Fair Isle Baby Set

 

 This baby set winds up my baby knitting, unless I decide to knit a random vest or two. I took my time with knitting this set but still it got done pretty fast. The jacket, cap and socks are one DROPS pattern and the pants are another DROPS pattern. I have knit the later twice before, in fact the last baby pants were also made in this pattern.

The yarn is all our local acrylic in DK weight and I love how it is far softer than the usual stuff, and has a nice variegation to it.

This little fair Isle project has put me in the mood for some more colorwork and I am contemplating an intarsia project next.

Complete Set

 So I managed to overlook the color and texture difference between the two balls of yarn and used the remaining yarn to knit the matching bonnet ...

 ...and a pair of booties to accompany the cabled bay jacket.

 

I am glad that I did it because a complete set looks far cuter and is way more useful than a lone cardigan.

Cabled Baby Jacket

 

This one turned out far better then my last baby cardigan. But then, I have always had good experience with DROPS patterns, even though the instructions can be a little tricky and hard to understand. This was a joy to knit and so cute to boot. However I got unlucky with the yarn as the second ball of yarn turned out to be a shade different in color and also texture. You can pick out the difference if you look closely at the collar. That put quite a damper on my knitting spirits and I am now debating if I should continue with the matching bonnet.

It's Hero Time!

 

Ben 10 is my son's favorite TV cartoon show and an ongoing obsession. So when he asked me to make him a jacket like the one hero wears in the cartoon, I hurriedly complied (he was moving on to the various alien costumes). Ben 10 seems to be quite a favorite with the boys this age, as I discovered many similar projects at ravelry. One reveler even shared her intrasia chart which saved me much time and grief.

   For the actual sweater, I did not follow any pattern. I did ran into trouble with the set in sleeves, it took a few attempts to get them right. The yarn is our local acrylic worsted weight.

  I don't have to tell that this sweater is a resounding success. My son would like to wear it all the time. He also went off to show it to his grandparents, who had no idea what or who Ben 10 is. Even his little sister has been trying it on. As for my hope that it will be the only piece of knitting based on Ben 10, that seems to be futile thinking as I am already receiving requests for one more. Maybe next year, just maybe.

Still Here

The reason I have ignored the blog for the last few weeks is twofold...firstly, we decided to take a little impromptu vacation and went to Lahore for a few days. We had a great time there but I could not get much knitting done. Secondly, I feel I have burned myself out with the vacation, housework, and taking care of the baby. So even when I find a quiet moment, which is ever so rare these days, I don't feel like doing anything. Knitting, blogging, net-browsing, all feel like a lot of work.
 Hopefully, this phase will pass soon and I will be back to blog about my hobbies regularly, inshaAllah. For now, I will leave you with a picture of my current WIP. It is going to be a zippered jacket for my son. This is on his special request and is something his favorite cartoon superhero wears.

Ramadan Knitting

Ramadan this year was very busy, more so than usual, so that I found little time for anything not related to the month. While the blog got totally ignored, I did manage to knit a few rows a day to make progress on a baby set for my toddler. It is a DROPS pattern which I have knit before for my older daughter. I have finished the trousers and am up to the yoke on the jacket and working on the sleeves right now. Hopefully it will get done more quickly after Eid.