I knitted a cardigan for my boyfriend's sister's baby.
I used 3 ply baby wool (15 % wool, 75% acrylic) nice touch, soft and machine washable.
I found a very basic Debbie Bliss baby cardigan pattern to follow for shape and size , but to spice it up I used a fair isle pattern from a different pattern that was in Debbie Bliss magazine (Fall/Winter 2010). I can't find the other magazine where the baby cardigan was from, but I think the magazine is probably Debbie Bliss Spring/Summer 2010. I used to have my Designer Knitting Magazine subscribed through Magma bookshop that is on Oldham Street, Manchester (if you come to Manchester it is definitely a nice shop to visit) and for some reason the Debbie Bliss magazine came with it every time. I had to quit that habit as it proved a little bit expensive for a student, but now in my professional life I have let myself to subscribe Designer Knitting again. This time it comes through my door. I still love Magma bookshop as well.
http://www.creativetourist.com/venues/magma-books/
Here is a picture of the Debbie Bliss reindeer pattern that I used:
The duffel bag that the fair isle pattern was designed for looks like this: ( I didn't make this it's just a picture from the magazine)
So to get the Fair isle Pattern to fit in with the pattern of the cardigan, I had to do some maths and foresee where the decreases where going to be and where the middle point of the cardigan was so that the reindeer have enough space in between them. So definitely recommend spending some time in working this out if you are going to apply a fair isle pattern from one item to another. It looks the best when the reindeer are positioned in the middle.
Here is Ebens cardigan from the back before I have started seeming the sleeves properly:
And here it is from the front and finished, photographed on my wonderful (but dusty) wooden floor:
I was so pleased to give this to Eben before Christmas, I heard that he got a lot of compliments about it. I hope he will get a couple of more wears from it coming this Christmas before he grows out of it.
Ahh it was nice to be writing in here again! I will carry on dreaming about all the projects that I want to do, especially in my house. Would love to be able to blog about some DIY, but I understand I would have to get done some first. For now I am just going to go downstairs and do some more knitting, see for that I don't need any encouragement at all!
Valpuri
