Ice Lolly T-shirt

My plan was to make this before my baby came, but I was surprised by having her 12 days early. I worked on it some in the hospital during labor and then during the 5 days she stayed in the NICU, but didn't finish it until today.

Truthfully, this was not a project that I loved, both in the making process and in the finished product. My original plan was to make a matching one for my almost-6-year-old, but I'll have to pick something else. I struggled a bit with the sleeves, probably just because I'm a beginner and not because of the pattern (found here on Ravelry). I didn't understand how to do a provisional cast on with the sleeve (I was fine to do it with the neck when starting the project), so then I was kind of on my own to figure out how to get the sleeves started. I also think that my bind off on the sleeves was too tight. If my baby ends up with chubby arms by the time this fits (and I'm sure she will), it might not be wearable.

My favorite part, though, is the I-cord finishing on the neck. I like how it looks and I kind of wish that it had been done on the sleeves, too.

I used Rico Cotton Essentials DK yarn for this project. At first I thought that I was going to have to try something else because this yarn slipped off my needles so many times during my cast on and the first row, but as I got farther into the project, it became less of a problem. I do love the color.

When I look at the pictures from other peoples' projects with this pattern, they all look great. Maybe this would be a good one to revisit after I have gotten better at knitting...