Baby Bobbi Bear

Pattern: Blue Sky Alpaca's Baby Bobbi Bear by Bobbi Intveld
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Encore, Taupe, 1 skein
Needles: US 8

The construction of this little guy is pretty cool. There's very minimal seaming. The only seaming is on the crotch, a duplicate stitch around the neck and sewing the ears on. You've gotta love that!

Definitely check out the errata on the Blue Sky Alpaca Web site before diving in. It clarifies the knitting process.

I still have about 1/4 of my skein of yarn left over. I used US 8 needles instead of US 9 because I wanted a slightly smaller bear. However, my bear is still a good 14-inches tall. The stitches for the arm are picked up and knit in the round on double-pointed-needles. Although I re-knit the arms more than once, I didn't like the gaps that were created on the first row of picked-up stitches. To remedy the gap, I also used the duplicate stitch around the base of each arm. This tightened the stitches, eliminating the gap, and also gave the arms a little more definition.

This is going to make a really cute baby gift! Both my older boys want me to make them one too!

Sylph Cardi is Finished!

Pattern: Slyph Cardigan by Robin Melanson, Interweave Knits Spring 2008
Yarn: Valley Yarns Deerfield, Mauve - 9 skeins
Needles: US 6 & 7

I just LOVE how this cute, flirty cardi turned out! For all of the detail in the pattern it really came together well, even the striping that I moaned about early on. It's such a feminine sweater. And the yarn, the glorious yarn! It's so soft! I would use this yarn that's exclusively sold by WEBS (my favorite online yarn store) again in a heartbeat!

I felt that for the amount of detail in the pattern it was very well written. There were a few minor errors in the pattern that I detailed in an earlier post. I think there's also an error in the purl eyelet row of the bottom ruffle, but I'm not positive. I was working on that so late that I'm not sure if I was reading it wrong or if there is really an error. At any rate that was easy to fix too.

I made the 36-inch size. Normally I'd make the smaller size, but I still have some baby weight to lose. It fits perfectly now with about zero ease. When I do lose the weight, or stop nursing it may not fit as well. In hindsight, I probably should have made the smaller size and stretched it to size during blocking if needed. If it comes to it I guess I'll just stuff my bra! LOL

Speaking of blocking, it is a must with this pattern! It really brings out the striping. I generally block by pinning my pieces then spritzing with water. However, for the ruffle Robin suggested steaming. With my iron on the steam setting, I turned the ruffles right side down and held the iron about 1/4 to 1/2 inch above the piece. I couldn't believe how quickly the curling was gone and how nice the ruffle looked in no time at all! I also steam blocked the neck edging because mine curled back a little. I think I'm going to steam block the sleeve/shoulder seams too. I think they'll lay a little better that way.

I'm very happy with this cardi! I would definitely recommend this pattern for the experienced knitter!