Fresh Off The Needles: Stars and Stripes Toddler Sun Dress

Well, I meant to post "Scrumptious Strawberry Season: Vol. 2" within a day or two of posting "Vol. 1" but time got away from me, and it has been a BUSY holiday weekend! So "Scrumptious Strawberry Season" will now be interrupted by the latest installment of "Fresh Off The Needles."

Since my first post showing the knit toddler sundress that I made in May, I have made two more. I have not had the chance to post a picture of the second one yet and the the most recent one is the dress I will talk about here. I have been designing a 4th of July themed dress in my mind for awhile, and actually started knitting it before I had the design pegged. The construction is the same as the first ones that I knit, but I made the skirt on this one a few inches shorter. The color theme is American Flag inspired (obviously) but I chose "country Americana" colors instead of straight red, white and blue. It was meant to be worn by the Little Princess for all of our Independence day get-togethers, but it turned out really cute and she will be able to wear it all summer!

I finished it the morning of the 4th, right before leaving to go watch the parade!

Since I have had tons of blog hits from people looking for a knit toddler sun dress pattern, I will post it here. Parts of it were inspired by a free pattern I found for a tank top online, but I have changed and added so much that I now pretty much call it my design, hehehe. Keep in mind I am no expert pattern writer!

Stars & Stripes Toddler Sun Dress (Size 2T)

Materials:
Size 9 (US) straight needles
1 skein each of worsted weight yarn in red, white, and blue

Back:

*CO 84 sts

Knit 8 rows in red for garter stitch border.

Switch to white and p 1 row
Work 4 more rows in stockinette stitch.
Next row: k2, sl 1, k1, psso, k across to last 4 sts, k2tog, k2
These 6 rows form 1 stripe.

Work 5 more stripes, reducing in the same fashion every 6th row. (72 sts remain)

Work 2 more stripes even with no reductions.

Switch to white and begin the last stripe (total of 10 stripes). Work two rows even.
Next row: k3, (sl1, k1, psso)x15, k6, (k2tog)x15, k3 (42 sts remain)
Work 3 more rows even.

Switch to blue and k 1 row.

Work the following chart bottom to top, left to right, right to left, etc...


Next row: BO 5, p across
Next row: BO 5, k across
Next row: p2, p2tog, p across to last 3 sts, p2tog, p1
Next row: k across.

Repeat the last 2 rows 2 more times*, BO

Sew in ends.

Front:

Work the same as given for back between **

Straps

Next row: p7, BO 12, p7

Work on these last 7 stitches for 20 rows in stockinette stitch (approx 5 inches), BO.

Re attach yarn to remaining 7 stitches and work on them for 20 rows (approx 5 inches), BO.

Sew in ends. Join front to back and sew side seams, sew straps to back of dress.

And that's it. I am hoping there are no errors, but it's almost a guarantee that there is, please let me know if you find anything glaring! Thanks for reading!

-Diana, The Ivy Kitchen

Fresh Off The Needles: Cabled Baby Sweater & Hat

I finally finished the cabled baby sweater that I mentioned in the blog entry where we met Woobster (who I haven't seen since that day). This was one of the hardest projects I have ever done, not because the pattern itself was difficult (it was pretty basic for my skill level, actually) but I just could not concentrate on this project for whatever reason.

I was adamant about finishing it though, as it was a gift for a very dear friend of mine who is pregnant with baby boy #2 after she and her husband suffered the heartbreaking loss of their first newborn son in November of 2006. Her baby shower was being held where she lives in Vermont, so Dear Husband, The Little Princess, and I took a 2 day trip down to Vermont this past weekend.

A few of the things that went wrong included me gabbing away and knitting one of the panels 3 inches too long (I also mis-read the pattern) and having to frog back those three inches of knitting. I forgot to write down what changes I had made to the first panel so when it came time to knit the front panel (identical piece) I had to figure it all out again. I brought the project with me to work on during a long-ish car ride last Thursday and forgot to bring my cable needle, I sewed a seam that I later had to rip out...getting the picture of how this project went?

