Baby knits

Last year was all about the weddings, we went to 7 and I made 3 new dresses (outfit #1, outfit #2 and outfit #3). This year is all about the babies, I suppose one does tend to lead to the other, even these days. As a result I'm knitting away; I like knitting for babies, the patterns tend to be really cute and they are nice and small so knit up really quickly.

These two little beauties are for the new born son of a brewing friend of the boyfriends. The top is based on Erica Knight's ribbon-tied wool vest, a pattern I've used before. I've taken to leaving one side of the shoulder seam open, as the neck is rather small otherwise. I've a added a couple of buttons to the shoulder, these two are some vintage ones from my stash. 

This time, instead of knitting the sleeves separately and sewing them on, I picked up stitches from the front and back and knitted down. It worked fairly well, and got me thinking that I could make the pattern even simpler by knitting the whole thing in the round to the arm holes, and then picking up stitches and knitting the sleeves in the round. Maybe something to try if I make this top again, and given the fecundity of my friends I'm guessing I'm going to have a few more chances. 

The pattern for the hat is a free one from Purl Bee, her little fair isle hat. I've made it before, and really like it, but I did make one little change; I used the contrast colour to knit the band of rib as well as the patten. The design on the hat looks like trees silhouetted against the sky, so I think the rib is the ground and should be the same colour. Make sense? Well it does to me!