The Hazards of Knitting with Stash

Knitters like to make stuff for new babies. Last year there were hardly any babies, and this year (at least among my friends) there are many. And although I think babies are wonderful and deserve to be wrapped in lovingly handmade items, I can't seem to keep up. (With the exception of the twin hats - Hooray me, for actually getting those to the mama before they arrived!)

When Alyson's sweet baby girl Lauren was born, our knit group showered her with beautiful knits. She is a very well-dressed baby. :) At that time I was knitting for three (3!) other babies, and thought I could whip out something a couple of weeks later - perhaps a Baby Surprise Jacket since that was our guild knit-along project. Lauren attends those guild meetings with her mama though, and I soon discovered that she already had a BSJ and I would need to look for another pattern if I wanted to make something unique for her wardrobe.

I was at the library with the kids when I came across the pattern for "Judy's Grandmother's Baby Sweater" in Greetings from the Knit Cafe. Although the name was ridiculously cumbersome, the pattern looked fairly easy... Lots of garter stitch, some simple slip-stitch work, and minimal seaming. It called for a soft cotton yarn and I thought, Hey - I'm pretty sure I have some in my stash. Perfect!

I cast on, and it didn't take me long to realize that I didn't have enough of the pink. No prob - I had a similar yarn in a pretty silvery gray (almost lavender, but not quite.) I would knit one half in one color and then switch so the two would meet in the front and overlap in the back. But I hadn't thought about the sleeves - It's all in the planning, see... which I evidently neglected to do. I knit to the halfway point and was almost out of the pink. Hmmm. Time to rethink this using-up-stash thing. If the pink was out and I had even less of the gray, then I was definitely going to need more yarn. I ended up making a special trip to my LYS (local yarn store for the non-knitters) to pick up some lovely organic cotton in a natural off-white. Two skeins, just in case. I ripped the pink back to the sleeve opening and began knitting with the white yarn.

The weeks rolled by and Lauren got bigger. I patted myself on the back for making the larger 6-month size! I knew if I was going to get it done though, I would need to start knitting on it when I was around Alyson. We attend knit meetings together, so I told her about it. She told me that it was a pattern she had planned to knit herself and was delighted that I was making one for Lauren.

I knit. I ripped. The "simple slip stitch" turned out to be not so simple, or rather I just kept losing track of which row I was doing. Ack! But eventually I made my way to the other side of the garment, and began knitting with the gray. It was coming together, but each time I saw that baby she was a little bigger than before... and I started getting nervous. It was turning into one of those knit group jokes - "Hey Katie, still working on that sweater? Is it for Lauren's hope chest?" This was going to have to become the all-consuming, don't-knit-on-anything-else-until-this-is-finished project. I knit. I ripped. (Warning: This pattern has a section where they give you some directions and then say, "At the same time...")

I was finally ready to make the sleeves. I knit the pink sleeve first, but didn't like how the seam looked. The pattern is meant to be knit in one color, so where the colors joined it looked messy. This bugged me. I ripped it out and tried something different. It looked better. I began the other sleeve... and Ran. Out. Of. Yarn. I cried out at the futility. I stomped my foot. I dug around in my basket - there had to be MORE!!! I whined. Nooooo!!!!!

Then, I realized that Lauren was now 5 months old and that Spring was only a couple of months around the corner. This baby sweater could have short sleeves, and it would be just fine.

I ripped and finished the gray sleeve (a bit shorter this time) and then unraveled the finished pink sleeve, ripped that back to match the other side before finishing it again. It was done! And, the baby it is intended for hasn't grown out of it yet!
And, I made it using yarn from my stash! (Sort of.) Anyone know what I can do with this half-skein of off-white?