29 September 2011: All done. It’s larger than I intended for it to be, but the kid will grow…
25 September 2011: In our last episode…
I was planning beads on stockinette button bands (stockinette rather than garter, so the beads would show), and heart-shaped buttons on the bands.
The good news: Yes, the buttons are labeled handwash. But one went safely through my washer and dryer in the toe of a sock. It’s possible that handwashing is advised to preserve the reflective coating on the back of the buttons, but nothing bad happened in one washing. I’ll tell the new mom not to worry about the buttons, and she can just return the sweater to me for new buttons if anything goes wrong when she washes the sweater.
The bad news: the beading didn’t show, even on the stockinette button band. Meanwhile the stockinette band is curling like nobody’s business.
So I’m going to rip back to where I picked up the center 90 and reknit from there. In garter stitch. I have a week before the baby shower…and I’m off from work Monday and Friday this week, with the shower next Sunday.
P.S. The photos with the curling button bands show the most accurate color. The colorway is called “cherries jubilee”--which I don’t think I’ve ever eaten. But if you’ve ever had black cherry ice cream, you’ve seen this color.
20 September 2011: Not quite the usual mods: Work half the increases (or decreases) on every row rather than all of them on every other row. I used SKP for all decreases (hint: *knit to the marker, remove the marker, SKP, replace marker; repeat from *; knit to the end–and do that on every row). My increases are “KFBs”–knit front and back (hint: *knit to the marker, slip the marker to the right needle, KFB, repeat from *, knit to the end of the row; do that on every row). I work the increases on the first row after the center-90 section and on my bind-off row, too; working the increases on the bind-off row makes the corners pointier. Note that KFBs do not make a sharp miter, the way the M1 increases do.
This is nice and girly looking, with the metallic thread in the yarn, and I want to add beads. I’m planning to work the button bands in stockinette rather than garter. I’ll add beads on the buttonhole row so that the beads are between the buttonholes. I’ll do the beads only on the buttonhole side, not the button side (or the bottom edge of the sweater).
Oh, yeah. The heart buttons. :)