4.27.2006

The really is a knitting blog*

Honest.
And to prove it, here are some finished objects instead of my usual mid-week filler of flowers photographs.

Really, it’s amazing what you can do with a few hours of concentrated knitting, end weaving, sewing, and tinkering with snaps. Finally, a small dent in the on-going project pile. So without further ado, we have

Baby shoes…redux


Pattern: Textured Shoes from 50 Baby Booties to Knit, by Zoe Mellor, slightly modified (I cast on 18sts and went up to 28 instead of the 24 and 38 stitches in the pattern and didn't use buttons for the straps)
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Glace, less than 2/3 of a skein

I guess the third time really is the charm. Shoe Number 3 thankfully matches Shoe Number 2 in size so now we have a pair instead of a repeat of past trama! This is the first time I’ve knitted with 100% cotton and not only was my tension all over the place, my gauge was also very different from the one indicated for Cotton Glace in the pattern. If I had not made the adjustment in stitch number, the shoes would have been enormous. Aside from changing the stitches, I also opted to use snaps on the straps instead of buttons since giving the BF's new niece ready-made choking hazards is probably not the best way to celebrate her birth and express congratulatory sentiments to her parents. Without the button as a decorative element on the strap though, the shoes seemed rather bland so I stitched on a little leaf.


I intended to do something more complex than just an outline but after several attempts that resulted in misshapen green blobs, I gave up and went with simple lines. Detailed embroidery on a half-inch wide strip of moss-stitched knitting is beyond me. All in all though, these shoes are easy and fast to make. More than anything else, stitching the shoe together is the most fiddly and time-consuming. Since the shoe is knit flat, turning it into a three dimensional shape does take a bit of tweaking with the knitting (e.g. gathering the top toe piece into a sort of pleat in places to make the domed front). Since the tweaking gives the shoe its final shape, you may want to note where you bunched things on one shoe so that you can do the same, mirrored, to the other to get about the same shape in the both shoes. Of course, I didn’t realize this until I was halfway through seaming the third shoe so my pair has that lovely “hand-made” look.

And going back further in the project pile, here is the finally finished and be-ribboned Lacybonnetol. (Modeled by the ever helpful Bun the rabbit and Ork the doorknob).



Pattern: Lacy Bonnet from Knitting for Two, by Erika Knight
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK, approximately half a skein

I still think this pattern is brilliant. The bonnet is knitted flat and doesn't look like much. Yet, when you stitch two edges together, this beautiful starflower suddenly appears from a previously linear series of yarn-overs and knit-together. Overall an amazingly fun and very straightforward knit. The yarn too was incredibly scrumptious. It’s a micro fiber, cashmere, and extra fine merino blend that is extremely soft and squooshy. And machine washable! It does get a bit of a halo after some amount of handling but the fiber integrity doesn’t seem to be affected at all. Really, the only part of this project that took some thought was puzzling out how to make the silk ribbon accents/ties removable since they, unlike the yarn, were not machine washable. After some fiddling, I settled on snaps.


Surprisingly, the snaps withstand a good amount of tugging so with any luck, this bonnet (and the shoes) may stay on little S. long enough for a quick snap-shot or two. Now I just need to get everything to her before she outgrow it all.

So there, actual knitting here at A Knit’s Tale. What a concept.

*most of the time, anyway

10 Comments:

Blogger Boogs said...

Superb job! *L* Those look fantastic and I'm sure they'll be well-recieved!

6:13 AM  
Blogger knottygnome said...

so so cute! i love the bonnet. if only i knew any babies to knit for. i envy you.

6:38 AM  
Blogger allisonmariecat said...

Both are adorable! I love that bonnet pattern. And I like your embroidery (which I really can't do myself) in place of a button.

8:20 AM  
Blogger jpknits said...

Adorable. What a smart solution for the ribbon - which was a very stylish addition, I might add.

10:18 AM  
Blogger Annie said...

I absolutely love that hat. I have been itching to make it and you did such a lovely job. Great idea to use snaps! And the detail on the booties is very sweet. Yay!

3:46 PM  
Blogger Knittypants said...

Those shoes are so cute, her mom will be delighted. And I love that bonnet, it is so pretty, everytime I see I just like it more. Thanks for the review of the Cashsoft, I really appreciate it when people let you know what they think of the yarn they are using.

5:20 PM  
Blogger mathomhouse said...

The bonnet almost makes me wish I had another baby to adorn! So sweet!

6:30 AM  
Blogger Jerry & Maxy said...

Precious. Your attention to detail is awesome! And makes for gorgeous results.

8:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi,

the shoes are really cute. Am just on my way to having my first baby and was looking for baby shoes... Would you be so kind as to mail me the pattern for the shoes... Please... I hope i can make them for my baby.... my mail id is judithsinghroy@gmail.com.

congrats... they are really sweet...

2:50 AM  
Blogger sallywson said...

I bought the book and took your advice reducing the stitches from 24 to 18. Everything went well until I came to row 13 of the UPPER: I'm completely lost as to how to adapt the stitches. Do you have any advice? Did you alter or the number of stitches you bound off at the beginning or did you redisribute them: (pattern says "bind off 12, seed 3, bind off 4 and seed to end."

6:40 PM  

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