Behold an Angel

Preemie Cardigan by Carol Barenys is a free pattern that came in very handy when my friend, Heather, was expecting her baby a few weeks early. I knit the 4-5 lb size and the baby was 5 lb 4 oz at birth. It is a perfect fit with just a bit of growing room. The wool is Lamb's Pride Superwash. The cotton bunny is from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding. The bag fabric is Moda's Hopscotch, a 1920's reproduction line. I used fusible web and plain white fabric to fix the bunny label on the bag. I used a fabric pen to write the the new baby's name.

I've been using embroidery floss (6 strands) to sew on buttons. I want to make sure these buttons don't become loose and become and endangerment to Baby. The blue toothpick is holding the button away from the knitting so there is space to wrap the floss around it to make a shank. I also use small buttons on the reverse side to keep the knitting from pulling.

Button bands are my nemesis. One feature of this sweater that I really like is the painless knit-as-you-go button band. The sweater construction is top down in one piece.

At first I used white button thread (top button) but thought of the idea of using floss to match the buttons a little better. I took the white thread buttons out.

Isn't this the picture of an angel? He is so beautiful!

Cute as a Bug in a Shrug

I had so much fun knitting up this little shrug from Interweave Knits. Notes are on my Ravelry Page. The yarn is Bernat Cottontots Country Red. Since the baby is the first girl in a family of 3 boys, pink HAD to be the color. You can't get enough pink in this situation. I aimed for a 6 month to newborn size. Shrugs seem to be very forgiving for sizing.

The cap was my Christmas Eve car knitting project. I used a basic cap pattern and added holes for threading the I-Cord. Because I love the combination of pink and brown I ran a running stitch of brown through the cap just to give it a little zing.

The gift bag is my first attempt at making a name label using iron-on fabric bonding. I used an extra fine Sharpie marker for writing on the fabric. The tutorial on Rachel Griffith's blog p.s. I quilt gave me the inspiration and know-how. I got a little fancy with the heart shape and making a background with another fabric.

This little gal couldn't be cuter. I hope she and her mama enjoy the shrug and cap--and the menfolk too!

Just a couple more bag ideas

I made two larger holiday gift bags with fabric I purchased at huge discount. It was less than $3 a yard.

On the casings I played around with the fancy stitches on my Singer Simple machine. Those puppies use up a lot of thread. I don't like changing bobbins, so I doubt I will use these very often. I got it out of my system.

I think I will write the year in one of those light green polka dots.

Here's another idea. Make a fabric or paper label for the bag that will stay with the bag over the years. Write the recipient's name, date, and the gift on the tag. Wouldn't it be fun to have a whole list of names and years to look back on? What if your gift bags last for 50 or more Christmases? Ask children to write their own names and the date. It would be fun to see how their handwriting changes over the years.

After making these two bags I realized they look a lot like pillowcases. So why not purchase pillowcases on sale? I was stuck in Ohio in the snow before my meeting last week and ended up spending some time shopping at Kohl's. I found sets of sheets for around $22.00 (70% off). That's Queen Size, too: two pillowcases, bottom sheet, and top sheet. That is two ready-made bags plus lots of yardage to cut up for bags. The problem is that I've grown so fond of the sheets that I now want to put them on one of the guest beds next Christmas. Sigh.

The next post will be about Christmas knitting. I promise. I have finished quite a few projects.