It was 29 degrees out at the bus stop this morning! I brought the wool basket down, gathered some of the recently finished knits and everyone bundled up against the cold. The newest item being worn was the Noro Scarf that I was working on a few days ago. I blocked it yesterday, and because my room gets super warm with the door closed at night, it was dry this morning!

More info about the Scarf for Jerry on Ravelry. When Jerry comes home today I’ll have to weigh the yarn to see how much was used. The yarn was a gift and already wound into balls, so I’m not sure of the exact yardage. If I had to guess it would be maybe 3 skeins?

Jerry is also wearing his new Asheboro Hat.  The mittens are the Girdwood Mittens in Cascade 220 knit in the Big Kid size. Remember the Girdwood Mittens? The pattern comes in all sizes and would be a quick knit for Christmas gifts! Just sayin!

If you’re wondering about the way he’s posing in this picture, he was being a robot. It has something to do with Looney Tunes I think.

And now for Maggie’s ensemble! She beats Jerry by one point because she is wearing a hand knit coat!

The coat is the recently completed Tomten. Yesterday was a cold morning, too, so I put her Tomten out where she could see it and told her it was cold. I don’t want to force her to wear the knitting, but I want to make sure she remembers that it’s an option. And yesterday she chose to wear the knitted coat! I was so happy.

Like Jerry, Maggie (doing robot moves) is also wearing Girdwood Mittens and her Asheboro Hat.  Her mittens are undocumented on the blog and Ravelry because they were a Girdwood prototype. She loves them, but the mittens are…imperfect. Luckily for us Maggie is like the honey badger. She don’t give a shit that her mittens don’t match.

The scarf that Maggie is wearing is a simple lengthwise garter stitch scarf knit with glorious Baby Alpaca Grande. On Raverly, it says I finished this almost exactly 2 years ago! Imagine that.

So maybe Maggie is not technically all wooled up, but partially alpaca-ed up. Even better!

In my previous post about this sweater, I mentioned some of the modifications I’ve made to the pattern. Another mod I made besides those already detailed is that I decreased the sleeves to 32 sts, instead of 28 as directed. Then I added that little loopy at the back of the neck with i-cord that you can see in the last two pictures. Don’t ask how I did it, because I don’t think I could replicate it if I tried.* Also, when I finished the pockets, I put the stitches from threads onto a needle, but didn’t bind off right away; I knit three more ridges then bound off. The pockets are nice and deep.

*Essentially what I did: I marked the center back stitch, and when I got that point in the i-cording I stopped attaching it and knit the i-cord for about 10 rounds. Then I flipped it around and attached it again (this is the part I cannot replicate) and continued i-cording as before. When I was weaving in my ends, I tacked the loopy down so that it would stay in place.

The sweater is big on Maggie. I hope it doesn’t look too big, my goal was that it would fit now and fit next year (and fingers crossed, the year after). Seeing as she has nearly outgrown the jeans that I bought her in August, I won’t hold my breath. This Tomten has room for growing, but please don’t grow too quickly, mkay?

Tomten project page on Ravelry

So that’s the Tomten! It was exactly the knitting project I needed after knitting all those socks a few weeks ago. But now I must face the music and get started on all those Christmas ideas I have. Balls anyone?

Maggie’s Tomten is getting a collar this time, not a hood like last time. You can’t really tell but the collar is done, and the very next thing I will do is start the first sleeve!

I’m knitting this from the pattern that appears in The Opinionated Knitter. The yarn is Cascade Ecological Wool and on a US 8 needle it’s knitting up at 4 sts/inch. Therefore, I am following the pattern almost exactly as it appears in the book. The finished size should be about 27″ and Maggie’s actual measurement is 22″, allowing for positive ease and room for growing.

