I actually really like knitting for babies; you can make a garment in a fraction of the time and you can use smaller bits of yarn to do so – hello stash busting! So when I found out my coworker was having a little girl, I couldn’t help but knit something up for her.
I had a large, but not full skein, of this cascade heritage yarn in aqua foam in my stash. (It’s left over from my aqua waves jumper.) Instead of knitting something up in the ‘traditional pink for girls’ I thought this is a lovely change and settled on using up the rest of this skein on a baby dress.
And to top it off, this yarn is superwash. Honestly, what new mom ever wants to hand wash a baby garment when they’re so busy doing everything else?! I just think it’s a courtesy to make baby items in superwash – there’s no telling what will happen to this little dress when it gets worn. lol
While the images make it look like the dress is a blue – it really is a lovely shade of aqua.
This dress was made using the Little Sister’s Dress (free) pattern. I’m a big supporter of using free baby patterns. I’ll gladly pay for my own patterns, but I tend to prefer free ones when it comes to (unselfish) knitting & baby stuff.
I also happened to have a set of three pearl buttons in my stash to use for the button closure. While the closure only called for two buttons, I think things look better in sets of odd numbers. The southern most button is stitched on for decorative purposes only. I made the button holes with a simple chain crochet stitch. Lots of seaming with these little extra details.
I decided to knit this up in the one-year size, instead of the newborn size. From my small experience with my sister’s babies – they were large and only wore a newborn size for literally one week! What really sold me on this pattern is that this dress can easily be worn as a little tank top once they grow, too. So hopefully this little dress will be something that my coworker can use for even longer.
And the booties… I’m just smitten with these little booties.
They’re so mini & cute! And yes, I’m even tempted to figure out how to make a larger size for myself. lol
The bootie pattern is the Saartje Bootie (free) pattern, and I slightly modified it. I added an extra increase (6 extra stitches) and used one needle size larger in attempts to make a larger pair of booties – something that would fit closer to a 9-month old to a one-year old vs. the pattern being for a 3-6 month old. I thought it would be better if my coworker’s little girl could wear the booties WITH the little dress.
I was actually trying to use my whole remaining skein on the dress – but I still had about 68 yards left over. So, I went hunting on ravelry to see if I could use more of it up in some way; which is how I came to make this pair of booties.
Seeing as how I can’t do anything simply, I decided that I needed to do a contrast with the aqua, since I was using some white bunny buttons (also from my stash). I think they’re so much better in two tone than they would have been in an all-aqua. I really do love how they turned out. And my coworker will always remember me when she sees those bunny buttons. :D
This baby sure is getting some nice spoils from my yarn stash. I don’t think there’s many babies that will be walking around in a merino-silk blend dress. heh
I was so pleased with how this set turned out – I hope it gets a lot of love and wear.
Happy knitting!
In: Knitting
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