Madhu Knits and Cooks

Large-ish Neutral Newborn Hospital Hat

I've had pretty bad luck knitting newborn and infant hats.  They are often way too large, but sometimes they can almost fit correctly, giving me hope that maybe I can master newborn hat sizes.  

Unfortunately my latest project fits into the former category instead of the latter.  This simple newborn hat, which I whipped up in a few days, was too big despite facially meeting several newborn fit guides online. 

Granted, I delivered a small baby but I was pretty sad that I had to put him in the standard hospital-issue hat instead of a homemade one. 

C'est la vie.  I will likely use this hat in winter instead, unless he outgrows it by then.  I can also see myself making more in the future with leftover yarn scraps given how fast this knits up and how cute the pattern is.

Neutral Newborn Hospital Hat

Pattern: Baby Business Set Hat, Size <0

Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK, approx. 0.2 skein in color 131 cream

Needles: US size 5, 22 inches = 4 inch gauge swatch in stockinette stitch

Measurements: post-blocking measurements of 5 inches tall by 5.5 inches wide at the bottom / widest part of hat

Cable Lace Baby Blanket - Squishy Treat for a Young Child!

I recently made another wonderful baby blanket, a modern twist on a classic cable baby blanket pattern.  

Completing this gorgeous pattern was my go-to squishy baby blanket yarn, Cascade 220 Superwash Merino.  The pattern was relatively easy to follow, though not the quickest knit with offsetting cables throughout.

The baby for whom the blanket was made seems to be loving it as a stroller blanket, and otherwise, as the weather gets colder!  More details below.

Cable Lace Baby Blanket

Pattern:  Cable Lace Baby Blanket by Alma Mahler

Yarn:  Cascade 220 Superwash Merino in Color 26 Silver Heather, approx. 3.2 skeins

Needles:  1 US7 circular

Measurements:  pre-blocking measurements of 28.5 inches wide by 27.5 inches long; post-blocking measurements (machine wash and dry) or 28 inches wide by 27.5 inches tall

Modern Striped Baby Blanket - Beautiful Colors (Thanks, Stylish Mom!)

Over the summer, I had the pleasure of completing a baby blanket for a friend's newborn son.  A big part of the pleasure was from working with the beautiful colors that the expecting mother selected, which ranged from cream and light grey to deeper blue hues.  Unfortunately, Purl Soho, which published the pattern, was out of the yarn kit my friend selected, but my husband and I were able to recreate the colorway through scouring the Cascade 220 Superwash color cards.

With the yarns ordered, to knitting I went!  The result was a super squishy and bouncy blanket, with even color block stripes.  I look forward to recreating this blanket in different variations - including for an at-home throw for our living room.  That's how lovely this blanket knit up - I want one as well!

Modern Striped Baby Blanket

Pattern:  Super Easy Baby Blanket by Purl Soho.  

Needles: One US7 circular

Yarn:  ~5/6 of 7 different skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash, in colors 817 ecru, 348 white pepper heather, 204 smoke blue, 847 caribbean, 892 space needle, 910A winter white, 1973 seafoam heather.  

Measurements:  Pre-blocking measurements of 33 3/4 inches wide by 34 3/4 inches tall.  Post-blocking (machine wash / dry) measurements of 30 inches wide by 29 1/2 inches tall.

Completed 8/4/22

Modern Baby Blanket - Contrasting Neutral Shades with a Main Color

This winter, I had the opportunity to create modern baby blanket featuring a color block wedge pattern.  I crowdsourced color recommendations from not only a few friends, but also the very helpful team at Wildfiber Studio in Santa Monica, CA.  I ended up with some grey, cream, and light brown neutral shades with a teal-like color as the contrast.  

I modified the original pattern in two ways.  First, I was inspired by a Ravelry user who flipped the orientation of the wedges so that the main color contrasts mirrored each other every two rows instead of showing the same orientation (right-to-left, right-to-left) repetition after repetition.  Second, a number of other Ravelry users also consolidated down the colors to four from the original pattern's six which I also liked to make the blanket feel more mature than a full rainbow of contrasting colors.  

The pattern itself was relatively easy to knit up (short rows of garter stitch) but figuring out how to flip the wedge orientation took some considerable thinking and practice (spatial orientation is not my strong suit).  I am very happy with how the blanket turned out though - the colors worked really well, and I'm very happy I flipped the wedge orientations for a more interesting visual output.  Additional details below.