I’m following the cast on numbers, but I have have made a few small modifications. My pockets are 18 sts wide (the pattern says 14; I wanted them bigger). Also, as the pockets are wider, I needed to make them longer, too. The pockets are 15 ridges, and I inserted them at 22 ridges. I made the body longer by 8 ridges to accommodate my growing girl. I always say that she has a long torso, but I really have no idea if this is true or not. It seems as if she has a long torso so I made the sweater longer. I also calculated how long the sweater would be if I followed the pattern, measured Maggie from her shoulder to her waist, and decided two more inches would be perfect.

EZ directs you to cast off the underarm stitches, but Meg’s note on the page says she leaves them on a thread and incorporates them as she knits the sleeves. That’s what I’m going to do.

You can see the red yarn that I’m using to hold stitches; I think I will use that color for an i-cord edging and to finish the pockets. I really can’t wait to finish this and try it on Maggie. It’s such a cute sweater. I am perpetually amazed by the genius of Elizabeth Zimmermann. Garter stitch FTW.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

I’m calling it done even though it’s not quite. I have one underarm to graft and a few ends to weave in and then blocking. I made it lickety-split. I swatched then cast on on Sunday afternoon.

Kid sweaters usually come together lickety-split; that’s probably why I knit so many of them.

This sweater doesn’t belong to me. I made it for a class I’m teaching at my LYS (“Custom-sized Pullover for your Kid” is the name of the class). The striped raglan will live at Gate City Yarns for a while, but maybe if I make them another sample, they’ll give this one back to me after a while.

The yarn is O-Wool Balance (organic, how fancy) and it was really, really nice to work with. I am in spazzy love with it. The blend is 50 Merino/ 50 Cotton and it has all this lovely tweediness that I think gives the sweater such charachter.

Can you guess the pattern? Of course, it’s EZ, but I used a Spun-Out design called A Family of Raglans (SO45/WG69 on Rav). I have Zimmermann raglan patterns in the books, but this – a single page leaflet available for $1 from Schoolhouse Press – is a pattern chock full of new-to-me information. Worth $1? Damn straight.

baby got back

There are short rows hidden in there to make the back longer than the front. I’m terrible at knitting short rows, and if I showed you a better picture you might see how unsightly they are on the yoke. This bothers me only slightly, thank goodness, because what’s really important here is that it’s a highly serviceable sweater.

Cute, no?

Some basic notes on the design:

• I used a smaller needle on 100% of the stitches for the edges. It really doesn’t get any easier than that.
• The decreases at the raglan lines were suggested in the pattern: Dec rnd: K2tog, p1, ssk. Plain rnd: knit. I’d never used it before and I like it a lot.
• Um, that’s it. It was a really easy sweater.

Now all that’s left is that other underarm, and blocking! And then I say goodbye to this sweet striped raglan for a long, long time…

Following is an in-depth look at how I did it and everything you need to know to make one, too.

Things You Should Know

• You must have a copy of the pattern to follow along.  The Baby Surprise Jacket is available in The Opinionated Knitter, Knitting Workshop, a couple of back issues of Knitter’s and as a $3 single pattern leaflet from Schoolhouse Press.  You have no reason not to own your own copy. [Ravelry]
• It would be very helpful if you have already knit a regular BSJ without modifications.
• I have a hunch that two- and three-year-olds have the same chest circumference as sweet little infant babies.  Mine did, maybe yours do, too.  That’s good here because then the key numbers in the pattern don’t change.
• Like EZ says, slip the first stitch of every row.  I do it knit-wise, though I have never been quite sure this was correct.
• I eliminated the sleeve increases, and instead began with 18 additional stitches when I cast on.  This is explained briefly in The Opinionated Knitter on page 106.
• Overall there are very few changes to the original pattern, but the little tweaks I’ll discuss below make all the difference in the toddlerization process.  Keep your headlights on.
• Gauge: 19 sts = 4″ over garter stitch.  With the sport weight yarn I used [Hello Yarn Fat Sock, Marzipan, 2 skeins] this gauge produces a stretcy, loose and nearly lightweight material.

Ready?

