Picking up Sts & s Stitch

Both Claudia and Robin came in with their baby sweaters nearly finished.

Robin finished one sleeve and was ready to pick up stitches and work the next sleeve. When she got the sleeve underway, we talked about how to pick up stitches along the button band. The interesting thing about this pattern is that it calls for putting buttonholes on both bands. I guess that's so if you didn't know the sex of the baby when making the sweater you were prepared. I've never understood why it's so important to have the buttons on one side or the other, depending on whether the baby is a boy or a girl. I've got to look up what the historical background is on button holes (I like that trivia).
Claudia needed to learn the kitchener stitch for grafting the sleeves to the underarm stitches. Michelle got out the kitchener stitch dog tag with the abbreviated instructions. She got the rhythm and had both sleeves done by the end of our meeting. It looks adorable. Robin thought she might knit this baby Icelandic Sweater by Lynn Wilson Designs next.

Michelle was working on a few things. First she brought out the gift socks she's making. They're coming along nicely, the yarn is Heirloom argyle and it's navy with a cranberry strand running through it to give it a heather look.
She brought out the blanket she's knitting in Sublime Organic Cotton DK. The pattern is a Knitting Central house pattern. This blanket is so beautiful. Claudia and I both agreed that it has a calming quality to it.
I finished the first "lite brite" socks. I love them, they are a lot of fun to knit and look at. Now I get to change up the color blocks in the next sock.