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.

The dates for the pictures are below each one.

Just learning to walk. January 14, 2007 (original post)

Still zipped (from the “Zipped, Unzipping, Unzipped” Series) September 11, 2007

How big is Maggie? SOOO BIG. (post about the mittens) December 3, 2007

Tire swinging. April 7, 2008

Big snow, with Tomten (you can see the hood) under the coat for warmth. January 20, 2009

Still fits. January 9, 2010

What a sweater! It’s part of Maggie’s life, and a dear part of my memories. She hasn’t worn it much over the past year, but I’m pleased to see it still fits. It desperately needs some zipper attention. When I put the zipper in, more than two years ago, I had not yet developed my patience for finishing.  If I were to fix the zipper, I think I would take it all the way out and start over.  Do it right this time. Maybe even get a better zipper.

I wonder, will it fit in another year? I hope it will. Good old Tomten.

The shirt yoke refers to this horizontal patch of knitting across the back of the neck.

Yesterday morning I cut the tiny v-neck steek and opened up the sweater, which finally allowed me to see if everything “worked.”

Phew. Having never knit this style of seamless sweater, and adjusting EZ’s pithy directions for an adult size sweater down to a kiddo sized sweater, I wasn’t really sure if my calculations would be right. But after looking at my own math and sketches a million times over, I ended up going with my gut and hoping for the best. It’s really hard to be light and breezy about it when there’s a steek involved.

But it all worked! Yay!  The neck opening was really large before adding the ribbing.

So last night I sat down and finished the neck. I had left two stitches at the bottom of the v live, and made sure to pick up stitches evenly around those two.  After working the stitches in pattern for one round, I decreased on both sides of the center on every round (including the bind-off round).

(looks funny without a shirt underneath – and with unwoven ends flying about)

Then, instead of waking Jerry up at 10 pm (I really, really wanted to know if it fit!), I waited until this morning to try it on him.  It fits!

I know he likes it, too (he has repeatedly and enthusiastically told me throughout the knitting of this one, “I love the design!”), but he probably won’t wear it much, being the warm natured creature that he is. That’s okay with me, I told him, as long as I get good modeled shots after it is all the way done and blocked.  I can sense that he is really pleased that I’m making something just for him, even if we both know he won’t wear it.

Jerry is at Ju-jitsu camp today (hence the yellow belt). We’re missing him. But I will be busy with my darning needle.

And that’s just the sleeves!

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…

I feel like a knitting Superwoman, because it turned out just exactly how I envisioned it.  Perfect in (nearly) every way.

I hesitate to point out the imperfect things, but I will for posterity.  The sleeves could use about 8 more sts at the top.  They are very snug, and I need to manhandle them to get her arms through.

The other thing is that I don’t think she’s really keen on that turtleneck.  Unfortunately for her, it’s not about what she thinks.  It’s about what I think and I think it’s awesome.

On to the perfect things.

I had an intense level of patience with this knit.  I ripped it back in various spots four (five, maybe?) times; I’m proud of myself for sticking with it for all that knitting, ripping, reknitting, reripping.  I really wanted to see this little thing through to completion.

The colors!  I love the bright hearts, and I love how the color changes produce wide stripes.  I hadn’t expected that.  Funny thing about the colors – the yarn store only stocks these bright hues.  I bought one of each (and a bunch of heather brown) and went to town.

The fit is slim, but long enough that maybe she’ll wear it next year?  With the tight sleeves, maybe not.  Kids have big bellies and teeny tiny arms.  I’m hopeful.

Sometimes yoke sweaters pucker, and although I accept that (see October sweater – slight puckering) I was really pleased that the puckers are non-existent here.  I wish I had a better idea of why the yoke is so flat.  Perhaps because the first decrease is placed so soon after joining?  I will be experimenting with this idea.

I am writing the pattern; other folks are loving this sweater as much as I do.  The pattern will include sleeves that aren’t too snug, but I’m not doing anything about that turtleneck.  It is much too cool.  I’m considering including adult sizes.  Any interest in that?

Check it on Ravelry (my project).
Queue it on Ravelry (the pattern page, for when it’s ready).

(Just a thought on that pic of Maggie running.  I love it more than most any picture I have taken of her, ever.  It’s funny, because you can’t see her face.  But I think it’s because it really, really shows my true Maggie: running, exuberant, messy hair.  I heart you, baby.)

After I snapped this picture, I crocheted the steeks, cut the tiny neck steek in order for the whole thing to lay flat, and blocked it.  Yesterday was rainy, today is rainy/icy/snowy/all around wet, and so I will have to wait (and wait and wait) for it to dry before I get back to it.  Sad.

I do not have high hopes that it will be worn very much.  In that sense, this is  a process sweater; the fun comes in designing and executing.  And what fun it is!

I’m making it big so it may have a chance next winter.  I’m making it will skulls, which increases it’s wearability potential.  I am even duplicate stitching green skull eyes (at the boy’s request), to up the ante even more.

The design is my own. I started with a swatch.

The first design looked good on paper (the large silly bottom skulls) and looked horrible once knitted.  Then I took a break from it for a few weeks and came back with the new, argyle-insprired skulls at the top.  I like it a lot.

I have a feeling Jerry will like it, too. He has a thing for skulls:

Even if he wears it only once, how could I NOT knit this cutie pie a sweater?