Change #1 Provisionally cast on the specified number of stitches using a smooth yarn.  I did this by casting on (long tail, as usual) with cotton yarn, knitting a row, then joining in the sweater yarn and starting immediately with row 1 of the pattern.  Cotton is important for the cast-on if you’re using wool for the sweater, so that the provisional stitches are easier to free later on.

Solid green yarn above is the provisional cast-on.

Now knit the pattern as normal, through decreases and increases until you get to the point in the pattern that says “…work on center 90 sts. only, for 10 ridges…”

Change #2 This section of the pattern determines body length and for a toddler you’ll want it a bit longer.  I knit the center section for 14 ridges.

After picking up stitches along the edges of the section just completed continue again as written except for:

Change #3 Make the sweater slightly wider by knitting more ridges before the buttonholes.  I did nine ridges before the buttonholes and two after.  NB: I only made buttonholes on one side, but that is neither here nor there, and makes very little difference in the end.

Now for the fun part.  Or the tedious part, if that’s how you wish to look at it.  I thought of it as fun because without all the tedium you just have a pile of knitted garter stitch that doesn’t look like anything.  Although come to think of it that doesn’t sound too bad.  Moving on.

The order of things to follow, in brief.

• Cast off live stitches.
• Put all provisionally cast on stitches on threads until you are ready to knit them.
• Lengthen sleeves.
• Join tops of sleeves to back and seam.  Simultaneously.
• Bind off remaining stitches.

Here’s how I did it.

From the right side, and using a needle one size smaller than you used for the body, cast off using the i-cord cast-off method using three stitches (I used the one described on pg. 55 of The Opinionated Knitter).  Begin at the neck edge, continue down the front edge, around the back bottom edge, up the opposite edge, around the neck to where the sleeve joins the back.  Here, I’ll show you.

The star shows where to begin and the arrow shows the direction of the knitting (not that I needed to explain that to you, smart knitter that you are).  When you get to the end, leave the last three i-cord stitches on a holder.  Like this (except put them on an actual holder, not a needle, because the needle will indubitably fall out).

Now the time has come to liberate those cast-on stitches from so long ago.  Put the stitches from both ends of the cast-on row — the stitches before the first line of decreases and after the second line of decreases — onto separate holders.  That is where you’ll lengthen the sleeves.  The center stitches go on their own holder.

To lengthen the sleeve, join in the yarn on one end section and knit back and forth until the sleeve is the desired length.  I added thirteen ridges and probably could have done a few more.  Do not bind off.  Repeat on the other sleeve.

Oh, please don’t look so confused.  We’re getting there now.

You are ready to join the top of the sleeve to the back using a three-needle i-cord cast-off.  Count the number of stitches on the sleeve top (excluding cuff), then put a matching number of back stitches on a needle ready to join.  Begin at the star…

…and perform the magical trick known as the three-needle i-cord cast-off down the top edge until you reach the cuff.  Go back to regular i-cording around the cuff edge until all the stitches are cast-off.  Finish off the i-cord then sew it neatly where it meets the corner.  So far so good.

How beautiful is that seam?  And no sewing needle required!

But back to business.  Do the same for the second sleeve, but this time start at the cuff, i-cord cast-off around, then join the top sleeve stitches to an equal number of back stitches with the the three-needle i-cord cast-off.    You will also i-cord around the second half of the neck to join up with the beginning of these i-cord escapades. Thusly:

We’re nearly there now.  All that’s left to i-cord is the remaining live stitches at the back of the neck.

Ta-da!

Some Other Notes

• When you i-cord cast-off around an outside corner, add a row of i-cord that doesn’t connect.  This helps keeps those corners neat and square.
• If you have remembered to slip the first stitch of each row, it will be so much easier to do all the i-cording.  If you have forgotten, well there’s not much to do.  Use a tiny needle to pick up the stitches, maybe?  That might work.  Try not to forget the slipping.

