Dissertation-wise, I’m in that weird place where I can’t do anything more until I get feedback, so while I’m not “done”, I can’t actually DO anything right now. Perfect time to cast on for a new project, right?
This probably looks familiar, seeing as it’s the third of these I’ve knit. But this one actually isn’t for M. Oh, I still have plans to knit her a bigger one (4T-ish size, probably), and to knit myself a cardiganized Stripes! to match, but this one is actually the smallest babyStripes! I’ve knit. My dear friend K, who took such good care of me and M in those early months as the closest thing to an alloparent we had, is expecting her first baby, and like us, they’re not finding out the sex ahead of time. I told her that if there was anything she’d seen me knit for M that she’d like for her own baby, to just tell me, and she said she loved babyStripes!, so her kiddo is DEFINITELY getting a babyStripes!!
The bonus, for me, is that I’m getting a chance to run through my pattern and test-knit it in the smallest size. If I knit M a bigger one, I’ll have knit 4 different sizes of my own pattern. I hope to publish it later this summer, after I’ve defended the dissertation. Another kinda-sorta bonus is that I think I’ll finally install a zipper on this one. I keep not doing it, but if I’m making this as a gift for someone who is not my own kid, I don’t want to cut corners! I’d like to try the Tech Knitter’s no-sew zipper process; maybe I can figure out how to incorporate that into the applied i-cord edge at the front?
I knit the vikkel braid last night. I love it! I actually find vikkel braids easier to do via purling (that is, on the WS), which sets you up to start each stripe on the RS, so that’s what I did (I actually did it the opposite way on the other two babyStripes! I’ve knit, but I suspect most knitters would prefer starting stripes on the RS and also avoiding 3 rows in a row of purling when the garter ridges show up in the yoke). But that means that the braid at the neckline will have to be done from the RS if I want to avoid breaking the yarn. I think it’s good to be able to do them from either side of the work (and I’ve only ever seen directions for creating them from the RS, in Nancy Bush’s Folk Knitting of Estonia book), so I’m including directions for executing braids from both the RS and the WS in the pattern, along with some helpful hints.
It’s amazing how quickly little baby sweaters go, especially knit at 5sts/inch!
whit::knits 
Yay! Aww, can’t wait to see how this turns out! :)
Baby sweaters are the best.
I don’t comment often but as a mother of four, I’m going to jump in and suggest you hold off on the zipper. Babies have no necks and even if it’s not zipped up it can irritate their sensitive skin.
That’s a great point – and actually is part of why I never bothered to put them on the ones I knit for my daughter. (Though now that she’s 2.5, she *wants* zippers on everything, so maybe I should just wait until I knit her a new one to try out putting in a zipper!)
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