Monday, December 8, 2008

Dilemmas

My knitted Christmas present for my new neice "S" was originally going to be a cardigan from Debbie Bliss' Special knits- made from stashed Spotlights Merino- with a fairaisle motif from another pattern.

Dilemma 1 - will I have enough time to get it done before Christmas? Can I be bothered fluffing around with charts and subbing bits from other patterns when time is of the essence?

So it morphed into Boheme , a lovely pattern (with no sleeves!), knit in one piece with just enough patterning to make it interesting to knit, I thought this would be perfect. A few of my friends have been knitting this recently and I've been admiring all the lovely creations. (Don't you just love the Friend Activity on Ravelry?!) So I jumped right in, using the pink Merino originally intended for the cardigan....

Boheme

Gorgeous! This is really cute.

And .....too small!!!! (Perhaps I should have swatched lol!)

Dilemma 2 - rip it out? Start again? Do something else?

After much angsting and consulting with knitting friends I've hibernated the Boheme and "niece knitting" morphed again (!) into Avita - another simple knit (no sleeves again) with a little bit of pattern and some quick stockinette inbetween. Its an 8ply pattern so I switched to using some stashed Bella Layette Bamboo/Wool.

Avita1


This turned out so very nice. The bamboo/wool has lovely drape which suits the style of this top. The pattern is an easy one - I intended to knit the body in the round but didn't have the right length needle so just did it on straights and seamed it.

Avita3

The only modification I made was to do slightly narrower shoulder ties and to do some K2tog across a row just under the armhole shaping because I soon realised that yet again my tension was out (yes one day I will learn to swatch everything) and it was going to be bigger than I intended.

Avita2Avita6

I really love the textured pattern, its quite simple but looks so nice. It did take me a couple of tries to get it to work though - I usually do my M1 by lifting with my right needle which didn't work, I had to lift with my left needle to get it to look the same as the pattern. Very pretty, and it lies flat so I think I might do a square of this for her blanket too.

Avita5

M1 seems pretty happy with it too! And it does look so nice on her. And it fits! (Did I mention neice is only 7months?)

So Dilemma 3...do you think I'll have time to knit niece something else?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cute top and even cuter baby pics!

Anonymous said...

Those are just the cutest pictures of M1! Just look at those little chubby arms and legs...I want to squish her up!

I'm probably the last one to advise about #christmas knitting. I keep adding to my list daily.

Mary said...

Totally adorable and sweet post! She is a cutie!

Claudia Bugh said...

She is just precious! That top is the cutiest spring top ever :)

Jo's Place said...

That is a really cute top, and what a cute wee bub :)

Rose Red said...

They are both really cute patterns - but look at her in that top - so sweet!

Anonymous said...

I don't blame you for wanting to keep it. It's look lovely on youe wee darling. Make another one :-)

Julie said...

Oh my goodness how adorable are those photos??????????????????? M1 is the prettiest model EVER!!!! Top looks really lovely on her too! I have fallen totally in love with that Boheme top. I have given up on knitting until after Christmas as have way too many non-knitting projects on the go, but that top is going straight on my new year to do list!!!

Thanks for the yarn shop links, some amazing stuff there, so far have restrained myself from purchasing, but hold me back come the new year......... X

Anonymous said...

Oh my - what adorable photos! She looks so delighted with herself in that lovely top!