More squares...

Were you wondering what happened with Barn Raising?


You may recall that I'd set a goal to have it completed by the end of my maternity leave. Ahem, yes, that was 2 months ago! To be fair, if I'd stuck with the 42 squares that the pattern called for, I would have been done at that time.


Unfortunately though, it just seemed a little small - more of a lap blanket than a snuggly throw. I tried to convince myself otherwise. That it really was big enough. I even tested with Joe: "It's a good size, right?" But both he and the nagging feeling in the back of my mind confirmed that it needed to be bigger. That ultimately I'd be disappointed if I kept the size as-is. Thing was I was a little burnt out on the non-stop knitting of squares - the thought of having to make oodles more just wasn't appealing. So I hid it away for a little while.


But it's back out of hibernation now, and I have a renewed interest to complete. Let's see how this goes... (Btw - if anyone said they were knitting a blanket out of sock yarn, wouldn't you think they were bonkers?)

Little Cotton Cardigan

I've been eager to finish a knitted project. It certainly wasn't going to be either of the blankets that I have on the go right now (I decided to make barn raising bigger than the pattern suggests and the araucania hexagons aren't seeing as much progress as I'd hoped). So it was time to whip out another baby cardigan for Naomi!


I had some Adriafil Fruttamix cotton yarn lurking in my cubbies and thought it would look pretty on the little miss. I wasn't much in the mood for following a pattern so this is one that I kind of made up as I went along, using the EZ February Baby cardigan instructions as a starting point.


I cast on 71 stitches (the amount recommended after the 2nd round of increases) and knit a few rows of garter stitch, and then increasing a row (K2,M1)* to the end of the row. Then knit stockinette for about 4.5 inches, at which point I put the sleeve stitches on yarn holders and continued knitting back and forth on the body.


Toward the bottom I wanted a ruffle and knit a (K2,M1)* increase row. Stockinette for a few rows, and then another (K2,M1)* row before adding a few rows of garter. I'm really happy with how this turned out.


Finally I picked up the sleeve stitches and added 15 additional stitches to each side. A few rows of reverse stockinette and then cast off. A garter stitch button band up the front and TA DA it was done! If only adult sweaters could be whipped out in a similar amount of time.

And on a side note... isn't she growing up soo quickly!