Winter Baby Accessories

I've gotten on a bit of a fine gauge knitting kick lately, and part of the result is this set of accessories I made for V. for next winter.



Pattern: b18-5 Hat from Drops Design

Yarn: KnitPicks Stroll in Buckskin, unknown hand-painted merino sock yarn from a bargain bag from Paradise Fibers (something which I did on a whim when I was first pregnant, and would do again - the yarn I got was awesome! But alas! this skein did not have a label. )

Needles: Size US 2

This hat is a winner. Everywhere I go, everyone loves it. And most of them are gobsmacked that it was hand knit. (I think that's because of the gauge.) The brim folds in half, so it's actually twice as long as it looks in the photo. It took what seemed like forever to knit that many rows of ribbing in a tan fingering weight yarn, let me tell you. But the tediousness was so worth it. Check it out:
If I were to make this hat again (and I might!) the one thing I would do differently would be to place scrap yarn in the stitches meant to be picked up to knit the ear flaps. Picking up 20 or 30 stitches all on the same row is one thing at this gauge, but needing to do it again so that everything is balanced and straight! ...Well, let's just say I learned. (I had brief, flickering moment where I thought knitting the ear flaps by picking up stitches was a hair brained idea, until I saw the results and got to use the hat. Doing it this way means the ribbing can be folded down for extra ear coverage on really cold days. Those Swedish know their hats!)

Since I had such a cute hat, I needed a cute scarf.


Pattern: B14-16 scarf (Gotta love those imaginative names Drops uses for their designs, eh?)

Yarn: Same anonymous hand-painted fingering weight merino yarn as I used for the hat.

I love, love, love this scarf. It was an easy knit and a rather clever one, too. It's in cinch to get it on the baby, too, because I don't need to tie or button it. I just slip the end through the hole. I like how it mimics the garter stitch styling of the hat as well - it looks like they were meant to go together.

These mittens are in the same pattern as the scarf:

They're not done. All I need to do is add the thumbs, but by the time I had two of them I was a bit burnt out on the whole accessories project. I might finish them one day, but by then they'd probably be for a younger brother or sister to V., and not V. herself. Such is life!