March 28: Going to start swatches today. The yarn I have is a little thin, so I’ll try doubling it to see what I get. Love how soft this bouclé is!

Gauge reached by doubling on size 5s, but the fabric is a little too “firm” for something for a baby, I think. Since Angie is expecting in July, I think I will swatch for 4 st/inch (size 6 or 7 needles), and knit for the smaller size. That should give me a finished size of 14”, which is right in between the newborn & 1 yr old sizes and should be a good fit for her baby during January and February when it’s coldest in Minnesota.

On 7s, I got 3.75 stitches per inch with doubled yarn (15 stitches for 4”) - which would be closer to a finished size of the 12 month directions. The fabric was much more pleasant, though. I will do one more swatch with a size six needle when I get home tonight and I think that’s what I’ll end up going with.

March 29th: Decided on the size 6 needles (changing to four when the smaller needles are necessary). I’m getting about 15 3/4 stitches for 4 inches… close enough. Finished to row 25 tonight and will probably get to the decrease rows (at 5-1/2” to 6” to allow for row shrinkage reported with this yarn) tomorrow night.

I’ve decided that I’m not going to use buttons on this. I don’t like the idea of buttons on baby clothes, so I’ve chosen to use some small velcro circles I have on hand that I’ll sew on when it’s finished… that will also make it more adjustable.

April 1st: Finished most of the hat yesterday, with one more modification to the bottom strap band to adjust for my sizing/gauge: cast on 14 + pick up 24 +1 seam +24, cast on 14 = 77 sts.

It looks so cute and this yarn is great to work with for a boucle. All I need to do now is finish the ears. I tried knitting them last night but I ended up with two different sizes (I must have been knitting quite tightly on one of them!). I started with a provisional cast on and ended both sides with a three needle bind off so the seaming for these little pieces isn’t quite so tedious. I’ll knit another ear tonight and get started on the mittens.

April 2nd: All done except for the end weaving and attaching the velcro.

I’m really glad I added the extra five rows before the decrease rounds on the hat… this yarn did shrink up on the row count (but not the stitch count) by at least 10%. Even though I really love everything else about this yarn, that unpredictability makes me want to dock one star for the yarn… otherwise, it would be a five star.

April 9th Completed the finishing work this morning. Damn, it’s cute!