Garter Yoke Baby Cardi

I've been trying out this lovely new yarn. It's Regatta DK from the Spring/Summer 2020 collection at Stylecraft. I received a sample in the ‘Henley’ colour way and made a quick, easy baby cardigan.

Searching the knitting site Ravelry for a simple baby cardigan brought up this pattern, Garter Yoke Baby Cardi by Jennifer Hoel. It's knit from the top down with seamless raglan sleeves. At the time of searching there were almost 5,000 projects made using the pattern, quite popular and lots of good reviews, free to download as well. I made a guess that the one ball sample would be enough to complete the project.

The pattern instructions are for one size 6-12 months. But easily adapted by using larger/small needles and heavier/lighter weight yarn. The pattern calls for sport weight yarn and 3.5mm needles. For my project I used a 4.5mm circular needle in the DK weight Regatta and almost all the ball of yarn.

The way the colours work in the garter stitch section looks particularly nice. Also for a cotton yarn it is easy to work with and has a nice bounce to it. As I used this for a baby knit, needless to say it is also very soft on the skin.

The print effect yarn is 76% Cotton, 18% Polyamide, 8% Polyester Elastane, weight DK, 260m/284yds, 100g and comes in 6 colour combinations. 

Image curtesy of Stylecraft 

Stylecraft have 5 pattern leaflets for the yarn offering cheerful designs for girls and women. Including this chevron poncho using the Habour colour way, which if I had time I'd make for myself. I love the way the colours work and the casual easy to wear design.

If only I had the time!

Image curtesy of Stylecraft

Emma's Yarn meets Baby Tea Leaves

This lovely skein of yarn was sent to me by Yarnworx.com. The company is an online store based in the UK. Most of their yarn is ethically sourced and hand dyed. 

Yarnworx are the exclusive importers of Emma's Yarn.  A brand label I had seen quite a lot on social media and was very interested to try some myself.  Incidentally,     Emma's Yarn is hand dyed in Florida. 

I was drawn to this 'Practically Perfect Sock' in minty greens and shades of pale to deep pink with a cream base. As I write it is well into January, even though I finished with Christmas weeks ago, 'Christmas Sprinkles' the colour way name, didn't put me off. 

After winding the skein into this ball the colours looked more evenly distributed. I couldn't wait to get on with a project. Needing something to start and finish reasonably quickly, immediately ruled out a pair of socks!

Having become a grandma for the first time, which makes me so happy,  every yarn I see is scrutinised for potential baby knits. This yarn being 80% merino wool, 20% nylon, 100g in weight, 365 meters/400yards and super soft, seemed an ideal option.

Browsing on the knitting website, Ravelry, I came across the pattern Baby Tea Leaves cardigan which looked suitable. Deciding to knit the smallest size 0-6 months helped ensure a swift completion of the project.  (The pattern is by Melissa DeBarre and instructions are for sizes, 0-6, 6-12, 12-18 and 18-24 months).

The cardigan is knitted from the top down in one piece with a feature ruched yoke and garter stitch trim. For the garter trim I opted to use some plain contrast yarn from my stash to highlight the yoke feature. 

Mother of pearl buttons complete the cardigan.

The way the colours are scattered across the knitting look so pretty. It does indeed look like Christmas Sprinkles. I loved working with this yarn and would definitely use it again. 

In this size the cardigan used half a ball of yarn.  I could have made one of the larger size cardigans easily with the skein. 

Now I'll need another project to use up the spare yarn, perhaps something for myself, we'll see...

A Splash of Winter Colour

I've been revisiting some of my previously published patterns and knitting them in new colour ways. A splash of winter colour is what I wanted for this hat. 

This is  Pathfinder,  inspired by maps and fair isle motifs. Grid lines and squares represent the distance measures on a map and diagonal directions on a compass. Concentric rings reminiscent of contour lines rise up to the crown, topped off with a colourful pom pom.

I chose Bellisima DK from Stylecraft,  which has a range of saturated hues and sophisticated pastels. Shades used were Mellow Yellow, Silver Lining and Purple Passion. I like the warmth and rich tones of these three colours together. Thanks to Stylecraft Yarns for supplying the yarn.

It's a beautifully soft dk weight with great stitch definition and easy to care for in acrylic. There are 18 colours to choose from and Bellisima DK comes in 100g balls at 268m long.

The first knitting project I've completed in the new year and I'm really pleased the way it turned out. So far here the winter has been relatively mild but we still have February to look forward to and who knows what it might bring. 

Looking forward to lots more knitting during 2020.

Pathfinder Hat Knitting Pattern available to download here