My sister's baby boy was born last week. And of course I made him a lot of presents, just like any good crafty auntie should. Of course, the time spent making the gifts was not reflected in the time spent photographing them, which was done on our way out to soccer before gifting them. The color is kind of bad in these, which is unfortunate. Anyway.

I had something very, very specific in in mind, and I'm so excited that it all came together just as I would have hoped!

The "main" present (in my opinion) was his little sweater. The pattern is Beyond Pueperium by Kelly Brooker, and let me tell you, I absolutely loved knitting it. I want to make another one but don't have anyone else to knit it for. Maybe my baby nephew will get another in the coming months....

The yarn is Malabrigo Rios, which I love to knit with. So soft and lofty, and superwash, too! The buttons are something I picked up last-minute at JoAnn but have some interesting foil backing so the look a little "crackled". Although I wasn't sure what I wanted to use for buttons, and really went back and forth a lot about it (hence the last-minute), I was actually really happy with how these worked out.

To go with the sweater, there were two different initial shirts for him. One in a smaller size to fit him now, with the "little n", and one that should fit him through the fall, with the "big N". I even had a very specific fabric in mind for the appliques, something I'd had in my stash at some point, but for a while thought I'd given it away during the move! Fortunately, I did still have it, which was a huge relief and I think angels even sang when I found it.

The pants are made of some organic cotton jersey, which I love. I actually hoped to find something light blue and maybe pinstriped, but that apparently doesn't exist, so I settled for this lovely ocean blue and I'm so glad I did. What a perfect compliment to the sweater.

In addition to this outfit, which was the "main" gift, I also found this firefighter knit fabric (in my search for the original idea of light blue pinstriped knit), and I had to pick up a little bit because the baby's father is a firefighter. It quickly became some pants, and I added the dalmation applique to the onesie to tie it together. (An old Heather Ross print that I hoard for only the most special of things.)

We also couldn't leave his big sister out (wasn't I just making baby gifts for her?!), so she got an inital shirt. She told my mom that it's her favorite shirt and that she's going to get some money and put it in the pocket to save for the ice cream man. So sweet.

Such sweetness in these days with new babies in the family.

uncommon grace