Spitting Yarn

With my dear boy starting nursery, there was a short hiatus in knitting while I sewed in name tags, planned lunch boxes and read and re-read Spike Goes to Nursery School. I’m happy to say the transition to nursery has gone much better than expected. We still have a few tears when I leave, but he recovers swiftly and always looks happy and absorbed when I pick him up.

The arrival of the latest in a long, dense line of squidgy newborns has necessitated that I up sticks once more. It’s always hard to find sweet patterns for baby boys, so I was very pleased to happen upon a unisex, season-appropriate vest – Thora’s Top. I had some lovely fingering weight alpaca in my stash from my trip to Copenhagen. It’s the perfect yarn for babies born in the cooler half of the year. In fact, I’m slightly concerned that I am running low on this yarn staple. I’ll have to look out for some at Ally Pally (anyone else planning on going this year?).

The vest was a wholly pleasurable knit. As the pattern claims, it is purl-free which is a boon, and it knitted up quickly. I do hope it is boyish enough. I like patterns like this because they can be worn tunic-length when the baby is very small and sweater-length as the baby grows. I’ll almost certainly knit one for the little boy due to arrive Chez Spitting Yarn in December.

I really need to crack on with knitting Little Ivanhoe which has stagnated just under the armpits (what an unpleasant image). The tiny yarn and large stitch count has made it slightly difficult to pick-up-and-put-down, as I hate doing so in the middle of a row. If I can just reach the armpits, my stitch count will decrease and the project will proceed a little more quickly.