Our Yummy, Delicious Cupcake

The flavor of our Cupcake is Girl! We are so excited to introduce her to you. Thank you for all the support and wishes over the past months...and for the "how are you" emails in the last couple of weeks. More pictures and baby updates soon!

Anya G Patel-Aranha was born on October 21, 2009; 7 pounds 2 ounces, 19.9 inches.

Anya is Sanskrit for inexhaustible; forever. G is the English Alphabet "G" for Gravity (for detailed explanation, see here). And of course, Patel-Aranha is a little bit of Dad, a little bit of Mom.

Color Mania

Thanks for checking up on me. For those who asked when I was due--well, in two weeks. Gee.

See what my friend, Nadine, made for Cupcake! Isn't our bear super cute! She used the Bobbi Bear pattern (Rav link). A long time ago, I had mentioned to Nadine of Suketu's love for a handknit, striped baby shirt at a yarn store. So she made one for Bear! Thank you, Nadine! We love our yet to be named Bear.

One more. Over the years, I have tried to get out of the traditional color schemes and experiment with unusual color possibilities. Fellow bloggers and Ravelry friends ask me from where and how I come up with my color combinations. Here is my limited, amateur two cents. And my two cents worth is just this--work with the colors you would never put together. Strange but true. It works. And if you think you are messing up, keep going. You are on the right track.

So I put three colors together. Reddish-maroon, Bright Blue, and Orange. The pattern is filled with mindless garter stitch--bliss. With the remaining yarn, I made a little beanie. I must have used this beanie pattern a zillion times. A well-written, basic pattern that one can work with in many ways. Buttons from Vardhman.

For Cardigan:
Pattern: Garter Stitch Raglan Baby Cardi (free download via Ravelry)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece: 0.3 skeins in Blue, 0.9 skeins in Red-Maroon
Needle: US 4
Size: 6 months
Major modification: Button holes made every 11th row

For Hat:
Pattern: Single Crochet Beanie (free)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (Blue and Red); Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time Cotton in Orange
Hook: 4mm
Size: 0 - 6 months

Pebbled Vested Interest

HOLY COW! Is it really October 14th? I hope this kid knows all the "how tos."

Some of you, my great blog friends, say that most of my Cupcake projects have a "reason." That is true. However, this vest has no reason. Just vested interest. For its pure cuteness. I cannot get over how grown up the outcome of this pattern looks!

I think this is the only project for which I hunted and special ordered the yarn. It definitely had to be tweed. And machine washable. Plymouth Encore Worsted Tweed turned out perfect at all levels.

And finally. A project with zero modifications. The only modification is that I used worsted weight rather than DK--to up the size. I think the vest was done in two days--it is a perfectly written pattern. And oh, do you know by now how much I love buttons? Thanks to a wonderful button hunting trip with knitting friends, we landed up at Vardhman. It is my new to-go place in NYC for great, and yet very affordable, notions. Special thanks to Penelope and Angela for procurement support.

Pattern: Pebble (Henry's Manly Cobblestone-Inspired Baby Vest) (free)
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted Tweed; 0.75 skeins
Needle: US 7
Size: 6 months
Gauge: 4 stitches per inch

When I grow up...

Sorry for the posting delay. The weather here has been rainy and cloudy, making it difficult to photograph. The sun finally came out today (Hello Sun!) and here I am. Let me begin by congratulating Kathy (bigblueice on Ravelry) for winning the Giveaway! I will be sending you an email this evening for your postal info. Thank you to everyone who participated!

From the time I started making stuff for Cupcake, I have been itching to use this particular yarn. I think in my crazy excitement of finally working with it, I somehow managed to make it real big. (How does one goof up top down measurements. Duh.). So big, it is going to fit Cupcake at age one. Biggie Kimono. Anyway, people grow, and the kid will wear this then.

Another no-brainer pattern. I made some modifications so that the stockinette does not roll (see below) and worked the sleeves short. The yarn says it is worsted, but it seemed DK to me. I dont know how some people on Ravelry used larger sized needles for projects with this yarn. Well, I suppose one person's worsted is another's DK.

Pattern: Seamless Baby Kimono (Free)
Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time Cotton; 1.75 skeins
Needle: US 5
Size: 12 months (chest size 22 inches)
Gauge: 5 stitches per inch
Modifications:
1. 5 rows of garter stitch for a collar. Saw that some complained of stockinette rolling.
2. Sleeves: 3 rounds stockinette, 8 rounds garter stitch.
3. Didn't do the ties. Created button holes on either edge at the garter border, and added buttons in such a way so as to expose one button.