Finished Object: Seed-Stitch Baby Jacket

I managed to finish off the month of March by sewing together my Seed-Stitch Baby Jacket (pattern by Elinor Brown, available for free on Ravelry), then washed it and let it dry on Friday before sewing on the buttons.

It’s a little bit big on the “model.” It’s probably a little bit big for the intended recipient. I knit the 9–12 mos size, as the little one in question (as well as the rest of her family) live near Seattle. I figured that in nine to twelve months, it might be chilly enough to throw a baby jacket on top of her other clothes. I’ve only knit a couple of baby patterns, but they always come out bigger than I think they will. Or maybe I just have a drastic misconception of how quickly “teacup humans” grow.

They do seem to become quite giant at the blink of an eye. So it’s probably just me.

I should have thrown something in there for scale. It’s not that big—I was able to fit it, along with a couple of books (one for baby, one for her older sister) in an LP box that arrived on Friday. But these flat shots make it look huge.

I used Cascade 220 Superwash, leftover from my Berkshire Dolman sweater. And then I ran out of yarn went for a contrasting design element and threw in some purple Cascade 220 for the back of the hood and contrast stitching on the sleeves. (Whatever, she’s a baby, she’s not going to care.) My favorite part, though…

PURPLE HIPPO BUTTONS. I’d bought these a couple of years ago, and when I started planning to knit this sweater in the gold yarn, I immediately thought of my purple hippo buttons that were just waiting for the perfect project.

If you need a quick baby knit, I highly recommend this pattern. It’s incredibly easy to follow, and I imagine the smaller sizes could be knit very quickly. The “time stamp” on this project, for me, says about three weeks, but I wasn’t working on this constantly; I was also fighting with a cowl and re-knitting socks in March. So it probably would have taken much less time had I been able to work on it consistently.

Speaking of socks, April’s first sock is practically knitting itself.

That was the status of the sock about 24 hours ago. Now? I’m a few inches away from binding off the cuff. And I did a lot more than just knit yesterday.

Maybe I finally do have some house elves, but they’re being persnickety about the cleaning.