Despite having worked on the sweater for three weeks prior (I probably could have finished it in a week if I had not been so distracted) I was still working on it in the car on the way down (and holed up in the back bedroom during breakfast the day of the shower...). Knitting in the car presents a whole host of other difficulties, including loosing my tapestry needle and needing to stop at a random Wal-Mart to get a new one. But I finally finished it and it is too cute, and I also made a hat to go along with it. All the mishaps just make finishing the piece that much more gratifying.

They both really liked it and it got all the "oooohs and awwwes" at the baby shower that you might expect, hehehe. I am just glad she got to have a shower, and it was nice to see her and her DH with hopeful smiles on their faces! Also the 5 hour trips to and from Vermont were a fun family adventure and we saw a lot of the New Hampshire country side, as DH likes to take back roads:

The trip back was interesting because we have no a/c in the car and Sunday June 8 has been the hottest day of the year so far. Here is a picture of our car's thermometer (EXTERNAL!) just after we crossed the bridge back into Maine:

Here are some photos of the finished sweater and hat (the first one is before sewing the side seams):

Well, thanks for looking!

-Diana, The Ivy Kitchen

What's on the Needles: Don't be a Chicken!

Ok, so the title of this post is both an introduction to an on-going post series and a cryptic reference to a STRANGE knitting experience I had today!

"What's on the Needles" will join "Fresh off the Needles" as ongoing posts that I will do to keep you all updated on my knitting projects. "What's on the Needles" will just track where I am in various knitting projects that I have in-progress.

Right now the only thing I have on the needles (aside from an abandoned project that is soon to be ripped out) is the back panel for a cabled baby sweater that I am hoping to have finished as a gift for a dear friend who is expecting a son in August. I am almost finished with the back panel and still have the front panel and both sleeves to go. I am knitting it on size 6 needles with Caron's Simply Soft acrylic. The pattern is from "Baby Knits for Beginners" by Debbie Bliss, but is heavily modified by me...so you won't actually find it if you look in that book, lol.

So I was sitting out in the sun working on it, while The Little Princess played...when something very out-of the ordinary happened...

Meet Woobster (so named by The Little Princess attempting to say "rooster"):

Where we are living I have seen wild turkeys, foxes, snapping turtles, porcupines, deer, bald eagles...but never an extremely cute/ugly domesticated chicken!

Woobster appeared out of nowhere, and came right up to my chair as I was sitting there knitting. He proceeded to follow The Little Princess and I around outside for about 1.5 hours until he apparently got bored and went on his merry way! Calls to neighbors yielded no answers as to his origin, and I sincerely hope he found his way home.

Thanks for reading!

Diana, The Ivy Kitchen

Fresh Off the Needles: Toddler Sun Dress

I finished my most recent knitting project this A.M. before getting to any much needed house work! But what is housework when those unfinished stitches are calling your name? :)

I have knit several tank tops for the Little Princess based on a pattern that I found on the Internet. But I changed the tank top pattern quite a bit to fit my needs (and my child, lol). After knitting a total of six of those, I decided to alter the pattern even more to try and make a little sun dress. I have knit baby dresses before so i used the knowledge I have gained from that to add a skirt portion to the tank top. I was worried about the outcome, because I am nowhere near to considering myself a knitwear designer. But this time the risk seems to have paid off! Here is the final result (I am hoping to knit a few more, if time permits):

I knit it with Caron's Simply Soft (and simply CHEAP, hahaha) on size 9 needles. Light Blue and White.

I chose the coloring and checked pattern to try and "match" this bonnet (which was given to the Little Princess by a random stranger at the local recycling center, lol). I take full credit for the shoddy Photoshop work!

So on to the next project! It will most likely be something for an upcoming, and very important baby shower in June. I just realized that is only 2 weeks away, so I better get those needles to smokin'!

-Diana, The Ivy Kitchen