The husband and I went to a wedding recently which also celebrated the first birthday of the couple's gorgeous one year old. So I figured she deserved an extra special birthday gift.
I settled on the Debbie Bliss bow tied bolero from Special Knits. I thought it was suitably girly for a little girl but should be quite a quick knit. I had, as usual, left it a little late to start knitting.
It didn't prove to be quite the quick knit that I thought. How to explain? Well the pattern gets you to knit the ties and then, to create the slope, to leave the stitches on a needle, but without doing short row shaping. Which means that I had huge gaping caverns instead of small holes. Mmm. I didn't like that so much. So I reworked the pattern using short row shaping instead.
Here's the finished object. I quite like it. I am not 100% happy with the way in which I picked the stitches up but couldn't face ripping it a 3rd time and decided that as it was for a 1 year old, she wasn't exactly going to notice. And she would probably have grown out of it before I managed to fix it to my liking.
The details
The pattern: Bow Tied Bolero from Debbie Bliss' Special Knits
The yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in lavender (Shade 608). It took 3 skeins.
The needles: 3mm and 3.25mm.
Cast on: August 2006
Cast off: October 2006
What a lovely gift, it looks beautiful, so well finished and I really like the colour you have chosen.
Posted by: Rebecca at November 22, 2006 07:39 PMWow, that looks SUPERB!!! I love it. I like your color choice much better than the pink in the book. I have that book and never considered knitting that pattern but now that I see yours, I'm re-thinking. I love how it looks in a more subtle color.
Posted by: Elinor at November 22, 2006 01:02 AMSo pretty! Good idea to rework the ties with short rows. I have to admit, I thought the yarn was grey too, but that's probably just my monitor.
Posted by: Mary at November 20, 2006 06:09 PMThe Bow Tied Bolero is so sweet Amelia! I think yours looks exactly like the one pictured in the pattern. I bet it looked so cute on the little one you gave it to.
Posted by: Maggie at November 18, 2006 03:00 PMI always seem to gravitate to your blog when I need inspiration. I'm in the market for another baby blanket too. However this time I like the baby blanket that you featured as one of the 7 or 8 you were pondering over. It's the top right blanket and I don't think you gave the details for it. the bolero is lovely. And now I'm broody!!
Posted by: Johanne at November 17, 2006 03:32 PMOh, that's wonderful! It makes me want a little girl. :)
Posted by: Amy at November 17, 2006 05:44 AMThe sweater looks lovely, especially with the tag sewn in. What does it say?
Posted by: Christina at November 17, 2006 04:00 AMGorgeous little bolero! Great what you did with the short row shaping too.
Posted by: brooke at November 16, 2006 10:59 PMThat is so adorable! The little set-in sleeves look so perfect.
Posted by: Steph at November 16, 2006 05:25 PMhi amelia! what a gorgeous little bolero - that's going to be a lucky lucky recipient who gets that sweater. also, i absolutely love your header photo! (i'm in the urban planning business.) where was that taken? ~gabriella
Posted by: gabriella at November 16, 2006 02:25 PMso pretty! there aren't enough little girls to knit for in my life.
Posted by: anna at November 16, 2006 01:10 PMHi Amelia
We've upgraded to explorer 7 and the bolero looks mauve to me! But mostly it looks adorable and I'm sure will be a hit!
Love the blanket too, Iwondered where the design came from too.
Sarah
Posted by: Sarah at November 16, 2006 11:31 AMIt's lovely Amelia, even though on my monitor the colour looks like a mid grey! I can't see any messy picking up of stitches either!
D:)
you are brilliant... and have great taste... and oh hell you already know that all :)
Posted by: stinkerbell at November 16, 2006 10:39 AMoh it's very pretty. the yarn looks grey. If you hadn't pointed out that it's lavender I wouldn't have noticed. Clever you to rework the ties with short rows.
Posted by: p at November 16, 2006 07:06 AM