I had such fun making this sweater and wrestling with the finishing details.  Please enjoy this little unvention of mine and let me know if you try it, have any trouble with the instructions or have any suggestions.  I bet if you toddlerize your own BSJ, you’ll probably do some unventing of your own along the way.  Yippee!

One last picture for good measure.
OH!  I almost forgot.  There’s one little “mistake” that I know you won’t believe me when I say I did it on purpose.  I did.  If you find the mistake you may award yourself 15 Cool Points.  Good luck.

My current big project is a sweater for me. I have completely given up on the sweater for my sister (sorry, Hols!). Not to say I won’t ever knit her one…it’s just not happening now. Besides, she’s back in the knitting business (Ravelry username: SpothKnits) so she can knit her own darn sweater.

The pattern I’m using is from, of course, an EZ book: Knitting Workshop.

Specifically, I’m using the chart for the ‘Faded Aspen-Leaf Sweater.’ In the book, it looks like this:

Is that EZ’s actual hand up in the corner? Sweetness.

Anyway, besides using the aspen-leaf chart from the book, the sweater is hardly going to be the same. First, I’m going to can the drop-shoulder construction in favor of raglan shaping. A better fit, I hope. Also, it will be a cardigan so steek stitches are in the works.

It’s a big project. It’s gonna take me a while. So instead of focusing on how daunting a project it is, my goal with this thing has been to knit on it every day. It’s amazing how fast things can be knit when you actually knit them, rather than just imagining yourself knitting them. Crazy.

I just measured my progress, and I’ve got 9″ of body.  Hells yea!

p.s.  I just noticed that my pattern is quite different from the picture in the book.  Odd.
p.p.s.  The yarn is Cascade 220.
p.p.p.s.  Just kidding.  There’s no p.p.p.s.  I just felt like typing p.p.p.s.

This is the fastest hat to make EVER. So I made two.

Pattern: Center Square from knitty.com.
Yarn: Worsted weight wool, held double. I used up some Cascade 220, some Patons Classic Merino, and some Nature Spun Worsted.
Neeldes: US 10.5, 16″ bamboo circular.
Start – Finish: Nov. 4 – Nov. 7 for the pair.
For: A pair of secret recipients.

What am I knitting next? I can’t decide, and swatching doesn’t seem to help. I’ll probably end up making more hats. Here’s what I have going.

Swatch for a Norse Sweater or SIWASH Sweater (same diff) for Jerry. The pattern is from The Opinionated Knitter, and it’s a drop should sweater. I don’t like the light blue, and if I go ahead with this I’ll use cream in place of it – closer to what is in the book. Part of the problem with this is that I don’t think I have enough yarn. That is always the problem with me.

I want to make Jerry a cabley vest, and this chunky wool was on super-sale at the yarn store. It’s Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed. The swatch pictured is the fourth swatch I’ve made. I just can’t seem to pull all the pieces of the puzzle together, but I really want him to have a vest.

This is a bunch of wool from a sweater I got at the thrift store a long time ago. The sweater was a large men’s J.Crew raglan with a “hand knit” label. The yarn is bulky, but it’s actually just three strands held together, not spun together. This yarn screams garter stitch.

Have I told you how much I like unraveling wool sweaters from the thrift store? I really really love it. Don’t know why. Here’s two, though, that I haven’t been willing to unravel yet.

Public Service Announcement:
Go to your local thrift store today and rescue the hand knits!

She even filled her suitcase with yarn to take home, thanks to the yarn sale at my local shop. It feels so good to have brought the knitter out of my sister. Also, she served as a very good model for my newest project.

Pattern: Three Spiral Hat from The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmermann.
Yarn: Super-bulky mystery yarn that I reclaimed from a thrifted hand-knit sweater. I think it’s wool, but I’m not sure. It definitely has wool in it, but maybe some acrylic, too.
Needle: US 11, bamboo circular.
Start: Nov. 1
Finish: Nov. 2

A very fun pattern to knit. What else is there to say? The Opinionated Knitter is my very favorite book and I intend to knit most of the projects in it. You should, too.

