Noblin Design - Alpaca Baby Set

This set is made on double pointed needles using sock weight or 4-ply yarn. The set includes instructions for socks (toe up and top down method), mittens (which look a bit like boxing gloves or hot air balloons) and a hat.

The socks and mittens are made using 2.5mm needles. The hat uses two strands of yarn held together and 4mm needles. The hat pattern gives (slightly convoluted) instructions for the thick and thin stripe pattern.

The pattern is available at Yarnsmith, free with the purchase of Artesano Alpaca Inca Cloud.

Notes:

The smallest size hat is really for small or premature babies. One of the tricks of writing patterns for babies is to have one or two of your own in various sizes. I may well buy some cheap baby clothes to keep for sizing references. The largest hat will fit small kids with big heads or big kids with small heads (pictures to follow!).

The sock and mitten patterns are basic stocking stitch and rib. If you've never hand knitted socks before, they are an excellent place to start. You can work them toe up, using a provisional cast on or top down and finish with grafting or your preferred bind off. The fun comes with knitting a sock in an evening and playing around with colour combinations.

If I had to only knit with one yarn for ever more I would choose the Artesano Alpaca. It is very soft and springy. It does make me sneeze a bit as fibers sneak their way up my nose. My second choice would be hand dyed sock yarn. I love the colour combinations and the striping and pattern as the stitch count varies. And if I had to choose, I would knit socks forever.