The Sweatshop of Love Blog

I was really worried about how I was going to show off my finished Impress Dress, Hat, and Booties that I showed off last week.

Raggedy Ann!

Then I found my Raggedy Ann doll I had when I was tiny that my mom gave me a few years ago sitting on my bookcase. And while I knew her coloring would be all wrong, I knew she wouldn’t mind.

Booties and Striped Socks

The booties fit! Even though her tights were all wrong.

Looking Good, Ann!

And I hope this baby doesn’t come out with a full head of red hair because, as you can see, Raggedy Ann doesn’t look too awesome in pink.

Hat and Dress Button Closure

Her flat head doesn’t fill out the back of the hat, but this was my favorite part of the outfit to knit and the piece I’m most excited to see on a real baby head.

Hat With Icord Ties

Worked from the outside in, hat starts with more woven stitch then you start working in the round and decreasing for the back of the hat.

Fabric Button Back Closure

I dug out a cute fabric covered button for the back of the dress. Hehehe it’s SO CUTE I CAN’T EVEN STAND IT!

Once you get use to how the pattern is written you can fill in the parts of the pattern missing. There is no indication of WS/RS and sometimes I guessed wrong, so I had to trial and error my way through a few of the steps. If this was my first baby hat, my first baby booties, and my first baby dress, I think I would have a lot of questions, but I knew the general structure of the pieces so I was able to work them out.

Bootie!

I can’t get over these booties! They were very simple to knit, but then the pattern just says something like, ‘Make icords and assemble’. It’s a very laid back way to write a pattern, assuming that your knitters have been around the block, and I have! So it worked out.

Cold Raggedy Ann!

And I just had to share the little patch Raggedy Ann has on her heart, and how loved Raggedy Ann was in her time! See how dirty her face is compared to her white body?! I LOVED Raggedy Ann when I was little.

A huge thank you to Raggedy Ann for modeling for me! I can’t wait to see a real live baby girl in this outfit! As long as she isn’t a ginger.

Pattern: Impress Dress with Hat, and Socks, by Pickles

Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby Solids in Soft Peach, Soft Red, and White

Needles: Size 4 straight needles and double pointed needles

Ravelry Project Page

Just a quick warning for the future of this blog: I can only imagine that there will be a huge increase in the number of pink baby clothes featured here. We learned last week that my brother and his wife are having a girl in July, and then I did this:

Impress Dress!

It was almost like I Hulk Smashed it. It just happened! I woke up, my knitting needles were smoking and there was a practically finished dress!

Woven Stitch Pattern

The pattern is Impress Dress with Hat and Socks from Pickles, who just create a TON of beautiful patterns. I did have some trouble reading and interpreting this pattern. It’s very bare bones, which I usually like, but I could have used a few WS/RS indicators before starting that woven stitch pattern.

In the picture above you can see a little line of light pink stitches after I started using the darker pink yarn. I don’t think that is supposed to be there. Somehow I got turned around when doing my armhole bind offs and changed colors on the wrong side? I’m not quite sure what happened. But, clearly, I didn’t fix it because I was so interested to see what was going on with that woven stitching! That I had to rip out a few times because the instructions just weren’t as clear as I needed them to be.

Bernat Softee Baby Yarn in PINK and PINKER

I went on a monumental trip to JoAnn on Friday (like I may have bought 18 skeins of yarn monumental) and spent a lot of time in the baby yarn isle for maybe the first time ever.

I picked up Bernat Softee Baby yarn in Soft Peach, Light Red, and White. It’s a DK weight yarn and knit up really well! I used size 4 24″ circular needles because they didn’t have a 16″ set at JoAnn, so I adjusted the pattern to be worked flat.

Pickle's Impress Dress with Hat and Socks

The pattern includes matching hat and socks. MATCHING HAT AND SOCKS! Those are, of course, coming soon.

Baby Girl Dykhuizen is due on July 12th. I’ve absolutely loved knitting adorable manly knits for Baby Nolan, who, yes, was born last June, and, yes, the math there is confusing. But DRESSES! And PRINCESSES! And PINK THINGS!

So yeah. Trust me. More pink to come.

The Target

A few weeks ago I spotted this sweater on my friend Caitlin and fell in love. After a lot of inappropriate groping I asked to borrow it.

Tiny Pockets, Cables

Caitlin said she got it at a resale shop, so it took me a lot longer than it should have to realize this is a hand-knit sweater. It just didn’t dawn on me that someone would donate a hand knit. My mom pointed out that the knitter might have just outgrown it, or gave the sweater to someone who didn’t like it.

I Mean, Cables on the Sleeves!

So I’m going to do something I’ve never done before and recreate this sweater with no pattern or direction. It’s a worsted weight wool or wool blend in a seed stitch rib with 6 sts cables and a single crochet button band and collar edging. Simple, right?  … … right?

Single Crochet Button Band

Have you ever attempted to write a pattern based on an existing knit? Any help would be great!

... There Was a Sale!

I went a little crazy at JoAnn this morning in anticipation of tackling Caitlin’s sweater. All of the yarn at JoAnn was on sale and today was the last day! What was I supposed to do?

I got four skeins of Paton’s Classic Wool in Jade Heather that I’m really excited to jump into for this sweater! I am always knitting other people green things but never myself.

I also picked up six skeins of Bernat Satin in Admiral. The blue is stunning and it was on super sale. I’ve never used it before but it’s really soft and perfect for a project I can’t get out of my head.

Reglan Wrap

Next to the yarn in the picture you can see I snagged my own copy of Boutique Knits from Tara! Everyone at The Sweatshop has been ogling the projects in this book forever and it hasn’t left my coffee table since I got it. Specifically this Reglan Wrap! I must have it. I think it will be really pretty in that blue.

Oh, and that huge skein of Bernat Cotton was half off and perfect for these:

Crocheted Flower Hot Pads

These are so pretty and perfect last minute hostess gifts. Or, for me. And probably for my mom once she reads this post.

I can’t possibly sit here on the computer any longer with all this yarn around me and not be knitting. Have a great (wild card) weekend!