Onesie Dress and Liten Shrug

So...having a girl is so much fun. I have really enjoyed making clothes for her to wear. A long time ago I saw the idea of sewing a skirt onto a onesie to turn it into a dress, and I finally got around to trying it out. I'm very much a beginner at sewing and even this simple project took a few tries. First I sewed the skirt on inside out. Next, I did something wrong that led to my sewing machine eating my fabric and breaking my needle. Finally, I went over to my sister's house and she helped me with it and let me use her machine. The instructions that I followed were from love city.

I purposely picked out fabric that would match some Sirdar yarn that I purchased so that I could make a matching shrug. The pattern is called Liten and can be found on ravelry. It was super easy, but I did make it a little small. I followed the 6 month instructions and it is snug on my almost four month old. But I tend to knit that way and I really should check my gauge before making clothing. It was a fun easy project that helped pass the time while we road tripped for a wedding over the weekend. Here's my baby wearing the combo:

Baby A-Line Dress

This dress was one of the first things I saw when I was looking for knitting patterns and I really wanted to make it. I tried it around the holidays last year and I was having too much trouble, so I worked on some other things. It went well when I tried it again this time, but I did change it to be in the round instead of in pieces. Much less purling that way. :)

I am not a fast knitter and this dress took me a long time. It helped to have a couple of road trips to make some good progress, but I did worry that she would outgrow the dress before I was done. So I was pleased when I tried it on her and saw that there was plenty of room to grow. If I remember, I'll post another picture when she's a little bigger and it fits her better.

I found the pattern on Ravelry here, and I used Katia Baby Merino.

Misty Lily Sweater

I had some fingering weight yarn that I was using to make a dress. I decided that the dress was going to be too small and I also wanted to knit it in the round instead of in pieces like the pattern said, so I frogged what I had done and decided to use the yarn for this sweater. I love it! I should have made a size bigger, though.

The pattern was easy to follow. It's called Misty Lily by Danskknit and can be found here on Ravelry.

I used Knit Picks Comfy Fingering Weight in Lilac Mist.

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...

Baby Sun Dress

Being very pregnant and not having the energy to do a whole lot has left me with a lot of time to practice knitting. I just finished up this baby sun dress.

I found the pattern by OGE Knitwear Designs here on Ravelry. I used Knit Picks CotLin yarn in the color Conch. This pattern was a lot of fun, but I would be interested in trying to do it in the round instead of in two pieces. Except that I don't know enough of what I'm doing to figure that out myself. :)

Granny Stripe Baby Blanket

This is the latest complete baby project. A granny stripe baby blanket. I like how easy granny stripes are, although changing colors every row did leave me with a lot of weaving in to do at the end. I couldn't decide on a border, but eventually tried out this interlocking chain edging. I'm not sure if I love it, but I'll probably leave it there. This was with Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn.

Blue Bird Top

This top was so much fun to make. It took a while for me to get down the M1R and M1L and the pleats in the sleeve were a challenge for me, but it was fun to learn. I made this with Knit Picks Swish DK in Wonderland Heather and I used the "Blue Bird" pattern from Valerie Morris found here.

When looking through other projects, several people had put buttons on the sleeves and I thought it looked so cute. So I did the same.

Update 8/5/2017 - here is my four month old in the shirt!