Oh Danny Boy

What will this season's best dressed baby of the Western Isles* be wearing?

Why, nothing less than a hand crafted top to toe outfit in shades of mountain top snow and sea loch green.

Danny's outfit has been knitted, it has been washed, it has been blocked, it has been pom-pommed and it has been entrusted to the Royal Mail. By special delivery.

Here it is in all its glory:


That will be one toasty warm little boy when it arrives on Monday. In the interest of giving you an 'action' shot I am clearly lacking a small baby to dress up but after an exhaustive search of the toy box:



we found a puppy with a future in modelling!

The pattern is the b13-5 from Drops (ravelry link) which uses an alpaca yarn that I've never heard of, so I substituted my old favourite, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. It may be a little harder to get a consistent fairisle tension with such a smooth yarn but it makes up for it in being soft and luxurious and machine washable.

The original pattern knits to a gauge on the lighter end of DK using 2.5mm and 3mm needles. I knit socks with 4ply on 2.5mm needles but gave it a whirl anyway. The jacket is a couple of centimetres smaller in girth than the one in the pattern and I went up to 3mm and 3.5mm for the rest of the outfit. I still wasn't getting the gauge specified but it is plenty big enough and larger would have given a very loose fabric which isn't what you want to keep out the chill.

In terms of other mods:

Hat - I knit to the pattern on the larger needles.
Jacket - On the sleeves I made an unintentional design feature by measuring from the end of the cuff not the turn up and the sleeves were knit until I think they looked right, they are shorter than the pattern specified but I think it looks better that way given that babies bend their arms. The buttonholes are spaced as per the pattern but if I were ever to knit them again I wouldn't leave so much space before the first button.
Mittens - knit to the pattern - rather than use a new strand each time to do the colourwork in the round I used a longer piece and started round one in the middle - it saved on ends.
Bootees - knit to the pattern on 3mm needles.
Trousers - Knit on the bigger needles with all of the ribbing requested on the waist and a little less ribbing on the ankles. The braces are hiding their most cunning feature which is that they are a bit longer than you see and have another button on the end so that you can do a variety of lengths as Danny grows, first crossed at the back and then straight over the shoulder.

Here endeth the baby knitting for the moment. The next baby that required knitwear is not due until after Christmas so I have some time to breathe!

*The Western Isles is the west coast of Scotland where this little laddie is lucky enough to live.

Down to the wire

In less than 24 hours my SIL will be here and I will either have finished, or have hidden the whole kit and caboodle down the side of our bed and be desperately stitching after she's gone to bed. The latter is not a great plan and Lulla and H are both night owls.

On our current analysis:



Whilst it may not look like it, I think I am over half way which is good news. I've also got a feeling for how it is embellished which makes it easier to work out what is going on. I was hoping to finish the dress last night but as you can see there is a sleeve missing and a few beads but I think it could be doable. Here's how:

- The dress just needs beads (v quick, easy to spot where they go by the holes left in the stitching) and outlining (also easy, follow the contours, no need to look at the pattern)
- The top and bottom borders have very little embellishment; a little back stitch, some beads in the bottom right hand corner.
-The cherubs do take a bit of time because they have six different threads used but most of one of them is covered by a wing so that should help.
- The corner markers are just beaded.
- The right hand column will take some time but the beading should be easy and it will be easier to see where the top stitch goes than the left border. Also no requirement for a flower bed of french knots.

Which leaves - the big wings and head and the gold borders and other random bits of gold. I've run out of gold and I'm almost out of silver. H has been sent to Hobbycraft today to acquire more but that is the big eeek in the plan, what if Hobbycraft have no Very Fine Braid in Gold 028.

I'm going to leave the gold until the end because that is something that I could do by hiding over the weekend because it just needs the one colour and the constant stitching.

To keep calm I have just sewn the buttons on Baby Danny's jacket and it looks perfectly sweet. 30cm of braces also appears to be shorter than I thought it was (don't question the crazy lass) so after this morning's commute I am 20ish rows off the first one and should be almost done on the second by the time I get home, at which point they need sewing on and a little gentle blocking. Maybe that can wait until tomorrow!

Anyone surprised that I keep thinking it's Christmas?

Defeat

H's newest cousin, most likely to be the last of this generation in either of our families, was born two hours ago in Glasgow. He is a longed for second baby boy for this Aunt and Uncle, 7lb 9 oz and he has a beautiful and unusual Italian name. To us, his name is Danny.

There's just one slight hitch:



I've been defeated by a baby. We are missing a leg and a half of trouser, two braces, seven buttons and a pom pom. I could quote in my defence the three BSJs which were warmly received by my colleagues as they took their bumps on maternity leave last Friday, and the never ending black hole of topstitching that I find myself in, but that isn't really the point.

So, new plan. (A) I will knit more furiously than ever during train rides and possibly lunchtimes, with the aim of getting the outfit finished as soon as possible, possibly Tuesday knit night. (B) if I can persuade H that sandwiches are a delightful alternative to dinner then I can sew each night until the embroidery is done. Lulla's flight arrives 10am Friday by which point I must be finished and the embroidery hidden. I reckon that I can wash it and spread it out on his back seat as he drives up the motorway on 11th so that should be OK. Now, where did I put the pro plus?

In today's films to embroider by I give you Road to Christmas, a 2006 made for TV film that somehow ended up on Movies 24 on 2 November - yes I'm not sure why either. I found it to be a slightly fresher version of all of the films which take their cue from that nightmare where you're running and trying to get somewhere but you just can't move, eg parts of the first Home Alone, Forces of Nature and others. As with all films where the lead actor is not the man who is supposed to be marrying the lead actress, the latter hardly featuring until the end, you know that some kind of plot device is going to crop up to make sure that they all end up with the right people, and this is no exception. It was a little more original than H and I originally guessed and we enjoyed it enough to miss the first 15 minutes of the Celtic v Hearts match which is a recommendation in itself.