Embracing the Garter

The person with the world's most extensive collection of Crossroad Knits is Sadie, and she is now three weeks old. Her first handknitted XRK yumminess was this:

Cascade Fixation socks, knitted after her moms gushed over the kneesocks
I was knitting for Rosebud during our visit.

Then, upon her birth, Ann arrived with this, remember?

a Cashmerino Baby Bolero and Hat.

Yesterday, I put this set in the mail.

Sadie's Sweater & Such:
Yarn: Blue Sky Cotton, #628 orchid, 3 skeins
Pattern: Garter Stitch Jacket from The Baby Knits Book, Debbie Bliss
Mods: None. Hat was done on the fly, as were the socks (using Knit Picks Sock Garden)

I almost ripped out Sadie's sweater. I mean, when was the last time you did a garter-stitch sweater? Have you ever? I mean, I know the garter stitch is all trendy and it's virtues are extolled all over the blogosphere. But I felt like it was just too simple to give to Sadie. Sadie's Mama Katie knits a little bit, and she is an amazing quilter. You should see the quilt she made Rosebud when she was born. This was after she made the curtains for Rosebud's nursery. Katie is the person who showed up at my door 10 minutes after getting the "I think my Dad just died and I don't know what to do," phone call from me.

Right, so her much-anticipated baby deserved a pretty special handknit, and all I come up with is a garter stitch jacket? I contemplated ribbons, flowers, embroidery, all sorts of potential razz-a-matazz to foof up the sweater.

Luckily, I knitted this sweater while having a weekend with the family down the shore, all non-knitters. And did they gush! The loved the color, the texture, the squishiness of it all. My sister-in-law admired that "cool ridge-y stitch." My other sister-in-law rubbed the sweater against her cheek, loving the softness of the wonderful cotton on her skin. You see, to the non-knitter, they just see something lovingly handmade. They don't know the difference between the simplest garter stitch or the most complicated brioche or lace.

And then Wendy wrote this post, about the simple. In it, she questions whether or not we knit bloggers have gotten a little precious, even a little classist about the simple knits, looking down our noses at simple in favor of the stranded or the lace or the clever.
And I realized that I had made a lovely, simple little jacket, a garment where Sadie will be the star of the show. And isn't a baby beautiful enough on her own?