I told you there were a lot of people having babies around me lately. One of them was the Matron of Honor at my wedding last year.

Baby number three for her arrived in September. Nevermind that I just finished her sweater recently.

I dyed and spun up some superwash merino as I had done for the previous two. Only this time I underestimated the amount of fiber I’d need for the thickness of yarn I spun because I ran out with only a few more rows to go! But all was not lost. I’ve made two of these sweaters so far and they have all been for children of the same Mom. I found leftovers from the first one

And used them to complete number 3! That’s right. Yarn from this child’s older sisters sweater completed hers. I’m not sure if that’s weird, but since they were complementary and I didn’t have any more fiber on hand it seemed like the best option. I figured I’d find buttons that would bring it all together.

And then I remembered that I don’t have easy access to NYC and my usual button places any more! I haven’t looked at big box stores for buttons in awhile but the selection? Pathetic!! I couldn’t believe it. Luckily, Joanne’s seems to still have at least a wider selection than Michael’s or the like and I found something cute to make it all work.

And just for fun, here’s a mosaic of all three sweaters I’ve made for these siblings starting with the youngest and going to the oldest from left to right.

I’d like to say this is the last of the baby knits you’ll see here for awhile but there are at least 3 more on the way that I know of at this moment so this is not the end by a long shot!

There seem to be an awful lot of people I know having kids lately. It’s making me a little afraid to drink the water at times. Of course when friends have kids one must knit for them!

First up was actually one of HWJF’s friends. They had a girl back in April and while the blanket was all knit up it took FOREVER to remember to go get the ribbon to complete it. HWJF helped me pick out the yarn during a quick stop at Webs early in the year. Luckily the new Mom and Dad are quite happy to NOT have everything for their little girl be pink!

Dishcloth Baby Blanket

Pattern: Dishcloth Baby Blanket by Kenny Chua
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Paints
Needles: US8
Knit: 1.15-1.23.11

I think I did most of the knitting on this one while we were running all over New England this winter and in the midst of trying to figure out if we were really going to move to NH. Great mindless knitting for the car. I bought three skeins but I never seem to be able to figure out how to use them up properly in this pattern and I really only needed a small amount of the third skein.

I was not quite so lucky on the ribbon. I think I bought 3 yards and it just *barely* made it around!

The next project was pretty special. My BFF from high school called me a month or so after our wedding to tell me she was pregnant. I knew I wanted to make something special for her kid but couldn’t quite figure out what. I finally settled on a baby surprise jacket and dyed up some superwash merino in the colors of a theme they had in their nursery when I saw it.

Not a great pic but you get the idea. I decided to spin a three ply yarn and wanted to make sure I had a good amount of yardage. One problem. I spun it WAY too thin! The three ply came out closer to sock than worsted weight! After much consternation on my part since I pretty much don’t know squat about the size of babies (and I knew there was no way the kid was going to fit a sweater in the fall if I knit it in this yarn and he was being born in May) I decided to make a toy with the yarn instead.

Bunny Blanket Buddy

Pattern: Bunny Blanket Buddy – Knit by Lion Brand Yarn
Yarn: Handspun three ply superwash merino
Needles: US6
Knit: 5.29-6.29.11

This was a pretty simple and well written pattern. Once again, it was pretty mindless knitting for the most part because it is actually pretty similar to the blanket above for the majority of the knitting. The tricky part comes when it’s time to make the head. I thought it was a little weird the way it was done, instead of being knitted in the round the head is knit flat and seamed up the back, but I suppose that makes sense because of the ears. It wasn’t too difficult once I got my head (ha!) around what they were going for.

The only thing I suck at more than planning a proper yarn for a baby sweater?

Embroidery. Oye. I hope the kid doesn’t have nightmares for ever because of that but I did what the pattern offered and don’t exactly have any tools in my pocket for a mod for this one. The instructions said to do the embroidery after sewing up and stuffing the head, so I used a few drops of fray check to keep the stitches in. Knitted toys are obviously not my forte.

But hopefully both of these very loved children will have a gift they will cherish for years to come. I’ve got another baby project on the needles now and plans for a couple more in the future. I’m tellin’ ya, they just keep coming!