Happy (wet) Fourth!
Today's Fourth of July was rainy in these parts - no fireworks or BBQ for me! It was also cloudy and cool - quite different from the many, many very hot Fourths I can recall. (I recall with particular clarity several spent camping out all day in public places, waiting for fireworks in the 90-degree heat, waiting for public transportation to take us home afterwards). Coffeeboy and I stayed home, did housework and schoolwork. I concentrated on plunging into some reading for my dissertation, which proved quite fun. I even knit a bit on my Monkey sock (pictures below!)
This past weekend, besides redoing the blog layout and working on writing out more formal notes towards a new dissertation proposal, I finished up a baby sweater for a professor whose young one came early. Luckily, the knitting was mostly done, so all I had to do was the sleeves and the neckband - which, when you're aiming for a 6-month-old size, means knitting something very small and cute!
Pattern: Baby Pullover, from Knitting Pure and Simple
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool, color 016 ("Thyme", 2.5 balls)
Needles: size 8 and 6 circular (16") and DPNs
Time: less than 2 weeks off and on
Thoughts: I haven't had many opportunities to knit for babies, so this was a real treat: so fun, fast, and cute given the small size. Plus, it means I actually finished a sweater! I really have no idea what size babies are, so when I saw the newborn earlier this week, I was stunned by how small he is, how fragile, the parents carefully holding that little pink head. I realized, with relief, that this sweater with a 20" chest diameter would most certainly fit him in future, cooler months. It was fun to work with the Mission Falls, which is really soft (and it's machine-washable, which I took to be a non-negotiable item!).
Well, enough about babies. Let's talk about Monkeys instead - monkey socks, my first socks for the Summer of Socks Knitalong! I've made a lot of progress! They really are quite fun, and totally memorizable, which surprised me for a charted lace pattern with 11 rows. Once you do it once or twice, though, you see the general logic of the pattern and it flows very easily. Especially if you have 3 hours round-trip of train travel to archives like I did last week!
Best news of all? Well, for the monkey sock? There's more train travel to archives in my future! And for me, I get to visit more libraries... and hopefully get a few more steps closer to having this thing relatively well sorted out before the move!
9 comments:
Isn't knitting for bébé so much fun!? I love the fast completion aspect as well as the fact that you come out with a tiny, precious garment. Your lil sweater is adorable--I love those KP & S patterns!! Nice Monkeys, too...
Cute baby sweater :)
I love the color or the yarn for your Monkey socks. It compliments the pattern well. We had a rainy 4th of July here too, which was not particularly festive. We watched Harry Potter and ate fajitas -- not particularly patriotic (but fun!)
Oh, I love those Monkeys! Mine sort of fell apart when I was doing the foot. I was so into the lace part that I kept forgetting to do the sole in stockinette! Sheesh...I'm tinking as we speak/type.
And that little sweater? Cutest thing ever! Hard to believe that people come that small.
Baby sweaters are soooo adorable! I like your monkeys too!
That is the cutest little baby sweater!
That *is* super small and cute.
Monkeys are just too good aren't they?
The sweater came out great! I hope the prof. appreciated it. And your Monkeys are looking good too. Where are you off to next?
Jessica
Our Fourth was a bit wet, too, but the fireworks still went on. The baby sweater is adorable! And I love the color that you're using for the monkey socks. It's soooo pretty!
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