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Sweater #17
Sweater #17, also known as the last sweater of the year. I can't believe I knit 17 sweaters; that's a lot of sweaters when I see it all together in one large number. Most of them were kid/baby sweaters, but for good measure I had 2 adult sweaters. Both of which were later shrunk by Husband. Let's not talk about those again.
This one is the Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss. It's cute on paper, but I'm not sure how well this will work out. The front seems very short and the rest of it seems very large. I added the button and a crocheted chain for a loop. There are no instructions for a button, so I just kind of guessed. I figure it can be taken out if it needs to be. Also, ribbing can be added on the bottom if it needs to be.
The yarn used was Nashua Hand Knits in Julia. It's a wonderful mix of wool, mohair, and alpaca. It's soft to knit with and even softer after blocking. I will definitely remember this yarn when I need something soft to knit with.
Tiny Tea Leaves (Sweater #16)
The Tiny Tea Leaves Sweater for Daughter was finished long before the Solstice. The third skein of yarn matched the second one perfectly, so I completely lucked out. There is still some striping, but it's not nearly as noticeable in real life as it is in the photos. I blame the flash.
Daughter absolutely loved it; especially the vintage buttons that look like jewels. Exchanging gifts on the Solstice was an awesome idea and the handmade gifts went over really well. Everybody (but me) got a handmade gift which is good because now I have something to blog about for the next week.
The pattern for the Tiny Tea Leaves can be found here and I would say it's well worth the $4. I kind of want to make one for myself, but the wide neckline worries me. I've already had problems with that. The yarn is Quince and Co Chickadee, soft enough for Daughter with wonderful drape for me. Plus I know she'll be warm.
The Demise of the Hourglass Sweater
Remember the Hourglass Sweater? I can remember working on it last winter in front of the fire. It seems like a lifetime ago, not less than a year. I finished at the same time we were doing to some house renovations and the neckline was too large. It looked terrible once it was on. I finally got around to repurposing it into some pants for Son.
And oh how cute and comfy those pants were. How warm, how well they fit; it all seems like a dream now. He got to wear them once and I planned on putting him in them a lot more. Then my plans were foiled by Husband who thinks that everything must go into the laundry bin. Only he forgot he put them there and he also put them into the washer. On hot wash/cold rinse.
The Hourglass Sweater is now a stack of 8 felted coasters. Although I'm glad I could repurpose it (twice) it is no less frustrating and sad. I would have preferred the coasters after Son outgrew the pants. After I had many more photos of him in them; wearing them happily. Husband has once again been given strict instructions not to even put hand knits in with the rest of the laundry. He complained there's no other place for them, so to make it easier for him I will be making a basket for them. Hopefully that works because I'm tired of repurposing hand knits before I'm ready to.
Sweater #15
The Little Dots Sweater is complete. This was a really simple and quick knit, maybe because of the worsted weight yarn, the short sleeves, or perhaps it was the fact that I forgot to increase stitches for the first seven inches. I guess we'll never know for sure what made it so quick (or perhaps one day we will because Daughter has already asked for another one in purple).
At first she didn't want to wear the sweater. There was some complaint of it being itchy (it's not) and not the color she wanted (even though she picked out the color), but I managed to bribe her by telling her that I wouldn't be making her any mittens (don't worry, she already has a pair from last year that still fit - I won't let Daughter's hands freeze) until she wore the sweater. The vintage button was chosen by Daughter for it's resemblance to a flower and it's sparkle.
The yarn chosen was Lark by Quince and Co. It's so incredibly soft and nice to work with (and affordable). I really can't say enough nice things about their yarn.
The mittens have been started, but that's for another post. Today I am thankful for modern medicine that makes cold season a little more bearable; also Cold Season tea by Yogi.
Less Stress Holiday?
Every year, I make the kids some Christmas gifts from Husband and I (Santa buys those new toys, but we want to instill the love of handmade). Since Daughter was old enough to talk, the brand new toys always fare better than the handmade ones. She's getting better and I know it will take time. I also know that they don't get a lot of toys throughout the year which makes all those Santa toys quite popular. So this year we're doing it differently.
As you can tell from the above sweater (#14) I'm still making the gifts; I will just no longer be competing with Santa. We're going for a new tradition of giving the Mom and Dad gifts on the Solstice. Of celebrating the whole season and not just the day. This will leave the day to play with new toys and gather with extended family. By doing so we're hoping that we can avoid some stress, sweaters getting thrown on the ground (Daughter) and smoke detectors getting beaten with a baseball bat (me - there's a story behind it).
Also different this year will be the no gift exchange with adults (don't worry, we talked to all the adults about it and not one of them said they had a problem - doesn't mean there's not talk behind our backs though). I used to do the handmade Christmas, and I admire all of you doing it this year, but it's heartbreaking when you put so much time into something only to see it never used. Of course there are exceptions, so I started doing the half handmade holiday and then kids got older and I had a lot less time. So we did the try to find the perfect gift on Etsy holiday, which is stressful for those who don't like handmade gifts. So we switched to just find the perfect gift holiday and you know what? There's no such thing as the perfect gift. Then we thought we struck gold with the give donations instead of gifts. People could even tell us where they wanted to donate to. Really, helping out others in need, how perfect is that? Not perfect enough.
