FO! Pink Baby Sweater

[karne]

My first granddaughter is arriving on or about Oct. 22. We have 7 grandsons, so this is a whole new knitting fun experience!

Let me see if I can get photo's on here...



I'm not completely thrilled with the ribbing, but it's about the way it turns out for me most times. I wish I knew how to make better.

And... I made the buttons! Did a little crochet bobble and sewed it on...kinda cute!

[nonny2t]

It is just adorable and congratulations. My son's birthday is Oct 22 so good luck with the new granddaughter. I look forward to somewhere down the line having a granddaughter as I just have the two grandsons at the moment.

[MerigoldinWA]

That is very nice, Karen.

Is it the ribbing for the button/buttonhole bands that you are not happy with? Maybe the neck ribbing too? Are you using smaller needles when you do that part? I usually use 2 sizes smaller for the ribbing for the picked up areas and sometimes even 3 sizes smaller. Most patterns tell you how many stitches to pick up, but I went to a knitting class about finishing and the lady who taught it said not to worry about how many it says to pick up. She taught to use 2 sizes smaller needle and to pick up 3 stitches and then skip one all the way up the fronts. 1, 2, 3, skip she sang as she skipped around the room to help us remember. LOL On the neck you use the 1, 2, 3 skip except where you are picking up the horizontal stitches at the neck back and then she said to pick up one for one across that part. Sometimes a pattern will have you ditch a few stitches across that part too, but not usually. If you pick up this way, picking up how many need to be picked up you will usually be pretty close to the number the pattern called for (unless you change the length). If you are way off you might have done something wrong. :-)

Using smaller needles and doing the 1,2,3, skip will cause the bands to be a little smaller (or shorter) than the body of the sweater, which is just what you need in these areas. I find this works very well. You might like to give it a try on your next one and see if you like the result. If you don't you can always rip it out and do it over. :-)

Our youngest daughter is expecting her first baby Oct. 25. It is expected to be a girl too. We have 5 other granddaughters and one grandson. All these others range in age from 7 to 14, so we haven't had a baby in a long time. It is fun, huh?

[karne]

Well, I didn't know that about ribbing! The ribbing needle was 1 size smaller and I also didn't pick up near as many stitches as the pattern said... I think that would have made a ruffle!!!

I will try this the next time I do ribbing. Thank you

[PurlyGyrl]

Great job! Congrats on the granddaughter. She'll be pretty in pink!

[soobeeoz]

It's really pretty, karne, and the crocheted buttons are a great idea.

[Mariblue]

That's beautiful! You did an awesome job.

MerigoldinWa, thanks for sharing that info about the button band, that's great to know.

[dustinac]

Very pretty!! Congrats!!

I know what you mean about the boys...since I started knitting all my friends have had boys... I'm waiting for 2 friends right now to find out boy/girl and I'm hoping girl... I want to knit with pinks and purples

[MerigoldinWA]

Karen,

Yes, sometimes you have to use your head and not follow the pattern blindly. It does look like if they asked you to pick up even more stitches you would have had a ruffle. :-)

I like the lacework on your sweater.

I made crocheted buttons on a baby sweater I did recently too. Pretty slick way to get a match. LOL

I wanted to say that when you pick up stitches by the 1, 2, 3, skip method, you still need to get the same number of stitches on each front. At least I think you do. :-) I always aim for that and it doesn't seem hard to accomplish by this method.

Your little sweater will look very sweet on your little GD. I haven't made a pink sweater yet for my expected GD. Need to get on that. LOL

Merigold

[astonh]

That is PRECIOUS!