Saturday, 19. August 2006
Ten steps to a baby sweater.
knitting_keeps_me_sane, 19:26h
1. Get to know the parents of the baby. What do they like? Their interests? Their hobbies and dislikes? Will they dress their baby in a frilly dream in pink or rather in a wildly variegated stockinette stitch sweater, or should it be a tiny version of a "traditional" sweater?
2. Play a little with the baby, if you have the chance. What kind of child is it? Does it want to romp and play, needing a lose fit or is it rather a quiet child, where a snug and dirt-sensitive sweater could be fit?
3. Chose the colour. Boys blue, girls pink. You need not follow these conventions, but follow your instincts. Hot red for a green-eyed baby, soft grey for a demure sweater, black for a little blonde or deep green for both genders.
4. Chose your yarn. This also depends on the parents - will they handwash a sweater, or does it need to be carefree? Acrylics are good, but will look "squashed" after some time, just as cotton will - except for Denim Yarn, that just will improve with time and rough handling. Then there is pure wool - there are soft wools, scratchy wools, and wools with acrylics. I mostly prefer wool with acrylics for durabillity for baby wear.
5. Shape. Cardigan, sweater, wrap cardigan? Babies have big heads and will need a large head-hole or a cardigan - this depends on your taste and on point 6:
6. Stitch pattern. Colourwork, knit/purl patterns, plain, cables? A cute kitty on the front or a tiny guernsey? The possibillities are endless, but consider carefully your options, and chose wisely, before you put a kitten on the cat-hating babies sweater :-)
7. Chart everything out! You will not regret this when you see perfect ribs flowing seamlessly into cables, or colour patterns merging together and coming apart in perfect harmony. This is a good practice for adult sweaters, and will make the parents appreciate the sweater even more.
8. Research good ways to cast on and cast off, and use the best method possible to produce even, smooth and pretty edges, and take care to combine your border pattern with your chosen cast-on method for the prettiest possible result.
9. Swatching is not neccesary, but knit carefully and be prepared to rip should it turn out way too small. Too large is not a problem, as the baby will grow. Take care to lenghten sleeves etc. though, as stubby sleeves are worse than too long sleeves.
10. When finished, carefully block your sweater, and take a long look at it. Anything you could improve? Some duplicate stitching? Embroider a name, a butterfly or a superman on it? First when you are totally satisfied, wash it again, block it and wrap it up.
Next post: Steps 1-8 summed up in a UFO :-)
Have a nice day
Lene
2. Play a little with the baby, if you have the chance. What kind of child is it? Does it want to romp and play, needing a lose fit or is it rather a quiet child, where a snug and dirt-sensitive sweater could be fit?
3. Chose the colour. Boys blue, girls pink. You need not follow these conventions, but follow your instincts. Hot red for a green-eyed baby, soft grey for a demure sweater, black for a little blonde or deep green for both genders.
4. Chose your yarn. This also depends on the parents - will they handwash a sweater, or does it need to be carefree? Acrylics are good, but will look "squashed" after some time, just as cotton will - except for Denim Yarn, that just will improve with time and rough handling. Then there is pure wool - there are soft wools, scratchy wools, and wools with acrylics. I mostly prefer wool with acrylics for durabillity for baby wear.
5. Shape. Cardigan, sweater, wrap cardigan? Babies have big heads and will need a large head-hole or a cardigan - this depends on your taste and on point 6:
6. Stitch pattern. Colourwork, knit/purl patterns, plain, cables? A cute kitty on the front or a tiny guernsey? The possibillities are endless, but consider carefully your options, and chose wisely, before you put a kitten on the cat-hating babies sweater :-)
7. Chart everything out! You will not regret this when you see perfect ribs flowing seamlessly into cables, or colour patterns merging together and coming apart in perfect harmony. This is a good practice for adult sweaters, and will make the parents appreciate the sweater even more.
8. Research good ways to cast on and cast off, and use the best method possible to produce even, smooth and pretty edges, and take care to combine your border pattern with your chosen cast-on method for the prettiest possible result.
9. Swatching is not neccesary, but knit carefully and be prepared to rip should it turn out way too small. Too large is not a problem, as the baby will grow. Take care to lenghten sleeves etc. though, as stubby sleeves are worse than too long sleeves.
10. When finished, carefully block your sweater, and take a long look at it. Anything you could improve? Some duplicate stitching? Embroider a name, a butterfly or a superman on it? First when you are totally satisfied, wash it again, block it and wrap it up.
Next post: Steps 1-8 summed up in a UFO :-)
Have a nice day
Lene
