Sailing By

Given the weather for most of this weekend and the fact that my laundry is current receiving what I would like to claim is a very intentional extra eco-rinse and in no way a product of my slightly sloppy housewifeliness, I'm thinking that my knitting now has some sort of intrinsic connection to the weather fates; I knit of the coast and the sea from one of the most landlocked counties in the country, and at this rate we will be sailing the baby home from the hospital come September.

Note to H: please fit emergency Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang style flotation devices to the car by mid August.  Floating rapidly off topic as always, that reminds me of the 'Tips for Dads' which pop up on Baby TV in the ultrasound waiting room.  There are only two, and neither of them have anything to do with supporting your wife through labour, remembering to pack snacks or anything like that.  Number 1 is to buy a car seat for the baby, and Number 2 (my favourite) is to make sure that you've worked out how to get to the hospital.  As H says, "I made it here today, I made it here last time, there's a good chance I can manage it at least one more time!"

Whether driving or drifting, one thing I know is that this baby is definitely coming home in a hand knit.  I finished the 'if we have a girl' a little while ago, and now, without further ado, may I please beg your indulgence to debut 'if we have a boy'

Or as I like to call it; "Boy, you're all mine".

The pattern is a combination effort.  I took the numbers from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Baby Mine jacket because I think it makes a lovely proportioned baby-knit, and then using those cast on, length, decrease etc figures, plugged in my own design.

I spent a while trying to find the perfect boy jacket on the internets but nothing was just right so it was time for a little DIY and some back of the envelope sketches.

The boats on the front repeat twice around the sleeve and, apparently defying all prevailing wind directions, manage to sail from the back to the front, around the side of the baby, all without changing point of sail.

I think they might have good reason for being a little distracted from their sail trimming, I mean look what's on the baby's back:


a whale! spouting water and everything!  It gives everyone else something to look at when you've picked the baby up and he's mewling into your shoulder and trying to hide from all curious onlookers.


If the whale looks a little familiar it's borrowed and slightly adapted from the Point Reyes blanket.  The boats are all my own invention, finally putting to use all those hours of sketching dinghies and yachts in the margins of my rough note book at school.

The yarn is more of my current favourite; Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK in Splash (124), Cuddle (2), Rubadub (160) and Teddy Red (192).  Could you think of more perfect colour names for a baby boy jacket if you tried?

I used two balls of Cuddle, and one each of the rest, with plenty of leftovers to make:


A hat! What do you mean it doesn't look much like a hat? It's clearly a hat - try now:


OK, I'm going to have to rope a model in for this one. May I present, George the bear wearing a Baby Bear hat:


It's 64sts in 2x2 rib on 3.5 mm needles changing colour every 3 rows for a total of four stripe repeats and then cast off with a three needle bind off on the inside of the hat - simple!

So little bear, be you boy or girl, Mummy's got you covered in yarn.  I hope you like whichever outfit you get to wear; your Daddy and I like them both equally and we're really looking forward to seeing you all dressed up and ready for your first outing into the world.  Hang on for a good while though; (a) Mummy hasn't finished making you yet and (b) Mummy hasn't finished making everything else either.