Pattern: Jacket With Moss Stitch Bands from baby knits for beginners by Debbie Bliss. Flower from Rowan Junior.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton in colour 125600 (dusky pink)
Needles: 3mm & 3.25mm Addi turbos

This has been done for a while, but first it had to wait for a flower and then for a day with enough light to get a photograph. I am really pleased with how it has turned out, I just hope it fits.

I made a few modifications:

1) I widened the wrists substantially and tapered the rest of the arms less as a result. I also made the arm hole just a few stitches wider than the pattern called for.
2) I used short rows for the neckline shaping
3) I left all the shoulder stitches live and grafted them together

I really like simple moss stitch trimmed cardigans in nice yarn, but next time I make one I think I am going to try doing it as a top down raglan all in one piece.

Alternate titles for this post:

“Just like crochet - with two needles and no hook…” OR “Best flower pattern ever”

“Oh my god I only had to knit two to get a pair!”

And finally: “If only we had light like this at home…”

Pattern: Moss Stitch Shoes from baby knits for beginners by Debbie Bliss.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton in colour 125600 (dusky pink)
Needles: 2.75mm Pony Rosewood DPNs (used as straights)

This time I decided to cast off less stitches for the ankle opening instead of adding a strap. Not having a baby handy to try them on I have no idea if this was a good idea or not but I like how they look. And I can’t tell you how excited I was when the second one matched the first - given the tension problems I have had with these shoes in the past.

…and maybe a flower.

So I made two new sleeves with much wider wrists and I like them. I then seamed the shoulders and proceeded with the neckband. This I don’t like so much. The seams seem ENORMOUS on such a tiny garment, the neck shaping looks awful and the picked up stitches are bad. It’s all bad. Oh and I dropped a stitch from the back neck and can’t seem to get it back. Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton behaves like cotton, it’s not very forgiving.

I am going to de-seam it, rip the fronts back to the start of the neck shaping and short row them and I am going to undo the cast off sections of the back. The shoulders I will graft together and live stitches will work much better for the neckline. I hope.

I completely forgot to mention the first problem I had with the Moss Stitch Jacket sleeve. Riddle me this, if you knit the pattern as per the instructions and you get gauge then your sleeve will be 1.5cm longer at the end of the increases than the pattern claims the final length should be. Basic math people.

If 34 rows = 10 cm.
Then 49 rows to complete wrist band and the increases = 14.4cms

You simply cannot then knit until the total length from cast on is 13cm. My sleeve is a smidge over 14.5cm (you need to knit an extra row before casting off).

I finished the centre square of the Stonington Shetland Shawl and what I learned while knitting this vast expanse of garter stitch (well it’s not that vast but it certainly seemed that way as I knit it) is that this yarn is not going anywhere near my baby. The more I knit with the yarn the less I liked it. So when the square was done I tied it off, put the remainder of the current ball in a ziplock bag and washed it, lanolised it and blocked it. Which certainly improved it’s size and now it smells like breastfeeding woman (well woman with damaged nipples to be precise, not a fond memory of mine), but it’s still scratchy.

Goodbye baby shawl, hello dolly blanket. I am going to add some sort of crochet trim to what you see above and give it to Isabelle for her dolly when the new baby comes. Conveniently enough she asked for a new dolly blanket just today. I never did fix the last one I made her….

Having abandoned the Stonington Shawl I moved right along to nicer yarn and a project that just seems to be flying by. Another Jacket with Moss Stitch Bands, this time in Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton from the stash. I knit the back and two fronts in two nights, I was having great fun. Of course their had to be a hitch.

The wrist opening is WAY too small. It’s been a long time since we had a tiny baby, and Isabelle was never that tiny (as new babies go) but I could tell it was going to be too tight even before I pulled out some clothing to double check. I think I am going to make the next sleeve almost straight, it will be easier to get on and more comfortable for baby.

Pattern: Jacket With Moss Stitch Bands from baby knits for beginners by Debbie Bliss. Flowers from Marnie’s Frog Pond pattern.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in colour 340503. Flower made from kitchen cotton and easy wash merino scraps
Needles: 3mm & 3.25mm Addi turbos

I am pleased to say that I am happier with this colour knit up than I was when it arrived. The yarn was delightful to knit with and has washed well, at least the first time through the washer. The pattern was easy and apart from my little seaming disaster it was a quick knit. I would definitely consider making another one for some future babe. I am thrilled with the flowers and feel that they have really added the feminine touch that this set needed.

I finally fixed the sleeve seaming on the Jacket With Moss Stitch Bands. Turns out it wasn’t that much of a pain to do at all and it looks much better now.

I spent a lot of time this evening googling for knitted and crocheted flowers. I didn’t find much that appealed. I had been thinking of a number of smaller flowers along the bottom half of the sweater but in the end I decided that the gorgeous flower from Marnie’s Frog Pond was far and away the best option. And as it happens I did have scrap yarn in suitable colours, well stash yarn if not scrap yarn. The colours aren’t that accurate in this late night photo but I think the purples go beautifully with the green. The question is - is this the way to go?

If I stick with this flower the plan is to sew it down with beads, use pearly white heart shaped buttons, or possibly round shell buttons and leave the Hat and Shoes plain. Though I will be turning the shoes into mary janes by adding a little moss stitch strap, with matching button, to the shoes. Is it too much or not enough?