Monday, March 17, 2014

FO Finally!

I finally have an FO! Can you tell I'm excited! This will be my second FO for the year which is a bit sad but what can I say, life happens. I started the Newborn Vertebrae pattern by Kelly Brooker this weekend and finished it up tonight. This is a free pattern on Ravelry. She does have a paid for pattern that has instructions for different sizes and yarn types but the pattern is so simple that it would be really easy to change if you know your gauge. I decided to use Knit Picks Felici in their Jellybean colorway and am sooooo in love! It really makes me wish I was having a little one of my own. It is the perfect sweater and colorway for a little girl. I will be making more of this pattern. The yarn knit up nicely and lined up perfectly! I didn't have to manipulate the skein in order to get the look I wanted. I used most of one skein and dipped into a second in order to finish the second sleeve. This is a great stash busting pattern. It only takes about 50 grams of yarn and was quick, I spend three evenings/afternoons on it and had very little finishing to do on it. When I cast off all that was left was to sew in a couple ends. I didn't even mind picking up the collar stitches. After the first handful I got into a groove and just went with it. I am very happy if the finished product.



I made a couple modifications but nothing major. I started by casting n 54 stitches, 2 more than the pattern called for. When you start the collar the first and last two stitches become kfb's and I didn't want to have to try and pick those up so my extras stitches became two knit stitches, one as the first stitch and one as the last stitch. also because my count was different from the pattern I never increased on the hem set up row. I actually ended up decreasing one stitch instead to get what I needed. For the sleeves I picked up three extra stitches at the start of the round and three at the end of the round to close up any gaps. My second sleeve was much neater, I still had a little stitching to do on the first underarm. Once again I had to decrease a stitch when I got to the ribbing on the sleeves so that I would have an even number to work on. For the collar I picked up all the stitches instead of every 3 out of 4. I am not the greatest when it comes to picking up stitches and I was afraid I would get gaps around the collar if I only picked up 3. Once all my stitches were picked up I knit the first row through the back loops to create a tighter 'join'. I also knitted the second row instead of going right into the ribbing. It was just easier and I liked the way the garter stitch was going to add a defined border along the edge. an added benefit was that it also matched the cast off edge nicely keeping a thin line of dark pink on each side of the collar. The collar is a 2x2 ribbing instead of the 1x1 on the hem of the body and sleeves. I wanted a nice defined look for collar. The final change I made was more a design feature then a modification, I went with short sleeves instead of long as this is being gifted to a baby being born in the summer. 

I might knit up a handful of these in neutral colors to keep on hand for baby shower gifts. They are really cute and the design idea is a sweet one that makes sense for both warmer and colder season. 

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