Has Anyone Else Had This Problem?

So, I'm making a few baby items in between rounds on the Green Gable, which is getting longer very slowly. It's 9 rounds to the inch, and about 250 stitches per round, so it's slow going even when my hands are whipping out stitches.

Mom called and asked for a turtle hat, and since I have to get the gauge right before I write up a pattern, I said ok. I did have a photo shoot with a friend's baby, who at 8 weeks was JUST small enough to fit the teeny first version of the turtle on her head.




I'm going with a slightly darker green this time, and think I have the gauge right to make a 16 inch hat. The one pictured above is a teeny 12 3/8 inches around.

I also picked up the book Natural Knits for Babies and Moms at lint and am making two baby kimonos for work folks due soon, and later in the summer. So far, the kimono pattern is straightforward, though I'm a little confused about the sleeve, which has no decreases to make a nice cap. Maybe babies have such shallow shoulders that it's not necessary? Maybe it's meant to be a little bit drop-shouldered? Hard to say, though. I've got one sleeve done, and will probably try my hand at sewing it in before making the other.

All told, I'm only about 70% satisfied with the result. I used a very soft (though 0% natural) yarn which is not only machine washable, but also goes through the dryer. The first baby is Gender Unknown, and so John picked out a very nice grey-blue, good for girls and boys. I decided on the 9-12 month size, since it's hot here, and baby won't REALLY need a sweater for a while. Plus, babies grow. I've pretty much decided that while we don't know the gender, I can still make a decision on the wrapping direction, and I think I'm going with the boy cardigan. It's easy enough to change later, if they're not happy. So that's all fine. What's not fine is this:



(It's hard to get a picture of this, so bear with me, and bust out your reading glasses if need be.)

There are two things that I'm really NOT liking about the body of the kimono. First, if you look to the right and left of the garter stitch border, right alongside the border, you can see the line of decreases. I was really careful to get them all slanting the right direction, but they still look all wonky to me. I tried blocking, but they won't line up in an orderly queue, and I'm real annoyed about it. I realize this is a little unreasonable, and that it really doesn't matter, but I'm annoyed that the pattern is set up so that the decreases lie right there, and I'm annoyed that I didn't notice until it was all sewn together. (I don't know if I'm annoyed enough to rip it out. It's not MY baby, after all.)

Second, what's up with those little holes at the pick up edge. You can see them, right? They occur between bindoffs that make the front slant upwards. I'm thinking about using some extra yarn to tighten them up. Does anyone have any other suggestions, or a way to avoid this in the future?

Today: get buttons!