Tag Archives: Ice Cream Cardigan and Hat


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a boy in knits

Does anyone remember me talking about the Cabaret for the Cure? My friend’s leukemia fundraiser? Well, it is next week, so last weekend I got my tushie in gear and fixed the Montego Bay Scarf I’d knit for her.

Yeah. Um, no.

We won’t speak of that scarf again. I wove in the edge that got caught, and I spent 1.5 %&$^ hours carefully unpicking the part that had torn and ripped (of course it wasn’t the side that would unravel easily), and used new yarn to bind off, and wove in all the ends. Then I looked at it.

I had to admit that it was now a) a good 2 feet shorter, and b) still looked really fuzzy from getting attacked in the washing machine by some stray velcro. I did the only thing I could think of to tame the fuzz…I let it soak in Eucalan for 10 minutes, rinsed then gave it fresh water and a squirt of hair conditioner. I worked the conditioner through then put it in the dryer. Much of the fuzz was flattened, but even at this new, softer feel I had to admit that it still wasn’t good enough to be a charity-auctioned scarf. Hell, it wasn’t good enough to be a raffle prize!

I kept looking at another project I’m doing with the proper yarn, and realizing that I should never have skimped on the yarn for that project. Well, I didn’t really skimp to save money. I just honestly thought the sock yarn would be cute, since there was one in my LYS that was made with sock yarn and it was great. I should have realized that particular sock yarn was Regia Bamboo, which had a much silkier hand and feel than plain old sock yarn.

I didn’t want to leave my friend empty-handed or renege on my offer of knitted goods, so I looked around to see what I could offer. In the end I am giving them 3 sets of knitted goodies: all stuff I’d knit for Jakob. I don’t feel bad because a) I missed the boat on some articles that are already too small for Jakob, b) they have never been worn, c) they were knit with love, and d) they will go to make someone else’s child warm and happy, and that is much better than staying here and sitting in a bag.

Since they WERE originally knit for Jakob I took some photos of him wearing them, just to have for my records, and I will show them to you here.

This is the “Ice Cream Cardigan and Hat” knit from 2 balls of Regia Canadian Colors- Ottawa. I used my leftovers to knit “Christine’s Baby Booties” to match.
Jakob was all giggles that day and I can’t help but crack up when I see these photos!

I think this one (below) was my favorite of his silly grins. He looks like a roly-poly little toy and I just want to pinch his cheeks!
I will be giving away the Just Ducky Hat and Socks set. It is still too big for him, and I think by the time it would fit he would be too old to wear it.

I’m sorry…I think I’m going to gush here…but I LOVE this boy’s face!

The last set I will be giving away is the Froggy Hat and Socks set. I don’t know why but the hat is way too small but the socks are too big…it would have been cute when he was smaller but that would have been May and too warm…all in all I feel quite comfortable with giving it away.
More of his favorite face…sucking in his lip. (He didn’t stay that way for long, I think I tickle-bombed him right after this photo was taken).
Finally, some other knit photos to share. This is the Baby Cabled Cardigan I finally got around to finishing last week. I don’t know if this photo properly shows it, but the cardi is baggy and the sleeves are too long, which means it should fit for another 3-6 months- or until the Winter is over. But you can clearly see that the length is too short. Every time he moves his arms it rises, and since it has a hood the weight of it pulls the back down and the front rises up to about his mid-chest.
I’m going to fix it once I finish my secret project.

The hood however…let’s not go there.

Cute elfin look- yes. Practical and useful hood- no. In theory the hood would fit a normal head, but the cables pull it in too much. I really don’t feel like knitting a border, and I can’t pick up more sts at the neckline and work up since the hood already grows up from the front edges of the cardi. So the hood will be purely decorative. I’m ok with that.


