Ginger’s done

Ta-da!

Isn’t that the sweetest thing you ever saw? Finished it this morning. I think it must be the fastest I’ve ever knit a baby sweater. Let’s get the specs.

Yarn: Shepherd Cynthia Helene that I won from Nona when she was giving away some of her stash last year. Yummy! 100% pure NZ merino in a gorgeous colour, Ginger. Had 4 skeins (~400 yards) and still have about enough to make a hat I think. The first photo is closest to the richness of the colour.

Needles: Denise #8/5mm and an unknown 4.5mm flexible plastic circular. I magic-looped for the first time, following instructions from this site, and had great fun! If I could lay my hands on thin long circulars, perhaps my dormant sock-knitting will get a boost.

Pattern: The Little Sister Sweater from Boogie here. It’s a seamless raglan, just a little bit of grafting at the armholes.

Time: 2 days?

Size: 21″around the chest, 9.5″from shoulder to bottom, 6″cuffs, 5″ neck opening (with buttons closed). I’m hoping it will fit my friend’s newborn.

Extra: #1 I used the smaller sized circulars for the magic loop, because I didn’t have either DPNs or circulars in the same size. I really enjoyed the magic looping and must try to see if I can do it on the Denises. And maybe some of my metal circulars. None of them is thin enough for socks, though.

#2 The raglan shaping is the neatest I’ve ever done. (Neat as in tidy)

The instructions, however, called for SSP (Slip, slip, purl) and I couldn’t figure out how to do that when I was knitting, not purling all the way round. So I did SSK (slip, slip, knit) instead.

#3 The back has optional short rows to make it higher than the front. I found the instructions confusing, but then I always find short rows instructions confusing. And they’re optional anyway.

#4 I used Kitchener weaving and wasn’t entirely happy with how my work looked, but since it is in the pits (you know!), I didn’t bother too much.

#5 Red buttons because I don’t have any brown ones in my stash. The original pattern is intended for a girl, so the button band was in the wrong place, and my feeble attempts to make a one-row buttonhole totally wiped out any evidence of seed stitch in the band on that side of the opening. Ah well. I do like seed stitch when it comes out nicely, though. If I make this a second time, I shall place the neck marker according to whether it’s a boy or a girl I’m making it for (the odds are high it will be a boy, it usually seems to be). Then I can hide the botching and sew it in place better.

Edited to Add: While I was working on this post (and mistakenly clicked on Publish without having finished), my internet went down and has just come back. Whew. I get so miserable without the web, ya know. It was gratifying to read all the comments, thanks everyone 🙂 I’m trying to find a baby hat pattern which isn’t too feminine to work on with the remaining yarn. Maybe one that uses seed stitch.

I’ve been trying a pattern from a book I have using brioche stitch, and while I like the look of it, I find it is rather big, and when finished will be closer to child-carrying capacity, than housing a baby head. Ahem.

Oh, and the monsoon is here.