Green dream puerperium

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I have made what could be considered far too many of these cardigans. But I think that a go to newborn knit is something worth having. I love knitting this pattern. As you may have seen here, here and here.

This ended up being for a small girl born in early January. 

I love the buttons I chose. It took me the best part of twenty minutes in the fancy button shop in town to pick them. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to have and finding that exact gleam in the buttons was hard work. Worth it though.

Under the sea puerperium

What week is complete without another puerperium? I think I posted about this one previously. It was knitted up from hand dyed wool and was intended for a friend who is actually due this week. 

This is what it looked like back then, when I was knitting up from the green wool that had been dyed twice, once in yellow and then again in blue. 



It was a little too busy, colour wise,  for my personal preferences, so I overdyed it blue. Just to make it more green and not so yellow was what I told myself. I may have been a little too enthusiastic with the blue dye as this is the result:



Whoops!

So rather than send this now blue cardi to my friend, I decided it would become a cardi for a different friend, who is also expecting a baby in the winter time. I wanted to use the right colour buttons to bring out what I felt was the oceanic quality of this cardi. So I headed to Knapp Karlsson, button shop of the gods and got some lovely pearlescent buttons to complete the project. I'm very happy with how it turned out. 




And closer up:




Thank goodness my friends near and far are of the age that I can make a mistake with a newborn knit and still have someone to give it to. 

What's on my needles, or what was on them last week

I recently purchased a set of knit pro interchangeable circular needles. With needles ranging in size from 3.5mm to 8mm and different cord lengths, it's a really useful little kit and the needles are beautiful. I particularly like working with knit pro needles because they feel so good when you are knitting, smooth and warm.

I've been working on my favourite pattern for newborns for a friend expected her second child at the end of this year, a puerperium cardigan. I've shown previous versions I have made here and here. 

This time I dyed some wool with yellow and then blue to make a variegated yarn. It hasn't ended up quite how I wanted, so I overdyed it this weekend with blue, as I found the yellow flecks made it too busy. I will post a photo of the completed cardi soon. But here's the work in progress.


I took the photo of the cardi while waiting for my students to turn up for my balboa class last Thursday night. I'm teaching a beginners class with the delightful Gašper and will have to write a post about the joys involved sometime soon. I'm really enjoying teaching beginners again, and as a follow too. But more on that another day. I hope you enjoy the almost completed, hand dyed, green puerperium.

Hand dyed puerperium cardigan for Shell and Con's baby

So probably my closest friend here in G'town is Shell. We hang out pretty regularly and shoot the shit. As a fellow scientist type, Shell has a similar perspective on the world and we enjoy talking about science, life and food. 

She and her Swedish boyfriend, who I call Con, are expecting their first baby in February. I'm rather excited for them and had planned to make them something for the baby. My favourite baby cardigan has to be the puerperium cardigan. It is adorable and practical. 

So I started with the premise that I would knit up a cardi in red yarn that I dyed myself. However, once I did the first round of dyeing with the red food colouring as per this post, I really didn't like the red. It was too coral and not bright enough. I made the decision then to put some yellow in it and make an orange instead. The result was awesome. I was incredibly happy with it.


As you may be able to note from this picture, I ran out of yarn just before I reached the bottom of the cardi. So I had to dye more yarn. But I'm very happy with it anyway. 

Shell is a huge fan of squirrels and so finding these squirrel buttons was just the icing on the cake.  Finishing up what has ended up being a rather autumnal garment. Hopefully it will brighten the dark Swedish winter and keep her wee one warm and snug come Feb. 





Raveled here. 

Elmer dress and red puerperium cardi for Bean

My brother and his wife had their first baby in July this year. They had a little girl who I'm going to nickname Bean. My brother was here not too long before Bean was due because he needed to get his visa for Ethiopia renewed. His wife is Ethiopian and they were living there until quite recently. 

I sent him home with a number of different things for her, but these two stood out as my favourites. 

I made a Geranium dress from http://www.made-by-rae.com/, and the fabric I chose reminded me of Elmer the elephant. So I called it the Elmer dress. 

Here it is:



And I used three different buttons from TWO's stash of buttons that she plays with to put on the back. My brother helped me choose which ones to use. 




Added to the 'outfit' for bean I made a puerperium cardigan, which is perfect for newborns and a really fun knit. I have made many many of these as will become evident as I get them all up on the blog. 



And a closeup of the buttons that TWO helped to choose at her favourite shop at the local square, the wool shop with the wall of buttons.



I made it in 100% alpaca yarn from drops design. I love that yarn. It's so soft and warm. I have a pair of socks that sadly got felted in the wash that were made with that yarn and they were incredible to wear. Super soft and super warm. *drool*

I was lucky enough to see photos of Bean wearing said outfit after she was born and I'm so glad it suited her. Now I have to get busy and make her another one for when we visit them all in Australia early next year.