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big whack ‘o baby knits & crochets and an extra-special fo


This is the temporary nursery. See, we will be in this house for a month before we leave for the new house, but during that month we will have ownership of the new house and will start moving stuff in. I will be staying here with the baby, who will be rooming with me in the spare bedroom since after a C-section there is NO way I will be getting in and out of a waterbed. Over the last week or so we have been getting the room ready, and after the showers were over I spent a lot of time doing laundry and setting up so everything is ready for baby to come home. Can you tell me what you spot in the photo above? No? Ok, I’ll share with you:

(Note: with one exception, each item below only gets one photo, since this is a long, photo-heavy post. Any of my knits have, as usual, more photos in the FO gallery in the left sidebar).


In the dresser drawer you’ll find this crocheted blanket and knit bib, both shower gifts from my lovely and talented cousin Robyn. In case nasty commenter Anonymous finds his/her way over to my blog…I DO love them. So shut up.


Folded on the chair you can make out this blanket, lovingly crocheted for our little one by my uncle’s (Robyn’s dad) mom Esther.

In the drawer, folded nicely under Robyn’s blankie, is this carseat-sized blankie crocheted by my mom. Yes, she actually brought her yarn to the store to make sure it matched the green carrier/stroller that we chose.

On the back of the rocking chair you can see this huge blanket (its folded on the chair). My mom crocheted this especially for our little one. There was a blue ribbon woven through the smallest white edging but it came out in the wash and Yannick felt it was safest to keep it aside until the baby is older. This blanket got some major acclaim at the showers, and I believe people have already started putting in orders. I know this one is crocheted with Bernat Baby Coordinates and you wouldn’t believe how soft and fluid it came out after being thrown in the washer and dryer!

By the way, all of the baby knits you see here (with one exception that hasn’t been washed yet, the Baby Einstein below) have been tossed into the washer with some baby detergent and then into the dryer. Not a single one pilled or warped, and they all came out really soft and nice.

Ok, now some of this should be looking familiar. Yep, I finished the Entrelac Blankie. You can spot it folded on the chair with Esther’s blanket and the breastfeeding pillow.

Project Specs:
Pattern: none. Just regular entrelac 10 sts wide per square and kept going until I felt it was square.
Yarn: Patons Decor in Rich Country Blue and Winter White
Needles: 5.5mm
Cast On to Bind Off: December 29 2006 – May 7 2007
Notes: I was going to knit a garter border but realized last minute that I didn’t have enough 5.5mm needles to make it all the way around so I used the same size crochet hook and just did 2 or 3 rows of single crochet around, putting 3 sts in each corner st to ease better around the corners.
Would I knit this again: yes, its fast, easy and mindless knitting

This is the Baby Einstein I knit up. I love how rustic it came out! I still need to wash it, as I only sewed the buttons on today, just so I could include it in this post. (Technically it is in the room, it’s in the hamper).

Project Specs:
Pattern: Sally Melville’s Einstein Coat, Baby Einstein version, 6-9 month size from The Knit Stitch
Yarn: SandesGarn Smart (as per the pattern)
Needles: 4mm
Cast On to Bind Off: April 16-23 2007
Notes: I was a little disappointed with one part of the pattern. I don’t know if there was a mistake in my book, but for the body of the sweater, the pattern has you work X width around, then work the top halfs, from one edge right to the other. That’s fine…except that the pattern doesn’t add any room for overlap. What I mean is, once the sweater is folded in half to become a coat, there is no overlap for the button band. One side has button holes, the other side gets the buttons, but the edges meet perfectly. So when I tug one side over by about an inch to pull the button holes over the other edge to close the buttons, the neck and shoulders and sleeves get pulled out of place. I don’t know if I’m explaining this right, but it isn’t right. So since I could never have the coat close up to the top button anyways due to this error and how crappy it looks if buttoned all the way, I chose to sew down the top two sides as lapels instead. The yarn is scratchy enough that I don’t need to worry about the baby wearing it alone and having a cold neck, there will always be at least a tshirt underneath. Since there is no finishing on the neck itself (in the pattern) I like the “finished” look my variation gives.

Would I knit this again: probably since the knitting was fun and easy, but I would check for a pattern correction or create an amendment myself first.

This cardi/hat set is in one of the drawers too (that counts as being in the photo!). I originally referred to it as the “Clown” cardigan and hat set since that is the name of the yarn called for in the pattern, but I have sinced changed that to the “Ice Cream” cardi and hat set (‘cus of the colors) so if you look for it in my sidebar, look under Ice Cream.

