Baby Sweater

Hello,
I'm a new member here & first off want to just say *hi* (waves from the back). I'm Rae & I have a knitting store & blog. If this entry seems odd at some points it's probably because I cross posted it on my blog...
Politically I've been wanting to hide under a rock for the last 6 years. When the Democrats regained control of both houses last fall I began to see a new hope... Plus several of the Democratic Presidential Hopefuls actually look like viable candidates & seem to be people ( I love that I now get to say people rather than Christian white males) I would trust our Country to. So, when I found a Kal for democratic knitters & then found Franklin's super cute baby democratic sweater I knew I just had to join in.

I'm trying out a nice new yarn from Debbie Bliss, Rialto. It's a machine washable 100% superfine merino DK weight. Very scrumptious. For the blue I'm using Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big. I have several shades of blue in the Rialto, but none of them quite matched right with the fabulous red.

I decided to use Franklin's chart, but use a slightly different base sweater. I'm basically using the Striped Sweater from Debbie Bliss Simply Baby (sans stripes... at least on the front).

I really like this style of baby sweater with buttons on either the shoulder or on a raglan seam. I totally get how this is much easier to force a wiggling baby into. I may add in a little US flag on either the back or on a sleeve cuff. Or maybe play with the stripes in the original pattern. Or maybe just leave the rest of the sweater white with blue trim. Luckily the front is first so I have some time to decide...