Baby Clothes!

My friend's baby shower was yesterday so I can now happily post the finished objects!! It was a wonderful shower, and another friend of mine made a beautiful blanket and bibs (sewn), and there were also a few other knitted sweaters and blankets (this boy will be the most well dressed baby ever!)

The sweater is Sheep Yoke Cardigan by Jennifer Little (a free pattern!) and the hat is Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt and the buttons are little sheep I found at A Good Yarn in Brookline MA.

This was my first time knitting baby clothes and it was so much fun. You have to love working on something that is instantly cute, plus a very quick project! Although for anyone else working on this project I would caution two things. First, beware the floats; I chose to do the sheep stranded rather than with intarsia and I was working with cotton so there wasn't wool's fantastic tendency to stick which always makes my colorwork much more secure. My other recommendation would be to be careful with your color selection. While I love the colors I chose, the black of the sheep heads and legs, do not show up well against the dark green of the field.
At the shower I got some really positive feedback about my projects, women kept coming up to me telling me I should be selling my work (although obviously not this set since I didn't write the patterns for them) which was really nice to hear. While their comments were very flattering I feel like I'd have to become a much better knitter (there are still a number of things in my technique I'd like to improve) before I could actually sell my finished work. Also, right now I love knitting, and I love making gifts for people and seeing how happy they are. I'm not sure I would feel the same if I was selling my work and I would hate to lose my love of knitting. Finally there's always the price issue. How do I charge something that is an adequate reflection of my effort? I'm not sure many people would pay 60$ for a baby sweater, but I feel that's what I would have to charge for something like this.

Any thoughts or comments from anyone who has sold their craft or artwork?

Giveaway and procrastination

My deadlines for grad school are looming nearer, and as graduation approaches the toxic question of "so, do you have a job yet" occurs with dastardly frequency. This of course means that I'm spending my time knitting, reading about knitting, and planning my next knitting projects (a girl has to have an outlet right?)

I was on Never Not Knitting and saw she had an awesome giveaway going. If you too like pretty colors and procrastinating in a world where things are fuzzier and kinder (or at least fuzzier) then scamper on over and give her blog a read.

Hmm, I think I should go sleep now, but to all my fellow Bostonites, Happy Marathon Monday!

Progress

I'm sitting here with 40 days between myself and graduation (33 days before classes are done) and I have no motivation to start tackling my pile of work, although I did clean our apartment this morning so that should count for something.

Even with the stress of job searching and finishing school mounting up, I have had some time to knit. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that knitting has become a very necessary stress reliever. Either way, above is my finished beret, it's not as slouchy as I'd like but another blocking session or two might bend it to my will. It was gross and rainy while I was knitting this, making me very much crave a cute cap to see me through to spring, and of course now that it's completed it is beautiful weather here in Boston. I guess that means the hat did it's job huh?

More to come on knitting projects: my friend and her husband are currently expecting their first child. This of course gave me free license to look at baby knitting patterns which I have done. I'll post the pictures of the full set after the baby shower in late April.

Happy Knitting and Happy Spring!