Baby’s First Fair Isle Cardigan, a new, circularly-knit, stranded and steeked Fair Isle knitting design by Mary Ann Stephens. Available here as a PDF from Mary Ann’s online yarn shop, MaryAnnStephens.com.  Also available as a PDF through Mary Ann’s store on Ravelry.  The design uses four shades of fingering weight yarn.

It’s been an awfully long time since we’ve had a baby in the family.  Right now, our “baby” is my youngest son, who’s 16 already!  (Although he’d probably tell you the “baby” in our family is Gracie, below:)

Gracie with her friend, Mr. Roosevelt.

One of my wonderful nephews, and his very sweet wife, recently announced that they’re expecting a girl in July.  We’re so excited for them!  The glowing Mom-to-be told me that she’d like “something different”.  I’ve heard that a lot lately – so many soon-to-be parents want “something different”.  But how different is their “different”?

Some of you might be surprised to hear that one of the most common threads among today’s “something different” seekers has been a preference for something grey for their babies.  That’s definitely different than the traditional pink or blue!  But,  I think it can also turn out to be be pretty cute, and often unisex, too.  So, I knit this little grey cardi with the latest wave of “different” in mind:

Baby’s First Fair Isle Cardigan, in the grey colorway, with classic straight-sided shaping.

At least I’ll be covered if it turns out that the sonogram technician missed something! 😉

Asking my nephew’s wife a bit more about her color preferences, it turns out she wants something “Girly…but not too girly.  More purple than pink.”  So maybe not quite as “different”as the latest trend seekers’ “different”.  Maybe something more like this:

Baby’s First Fair Isle Cardigan in the mint colorway, with a bell-shaped, gathered body.

Of course, there are countless combinations that would be suitable for a design like this.  Which colors would you use?