Wednesday at Knit Night I had Jen pick yarn. I thought it might be fun for her to choose some yarn, and then watch and see what it would become. Megan fetched all manner of things, Jen made her choices, and went home. Sadly, I am a fickle, fickle knitter and mere moments after she left, I had a different idea, trashed all the yarn that she chose, and picked something else totally.
(Jen, blame Andrea. It was her idea. Sort of. Okay, not really. Blame her anyway.)
I had a cute little cardigan in mind - and yes, I know they've all been cardigans. It's because of my own memories of trying to pull something over a newborns head. Their heads are so big and the neckholes are never big enough and they don't really have necks, which complicates things even more. The head wobbles around and it's hard to pull their arms through, and the mum gets nervous and the kid gets upset and then, when you finally get a pullover onto them, you're rewarded with the realization that now you aren't really going to be able to get it off without the same thing happening in reverse - only the baby is undoubtedly going to be hot or sleepy or wet while you do it. I feel like pullovers aren't entry level baby dressing. Best avoided until the baby (and sometimes the parents) are more experienced.
So Jen left, and I bought myself one ball of Cascade 220 in a dark grey, and one ball of Noro Silk Garden in a nifty rainbow colourway (number 87, for those who like to know) and yesterday I churned out a sweetie of a little cardigan, perfect for the newly born and neckless.
It's the Puerperium Cardigan (so named, because the puerperium is the period immediately after birth) and I admit being completely inspired by this version.
I manipulated the colourway to suit me, taking out stretches of colours I didn't like or didn't want - or just rearranging the order they went in. This means I had a bucket of ends to weave in, and an odd little collection of coloured leftovers, but I think it was worth it to have control over how it looks.
Last night I blocked it, this morning I sewed on the little buttons, and whammo.
Another something for the baby. Who is still not here - but really, these things can't be rushed. (Well, I suppose technically they can be, but that hardly seems wise when everyone is healthy and hale.)
Besides. The next thing is already on the needles.