Gifites for Isabella

The arrival of a new little person to the world always calls for fun knitted gifties - especially when the mother of said little person is a fellow knitter! Jen and Isabella came out to knitting at the Centurion on Saturday, so I was able to give them this:
Its a little apron dress with matching bloomers for underneath!

Pattern: Sundress and Coulottes from the Spring/Summer 07 Phildar Layette Magazine
Yarn: Phil Eponge, from Phildar (obviously) in white and and lilac
Comments: Although I have the English translation of this pattern, it didn't really make the instructions all that much clearer... had to go through a little trial and error - and posting on Craftster for help! - before I understood certain parts of it. But once I got the first bit, the rest was pretty straightforward. As is apparently typical of Phildar, though, the suggested gauge was way off - I had to use a smaller needle size to get the stitch count, but even then the row gauge was still a little off. The yarn is quite fun too - when knit up, it looks a little like terrycloth from a bath towel or something. But the pattern over-estimated the amount of yarn needed for this project - the amount estimated for only the dress was enough to make the dress, the bloomers, and even this little guy:
Papa Bunny from Kate Gilbert's Bunny pattern. But stripey, cause he's much more fun this way! :) This pattern is also really good - you knit one leg then the other, join them together, and the rest is knit in one piece. Sewing up is therefore a breeze - the sides and bottoms of the ears and legs, top and bottom of the arms, and then one seam up the back, best sewn while stuffing. Oh, there's also supposed to be a little pom-pom tail, but I wasn't sure if this would be newborn friendly, so I left it off... Papa bunny probably would enjoy having his tail ripped off by an over-eager little one! :)