So this year, with our extra money, we've given donations on our own to organizations we felt deserved it. We've donated formula to the food pantry so those coupons that I keep getting because a certain formula company thinks I'm pregnant (I'm not) don't go to waste. We've purchased items that Daughter's school has needed. And you know what? This less stress thing feels pretty good and for that I am thankful.
Some finished knitting
For two seperate babes (the pink items went to the same little girl). Not a lot of words today because I'm tired, but the details are below (quite a few ravelry links, but I'm not afraid since they made the patterns viewable to all).
Booties done in Quince and Co chickadee.
Pebble Vest in Araucania Nature Wool. (my rav link) (also, sweater #13)
Vanilla Soaker in Araucania Nature Wool. (my rav link)
From a sweater to pants
Remember my Mud Season sweater? If not, please click on the link and refresh your memory. There will be no hard feelings, I have a terrible memory too. It was the first sweater I ever knit myself that fit well. And I even got to wear it once.
It was so warm on our camping trip (which was good because that trip got cold at night), but then it smelled like camp fire. So I soaked it in Eucalan and I decided to put it on a gentle spin cycle to get the water out. Then I forgot about it. Which wouldn't have been a big deal except that Husband decided to do some laundry, without checking to see if anything was in the washer, and he used the hot cycle. When I heard the washing machine going all I could think was "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"
It was only 15 minutes into the cycle when I pulled it out, but it was already ruined. I wasn't angry, just sad. I share the blame with Husband (who will now always look before adding clothes to the washer). I'm also thinking that maybe I just shouldn't make sweaters for myself.
I didn't want it to go to waste though. Since it's 100% wool it will make some good night time pants for my favorite 6 month old. For those that don't know, wool is naturally water repellent and can absorb water without adding bulk so it's good for leaks. There are more benefits of wool, but you can google them because I'm not going to list them all. Hopefully my favorite 6 month old likes them and they help his Mama not have to change the sheets so much.
I used the Simple Pants Pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby. It truly is the simplest pants pattern I've ever used and although it might look funny having no seam in the crotch, it always fit Son just fine.
Mud Season (Sweater #12)
It got cold out, so it's a good thing I finished this. I refuse to turn the heat on quite yet so I'm covering us all in wool so we're nice and warm. Our house was built in 1940 as a summer home; which is great when it's summer. It stays exceptionally cool and those first hot days we can get away without the air conditioning. It's a bit of a curse in the winter and that is when I wish they'd put in more windows so the sun could warm the house. We'll get around to it one day, but there are more important things than windows right now (like that new furnace).
I contemplated putting long sleeves on this, but ultimately I decided it would be more versatile as a short sleeved sweater. There's enough ease to wear a long sleeve shirt under it if I decide there needs to be more warmth. The Cascade Eco Wool was awesome to work with. I'd used it before on the bedroom mats and Son's sweater vest, but this was the first time working with such a large amount of it. I'm really happy with it and not only is eco friendly, but it's affordable. I only needed 2 skeins for this sweater and I have some left over. I think an owl hat is in order.
I'm sorry the photos aren't the best. I'm not a professional (nor have I ever claimed to be) and I haven't quite figured out the best place/way to photograph an adult sweater. Any tips would be appreciated, just don't put down my photos too much. They're the best I could do at the moment.
Sweater #11
- Used the Boys Can Wear Pink pattern using 3 skeins of Quince and Co Chickadee in Bird's Egg and 1 skein in Peacoat
- I am starting to love knitting with wool and how it looks after blocking
- The tie is a little crooked, but that's okay because what little kid has a straight tie?
- I love when the way the sleeves and bottom of the shirt are hemmed (the Hourglass Sweater had a similar hem)
- I am fighting a summer cold (they are the worst!) so this is going to be short
Hand Knit Love
The Pebble Vest, originally for newborns, but I loved it so much I had to try to make one for Son. Ravelry is filled with people who made the pattern larger or just used large needles and chunky yarn. I'm one of the latter. The yarn is Cascade Eco Wool that I had leftover from the bedroom mats and I chose size 10.5 needles.
I chose to keep the buttons on the side and shoulders because that's part of what I liked about the pattern. I won't need to undo them to put it on Son, but I can understand why it would be so great for a newborn. When I had newborns, I knew it was hard to break them, but it always seemed like they were so fragile. It was awesome when we had clothes we didn't have to put over their head.
And this is how I know he loves it. It was 82° F and humid as all get out yesterday and he begged to wear a 100% wool sweater over the clothes he already had on. I sewed the buttons on during nap and when he woke up he immediately gravitated towards it. He held it up and followed me around saying "on" until I finally put it on. I've always heard that wool was breathable enough to wear in the summer but I didn't think Son would be the one to put it to the test.
This counts as sweater number 10 because sweater vests are still sweaters.
