FO: Helena Cardigan

Project: Helena for Ellie 

Pattern: Helena by Alison Green Will

Yarn: Knitpicks Swish DK in Dove Heather

Needles: Size 6 for the larger needle, size 2 for the smaller needle

Size: 12 month

For: Ellie (6 months old)

Cast On to Cast Off: October 4-November 2. It's actually a very fast knit, but I was dividing my time between it and 2 other projects with gift deadlines, so this one was often neglected in favor of the gift knitting. I would estimate I had about 15 hours in it if you include the time I spent sewing up the folds for the bottom edge and sleeves.


Notes: I knit this as one of Ellie's Christmas gifts so I chose to knit up a size so she can definitely wear it January-March. The fabulous thing about knitting for babies? You can try the gift item on your baby and they won't remember it at all when Christmas comes around! With the boys I have to have them close their eyes and tell them, "It's not a sweater..." over and over in an attempt to brainwash them into believing I'm NOT knitting for them for their birthday/Christmas/whatever.


I really enjoyed working with this yarn. It's another go to for baby gift knitting, since I really dislike giving a new mom anything but superwash yarn. While I personally don't mind hand-washing wool for my baby, I don't really want to give a gift that says "Please take extra caution in handling me while you're sleep deprived and your brand new baby pukes or leaks on everything they look at for more than 5 seconds.

Things I Learned: I had never done this kind of edging before and it is a very nice finish. I'm slow at stitching by hand though, so it did take me a bit of time to stitch up the edgings.


Overall: A+ for me on this project. Well written pattern, nice yarn, and the project didn't complain or go on strike at any point. I would definitely knit this again and probably will for future baby gift knitting.