Two new babies

By the time you read this post, it will be very old.  I'm writing it before I've given the gifts away, but I'll not post it until the little recipients are here.  (Currently they're probably 9 weeks away.)  I've been knitting.

For little girl, we have:

The pattern is "in threes" by Kelly Herdrich.  The yarn is Fleece Cottage Yarns Merino DK in colour "slowly eating custard pudding", as mentioned here.  I had a whole skein untouched with which I made this cardigan.  I must still have almost a skein left over!

For the little boy, we have:

The pattern is a mix of "poseidon" by Amber Bertram, and "owl baby vest" by Jodi Haraldson.  I used the size and construction of poseidon, and just switched the cabling for the owl cable from the second pattern.  I just preferred the shape and neckline of the poseidon sweater, so that's why I went for that.

By complete accident, the dark sections of the yarn ended up just above and below the owls, making them stand out (which was lucky). I did put a bit more thought into how the colour would change when I picked up the armholes and neckline, but I didn’t bother unwinding yarn to reach the right part of the colour-change: that would loose half the ball as the colour changes are so slow!

This was my first time to try steam blocking acrylic by pinning it out dry, then blasting it from 2cm above with my iron. It worked, actually! The photos don’t do justice to the delicious forest green-ness of this yarn, which looks much better in real life.  It's soft and slippery, but has a slight haze at the same time.  I made TButton a jumper from this when he was a baby, which he wore and wore.

So there we have it.  Two jumpers completed for two babies ahead of due date, and using up left over yarn skeins.  I'm feeling very organised and smug now, but I'm sure it won't last: I'll probably forget a birthday next week and spend too much on more yarn.