The baby cardigan I thought was kind of scary turned out ok. Baby Cooper is as impressed as a newborn can be with his new cardigan and has tried to eat it on several occasions.
Another baby is due in my circle of friends, and this time I made the Garter Stitch Baby Jacket from Morris and Sons. Compared to the Henry Cardigan I made for baby Cooper, this was a pleasure to knit.
I didn’t really enjoy making the Henry Cardigan. The pattern was ok, but not as well written as I’d like, and the shape of the final cardigan was a bit weird.
The Garter Stitch Baby Jacket couldn’t be more different. It’s so simple – just a garter stitch ‘T’ shaped cardigan knit in one piece and then stitches are picked up for the collar. Despite the lack of shaping, it’s really a nice little garment. Babies are kind of tubes with limbs sticking out anyway, so the ‘T’ shape is ideal.
I used Grignasco Merinogold in colour 729 – which is a lovely pumpkin colour. I really didn’t want to use pastel green or yellow which are the standard choices when you don’t know the sex of the baby. I would have liked a soft aqua colour or nice egg-yolk yellow but these were not available.
Merinogold is a beautiful, squishy, 8ply merino that’s machine washable and has great stitch definition. This is a great yarn and I absolutely recommend it – it grows a bit when you wash it so make sure you measure your gauge swatch after washing. The colour palette lacks a good aqua and teal, but otherwise it’s quite good.
This plush yarn coupled with garter stitch resulted in a knitted fabric that you can’t help touching. It’s like the fluffy pillow of knitted fabrics and I can only imagine how soft and warm it would be to wear.
I used exactly 3 balls with only a few metres to spare after sewing up. I made the 0-3 months size and I didn’t make the matching hat. (Note, I swatched with a different colour of Merinogold that was left over from another project – so it really did use the full three balls for the jacket).
After sewing on the buttons last night while the cat snoozed on my lap I was so tempted to try the cardigan on him. It was just kitty sized and I’m clearly turning into a crazy cat lady because I really, REALLY wanted to put the cardigan on the cat.
I decided that I’d rather live, and waking the cat to put baby clothes on him would significantly reduce my lifespan. Besides, Steve and Mel’s baby might not be as comfortable with cat hair on everything as I am.
