Babies must be warmly clothed, I’m sure you will agree with that, gentle reader. And when a baby is expected by a knitter who has knitterly friends, one can be assured that said baby will be warmly clothed, indeed!
Rachel (aka trtlgrl) has been sporting a baby-bump for quite some time now, and I was afraid that trtlbby would arrive in the world before I could knit something for the poor wee tyke, because, as we’ve already established, babies must be warmly clothed. So a couple of weeks ago I spent all of my free, non-sleeping minutes frantically knitting.
I started with this little sweater: the Helena sweater
by Alison Green Will from knitty.com. I changed it just a little bit. I liked the picot edging so much that I made it go all the way around the sweater, instead of just at the bottom. And I have only one tie – an I-cord tie that looks like an extension of the purl ridges at the top of the skirt.
When I managed to finish the sweater with time to spare, I also whipped up these little booties. In flipping through the book 50 Baby Bootees To Knit by Zoe Mellor, I saw that these had the same picot trim as the sweater. It almost seemed like they were made to go together.
The booties were a fun, fast knit – hardly any time to knock them out. I used the same yarn to edge the booties as edged the sweater. I made just a few changes — see the particulars below.
Contrary to appearance, the booties are both the same size. Perspective is a funny thing.
Rachel seemed happy with the sweater and booties. Can’t tell if the trtlbby-bump is happy or not, but we’ll assume she is. (Just outside the picture to the right is a pile of hand knit trtlbby swag that guarantees she will be neither cold nor naked.)
And I just made it, as trtlbby will be here sometime in the next week, guaranteed.
The Particulars:
Sweater:
- Yarn: the sadly discontinued Ella Rae Silkience (41% cotton, 39% Modal, 12% Silk, 8% Rayon), 119 yds/108 m per 500 g skein, in colorways 16 – Grass Green and 20 – Berry
- Needles: a pair of Addi Turbo 24″ circulars, US#3 (3.25 mm) and a pair of Addi Lace 24″ circulars, US#2 (3.00 mm)
- Pattern: Helena sweater by Alison Green Will
- Modifications: Instead of having a garter border around the neck and front, I made the picot edging go all the way around. I made a single I-cord tie rather than two garter-stitch ties.
Booties:
- Yarn: Dale Of Norway Baby Ull (100% Merino wool), 180 yds/165 m per 1.75 oz/50 g skein, in colorway 0020 – Cream — I used maybe 1/2 of the total. The trim is leftover Berry Silkience from the sweater.

- Needles: US#6 (4 mm) Addi Turbo and Addi Lace circulars
- Pattern: From the book 50 Baby Bootees To Knit by Zoe Mellor
- Modifications: I used different needles so that the size is more like 6-month. I used Judy’s Magic Cast-On to start so that the bottom of the foot could be grafted together. The booties were to have little bunny ears and bunny face, but I decided they were too cute as-is and left those off. (Besides, these were supposed to be newborn size. The thought of a 6-month-old trtlbby possibly jamming an ear into her little mouth and maybe choking gave me the heeby-jeebies.)



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Both are very cute! Lucky baby.
1Remark from Maia — Sunday, 6/14/2009 @ 6:40 PM
That’s a really cute little set!! I’ve also been going mad about picot edging lately and envisioning it on everything.
2Remark from Sara — Sunday, 6/14/2009 @ 9:31 PM
Beautiful Judy!
3Remark from Shelly — Monday, 6/15/2009 @ 8:43 AM
What a darling set!!
4(((hugs)))
Remark from Knitnana — Monday, 6/15/2009 @ 9:24 AM
Wow, it’s just lovely!
5Remark from Bonnie H. — Monday, 6/15/2009 @ 2:30 PM
Too. CUTE!!! That sweater turned out absolutely gorgeous!
…I don’t suppose it comes in women’s medium…?
6Remark from Mother Chaos — Friday, 6/19/2009 @ 10:21 PM
Both are just so pretty! I love that colorway of the sweater!
7Remark from Milly — Saturday, 6/20/2009 @ 9:21 AM
Hi, Judy,
We made a fast trip to Portland to get relief from trying to sell our Manhattan apartment. And guess what? It happened without us! Now we return to find out timing and all that.
Hope to connect in real time in the Fall…want to talk with you about some new ideas for condom amulets and life on the west coast.
Alison Will Green would be delighted with your darling set. She was in the original Upper West Side Knit Circle that met in a now-closed Starbucks beginning just after 9/11.
Soon. yours, naomi
8Remark from naomi dagen bloom — Monday, 6/22/2009 @ 10:25 PM
I came looking for your blog after trying your fantastic magic cast on – simply amazing!! I’m raising my glass to you as I finish my glass of wine and take one more look at the baby toe I just created! You are a knitting genius and thank you so much for sharing!!
9Remark from Mary — Sunday, 7/12/2009 @ 9:18 PM
Just curious – would you mind blogging about your favorite way to bind off your toe-up socks?
Thanks again, Mary
10Remark from Mary — Monday, 7/13/2009 @ 7:16 PM