Sticking to the Simple Stuff

I recharged the camera battery, and took a few more pictures of my baby stuff before hubby takes it into work.

Okay, so I went a little crazy with the pictures. What can I say, I think the outfit is pretty cute.
Funny thing is, hubby really doesn't know this lady well. Well he knows her, but I don't know her at all. She works in the cafeteria where he works, but you know sometimes you just go overboard. Maybe I just needed a great excuse to make some cute baby stuff.
Well here it is!
The lady (because I don't know her name) is due on July 16th or something like that, but she is not working after this week.
Or something like that.
I'm fuzzy on the details.
All I know is that when I said I had to stop at Joann's to get buttons yesterday, hubby didn't complain.
These patterns came from the book Vintage Knits for Modern Babies.
I liked the book so much that I sent a copy to my friend, the new grandmother, for Christmas.
Not sure if she's knit anything from it, but I can tell you that I've had mine for a few years and this is the first time I've made anything.
Sad, but true.
The patterns are really cute, and they list skill levels commensurate with the stitch requirements of the pattern, but beyond that the directions are a bit vague. Or maybe it's just me.
For example, the ruby slippers (because that's what they're called) tell you to M1.
Well since it didn't tell me which M1 to do, I did the wrong one, and ripped them out, then went with a KFB for the increase. On booties this small, the other M1 I did (which was really a M1R) left a big holey gap.
So I figured out the patterns, even with the vague directions, and I think they came out okay.
The hat is printed as being knit flat and then seamed up, but I thought, why would I want to put a seam on a baby hat. Their tender little head is going to be lying flat, and the last thing you want is some seam - even if the yarn is the scrumptiously soft Rowan Cashsoft DK. I know that with chemo caps they specifically ask that there not be a seam because the head can be so tender from the chemo or radiation treatments, so wouldn't the same principle sort of apply for a baby hat? So I modified the pattern and knit it in the round, mostly during my daughter's band concert. It was pretty dang simple.
They're certainly not perfect, but seriously, the baby is being born in July, so even a little half sweater like this won't be used for very long before she outgrows it.
The nice thing is that I have a lot of the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino left since the two slippers don't take much yarn, and I might just have to make some more.
Well and of course I over-ordered yarn, just in case.
So I guess I must knit more.
But now I've got to fix my Multnomah shawl, which is why I labeled this post sticking to the simple stuff because some of that bigger counting - well anything over 20 (which would be fingers and toes) kicks my butt and now my stitch count is so desperately off that I'm going to have to rip.
Ugh.
Wish me luck!