I am taking a break from my provisional crochet cast-on (125
stitches of ribbing in a bamboo/cotton yarn that splits when you look at it –
and I probably should have done the crochet chain more loosely…anyway, my eyes
were starting to cross).  

I have had an uninterrupted afternoon of knitting – unless
you consider laundry, “here, Mom, hold the baby for a minute” (ha! who on earth
can hold a 3-week old baby for a mere minute?), the call from the college kid
who has lost her cell phone or running out to get a car lubed (husband who was
supposed to do so was on the phone dealing with lost cell phone situation) to
be interruptions. 

Anyhow, I have had some time to work on Gwen’s layette
pieces and so I have been pulling my hair out over the usual “how big to make
it” issue.  One would think that sizing
knits for a baby would be easy.  After
all, knits stretch to fit and babies can be counted upon to grow – and the
sensible thing is to make the layette pieces a bit largish and figure the baby
will grow into them at some point.

Oh, that it were that simple! 

In my experience, babies come in a dizzying variation of
proportions.  Long arms, short legs, big
head or short arms, long torso, chunky feet or skinny legs, big head, short
torso….And it is all well and good to have a lovely sweater that fits well –
except for the arms.  Or a hat that fits
around the head, but slides down over the eyes. 
Or booties that are the right length in the foot, but too loose around
the ankles. 

Then, throw in the temptation (which I cannot resist) to
make matching sets: sweater, booties, bonnet. 
I have this insane optimism that they will all fit the baby at the same time!  I could blame the publishers of hundreds of
patterns which show a baby wearing the set of matching pieces (probably the
sweater hangs open winsomely because it won’t close around the chubby belly
while the hat has been stuffed with polyfil and the booties are duct-taped
on).  But I should know better myself by
now.

Even doing my own designs with the baby nearby to measure
whenever I need to do so, I run into the same issue – because of the fluid
variables of baby growth and knitting time. 
Maybe her foot is 3 ½ inches long today (she has sweet kangaroo feet!),
but will it sprout a half inch overnight? 
The night I manage to get the second bootie done? 

Good heavens, I find myself stressing out over the cradle
blanket I am knitting – biting my lip and wondering how long she will be
sleeping in a cradle?  4 months?  Okay, it seems like I can get the cradle
blanket done before it becomes obsolete – so maybe I had better go work on that
second bootie – immediately!