Phildar nr.074/09 baby sweater

Here we go again! While 3 another project are waiting for the finishing touches I choose yet again to start knitting another one.
This is a really simple but sweet baby sweater from the nr.074 Phildar booklet. I love the original, sage-green color, but I choose my fav. yarn, drops baby merino again, in colors 24 (light sky blue) and 1 (white). The pale blue with the clear white looks just perfect and crisp for this baby project.
The sweater is basically knitted in stocking stitch stripes by the purl and knit sides of the work. When knitting the stripes look cropped, like a harmonica, so you only see how the pieces look after pressing:
   

Phildar baby cardi progress

One of the last pieces of the Phildar baby cardigan!
I've worked a lot lately so didn't have much time to knit in the evenings (was rather lying slightly 'knock-out' on the couch...)

After finishing the main pieces right now I'm busy with knitting the buttonband annex shawl-collar pieces. It's knitted in two pieces which are attached behind the neck opening.
The interesting thing is that instead of picking up stitches along the sides you start to knit the buttonband/scarfcollar separately, from the outer edge inwards, finishing with a few rows in another color yarn at the inner edge. Then you need to sew the pieces on, separately attaching the individual stitches and then remove the rows of the other yarn. The result should be a smooth, almost invisible edge where the two parts meet.

Phildar baby cardigan progress

After 3 skeins of drops baby merino I finished the back, two sleeves and the right front. Love to work from the bigger pieces to the smaller ones, this keeps the speed in the knitting.
The button band and collar will knitted in one piece and attached separately. This pattern uses the 'Fisherman's rib' a sort of ribbing which uses 'stitch one below'. This gives the finished pieces an incredibly elastic texture, so I guess the finished size will be sort of multi-sized in the width, which is nice. I guess this little cardigan will fit at least 6 months in a row!

on my needles - contemporary knitted baby jacket

With still 2 projects waiting to finish I already started a new one. It is another baby cardigan, but quite different:
- set-in sleeves instead of a raglan
- it has a scarf-collar
- the knitting pattern is a type of ribbing which has a less delicate, sturdier look

This is a contemporary pattern from the French yarn brand Phildar, which appeared in their nr.74 booklet (Autumn/Winter 2012-13 baby special).
This time I'm aiming at a slightly larger size, which will hopefully fit the baby next autumn/winter.
The color is dark grey, which is a step away from the sweet baby-ish pastels. Of course, I'm using drops baby merino yarn again, which results in a wonderfully stretchy knit with great stitch definition! It is slightly thicker yarn than the originally recommended Phildar one, but knitted on metric size 3 needles I like the look of it.
 

The Phildar booklet contains a bunch of adorable baby patterns and costs 6.10 euro's.