"Experimenting with a Baby Sweater...."

For my last birthday, Andy and Angela gave me a b-day card that had a pattern for a baby sweater on it (little did they know that Angela would be pregnant this year). With Angela due in August,I decided to try it out and see how I liked the pattern, plus we have 2 other babies due in August that I wanted to make things for as well (a school mate of Patrick's and a co-worker of Don's).

Here I am sewing up the sweater. It was knitted in 4 pieces ......sewing together pieces is not one of my favorite things to do.....


I think because I working on the kitchen table, Copper thought I had food. Doesn't she "beg" nicely"?


The finished sweater. I used garter stitch around the bottom and ends of the sleeves, instead of leaving it stockinette stitch only (what the pattern calls for), which curls. Curling would be fine for the sleeve ends, but makes a baby sweater too short around the bottom because of the curl.


So......back to the pattern and trying some other changes on this one Angela is holding. I used 2x2 ribbing along the bottom (done after the sweater was knitted) and also picked up stitches for the sleeves and knitted them directly onto the body. Another change I made was putting the shoulder stitches onto stitch holders and use a 3 needle bind off to attach front and back together. I'm happier with the results. Angela just happened to come over last night, too, so what better way to solve my storage problem? Make it her storage problem! :) After all, she WAS the original inspiration for my experiments! :)


Although "happier" with the results of the green one, I'm still not satisfied with what changes I've made with the pattern. There are still a couple of other things I want to try, so began yet again, this time, knitting it in the round, using ribbing and then switching to stockinette stitch. I figure that I can knit in the round until I have to divide for the sleeves and begin the V neck. Working on a "newborn" size baby sweater, is fast and easy, seeing what works and what needs to be changed. Time will tell, eh? :)