Presto Chango

As previously mentioned in the post about the Nottingham hat post, a dear friend was having her first child this year. I knew immediately that I wanted to make her a baby sweater. This was made a little less of a no-brainer since we did not know the gender of the baby, but I wasn't too worried. This baby is fortunately to have parents who aren't super hung up on cultural gender expectations.

So I poke around at Ravelry, and I found this fantastic sweater idea. Not only does it work around that whole baby-mess thing (the fronts are replaceable so you can use a different one if it gets wet or dirty), it also lets whoever is dressing the baby have the option of changing what it looked like.

Pattern: Presto Chango by Valerie Wallis (free pattern)

Yarn: Adrienne Vittadini Dianna in color 183

Yarn Supplier: Lettuce Knits (appears closed)

Needles: US 8 - 5.0 mm & US 9 - 5.5 mm

There was fierce button debate, as to color choices that might sway the audience one way or another regarding expected gender, but I love the sour apple green ones that I went with in the end. They even make the sweater color seem more reasonable.

The complete sweater picture here is shown with a panel that uses the cable from a dna helix scarf (free pattern). Baby science!

This panel was the original one that came with the pattern. I like the leaf-like motif, and I think it would be fine on either gender. I figured if anyone was bothered by it for a boy they could always just not use it though.

I not only did this quick stockinette panel, but on the way to Maine I knit a final cabled panel (not shown) that coordinated with the Nottingham hat. Why did I not remember to take a quick photo?!

Anyways, the hat and baby sweater were well received. In fact this well-loved baby is apparently being born into a creative and crafty community. I was really impressed by the skill and breadth of techniques seen in the gifts at the baby shower, from knitting and crochet to quilting and needle point.