On the needles

I've been having this wittering conversation with myself:

Say, we should knit a sweater for that baby!

Yes, we should! But we shouldn't buy any more yarn because the bins are full right now.

Right. There's plenty to choose from in the worsted/DK bin.

...Except it all needs to be hand-washed. It's against the rules to give a hand-wash-only sweater to a non-knitter. Especially if it's for a baby. Her mama would not be happy with you.

Right. Can we knit something out of the DK superwash? Or the sock yarn?

You'd have to stripe the maroon/pink/lime DK yarn together with the earth-toned DK yarn. Which, sorry, no. And we only knit sock-yarn sweaters for babies we actually gave birth to.

Right. Okay. We'll have to think about that. [some time later -- an interval ranging from ten minutes to two days] ...Say, we should knit a sweater for that baby!

Over the weekend I didn't want to work on any of the seven projects I had on the needles (that's kind of an embarrassing admission) and so I went rummaging through the Really Old Leftovers bin. This bin is mostly occupied by the remnants of novelty yarn purchased in 2003-2004, before I fell down the knitting rabbit hole and became a person with strong opinions about double decreases (S2KP FTW, baby -- none of your SK2P for me). In addition to the bits and pieces of eyelash yarn and Plymouth Eros, I found yarn left over from the second baby sweater I ever made.

This yarn, a nice cotton-wool blend that can go in the washing machine, leapt into my hands. It was crying out to be made into a Baby Surprise Jacket. "How could you leave me with those synthetic fibers for so long?" it wanted to know. I gave it a reassuring pat and pulled out my size 6 circular needle. Then I...um...ordered one more skein of yarn because running out would be a Big Drag. (It was on sale. And I will totally have room for the leftovers when I ditch that regrettable eyelash stuff.)

I cast on the requisite 160 stitches and was mitering happily along when I discovered that Elizabeth Foss is (serendipitously) organizing a BSJ knit-along. (Some details here if you are curious.) If you have been thinking idly about knitting a baby sweater, this is a fun one: all garter stitch, two seams, brilliantly constructed and infinitely adaptable. You can leave it plain, add a collar, add a hood. You could even add a cathedral-length train in honor of the royal wedding if you were so inclined, though the baby's mama might wonder what exactly you'd been smoking. It sounds like fun, don't you think?