Romp!

In early December, I got a message from Andrea at Crazy Corn asking if I'd like to be part of a 12 Days of Christmas give away contest!  Of course!  I couldn't think of anything in my ready-made bin that would be of interest for a general give away, so I made up a digital gift certificate.  The winner contacted me on December 10 wanting to get a romper in 6-12month size and a Pocket Bear, for her daughter who is a photographer.  The gift certificate was a little more than what I had the bear listed as, so the extra carried over to the romper.  It's always nice when you get an order from doing a give away.  It doesn't always happen though, but still, I don't mind giving away a little prize now and then.

Because it was my Christmas rush, I had let her know I was having quite a bit of wait for orders.  I JUST got it finished on Feb 12!  Of course, it doesn't take 2 months to make these two little items (and I did do a few small things like the dishcloths and the ruffled scarves), but I'm not happy with a 2 month wait!  I'm trying to get that down, but then I spent all of this morning on the internet, doing things like registering my business name and messaging an accountant.  Ugh.

I searched through most of my vintage books, but could not find a pattern that I liked, in the right size, that had enough information to make sure it'd fit.  I was perplexed.  I looked at my diaper cover pattern, but what I had trouble with before when I made the romper was the bib height and strap length.  Then, through Ravelry, I found two patterns.  I ended up using "Lesley Sunsuit" .  It was close to the gauge I was using, and had both a six month size, and a twelve month size, so I figured I could wing the sizing a little.  I mean, I had three babies.  Two weighed 20lbs at six months, the third wasn't quite 20lbs when she turned one!  Height is probably a bigger deal.  I cast on 12 sts for the crotch because my gauge was a little off and that gave me (mathematically) the size I needed.  I think I ended up with the stitch count for the larger size after doing the decreases.

I made the bear first, using one strand of a fuzzy mohair blend from the stash.

I took the pictures quickly because it was very cold, the light was dimming quickly, and I thought it was going to be picked up the next day.  This is the only picture of the bear.  I made him a bunch more scarves in assorted random colours.  Him and his scarves weighed 16gr.

The romper was made with two strands of the same yarn, for a few reasons.  I figure the photographer would probably prefer that  the babies keep a diaper on, so the thicker fabric will hide that.  And, at 6 months, 9 months, etc, you don't usually go for that delicate, lacey look.  Babies are looking more robust and hardy.  And...because the larger gauge fit the pattern and went faster!

 I started the crotch with waste yarn so there'd be no seam.  I was going to do short rows for the bum, but got up to the ribbing and realized I hadn't.  So I did a couple rows in the ribbing.  The buttons are old, from my brother's girlfriend's mother's collection that she gave me a few years ago.  Nice and subtle, they won't steal the show.  There is no metal name tag on this because I found it too distracting.  Got to come up with a fabric label for inside baby items!  The romper weighed in at 55gr.  Hope to see it in a photo soon!

Yarn In:  500gr
Yarn Out: 71gr + 1476gr = 1547gr
Balance: 1047gr more USED than bought
Costs:  $21.19/51days = $0.42/day