Knit Gifts for Baby X

I've knit a lot of baby items for a certain special nephew, some of which kept me occupied in an attempt to finish them in time for Christmas.  Even though I got them done in time, I didn't quite think how close Christmas was to a baby shower for Sariebeth's baby.  The shower wasn't planned yet, but the due date wasn't too far off so I knew it was coming.  So, as soon as I wrapped up some other Christmas gifts I cast on for a sweater set for little Baby X.

Now Sariebeth and her husband agreed early on that they didn't want to find out the sex of the baby.  And although some of our friends have given them a hard time about it, I'm totally cool with it. (Having attended the shower I'm even more on board with the not finding out part - they got such adorable little baby clothes with happy yellow duckies and giraffes instead of a million shades of pink or blue!)

My only concern was whether the colors for my project would be gender-neutral enough.  I'm not very picky about that sort of thing, but some people certainly are.  When I asked my husband if he thought the picture of the pattern looked too boyish, he said he thought it was girly instead.  (So far, I think he thinks all knit items for babies are inherently girly!)  I figured the conflicting opinions were probably a sign that it was neutral enough.

So I dedicated almost every spare knitting moment to the little baby set and when the date for the baby shower was set I was already well through the sweater and confident I could finish the entire set on time.  Fortunately I wasn't procrastinating, because I still have a difficult time finding the right number of stitches to pick up for the button bands and seaming the little booties took many, many tries before I decided it was the best I could do, even if it wasn't very good.  Considering the set was made for a 6 - 12 month baby, I'm assuming the soles of the booties won't be taking a lot of abuse anyway.  And in the end the finished set had the adorable factor I was going for.

Pattern: Little Bubbles Baby Set
Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Sport
Needles: US 2 / 2.75 mm - 24" nickel circular
Completed: January 28, 2010

The gift was very well received and Sariebeth's husband mentioned that it looked store-bought - and that he meant that in a very positive way (which I would have assumed anyway).  And although I had a terrible time making things that my nephew can actually wear, I'm hopeful that this set is flexible enough to fit little Baby X at some point, whether it's in the 6-12 months range or not!  Maybe we can even get a picture or two for a blog update in the future.

 Why yes, those are wine bottles in the background behind the Mom-to-be.  What, doesn't everyone surround their pregnant friends with copious amounts of wine from time to time, especially for baby showers?