up to the shoulders, then stitches are picked up (and instantly doubled) and worked down for the skirt. Later, a ribbon will be threaded through the small holes made by the increases. At this stage, you can see I'm working on the skirt; this part is perfect for tv knitting as it's 5" of stocking stitch.
The bottom edge of the skirt will be finished with a pretty pale pink, which I have on order. The yarn store didn't have a pretty pastel pink in stock, so they've ordered some for me. The pattern is written for three sizes, 6 months, 9 months and 1 year; I'm making the 6 month size. I figure that she'll be able to wear it right around Christmas. Perfect or what?
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Perfect! Don't you wish they had superwash baby wool all those years ago? I do.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit to a strong weakness for knitting baby clothing. The first item I ever knit was a pair of booties, so I guess I will just keep knitting for our little ones. It's just too much fun to give up.
ReplyDeleteYour dress is lovely.
Can't wait to see the finished dress. I have some of those journals in my pattern stash, guess it's time to look through them again. I have a couple of babies coming along that I need to knit for.
ReplyDeleteritaknitting