Color Wedges Baby Blanket

Pattern:  Colorful Wedges Baby Blanket by Purl Soho, modified as noted above.  The flipped wedge orientation was achieved by:

Pattern wedges 1 and 2 as is, then wedge 3 (modified wedge 1) was 2 knit rows, then row 2 to start pattern. Ended on row 2 (no k150 row).  Wedge 4 (modified wedge 2) was starting with a 1 k150 row, then row 1 of that wedge.  

Pattern continued by wedge 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2.

Yarn:  HiKoo by skacel Sueno - 1.7 skeins in silver sage, 0.5 skein in cream, 0.7 skeins in shifting sands, 0.7 skeins in grey heather

Needles:  US 4 circular

Measurements:  Post-blocking measurements of 29.5 inches side by 31 inches tall.  Pre-blocking measurements of 29 inches wide by 29.5 inches tall.

Field of Wildflowers - My First Instagram-Inspired Hat!

A few years ago, I saw a breathtaking picture of a completed Field of Wildflowers hat on Malabrigo's Instagram account.  I loved everything about this hat - the pattern, the yarn, and how they both worked so well together to create a bright, but not-too-bright winter hat.  I not only bookmarked this hat, but also immediately ordered the Malabrigo Rios yarn that the hat featured.  

Years later, during a global pandemic no less, I finally saw the need to make this hat - with increasingly long winter walks outside and no concerns about "hat hair" during work or social events.  

While the hat knit up fairly quickly, and the squishy Malabrigo Rios was a true pleasure to work with, the initial hat I produced was too long for my tastes.  The length meant that the hat had a fair amount of "slouch" at the top, which is not a style I like.  So I frogged the top part of the hat and remade it to only have 4 pattern repeats.  I also skipped decrease rows 13-15 and 17-19.  If I make this hat again, I will probably just concentrate the length cutting on the border rows to have more of the pattern appear across the length of the hat.

Here are some pictures of the original, longer hat, including compared to a previously knit hat that fits me quite well.

Field of Wildflowers - for Me!

Pattern:  Field of Wildflowers by Joji Locatelli, size small

Yarn:  Malabrigo Rios, maybe 2/3 skein, in Arco Iris

Needles:  Two US3 and two US 4 circulars

Measurements:  Pre-blocking measurements of 8 inches tall by 8.5 inches wide at the bottom; post-blocking measurements of 7.75 inches tall by 9.25 inches wide at its widest point at the brim

A Trio of Winter Hats and Scarves!

I've been wanting to knit items for our friends' wonderful three children for the past year but as always, I've been running behind actualizing my intention!  This winter though has finally allowed me to catch up with my ambitions, and behold - a trio of cute elf-like hats and ribbed scarves!

The hats were made with the super cute Garter Ear Flap Hat pattern by Purl Soho.  The scarves I improvised by doing a knit 2 rows, purl rows rib and by slipping the first stitch of each row for a cleaner edge.

The project details are on Ravelry.com under the user name Madhuri.  And who knows, I may make a set for myself given how cute these sets turned out!

Knit Dishcloths - Addictive Home Improvement Project!

Our dishcloths have looked particularly ragged of late, giving me the push to use the three balls of Knit Picks Dishie I had purchased 6 years ago (!).  As its name indicates, Dishie is Knit Picks "workhorse" cotton yarn, produced for durability.   

When I selected a pattern on Ravelry for my first dishcloth, I dismissed the pattern author's warning about the addictiveness of this pattern.  I intended to try several different dishcloth patterns so my kitchen would feature a range of styles and textures.  

Six dishcloths later and my Dishie yarn exhausted, this warning was not just hyperbole!  Once I started this pattern, I couldn't stop and now have a beautiful new set of dishcloths to brighten up my kitchen.

Double Bump Dishcloths

Pattern:  Double Bump Dishcloth by Missy Angus

Yarn:  Knit Picks Dishie, 3 skeins (2 15-inch dishcloths per ball) in Honeydew, Tranquil, and Blue

Needles:  One US 8 circular

Measurements:  9 inches wide (37 stitches cast on) by 15 inches long

Modern Blanket for Baby Hayden

Baby Hayden's parents were planning a space theme for his nursery, which made my yarn selection easy - the Cosmos color of Malabrigo's Rios yarn. 

Finding the right pattern was more complicated.  After several hours on Ravelry, I found the modern, simple and yet visually interesting Dutch Tiles pattern by Anne Hanson.  Once a gauge swatch was knit, to the blanket I went.

The result exceeded my expectations, especially because the blanket expanded beautifully post-blocking.  At first, I was frantic by how much the blanket grew post-washing as I expected it to look unnaturally stretched out and thin when dried.  But thankfully, instead it remained plush and soft.

In hindsight, Hanson's use of larger-than-gauge needles was genius to achieve a smooth yet textured result.

