Baby Gift

I finally settled on a baby gift for my friends who are adopting. I made this cute little sweater (described as a knitted surplice) and am please with how it turned out. It's very soft, knit of an angorra-blend yarn that I've had in my stash so long I've lost the label. The pattern is from a 1950s Better Homes and Gardens Encyclopedia of Needlework I inherited from my mother. The book is literally falling apart, held together by duct tape.

This project also gave me an excuse to learn spool knitting. (Also called French knitting or corking). The original pattern called for pink ribbon for the ties, but I didn't have any pink ribbon and it's a 45-minute drive to any store that sells such a thing. Plus, I can't tie decent ribbon bows, and ribbon doesn't hold up well to washing, so I decided to knit I-cord on a knitting spool. It's very soft, and stays tied on a squirmy baby.

I didn't have any wooden spools, so my husband made this one for me out of a section of hickory ax handle with a hole drilled through it. Hickory is very hard wood and hammering those four little nails into it was a chore. I thought the process of making the chord was interesting, but wasn't certain what I'd ever use it for beyond ties or perhaps trim on a sweater. Anyone else do French knitting on a spool? What do you use it for?