Variations on an Impress Dress

In my previous post, I mentioned one of my favourite baby girl dress patterns, the Impress Dress.  The first time I knit this pattern, it was for my little neighbour's first birthday and I made her this brown and pink version of the dress.

My next experiment was a blue, white and mauve version for my goddaughter . . .

Both of the above dresses were made with acrylic yarn from my collection.  I bought Lion Brand Homespun Yarn in the colour "Herb Garden" for the next dress I made.  I love the Homespun variegated yarn colours and in addition to feeling lovely and soft, it's also safe to machine wash and dry.

As a baby, Astrid wore it as a dress.

And now that she's is a little older, it's a tunic!

Entrelac

I learned about entrelac in Margaret Radcliffe's fantastic book, The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques. My first experiment with entrelac was this little hat.

I love this technique and decided I needed to take on something more ambitious.  When I heard there was a new baby girl in the neighbourhood I decided to try knitting an entrelac baby dress. I didn't use a pattern for the skirt part of the dress, but I used the collar from the pattern for this Impress Dress. I picked up stitches at the bottom to do the trim. Unfortunately I think I made some questionable colour choices for the dress . . . Luckily it was all knit with accumulated acrylic yarn from my collection (my typical choice for experiments like this one).  The outcome was a bit more avant garde than I bargained for.

I'm not sure I know the baby's mom well enough to judge if she'd think this was something that falls into the "retro-cool" category or the just plain ugly category. What do you think? Is it a knitting fail? In the mean time I've started knitting something more conventional for baby Fiona . . .

Striped Baby Dress

A friend had her first baby so this will soon be off in the mail to little Zoé! This dress could also be worn as a tunic or a vest, depending on the size/build of the child.  The skirt part was made with variegated yarn left over from a blanket I crocheted while pregnant with my first son, alternated with a random ball of blue yarn from my collection.  I used this Lanesplitter skirt pattern.  Using the ball of blue yarn, I picked up stitches at the top and made the bodice from this pattern entitled Sunshine dress. I then used the variegated yarn to do an edging around the neck.

Chunky Baby Hat

For this hat I used the leftover Sweet Georgia Yarns (summer dusk) from my Chunky Mittens for the first part of the hat, doing the ribbing pattern until the yarn ran out (9 rows).  Then I switched to an alpaca wool blend (70% alpaca, 30% wool) in a purple colour that I purchased locally from Prairie Fire Alpacas, located in Arelee, SK.

I knit the hat on size 10 (6mm) dpn and I used this free Cozy Cap - Knitting Pattern.  Because of the size of my yarn/needles/my gauge, I wound up using the size XXL cast on of 52 stitches, but followed the measurements for the infant sized hat (i.e. I knit until the hat measured 4" before doing the decrease). The top was done using the 5 stitch I-Cord suggested by the pattern's author.

Now I just need to find a chunky little baby to wear the hat!

Chunky Mittens

I recently knit my first ever pair of mitts.  I made them with a beautiful Sweet Georgia Yarns  superwash chunky merino wool I bought from Knits by the Sea while on vacation in Tofino last summer.  The colour is summer dusk.  It came in a 100g/ 120 yd hank that was enough yarn for both mittens with a little left over. Here are the before and after pictures.

I looked at a couple of different patterns and then combined and adapted them to make up my own pattern to fit my little hands. The finished size of the mitts from wrist to fingertip is 8 1/2" long and they are 4 1/2" wide.  I made them big enough to wear over top of a little pair of gloves for added warmth against the Saskatchewan cold.  I made both mitts exactly the same but wearing them has seemed to shape them naturally into a left and right.

Laura's Chunky Mitten Pattern

Gauge: 13 stitches/ 21 rows = 4" (10cm)

Needles: I used a US size 10 (6mm) set of 4 double-pointed

Loosely CO 32 stitches and divide onto 3 dpn. Place marker to indicate the beg of rnd.

Rounds 1-12 (Cuff): K2, P2 around

Round 13: K15, pm, m1, k2, m1, pm, K15 (34 sts)

Rounds 14-16: Knit

Round 17: K15, sl marker, m1, k4, m1, sl marker, K15 (36 sts)

Rounds 18-20: Knit

Round 21: K15, sl marker, m1, k6, m1, sl marker, K15 (38 sts, 8 between markers)

Rounds 22-24: Knit

Round 25 (Thumb opening): K15, remove marker, sl next 8 sts onto holder, CO 2, K15 (32 sts)

Round 26-37: Knit

Round 38: K1, K2T, K10, K2T, K2, K2T, K10, K2T, K1 (28 sts)

Round 39: Knit

Round 40: K1, K2T, K8, K2T, K2, K2T, K8, K2T, K1 (24 sts)

Round 41: Knit

Round 42: K1, K2T, K6, K2T, K2, K2T, K6, K2T, K1 (20 sts)

Round 43: Knit

Round 44: K2T around (10 sts)

Round 45: Knit

Round 46: K2T around (5 sts)

Cut the yarn leaving a 6" tail.  Thread the tail on a tapestry needle and draw through remaining stitches.  Pull to close up the top of the mitten.  Weave in the remaining thread.

Thumb: Slip the 8 sts from the holder onto 2 dpn needles. With a third needle, join your working yarn to the inner part of the thumb opening by picking up 4 stitches (12 sts).

Next 8 rounds: Knit

Next round: K2T around (6 sts)

Cut the yarn leaving a 6" tail.  Thread the tail on a tapestry needle and draw through remaining stitches.  Pull to close up the top of the thumb.  Weave in all the remaining threads.  Make a second mitten to match.

If you need to make the body of the mitt or thumb longer for a larger hand, knit more rows before shaping the top of the mitt or thumb.