Project Specs:
Pattern: Clown Cardigan and Hat from a Marks & Kattens pamphlet, 9mo size
Yarn: Regia Canadian Color sock yarn color 4733 (I think its “Ottawa”)
Needles: 2.5 and 3mm
Cast On to Bind Off: November 20 2006 – April 11 2007
Notes: I turned it inside out while knitting so I had to adapt the shaping to be on purl side instead of the knit side. I like it better that way, but 90% of those who see it think it’s inside out and prefer the knit side as the outside. Since the button band is picked up and knit on afterwards, thus leaving a seam, plus mattress stitch also leaves a seam, it is not reversable. Still, I don’t care. I like the way it looks. And I LOVE the hat.
Would I knit this again: Yes. For my child I’d knit the hat again. I’d knit the cardigan for a gift but in a different colorway.

Last, but not least, I bring you a knitted item that IS visible in the photo above. It is the piece of honor in the room, and I believe that until the little one is born it is my favorite FO of all time. Can you tell what it is?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you…

Yannick’s blankie.

Didn’t catch that? Ahem:

Yannick’s blankie.

Yes, this is the blanket that my husband Yannick knit for our baby. Sit down if you need to. I’ll wait.

For those of you that don’t know the story, about 3 or 4 years ago Yannick’s anniversary gift to me was that he would learn how to knit and make me something. After a bit of swatching he realized how much he hated knitting and had possibly bit off more than he could chew. Still, he took me to the yarn store to find something for the project. I let him pick the yarn since it would be flowing through his hands, and after some trial and error he settled on bamboo needles that allowed the slippery yarn to slide without being too fast. He practiced his knits and purls on some waste yarn, then we had to decide what the project would be. I had originally asked for a little “blankie” for myself, something small to have with me for when he couldn’t be there. Once we saw how much he didn’t enjoy knitting and how uncomfortable he was at it (even though his stitches looked beautiful) I offered to give him some chunky yarn and big knits, and said I’d be just as thrilled with a scarf. He refused. He wanted to prove he could “do it”.

We decided on a basketweave pattern with a stockinette stitch center. He cast on himself, and got started. He used stitch markers for the first 20 rows or so, but found they got in his way and made messier gaps between the knit/purl transitions, so he abandoned them. He also abandoned the knitting many times over the years. We fought often about how he seemed to have forgotten my anniversary gift. Sometimes he’d work on it…most of the time he’d forget. Once in a while he’d come to the knitting meetups with me and work on a few rows, but then he’d get to talking and it would hang in his hands, untouched.

Then we found out we were pregnant. It wasn’t hard to decide that this blankie should be for the baby, not for me. I threatened that I would keep my legs crossed and not let the baby out until the blanket was done. He’d work on it for a while, then a month or so would go by without any progress. He learned how to read his stitches and became such a perfectionist that he’d often call me over to fix a non-existant mistake. Over the last few weeks he got a burst of energy when he realized how close he was to finishing, then last week he did it.

He finished the blankie. On Monday morning I taught him how to bind off so I could wash it with the next load of baby clothes. He did it all: cast on, knit, purl, basketweave, stocking stitch, stitch markers, no stitch markers, bind off. He even refused to use the larger needle trick to make sure his bind off wasn’t too tight- he didn’t want tricks. He wanted to do it right like everyone else, so he went slow and made sure he didn’t pull the yarn. The only thing I did for him was weave in the ends.

Thank you honey. Even with all the handknit and crocheted blankets our baby has, I hope yours is the most loved.
Project Specs:
Pattern: none. We made up a repeat of basketweave with a stockinette stitch center.
Yarn: King Cole’s Soft as Silk DK (I think it’s now discontinued)
Needles: 4.5mm
Cast On to Bind Off: A long time.


