1. date: April 2006
2. size: 2-3 yr
3. made for: Ada
4. pattern: Erika Knight , Simple Knits for Little Cherub

1. date: April 2006
2. size: 2-3 yr
3. made for: Ada
4. pattern: Debbie Bliss Baby Style, Frankenstein'd

1. date: March 2006
2. size: 2-3 yr
3. made for: Ada
4. pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple

1. date: March 2006
2. size: One size
3. made for: Henry
4. pattern: Knitty

1. date:
2. size: One size
3. made for: Me (then given to Hana, who looked cold)
4. pattern: Debbie Bliss

1. date: January-February 2006
2. size: One size; One size
3. made for: Mum
4. pattern: Heartstrings , Knitty

1. date: November-March 2006
2. size: 9-10 yr
3. made for: Tom
4. pattern: Rowan Rowan Junior

1. date: August-December 2005
2. size: One size
3. made for: Aunt Y.
4. pattern:

1. date: April-May 2005
2. size: 9-10 yr
3. made for: Henry
4. pattern: Rowan Rowan Junior

1. date: March-May 2005
2. size: 2-3 yr
3. made for: Ada
4. pattern: Debbie Bliss The Baby Knit Book

1. date: March 2005
2. size: 3-6 mo; 6-9 mo
3. made for: Baby X
4. pattern: Zoe Mellor 50 Baby Bootees, Last-Minute Knitted Gifts

Jenny asked me to make a birth gift for a friend of hers. I'd just made Ada a pink-with-brown-trim bonnet so had Kid Classic in Peach Sorbet and Bear on hand, and decided to make another bonnet in reversed colourway with matching slippers. The garter stitch slippers pick up on the garter trim on the bonnet nicely. Kid Classic proved too fuzzy for embroidery, and after a few experiments, I settled on a bobble accent. The result looks like Neapolitan ice cream, and certainly good enough to eat.

1. date: December-January 2005
2. size: 12-18 mo
3. made for: Ada
4. pattern: Debbie Bliss book six

Wind-up: Springy and smooth yarn, great for active babies. Departed from the pattern by doing a 3-needle bind-off on the hood, and Kitchener-stitched the shoulders. I made a rattle bracelet with some of the leftover yarn (flower pattern from "Lottie" cardigan", grafted to i-cord) and put a button inside one pocket and another button on one of the flowers (to wrap around the wrist twice and secure through a hole in the petal). When it's not being used, the toy can be buttoned to the inside pocket.

1. date: September-October 2004
2. size: 6-9 mo
3. made for: Ella
4. pattern: Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino

Wind-up: The yarn knits like a dream; looks and feels like well-tempered chocolate ganache. Italian rib-cast-off is tricky at first and takes much, much longer, but well-worth it. Blanket-stitching the ears made them look messy. Good buttons are hard to find.

1. date: 4 days in September 2004
2. size: XS
3. made for: Hana
4. pattern: Rowan Bigger Picture

Wind-up: 4-day sweater reminiscent of the Cookie Monster. Fast, but not my style. Disliked using needles that look like cruise missiles, knitting with not much regard for neat stitches. Biggy Print is far too large for anyone smaller than Medium. Purchased the wrong needles (35 instead of 36), so had to use the size S cast-on numbers with XS length.

1. date: July-September 2004
2. size: XS
3. made for: Mum
4. pattern: Rowan Magazine 33

Wind-up: Because my mum is more xxs than xs (across shoulders: 34cm; shoulder to hip: 43cm; hip to underarm: 31.5cm; shoulder to wrist: 42cm) , I had to resize the jacket somewhat. I didn't worry about the width since Rowan patterns are thankfully slender in width, but I did shorten the overall length and the sleeves. She says it fits, but I would like to check it for myself the next time I see her. I screwed up on the front shaping (the 'seam' should near the opening end, not the sides) and made stingy and unsightly mid-row yarn joins. Not doing that again...

1. date: April-June 2004
2. size: One size
3. made for: Me
4. pattern: Rowan Magazine 34

This Rowan shawl has seduced and frustrated many, as many a knit blog out there shows. As an antidote for Birch-related frustration, here's "Everything I've Learned from Birch":

More "Birch" shawl »

1. date: February-April 2004
2. size: Various
3. made for: Ada
4. pattern: Debbie Bliss The Baby Knit Book, Baby Style

1. date: February-April 2004
2. size: various
3. made for: Ada
4. pattern: Herringbone bootees, Zoe's Mellor's "50 Baby Bootees"
5. Knot shoes, Ibid
6. Denim shoes, Ibid
7. Textured-cuff bootees, Ibid
8. Simple shoes, Ibid
9. Duck feet, Ibid
10. Hat with top knot & socks, Debbie Bliss' "Baby Knits Book"
11. Felted Tweed hat & shoes, Debbie Bliss' "Baby Style"
12. Textured-cuff bootees, Zoe's Mellor's "50 Baby Bootees"

More A plethora of booties »

1. date: December-January 2004
2. size: S
3. made for: Jenny
4. pattern: Debbie Bliss the cashmere collection

Wind-Up: Became a little too snip-happy with tucked-in loose ends, and watched a hole suddenly unravel in the ribbed collar when the sweater was picked up. Very stupid, but I did learn to re-weave with a tapestry needle. Also forgot to take a photo of the thing before I sent it off. Debbie Bliss patterns photos need to show what you need to know about the sweater. The moss stitch jacket looks good from the front, but the weight of the yarn makes the large back piece sag like mad since it has nothing to counter the pull.

