Small Things

Truthfully, not terribly much crafting got done in 2011, at least not when compared to my initial ambitions. I really love to knit, crochet, sew, etc., but it was such a busy year that my hobbies suffered. On the up side, I figure that the children are really only going to be this young for a short while so I will have many, many years when they are off doing other things to knit. RJ is taking ballet and tap, so I will also likely have lots of dance lessons in my future in which to work on crafts as well (she takes her lessons through her daycare right now, so I don't really do anything except send her dance clothes). I digress. Here is one project I did finish, although technically the knitting was done in 2010. I started this in 2009 when we were hoping to have another baby, and I wanted to make a more masculine sweater in case we had a boy. I also wanted to use up this green chunky wool-ease that I used to make my brother a neck warmer. I used Lion Brand Jiffy for the main body, so it is machine washable. Always a good quality in baby knits! The pattern is One-Skein-Wonder Baby Sweater from the book One-Skein Wonders (which is the same place I found the pattern for my brother's neck warmer). I've actually used this book quite a lot, probably because the patterns are quick and easy which is great when you have to put them down a lot. Here is the sweater:

And here is Iva wearing it. I thought she might be able to wear it, but with her short hair it really does make her look like a boy. I don't care all that much about whether her sex is correctly identified, but she has lots of other more suitable handknits and with the "leather" buttons I think this has such a cute masculine quality to it. I plan to save it for a gift, since someone I know will surely have a boy. The pattern was easy and cute, and I plan to make another more girly version to have one hand for a girl gift.