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big whack ‘o baby knits & crochets and an extra-special fo


This is the temporary nursery. See, we will be in this house for a month before we leave for the new house, but during that month we will have ownership of the new house and will start moving stuff in. I will be staying here with the baby, who will be rooming with me in the spare bedroom since after a C-section there is NO way I will be getting in and out of a waterbed. Over the last week or so we have been getting the room ready, and after the showers were over I spent a lot of time doing laundry and setting up so everything is ready for baby to come home. Can you tell me what you spot in the photo above? No? Ok, I’ll share with you:

(Note: with one exception, each item below only gets one photo, since this is a long, photo-heavy post. Any of my knits have, as usual, more photos in the FO gallery in the left sidebar).


In the dresser drawer you’ll find this crocheted blanket and knit bib, both shower gifts from my lovely and talented cousin Robyn. In case nasty commenter Anonymous finds his/her way over to my blog…I DO love them. So shut up.


Folded on the chair you can make out this blanket, lovingly crocheted for our little one by my uncle’s (Robyn’s dad) mom Esther.

In the drawer, folded nicely under Robyn’s blankie, is this carseat-sized blankie crocheted by my mom. Yes, she actually brought her yarn to the store to make sure it matched the green carrier/stroller that we chose.

On the back of the rocking chair you can see this huge blanket (its folded on the chair). My mom crocheted this especially for our little one. There was a blue ribbon woven through the smallest white edging but it came out in the wash and Yannick felt it was safest to keep it aside until the baby is older. This blanket got some major acclaim at the showers, and I believe people have already started putting in orders. I know this one is crocheted with Bernat Baby Coordinates and you wouldn’t believe how soft and fluid it came out after being thrown in the washer and dryer!

By the way, all of the baby knits you see here (with one exception that hasn’t been washed yet, the Baby Einstein below) have been tossed into the washer with some baby detergent and then into the dryer. Not a single one pilled or warped, and they all came out really soft and nice.

Ok, now some of this should be looking familiar. Yep, I finished the Entrelac Blankie. You can spot it folded on the chair with Esther’s blanket and the breastfeeding pillow.

Project Specs:
Pattern: none. Just regular entrelac 10 sts wide per square and kept going until I felt it was square.
Yarn: Patons Decor in Rich Country Blue and Winter White
Needles: 5.5mm
Cast On to Bind Off: December 29 2006 – May 7 2007
Notes: I was going to knit a garter border but realized last minute that I didn’t have enough 5.5mm needles to make it all the way around so I used the same size crochet hook and just did 2 or 3 rows of single crochet around, putting 3 sts in each corner st to ease better around the corners.
Would I knit this again: yes, its fast, easy and mindless knitting

This is the Baby Einstein I knit up. I love how rustic it came out! I still need to wash it, as I only sewed the buttons on today, just so I could include it in this post. (Technically it is in the room, it’s in the hamper).

Project Specs:
Pattern: Sally Melville’s Einstein Coat, Baby Einstein version, 6-9 month size from The Knit Stitch
Yarn: SandesGarn Smart (as per the pattern)
Needles: 4mm
Cast On to Bind Off: April 16-23 2007
Notes: I was a little disappointed with one part of the pattern. I don’t know if there was a mistake in my book, but for the body of the sweater, the pattern has you work X width around, then work the top halfs, from one edge right to the other. That’s fine…except that the pattern doesn’t add any room for overlap. What I mean is, once the sweater is folded in half to become a coat, there is no overlap for the button band. One side has button holes, the other side gets the buttons, but the edges meet perfectly. So when I tug one side over by about an inch to pull the button holes over the other edge to close the buttons, the neck and shoulders and sleeves get pulled out of place. I don’t know if I’m explaining this right, but it isn’t right. So since I could never have the coat close up to the top button anyways due to this error and how crappy it looks if buttoned all the way, I chose to sew down the top two sides as lapels instead. The yarn is scratchy enough that I don’t need to worry about the baby wearing it alone and having a cold neck, there will always be at least a tshirt underneath. Since there is no finishing on the neck itself (in the pattern) I like the “finished” look my variation gives.

Would I knit this again: probably since the knitting was fun and easy, but I would check for a pattern correction or create an amendment myself first.