Our photo shoot was at The Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden in Greensboro. It is a lovely park and we always try to go when we have visitors (especially if they are landscape architects, like Holly).

I felt a little bad about promising Holly a hand knitted sweater and then not delivering, but she got my beloved leather coat instead, with the promise to return it to me if I can fit into it again. Yeah right. I mean, I will surely meet my goal of fitting back into the jacket, but will she ever give it back to me?

I must say, she looks damn good in it.

Speaking of looking damn good, my mom was game for modeling her three-button wrap.

UPDATE:  I’ve had so many requests for this pattern!  For more info, please contact the yarn store, Common Threads in High Point, NC via their website here.  They tell me that lots of people have called and they’ve sent the pattern (and buttons, too!) all over the country.

She loves it, and it looks great on her!

All my visitors are gone for now. I’m a little lonely, but I’m sure I’ll have no trouble getting back into my routine…knitting…playing with the children…not vacuuming…

I never did get a citation from the Knitting Police.

But I actually think of that conversation a lot. There are rules in knitting, but are we seriously supposed to follow them all the time? I’m sure there are many finished knits I have shown you on this very blog that have minor or major indiscretions that I just failed to mention. Perhaps because they weren’t a big deal or maybe because I was too embarrassed to fess up. But does it matter? Does it matter if we join a new ball of yarn in the middle of a row on a cotton sweater if the sweater is absolutely adorable? Doesn’t matter to me.

Anyway, the reason I bring it up is because I have finished the October Sweater for Maggie.

Looks like a cardigan. Smells like a cardigan. But is it a cardigan?

When I finished it and put it on Maggie for her photo shoot, there was one small problem.

That darn button wouldn’t stay closed. The picot button band is two layers thick, the buttons are small, and I really didn’t want to do any major sweater surgery. I also really love the buttons and the button/sweater proportions. I didn’t want to go to bigger buttons. So I sewed the button band closed, turning my little cardi into a faux-cardi pullover.

I left the top button open because otherwise Mag’s head would probably not fit through.

A little bit of a fudge, which may have been solved differently by someone following a set of knitting rules other than my own, leaves me with a sweater that I adore. And that my baby can’t easily get out of.

As promised, the details.

Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Seamless Yoke Sweater, from two sources: I used her suggestion from Knitting Without Tears to omit the sleeve increases for a child, and I used the adjusted yoke decreases (updated by Meg Swansen) from The Opinionated Knitter. The sleeves were knit in the round to the underarm and the body was knit back and forth. Then when I joined it all together I continued knitting back and forth.

Yarn: Cascade 220. Color 8013. Less than 2 skeins.

Gauge: On US 7′s, about 5 sts/inch.

Cloverleaf Eyelet: A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (the first one) by Barbara G. Walker, p. 169. This pattern is a multiple of 8 plus 7, so I calculated my number of cast on stitches accordingly for both body and sleeves.

Picot: I am not sure exactly why I know how to do a picot edge, but there’s really nothing to it. I cast on and knit a few rows, then *YO, k2tog* on a right side row. That’s it. On the bottom hem and sleeve hems, I attached it as I was knitting by catching a stitch from the cast on and knitting it together with a live stitch. Sorta like a three-needle join although I didn’t actually use a third needle. On the collar and button band I sewed the hem down by hand.

If I make Maggie another yoke sweater I will space out my yoke decreases more. Next time I’ll start the first decrease about halfway up the yoke (which is what you’re supposed to do, I just had a lapse) instead of 2/3 of the way.

See? Little indiscretions. Doesn’t bother me.

Lastly, my favorite picture.

She’s growing up so fast! Whaaaaa!

(I am going to the workshop on Sat. It’s actually the Brandon Mably Color Workshop. I’ve been told to knit a 10″x10″ swatch using my favorite colors. Yea! Time to dig into the yarn bins!)