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A Sweet Story about Knitting for Babies

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knitting stretchesI don’t expect to see essays about knitting (with nary an animated gif in them!) at Buzzfeed, but this lovely story from Alanna Okun changed my mind a little bit.

Called “Babies Vary and Knitting Stretches” (a line from Elizabeth Zimmermann), it’s about knitting your first project for a baby and how that can be a reminder of the cycle of life. The author has had a couple of friends die at a young age lately and as she knit she thought about anticipating a life to come, and the life of its own this little knit item would begin once given to its little unborn recipient.

And so it was easy to forget that life can come into the world just as it leaves it. Making the sweater was a tangible reminder. Making anything feels a little like you are taking control in the chaos: This thing is yours, the way you would like it to be, and it exists where before there was nothing. With each row you knit on something meant for a baby, you start to see their outline more and more clearly, waiting to be fully formed. I liked knowing that the sweater was in my bag during the workday and by my bed when I woke up. I felt it glow; I felt it breathe.

This is a nice reminder of the value of knitting, and of knitting for small people, too. (And if you need some help coming up with projects for babies, check out my book on the subject!)

[Photo by Ilana Denis Bauer via BuzzFeed.]

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Comments

  1. Lovely story. Thanks for sharing. I just finished a baby blanket for my son’s friend who has a daughter due in February. I know it will be cherished.

Have you read?

Stitch Your Favorite Fruit on a Sweater

The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.” 

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them. 

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits. 

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves. 

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit. 

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy. 

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]