1. date: October-December 2003
2. size: 1-2 yr
3. made for: Lucy
4. pattern: Rowan Rowan Junior

Wind-up: Soft yet crisp texture, colours to weep for. I love this yarn, and the pattern is both wearable and flattering. Alas, I had taught myself to knit a little too tightly (thinking it was a good way to produce regular stitches), and working with the no-give Kidsilk yarn certainly didn't discourage the Klingon Knit Method. I managed to wear a groove into my left index finger with a yarn they call 4-Ply Soft. At the end of my project, I discovered to my utter horror that I'd only used 2 of the 4 balls. I still wonder if Lucy's parents machine-washed the sweater and discovered the terrible flaw. I relaxed the cranking as the project went on, so they could indeed have a monstrously lopsided micro-cardigan by this point.

1. date: September-October 2003
2. size: 4-6 yr
3. made for: Tom
4. pattern: Debbie Bliss Easy Knits

Like a lot of autistic children, Tom has an elfin quality that's oddly familiar to people who've spent any amount of time with wildlife. Normally I'm dead-set against kids wearing anything un-childish or overly modish. But I made Tom something different, because he is. And he did look smashing in black as I suspected. Note to self: Join ribs better at the side seams.

1. date: August-September 2003
2. size: One size
3. made for: Giveaways
4. pattern: Rowan A Season's Tale

Wind-up: Both are the all-Kidsilk narrow stripe variant of Johnstone Gloves. They don't have shaping for the palm, which means they don't look as good worn as they do flat. But they are extremely warm and presumably excellent for playing soap bubble handball. The green-and-caramel one I gave to my sister and the blue-and-marmalade to a friend of hers that came over for Christmas. I made another pair, this one a keeper with an asymetrical, interlocking color scheme.

1. date: April-July 2003
2. size: 0-3 mo
3. made for: Lucy
4. pattern: Zoe Mellor 50 Baby Bootees

The Bee Shoes was my first (albeit simple) intarsia, and the hat the first made-to-measure. The hat is unfortunately not at all what I had in mind. I wanted something more form-fitting, and probably should have used the Top Knot hat pattern and adjusted it for gauge. If I were to make the Bee Shoes yet again, I would switch up to 3.00 or 3.25mm needles. The bound-off edge that forms the ankle opening needs to be more elastic.

1. date: April-July 2003
2. size: 3-6 mo
3. made for: Lucy
4. pattern: Debbie Bliss The Baby Knit Book

First-ever hat and socks projects, respectively, maiden DP needle use. I wanted to do a bright blue with yellow-green trim, but a certain Simon who shall remain nameless has a shrinking fear of bold colors. I forgot to take a photo of the smaller taupe hat with the yellow-green trim, which actually had a top knot. The solid color hat replaces the top knot with a couple of bobbles and lampwork beads topped with a tassel. The joins on the hats were horrific: crooked and cranked tight. It's nice to know that as far from perfect as my making up is, I've definitely improved. This time next year, I hope to be shaking my head at the past ineptitudes of the Fall 2004 projects. I also hope to be congratulating myself on helping put Kerry in the White House, and generally regarding a world headed away from the lower circles of hell than straight into it in a handbasket.

1. date: March 2003
2. size: 0-3 mo
3. made for: Lucy
4. pattern: Zoe Mellor 50 Baby Bootees

People who want kids know it. Such was the case with my friends Michael and Simon. Simon is an old friend of my Peter; they've been friends since their freshman year of college, and Simon is one of those rare pals who was completely unruffled by Peter's chosen course following graduation: to drop off the face of the planet, and dramatically (and temporarily) reappear at unpredictable intervals.

I met Simon in 2000 when we moved to the Bay Area, after several years of hearing stories about him. Within a year, he had met Michael, and it was pretty obvious he was The One. They are our best friends, and continue to be despite their move to Boston more than 2 years ago. Thanks to the Massachusetts Supreme Court's moment of clarity, they are now married. Thanks to the astounding generosity of Michael's sister Lora, they're also the fathers of 2 adorable little girls, Lucy and Ella.

When Lucy was born in fall of 2002, I was excited. And I mean excited the way I get over landmark conservation rulings, U.S. Presidential debates, a new Kubrick film or a world-changing applied scientific breakthrough. I am not a baby person, but Lucy wasn't just a baby. She was a triumph. She is a gift, and as melodramatic as it sounds, a proof that love tells its own truth.

I was also bummed that I wouldn't get to see her much. How do you show your love for a child with a continent between you?

More It all started with Lucy »