Thursday, June 30, 2011

Coffee Beans and Baby Socks

Are you tired of seeing baby sweaters yet?  I hope not because I have another to show you.   

Although this isn’t a set, I’m calling it one because I knit them with the purpose of Lovebug wearing them together.    I’ve admired the Coffee Bean Cardigan for a long while.  It’s boy and girl appropriate and offers a lot of flexibility and variety when choosing a color scheme. 

We’ll start with the cardigan.  Lovebug’s Coffee Bean Cardigan is knit from Cascade 220 in Cordovan (a reddish-brown) and some hand-dyed yarn I dyed with my sister last summer called Raspberry Truffle. I didn’t intend to like the results as much as I do! 
The Raspberry Truffle is a variegated yarn that goes from light pink to dark pink, creams and peaches, to browns.  The colorwork is 2-row striping, continued throughout the entire sweater. 
For a girl, I don’t mind the open raglan increases, the eyelets that are created are pretty and feminine. If I were to do this for a boy I’d probably use kfb (knit front back) or M1L/M1R (make 1 left/make 1 right) to eliminate the eyelets at the increases.

The first sleeve gave me some trouble.  I was having a hard time figuring out how to continue the stripping while carrying the yarn up the side, while knitting in the round.  The back and forth flat knitting of the body was no trouble at all, but I flubbed the sleeve just a bit.  The second sleeve went much better.  I could have ripped the first sleeve out to redo it, but I don’t think it’s that noticeable (at least not to a non-knitter). 

Watching the colors shift from one row to the next was my favorite part.  Because the variegated yarn was broken up by the brown stripes, I didn’t have to worry about any funny flashing or pooling and I could just enjoy the rich colors. 
And speaking of the colors, I chose more muted buttons this go-around.  The buttons are pink and black (or perhaps a very dark brown).  The pink has a bit of a shine to it which I like.  They are simple and understated and let the yarn do all the talking in this case. 
I then used the same Raspberry Truffle to make the Super Quick Baby Socks.  The name of this pattern is no lie, folks.  I had these socks completed in a day. It could have been an afternoon had I had the time to do them all at once.
I wish I had used the brown from the sweater for the edge of the cuff, the heel and the toe, but I’m not accustomed to knitting socks so it’s probably better I stuck with what I knew.   

They’re still unbelievably cute!
So now Lovebug has a cute little sweater and sock set to wear when she’s just a couple months old.  Perfect for the winter weather, where the splash of color will be much appreciated. 

4 comments:

  1. I'm IN LOVE with your home-dyed pink variegated yarn! It is BEEUUTIFUL!

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  2. OMGosh! LOVE, love this project!!! The colors are amazing and you did such an awesome job on the dyeing. You go, Mama!!!
    How'd you carry the yarn in the round? Did you twist? They look only like 2 rows each so you could have probably just lifted it up from the bottom of the color in use?

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  3. @littlepebble

    Thank you! I should have written down how I dyed this and what colors I used because I would love to dye more of it. But then again, that's what makes it so special, right? :)

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  4. @Kepanie
    Thank you, Stefanie! :) For carrying in the round, I twisted the yarn as I would for knitting flat on the first round of color change, but not the 2nd. I tried not to pull the carried yarn too tightly, otherwise my rows were skewed (I noticed where I knit flat the carried yarn was pulled too tightly). The video I had watched recommended not carrying yarn up for more than 4 rows, and they recommended twisting the yarn every round to keep the yarn and stitches secure. Since I've only done 2 row striping, it wasn't a concern, but it's the first time I've actually carried yarn. Usually, I just cut and reattach new yarn and then weave in all the ends later.

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