Saturday, November 13, 2010

Baby Sophisticate Numero Dos

Thank you for all your input and suggestions on my previous post. I have finished the Baby Sophisticate and it looks darling!

I ultimately went with the pine cone buttons. My mother had read the blog post, shared it with her assistant (whose baby this is for), and called me to say they both liked the pine cones the best. I returned the orange buttons, but did save the leaf print buttons. I don't normally save buttons because I feel like then they just get put into a jar and I never think about them again. Projects that may go great with the special buttons come and go, and those special buttons are forgotten and stay buried in their jar. As you can imagine, my button stash is extremely meager.  Anyway, my point is, I saved the leaf print buttons. 


After blocking, the final measurements of the tiny garment were fine. It blocked out to the 16" circumference the pattern stated it would. The woman I am knitting this for has rather small babies and this is really only intended for one winter of wear. My mother and her assistant specifically requested that I knit the smallest size so the baby could wear it as soon as he pops out. Now, if I were knitting this for a baby that was the size my brother was when he was born, I might need to knit it big enough to fit a toddler! Just kidding (kind of. He was pretty big). 

The yarn I used for this project was Malabrigo Rios and it is so incredibly soft! Even before blocking, I was trying to estimate what an adult sweater's worth of yarn would cost (and then I fainted for a moment). It is just a smidge splitty but the twist in the yarn makes it feel incredibly smooth. You know if this were regular Malabrigo Worsted it would be all fuzzed up by the time you were done with your project.

Overall, I think it turned out great considering my rough beginnings. I used one skein of the Rios with only a tiny ball and my gauge swatch left. I did knit the length shorter (6" rather than the 7" called for) as well as only doing four short row repeats instead of five. My only gripe with this pattern is the gauge. I think 4 stitches to an inch is pretty hard to get on size 8 needles. For both this project and the original Baby Sophisticate I knit, I ended up using size 10 needles. That, and with the body being worked back and forth and the sleeves done in the round, I always tend to have some tension issues.  


Hello, tension issues. I'm hoping with an arm in it it won't be noticeable. I also thought I went up to a 10.5 needle for the arm to even out the tension but by the time I got done with sleeve #2 I realized I had been using the #10 needle the whole time. So I used an expletive and just left it.

Pattern: Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Rios in Teal Feather (1 skein)
Needles: #10
Began: November 7
Completed: November 11

16 comments:

  1. i love this sweater!! those buttons do look super cute on the finished product. good choice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the sweater! It is so cute with the acorn buttons.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Add me to the chorus on this one -- beautiful sweater! Great buttons! I bet they'll keep this sweater with their family heirlooms.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The buttons look even better on the finished sweater. By the way, the sweater is gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  5. you made the right choice with the buttons sooo cute!! love that blue

    ReplyDelete
  6. Super cute sweater and great button choice!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The sweater is adorable, and I love the buttons.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great sweater ~ and the buttons are perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Aw, it's darling! My favorite color. I think the tension will work out just fine when being worn--I wouldn't have ripped it out either.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nicely done! The yarn is scruptious! I had one a skein and mad a hat and fingerless gloves...

    ReplyDelete
  11. The pine cones were the right choice. :) It's very cute.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Another lucky (and stylish) little baby! I really think I need to make one of these for my little baby. I love picking out buttons for kid's projects. (Although, like you, I don't have much of a button stash - the shopping becomes very project-specific)

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is the first time I read your blog and when I saw this baby cardigan I felt in love it is so cute! Love the color that you picked and all your stitches look so perfect! Love it!

    happy knitting
    Sabrina

    ReplyDelete
  14. Adorable! I have yet to make that pattern but since I seem to be in a "I can only knit simple baby things" rut I think I'm going to try this next.

    ReplyDelete
  15. oooh -i like the pinecones!
    and love that teal malabrigo. wonderful sweater!!

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear from you!