Ellenmarie’s Baby Bolero

This is what Ellenmarie was knitting on Saturday at the Public Market. (Note the look of concentration on her face in the photo in Teresa's last post.) Isn’t it darling? Ellenmarie knit this Baby Bolero in colors to suit a friend who’s expecting.




Specs:
Pattern Name: Baby Bolero
Designer: Leigh Radford

Book: One Skein

Author (if different than designer): I think they’re one and the same. I no longer have the book around to check.

Needles: Sizes 7 and 8 (The instructions called for 8 & 9.) I used the Denise circulars and just changed points when the needle size changed.

Yarn: Cascade Sierra Quatro, 80% pima cotton, 20% wool.

Colorways: The body is color #91. I don't know the trim yarn color number as Teresa let me use it from her stash.

Comments From Ellenmarie:
I had a bee in my bonnet and forged ahead. I did a regular seam to put the sleeves in, though I used a broadly conceived form of mattress stitch for the sleeve seam itself. I actually finished the bolero this morning and gave it to my friend at work this afternoon. I think she really liked it, especially commenting on the colors. The purple worked very well. I'm attaching a photo as I had a hard time giving it away when so recently completed.

One thing I noticed both when knitting the body and then comparing it to pictures of others online is that the eyelet pattern in the back does not come out clearly in mine. (The way I photographed the bolero makes this not visible, though that wasn't my intention!) I think the problem might have been that I was trying to alter the pattern due to my combination knitting style. My understanding of Annie Modesitt's advice for combination knitters is that k2tog and ssk are reversed, creating a left or right-leaning decrease. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding her or didn't need to do this in this particular pattern. At any rate, I tried to block the pattern after stretching out the holes in the eyelet pattern, with some success. Still, at one point I considered finding/creating an entirely different pattern so that it would stand out more. Even the picture in One Skein doesn’t show a very distinct eyelet motif, and some of the pictures of others’ versions of the Baby Bolero show a much more clearly defined pattern.

The Baby Bolero is beautiful Ellenmarie. What a lovely gift!