Full pattern details are below.

Dutch Tiles Blanket for Hayden

Pattern:  Dutch Tiles by Anne Hanson, crib blanket size

Yarn:  Malabrigo Rios in Cosmos, approx. 2.7 skeins

Needles:  US 9 and US 10 circular

Measurements:  Pre-blocking measurements of 25.5 inches wide by 28 inches tall.  Post-blocking measurements of 29.5 inches wide by 32.5 inches long.

Classic Irish Cable Knit Baby Blanket for Oscar!

Babies, babies, oh my!  Recently, baby Oscar joined the world and for his arrival (*intended for his arrival), I decided to knit a classic Irish cable knit pattern from my old and true Leisure Arts Our Best Knit Baby Afghans book.  Oscar's parents had picked a neutral color theme for his nursery, so I decided to use a an off-white yarn which I thought would complement the classic style of the blanket.

Thankfully, the pattern was well-written and easy to follow, particularly after the first few pattern repeats.  And like several of my cable knit projects of late, I ultimately used a halved paperclip as an improvised cable needle because it was less bulky and cumbersome than a standard cable needle for the pattern's fine cables.

While I don't like to reuse baby blanket patterns, this one produced a really fantastic, lighter weight blanket that I wouldn't mind making again and again.  Full project details below.

Oscar's Irish Cable Knit Blanket

Pattern:  For a Bonny Babe by Marion Graham

Yarn:  Valley Yarns Valley Superwash Sport in color #2 natural, approx. 5.1 skeins

Needles:  US 5 circular

Measurements:  Pre-blocking measurements of 25 inches wide by 28 inches tall; post-blocking measurements of 25.5 inches wide by 28.5 inches tall

Post 550 and My First Steeked Knit Project - Abstract Leaves Vest

This is a great way to end 2019.  Not only has my hobby blog reached Post 550 (!), but also this post features my most advanced knitting project to date - the Abstract Leaves vest.

I cast on this project back in 2015 (!), and have mostly been ignoring it as other time-sensitive projects have come up.  And honestly, this project has been a bit of a pain.  You really need to follow the pattern as it wasn't easy to memorize the 14-line repeat.  And this was too bulky to be a standard travel project as not only was the double-stranded vest relatively large, but also was carrying around two extra yarn skeins for when the current yarns ran out.  So years elapsed before I finally felt 2019 inspiration to finish this project by the holidays.

Initially I aimed for a Thanksgiving debut, but having blown past that deadline, I settled on Christmas instead.  And I actually made it, with a premiere on Christmas Day of the finished vest.

The hardest parts of completing the vest were definitely the steeking, which required a lot of research for my first time, and then completing the considerable edging at the armholes and v-neck opening. 

Steeking is the knitting technique of cutting colorwork knitting after knitting it in the round.  You do this because knitting in the round leads to a more even knit, and as I found, it's relatively easy to steek your finished knit to then complete the edging.

I used a sewing machine to firm up my knitting before the actual cutting, and it was pretty easy to sew the finished knits once I got the hang of pushing the squishy knit through the machine.

Once completed, the black sewed reinforcements were barely perceptible.

I then did the part that terrifies knitters around the world - took sharp scissors to the knitting.  And while I worked slowly, it also became much easier as I continued, such that I wondered to myself, what was I initially so worried about?

With my knitting cut, I then turned to adding the edging, which involves one of my least favorite knitting techniques - picking up and knitting new stitches.  While I don't have any pictures from that part of the process, it did end up going more quickly than I expected.  I even undid my initial armhole edges because I found the first set of ribbing to be too floppy and comically long on me.  I instead frogged the edging to then have a 2-row grey rib followed by the maroon contrast stitch finished edge.

I am very happy with the end result, though I feel like a project of this scope falls more in the once-in-five-years category than an every year effort!  Happy 2020 all!

Abstract Leaves Vest for Madhu

Pattern:  Abstract Leaves Vest by Veronique Avery, size 32 1/4

Yarn:  Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport Yarn, 4.25 skeins in Bramble Heather, 1.8 skeins in Mink Heather, and 0.2 skein in Currant

Needles:  2 US 3 circulars

Measurements: 

Pre-blocking measurements of:

15.5 inch waist diameter 
20 inches from top to bottom 
8 inch long armhole opening 
11.5 inches wide across top of vest 
6 inch wide back neck opening 
6 inch long V-neck

Post-blocking measurements of:

16 inch waist diameter 
20 inches from top to bottom 
8 inch long armhole opening 
12 inches long across top of vest 
6 inch wide back neck opening 
5.5 inch long V-neck