With two friends due in March (on the 13th and 31st, coincidentally), I decided it was time for some baby knitting. My mom’s favorite baby sweater pattern is the shawl collared aran sweater pattern by Debbie Bliss in her 1988 book ‘Baby Knits’. Since it’s mum’s favorite pattern, I figured I’d give it a try. As we already knew, I’m not all that good at knitting a pattern straight, so there were significant changes, starting with knitting it in the round. Also, no bobbles. I do not like knitting bobbles. At all. So the front cable was modified accordingly. And some of the other cables were modified, by mistake more than intention… Also, I went with a seed stitch ground for under the arms and the sides.
Other than those modifications (and the detail of not knitting a gauge swatch, so I’m not quite sure if the sweater is the appropriate width), I more or less followed the pattern. I did follow the number of stitches, which was one of the key reasons for referring to a pattern in the first place. I was told I should knit a hat to go with, since I had plenty of extra yarn. I wanted something fairly simple, since I was knitting this while doing other things, so I decided not to use all of the cables from the sweater, but just do some basic 4 stitch cables.
The yarn is a sport weight in a colorway called ‘coral reef’ from Rocking the wool-from the yarnbox page on this yarn: “Megan from Rocking the Wool is an artisan hand dyer out of the Chicago area. Using 100% Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTs) certified organic merino wool, each skein is dyed using low impact dyes that are heavy metal-free acid and environmentally friendly. What’s so special about the GOTs certification? It means that, from start to finish, you have a yarn that is environmentally conscious. This is the best organic textile standard that you’ll find in the world. This link will bring you to a great break down of all the environmental criteria a yarn must adhere to receive a GOTs certification.” Given that the care instructions are to hand wash cool, it might have not been the best choice for a baby sweater, but I thought the color was perfect. I really struggled with getting the right color in these pictures. It’s pink, but not a super in-your-face pink like the first picture implies, and not orange as so many of the pictures I took while it was in progress turned out. It was really frustrating. I tried in all sorts of lighting, and I did try messing with filters to make it better, but I failed. So you’ll just have to imagine it in a nice soft pink color.