This cardi/hat set is in one of the drawers too (that counts as being in the photo!). I originally referred to it as the “Clown” cardigan and hat set since that is the name of the yarn called for in the pattern, but I have sinced changed that to the “Ice Cream” cardi and hat set (‘cus of the colors) so if you look for it in my sidebar, look under Ice Cream.

Project Specs:
Pattern: Clown Cardigan and Hat from a Marks & Kattens pamphlet, 9mo size
Yarn: Regia Canadian Color sock yarn color 4733 (I think its “Ottawa”)
Needles: 2.5 and 3mm
Cast On to Bind Off: November 20 2006 – April 11 2007
Notes: I turned it inside out while knitting so I had to adapt the shaping to be on purl side instead of the knit side. I like it better that way, but 90% of those who see it think it’s inside out and prefer the knit side as the outside. Since the button band is picked up and knit on afterwards, thus leaving a seam, plus mattress stitch also leaves a seam, it is not reversable. Still, I don’t care. I like the way it looks. And I LOVE the hat.
Would I knit this again: Yes. For my child I’d knit the hat again. I’d knit the cardigan for a gift but in a different colorway.

Last, but not least, I bring you a knitted item that IS visible in the photo above. It is the piece of honor in the room, and I believe that until the little one is born it is my favorite FO of all time. Can you tell what it is?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you…

Yannick’s blankie.

Didn’t catch that? Ahem:

Yannick’s blankie.

Yes, this is the blanket that my husband Yannick knit for our baby. Sit down if you need to. I’ll wait.

For those of you that don’t know the story, about 3 or 4 years ago Yannick’s anniversary gift to me was that he would learn how to knit and make me something. After a bit of swatching he realized how much he hated knitting and had possibly bit off more than he could chew. Still, he took me to the yarn store to find something for the project. I let him pick the yarn since it would be flowing through his hands, and after some trial and error he settled on bamboo needles that allowed the slippery yarn to slide without being too fast. He practiced his knits and purls on some waste yarn, then we had to decide what the project would be. I had originally asked for a little “blankie” for myself, something small to have with me for when he couldn’t be there. Once we saw how much he didn’t enjoy knitting and how uncomfortable he was at it (even though his stitches looked beautiful) I offered to give him some chunky yarn and big knits, and said I’d be just as thrilled with a scarf. He refused. He wanted to prove he could “do it”.

We decided on a basketweave pattern with a stockinette stitch center. He cast on himself, and got started. He used stitch markers for the first 20 rows or so, but found they got in his way and made messier gaps between the knit/purl transitions, so he abandoned them. He also abandoned the knitting many times over the years. We fought often about how he seemed to have forgotten my anniversary gift. Sometimes he’d work on it…most of the time he’d forget. Once in a while he’d come to the knitting meetups with me and work on a few rows, but then he’d get to talking and it would hang in his hands, untouched.

Then we found out we were pregnant. It wasn’t hard to decide that this blankie should be for the baby, not for me. I threatened that I would keep my legs crossed and not let the baby out until the blanket was done. He’d work on it for a while, then a month or so would go by without any progress. He learned how to read his stitches and became such a perfectionist that he’d often call me over to fix a non-existant mistake. Over the last few weeks he got a burst of energy when he realized how close he was to finishing, then last week he did it.

He finished the blankie. On Monday morning I taught him how to bind off so I could wash it with the next load of baby clothes. He did it all: cast on, knit, purl, basketweave, stocking stitch, stitch markers, no stitch markers, bind off. He even refused to use the larger needle trick to make sure his bind off wasn’t too tight- he didn’t want tricks. He wanted to do it right like everyone else, so he went slow and made sure he didn’t pull the yarn. The only thing I did for him was weave in the ends.

Thank you honey. Even with all the handknit and crocheted blankets our baby has, I hope yours is the most loved.
Project Specs:
Pattern: none. We made up a repeat of basketweave with a stockinette stitch center.
Yarn: King Cole’s Soft as Silk DK (I think it’s now discontinued)
Needles: 4.5mm
Cast On to Bind Off: A long time.