Baby Hearts!

Though I've been knitting on and off for most of my life, I've only gotten very serious about it in the past year or so.  As such, I still consider myself to be a bit of a newbie, with a lot to learn.  That's one big reason why I'm always finding a new project to try, with new skills I can practice.  I love learning new things (and knitting certainly offers up an endless supply) but I know that it can sometimes be a bit intimidating.  It's easy to look at the work of someone who's had years of practice and experience, and think "I'll NEVER be able to do that!"

This was my feeling towards sweaters.  With a new baby, the urge to dress her in cute little cardigans and pullovers was there; there are certainly no shortages of patterns available, either.  But I just kept thinking I wasn't ready for that yet.  I didn't have the skills.  Or the needles.  Or whatever.

Bubblegum and Raspberry...and they look delicious!

Then I found this yarn.  As soon as I felt it, I knew it was going to be a sweater.  My first sweater.  I pored over pattern after pattern, finding plenty that were cute, but none that were THE one.  Slowly, the nerves faded away as I realized that I knew all of the technical skills the patterns described, and the general formula wasn't so difficult after all.  

So, before I had the chance to psyche myself out unnecessarily, I cast on and didn't look back.  Seeing as I only had my US6 straight needles (I do plan on investing in some double-pointed needles at some point in the near future) I opted for a cardigan style.  It's also much simpler to button a sweater than to wrestle a squirming infant into a pull-over.  Taking the sweater formula I'd worked out from checking out other patterns, I just sort of made it up as I went -- though I made sure to write it all down, so I can do it again, or make some changes for next time.

My first sweater -- finished in only a week!

Using straight needles meant that I had to seam the sleeves afterwards, which is a bit of extra work, but thankfully sewing is another of my strengths so it wasn't a biggie.  And of course I couldn't keep things simple for myself while learning something new -- no, I have to mix it up with some colorwork, too.  Just simple little hearts, and it turned out so adorable!  I do need to work on keeping the colorwork a bit looser, though, so it doesn't pucker...not that it's very noticeable, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Great, now I need to pick up a boat-load of cute buttons for all the sweaters I'm going to be knitting! 

The sweater itself fits the 6 month size average...but I probably should have aimed a bit bigger.  Arya's on the tall side for a 5 month-old, and the sweater just fits.  She likely won't be in it for long, but at least we can get some use out of it while this gorgeously warm fall weather lasts.  It's a lighter-weight yarn, so I think I might make her a new sweater for spring -- but I'll wait until it gets closer, since there's no telling how much more she'll grow by then!

Cuteness overload!

 I will be posting the pattern I created eventually, with a link to my Ravelry page.  For now, I've told myself that I have to finish at least one more Christmas gift before I move on to my next project.  A knitter's work is never done...

This is what my average project looks like on paper...now to translate this archaic text into a proper pattern!