Oh the Cuteness!

Well guys, I did it! I learned how to knit in 2009 and since then it's been an interesting ride. I made my first knitted piece, a sweater, in one month for Me-Made-May . In between then and now I've made a few cute knitted pieces   like these , and one sock (the second one is coming, I swear), and I've written one simple cowl pattern which I posted here for free . And now I've gotten confident enough with my knitting skills to create a little baby cardigan pattern! This newborn-size sweater (With real vintage buttons!) is made from Madelinetosh's Tosh Merino Light in Badlands . It's a fingering-weight superwash yarn and I love it so much! Johnny got me a gift certificate to one of my favorite local yarn shops and he helped me pick this one out with our hypothetical someday baby in mind. He also helped me look for a pattern, but we couldn't find one that had all the elements we wanted. The vision was for this to look like a little old man's sweat...

As most of you know, I've been doing a lot of little custom projects for people for extra money as I try to get my business together online. I've done everything from professional organizing to hemming pants and I'm having a blast! Recently, a good friend of mine asked me if I had ever installed a zipper in a sweater, and if so, could I do it on one she was knitting for her father-in-law's birthday? Sure, no problem, I've sewn with zippers many times. But there was a catch: the sweater's pattern called for it to be knit as a pullover, then have the zipper installed, then be cut open. Dear sweet mother of God, what have I agreed to? I was faced with the very terrifying prospect of not only having to neatly sew a zipper into a hand-knit garment that a friend had painstakingly made, but I'd also have to make sure I didn't completely destroy it as I cut it apart. The idea of holding the fate of a gorgeous hand-knit piece of art in my hands, not to mention ...