Little Cardigan for Little Miss

Now that our little girl is here (born August 30!), I can finally put some of my recent tiny knits into the laundry rotation. This cardigan, Vertebrae, is almost shrug-like in the sense that it wraps the arms and back but leaves the front of the chest open. I think the design is ingenious because when my daughter spits up, only her onesie is in the line of fire.

This was the newborn size, but my gauge was off a little and I still only used one skein of sock yarn. This gorgeous orange-pink-red is Knit Picks self-striping yarn, Felici, which is released in limited-time colorways. This colorway, Matador, had been sitting in my stash for about two years. I love having a little sweater for my daughter that isn't cotton candy pink.

It's a Wrap

I've been working on smaller projects lately, things that don't get too hot on my lap in this ridiculous weather and don't take too long so I'll be ready for the Ravellenic Games, which begin July 27th. 

I finished this triangular shawl a few weeks ago. It's the Kumara Wrap, a free pattern from Classic Elite yarns. I used two skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash. It blocked very well, and the shawl is squishy 1x1 rib. The fringe took a while but was very worth the effort. I really like this shawl, but I have a friend who just is this color blue, so I may gift it away.

Another free pattern, Grayson, used less than one skein in each color of Palette, which is a nice fingering-weight wool that comes in a staggering number of colorways. It uses a very ingenious method of casting on stitches at the edge (where the yellow is later knit), thus making it completely unnecessary to pick up stitches to knit the border. I'm not entirely in love with the yellow. I think a darker yellow, one with more brown or orange in it, would have looked more harmonious.

When working the stripes, I always brought the new color under the old color, and this made a very neat little spiral/spine up the edge of the knitting: very tidy looking!

Currently on the needles is another shawl, Quaking Aspen. . .