Monday, October 05, 2009

I knit a sweater. And it fits.

This really is something of a miracle, as none of the baby sweaters I've knit have ever fit. Neither of the ones that I've made for Zack did. I made one for the daughter of a friend of mine and it was closer to fitting my friend than her daughter. I have gauge and choice-of-yarn issues.

So this year when we were on vacation and went to the lovely little yarn store in Mystic and Rob said "Hey, this yarn would make a great sweater for Zack", I think I cringed because we'd done the same song and dance the previous year and got one of the aforementioned poorly fitting sweaters. But I like to encourage Rob in his aiding and abetting of buying wool, so I sighed and resigned myself. He was right--it was beautiful yarn, a great color for Zack. So I asked one of the helpful ladies at the store what pattern would be good for the yarn, something simple, no bells and whistles. And she pulled out a pattern that I never would have given a second thought, but is, in fact, brilliant and perfect for me. It's knit all in one piece from the top down--so no seaming. I cast on Monday morning while I waiting at the hospital for Rob to have some tests done and finished it Friday night. And yes, it is a merino sweater for a 19 month old. But I had such fun knitting it I can't wait to knit another one!

Most importantly (and amazingly!), it fits. And may fit him next year (though I may have to extend the sleeves). While (dare I say) the choice of model helps with the presentation, I think it turned out pretty well.






4 comments:

Patti said...

How adorable!! Both the model and the sweater. Dare I ask what the pattern is? Did you have to change needle size? Did you actually knit a swatch? The sleeves were knit separately, right? OK, enough questions. I do love it. Very nice job!

amy said...

very cute. the sweater and model. i love the color. sweaters scare me. for the exact reason you say. i wouldn't want to put all that time into it and then it not fit. but i'm glad you found a pattern that was easy and worked for you.

abi's mom said...

Thanks!

I keep forgetting to look at who wrote the pattern--it seemed like a little independent company. I used the needle size on the pattern, not the yarn. I knit 2 swatches--one with the needle size on the yarn and one with the needle size on the pattern--I used the latter. It was a slightly different gauge, but that was OK because it made the sweater a smidge narrower, which is fine for my tall skinny guy.

As for the sleeves, you knit around, leave some stitches on markers for the sleeves, keep knitting to the bottom, go back and pick up the stitches for the sleeves and knit those.

Mom/Nonnie said...

Nice job, Erica, and what a nice color for Zack!