Ribbed Baby Jacket
2008 @ 7:45 am
Apparently, this pattern is my go-to baby gift. It’s easy to figure out why. It takes exactly one skein of cotton ease, is fun, easy, practical and cute! I hope Amanda’s baby will get as much use out of this sweater as Maia got out of her versions.
Details can be found here on Ravelry. Mod: I did a little seed stitch border to prevent rolling around the bottom at at the cuffs.
Pattern: Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss
Size:b0-3 months
Needle: US 7 / 4.5 mm and US 8 / 5.0 mm
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, 1 skeins in Lime
This pattern is now available for FREE here.
update from the homefront… and a big reveal
2008 @ 9:13 am
We are all home! Baby #2 spent 5 days in the NICU and they decided she was strong enough to send home. At some point I may share this story, but for now I want to move past it. She weighs almost 5 lbs now, yay! These photos are from the hospital yet, I haven’t done an upload in a few days…
Now that I have two girls, I’ve decided that keeping up the initials only thing will be too difficult. I’ve already slipped with MJ a few times and CA just doesn’t flow as nicely. So, here it is–the big reveal of my daughter’s names:
Maia Jordan
&
Cassidy Aliyah
Henceforth referred to as simply Maia and Cassie. Okay, maybe the real reason I’m changing it up is that the names just sound so good together 
and now for a brief announcement
2008 @ 8:06 am
Hello all–our baby arrived a bit early on April 30 at 6:38 pm. She weighed in at a mere 4 lbs 3 oz, but is healthy. She’s 16.5 inches long and should be home in a few days…
My midwife, mom and Jason were amazing and brought this baby into the world with minimal stress for both her and her mama–it is a gift I will never be able to repay.
so close…
2008 @ 8:33 am
I’ve got a few nearly finished objects thanks to some mandated rest over the last couple of days.
The green is another Ribbed Baby Jacket (now offered free) by Debbie Bliss [ravelry], the gray are two newborn sized Saartje’s bootees [ravelry], and, you guessed it, the brown is a nearly completed jacket from Girly Style Wardrobe! The bootees and jacket each need notions and the sweater just needs to be seamed.
Now the jacket details. Steph (have your heard about her new venture, Popknits yet?) and Jennifer came over for a sewing day last Sunday and I was surprised to find that the jacket was much easier to assemble than it was to cut! (You may recall the crazy pattern page). I did have experts here to guide me, for which i am very grateful. I am not sure i would have set the sleeve properly without guidance or assembled in the proper order either (although on second look, the last diagram of the instructions does give you this info). Even so, as Jennifer mentioned, it’s just like knitting: shoulders, set in sleeves, seam sides, then arms.
The sleeve looks pretty good!
IMPORTANT NOTES:
1. The ruffle of the sleeve appears to be laid out incorrectly in the book. If it is cut as shown, it will make a ruffle that is shorter than the sleeve you attach it too. If you cut these pieces side by side on the fold, you will have the perfect length.
2. Sizing note: I made the smallest size (100cm) and it is a little big for my two year old. I believe the sizing goes by the child’s height. MJ is about 34″ tall and 100cm is about 39″. Makes total sense.
3. Finishing–I plan to use bias tape around the neckline and for the tie. I believe the instructions mean for you to make your own. There are two reasons I chose not to do this: first, I don’t think I had enough fabric. I used a half yard remnant. Second, I didn’t like the idea of a corduroy tie, I thought it would wear too easy and be a bit too stiff.
I’ll try to compile all this info in the final post on this project for anyone else who wants to make it. I’ve also categorized all the Girl Style posts for easy skimming.
A little bit of Love
2008 @ 11:51 am
Not so bad!
* Photo album for and of MJ (this one’s due in a week and half way done)
* Girly Style Jacket for MJ (also due in one week, cut not sewn. Someone will be two years
old!)
* Sew more stardust baby shoes
* complete baby hat made from Heather’s handspun
* sew jersey baby bunting (pattern from Jennifer… where the heck did I put that?)
I think this hat will be a little big for a newborn, but maybe it will still fit as fall sets in. I used a bit of handspun from my friend Heather (blogless, but hellomello on Ravelry!). It’s a silk/merino blend that I combine with some random stripes of Manos Silk Blend I had leftover from another project for the new baby.
I’m so pleased that my list is actually getting smaller! This Sunday the daddy will be taking MJ to Central Park for the Earth Day celebration and us gals (tbd) will be having a sewing marathon. That should take the list down a bit more…
Feeling good, if not bloated–5 more weeks to go, give or take.
2008 @ 8:59 am
I’ve got a theoretical 6 weeks to go on this pregnancy and I’m dragging my ass everywhere! I’m not getting a whole lot done at night in the crafty department, sad to say. I thought I’d use the blog to make a little list of things I’d like to accomplish… but first I’ll update you on the last post. I’ve done nothing on that Cobblestone. I am so mad at myself! I think you are all right and I should just fix it and not rip back. Instead of that tedious task, when I knit, I’ve been doing some nice stockinette on the front of the Tuxedo Top (Summer 07 IK) I started last year. Maybe by the end of summer my belly and b**bs will be small enough to wear it 
So now, the pre-baby to complete list:
- Photo album for and of MJ (this one’s due in a week and half way done)
- Girly Style Jacket for MJ (also due in one week, cut not sewn. Someone will be two years old!)
- Sew more stardust baby shoes
- complete baby hat made from Heather’s handspun
- sew jersey baby bunting (pattern from Jennifer… where the heck did I put that?)
Okay, not too bad now that it’s all written down in one place…
ugh and double ugh
2008 @ 9:04 pm
I don’t know if I mentioned this, but when I started my Cobblestone Pullover I neglected to add in the side detail–two panels of purl stitches under the arms. About three inches in I realized my mistake and dropped 15 stitches on either side, reversed them, and moved on. Turns out I placed one of the panels a little too far forward. Ugh. Now I have far too many stitches across the back of the sweater and far too few in the front. Exactly 15 stitches too many and too few, to be exact.
Stitches on the needle show where my panel should be.
So, double ugh is the fixing it part. I began to correct by dropping stitches and pulling them back up, just as I had done in the beginning, but it looked pretty bad. I am not sure blocking would help, but maybe? Or perhaps once they are all finished they will look even?
If anyone has experience in the area of dropping and reversing a large group of stitches, please help! I would rather not rip the entire sweater. Of course I will if I have too–I’m a year ahead of schedule on this one, after all Then again, maybe it won’t be so bad to be bigger across the back–should I just keep going?
have a great weekend!
2008 @ 9:57 am
Mj and me in our matching aprons (courtesy of my sister via sale at Anthropologie)
Camden Market Hat
2008 @ 1:06 pm
Remember that Alchemy Synrchronicity i was so excited about purchasing on sale a few posts back? Two skeins have turned into this lovely hat, so named by it’s recipient. I couldn’t ask for a better person to knit for–she wears it so well…
I’m going to write up the pattern and post it soon! I’m very pleased with how this project turned out. I winged it all the way through and it looks exactly as I imagined it would. A nice surprise for me. I dressed up the brim with some faggoted lace and bobbled the heck out of it
zee shoes for zee baby
2008 @ 3:41 pm
Visit Stardust Shoes to download this fabulous tutorial!
Materials:
Scraps of Raindrop Stripe by Alexander Henry
Scraps of RED Kona Cotton
Scraps of off white wool felt found at Brooklyn General (single pieces are $4.50–blame the weak dollar and buy it anyway, there is no comparison).
