Gift post

Two quick, instant gratification knitting projects and an appropriately quick post. The cardigan is for my cousin's baby and the beret is a birthday gift for my eclectically fashionable brother.

The cardigan is from a free pattern by Yarnspirations, knitted primarily in stockinette instead of the displayed garter stitch. I made a size larger than the largest indicated on the pattern (6 months to a year) through some simple math (and it turns out it's too big for the baby currently). The other modification was knitting the sleeves in the round instead of flat with seams. The yarn is Berrocco Vintage Baby in Sunflower. I used about 2.5 skeins, or 362 yards.

What's with all these baby patterns calling for buttons? My nibling-cousin is teething and cannot resist putting stuff in their mouth, which is not a universal problem for babies, but it's certainly a common enough one. I made these bobbles instead using this video tutorial. They're not very pretty or neat looking but they get the job done.

There are no hard and fast rules about button bands, I learned.

Next, the Preyarn Beret, made from just under one skein of Cascade 220 in the colorway Van Dyke Brown. I keep giving my brother brown things, like the chore jacket I made him for Christmas, because I think it's neutral while not being as somber as grey or black. I just have to be careful to not give him a third brown thing lest I accidentally make him cosplay a log or something.

I'm learning that the more I worry about running out of yarn, chances are I actually have just enough.

Something I'm still learning? Trust highly-reviewed patterns as they are. I didn't trust it because I met the required gauge and thought that the brim cast-on was far too small for an adult head circumference. So I cast on more stitches than indicated, knit the whole thing to the end, and found that the hole was too big even after shrunk it through felting. I sewed some yarn through the felted fabric and continued the knitting past the brim, which was an easy fix, but I wouldn't have needed to do that if I has just listened!

You can still see the added-in-post knitting because it didn't felt completely solid; it looks like ribbing even if I didn't knit a rib stitch. Plus the obvious line dividing the post and pre-solution, but it kind of looks like an intentional design choice.

On felting: it's fun! I wanted to branch out from just plain, solid stockinette stitch and this is kind of a variation. (My only other one is intarsia colorwork... in stockinette. Shut up it counts >:0).The beret didn't shrink as much as one would expect because I felted it by hand instead of putting it in the washing machine. I like the control it allows me, even if it makes me sweat (hot water and manual scrubbing, oof). Hand-felting leaves the fabric with tiny little glossy burs that make it look like boucle if you inspect it up close. I'm not upset about it but I'd like to know why that is. Maybe it's the twist and ply of the yarn?

The hat took forever to dry and I'm not sure if it's because the air around had too much moisture, the weather was too cool, or if it just retained a buttload of water. It's getting warmer so I'd like to take advantage of the greater evaporation factor and knit more items for felting, but that means facing the hot water and elbow grease in summer weather. I'll be sure to wear workout clothes, then. Don't let anybody tell you the fiber arts aren't physically demanding.