Tag Archives: Little sisters dress

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Z is 6 months old!

If you don’t like babies, just avert your eyes. This is a picture heavy post capturing a bunch of Z’s expressions.

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Today Z is 6 months old. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by! She is so much more alert and energetic every day. I think being a parent involves watching some unbelievably cool developmental magic unfold before your eyes.

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She is wearing a Little Sister’s Dress (though she could never be the little sister since she’s our only child). This was the first thing I knitted for herI while pregnant. Though I made the six month size, I think it’s definitely more of a tunic than a dress. That’s better for crawling anyway. She’s not crawling yet, but I can tell she has it in her in the next few months. She amazes us with something new every day it seems. She rolls like she’s on fire and I think she really, really wants to sit up too.

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It’s crazy to think she’s probably going to be walking in another 6 months or so. I think she’s going to be one cool human being.

 

 

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Hey little sister…

Ok, ok. This dress is for no little sister, but it is called Little Sister’s Dress. I think the Norwegian version of the name looks cooler: Kjole til lillesøster. This dress is by Tora Frøseth. It’s free on Ravelry and is a snap to make.

I had it in my favorites for a long time. Unfortunately, when I first pulled up the pattern and started knitting, I neglected to see the cute little “update” button in my Ravelry library. I was using the first version, which had a few errors. I got almost to the armpits (from the top) and then had to tear out. At least it’s a tiny baby garment. I made the six month version. That should time about right with the spring if she’s true to the six month size. I have no idea about these things with babies. This is my first (and maybe only) kiddo. I’ve heard that babies often quickly outgrow the expected monthly sizes, but I tried this on a friend’s baby when it was in process and she is about 14 months and it fit her with no problem. Who knows.

I am obviously no great crocheter. The button area has a crocheted edge. If you look at the dress in the Ravelry link for the pattern, the original is much much neater. I might redo this at some point. I also think I made the loops a bit too short, so they pull the buttons closer than they should be. For now, I’m just going to live with both of these.

The color is pretty accurate in these photos. The yarn is Dream in Color Starry and the color is Melon Bomb. A piddly phone camera does NOT capture this color well as I discovered several times when I tried to post to Instagram while it was in progress. The yarn has actual silver strands woven in it. I never thought of myself as a sparkly yarn kinda gal, but it’s not over the top in the sparkly department. I think I have enough left over to make some Tiny Shoes to match!

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The benefits of being a sock yarn hoarder…and other Saturday rambles.

If you’ve read any amount of blog posts on this site, or know me in real life, it’s not much of a secret that I have a passion for sock yarn. It’s hard for me to believe that not everyone is in love with sock yarn in the same way. Not many other weights of yarn are so unabashedly bold with their colors or striping patterns, and when I produce an entire garment out of fingering weight yarn, like my Still Light Tunic, I love the way it seems more flattering than heavier garments and is easier to transition into multiple seasons.

I am newly discovering the benefits of sock yarn stashing as I am starting to make baby knits. When I did a Ravelry advanced search, there were over 3,000 different baby knits (with photos available) using fingering weight yarn. That’s exciting news since I have at least enough yarn to knit about 30 pairs of socks. This might keep me busy with the baby knits for some time.

I’ve been working on Little Sister’s Dress by Tora Frøseth.

I was happily working away on it last weekend until I discovered the math wasn’t adding up and I had the first version, rather than the updated version, of the pattern in my Ravelry library. Ugh. I need to remember to check these things, as well as look for errata at the very beginning of a pattern. Other than that brief misstep, the dress has been flying off the needles at a good pace. I realize the picture above is a pretty awful phone pic that does not capture the color well at all, but meh, it’s what I’ve got for now. I’m making the six month size in hopes of the baby being able to wear it in early spring.

Next up on my baby knits queue is the Clara Dress by Karin Vestergaard Mathiesen. I’ve had this one in my Ravelry favorites for years actually. Unfortunately, the pattern only comes as a kit from the yarn manufacturer. They sell it with some Isager Alpaca 2. I’m not opposed to this yarn, but when I purchased it the variety of colors available was lacking somewhat. There were a couple of blues, grey, brown, and a dark teal. I went with the dark teal, but I’m more likely to make something else out of that in favor of using a brighter skein of yarn from my stash.

My pregnancy is going pretty well so far. Some might even call it easy. Lately my worst experience is just waking up in the middle of the night and being awake for a couple of hours for no reason. I suppose this is ameliorated somewhat by the fact that I can’t stay awake past 9:30 most of the time, so it all balances out.

One thing that I have noticed is that people endlessly give advice and freely comment on what I should and should not be doing to care for myself and my unborn baby. I really haven’t experienced something like this at any other point. Perfect strangers feel free to comment on my body and tell me things I really don’t care to hear. I’m not trying to have a rant here, but it’s a really odd social experiment in a way. I’m trying to mostly look at it with curiosity, rather than anger. As in…”I’m curious that you’re a stranger, yet you feel that you can touch my stomach.” To me, there is probably no other “socially acceptable” time to just touch a stranger’s stomach. It’s a pretty intimate area. I guess I don’t really find this all that “socially acceptable.” Maybe I’m not that friendly after all, or maybe it just weirds me out. I read one site that suggested that I should touch the person’s stomach back to make a point if this makes me uncomfortable. So far I haven’t had the gall to do that and luckily most of the stomach touchers are people I’m comfortable with. I really enjoy Jezebel articles for their feminist bent and level of snark, so I’m linking this one that talks about how to interact with pregnant ladies. Simple stuff folks. If we’re an alien species for you, read that article and take it to heart.

As for other knitting content, I’ve given up on trying to obtain a better photo of some socks that I knit for the fella awhile back. I had some nice ones on my SLR and accidentally deleted them. Other than that, I just keep forgetting to do it. I found a pic on my phone last night and decided it was suitable.
He’s worn them a bunch, and while they probably still look like new due to the durability of the yarn, I’m going to put that baby to bed. More info about the yarn is available here.