I know, I know .... it's been a while since my last post. A long, long, long while! That doesn't mean it's been a while since I last knitted though. The keystrokes may take a break, but the sticks rarely do.
I've been working on this sweater since the beginning of August. Correction, I've been working with this yarn and a sweater concept since August. My son wanted a navy blue sweater for his birthday (end of August) so we looked on Ravelry at some possible options. He picked out Tomten Jacket, some Berroco Vintage and skeleton buttons. I got right to work winding and knitting.
About 3/4 of the way through (body and hood completed) my son just wasn't liking the sweater so much. Sadly, I had to agree. The style was all wrong for him. Bulky and baggy on my 54 lb. stick figure son doesn't look all that good. So .... I ripped it out. Now I have to say that as much as it pains me to rip out a single row, watching a lot of completed knitting unravel has captivating merit to it! I was mesmerized watching the sweater rock back and forth as it got smaller and smaller.
With newly wound yarn balls, I cast-on for Child's Neck Down Pullover in early December. Simple, stylish, and completely customizable. The frigid temperatures and a foot injury made way for plenty of knitting plus my son received an unspeakable amount of Legos for Christmas so he was content building right beside me. I usually get bored with straight stockinette but didn't seem to mind for this project since I knew I had to get it done while the weather was still cold. About 6 weeks later, the sweater - "ranger" - was complete.
My son loves it. It fits him very well with enough room to wear next fall. He has worn it every day and I have to wrestle him out of it at night. I have a few things I'd do differently:
- Berroco Vintage is a soft, wearable and washable yarn but it pills. The sweater is not even a week old and it needs depilling.
- The pattern must have been written for really skinny kids and I happen to have one. Yet, the sweater was small all around. As written, the 10-12 would best fit 6-8.
- I should have used a larger needle, or a stretchy method, to bind-off the neck. It fits over his head just fine, but there's no flexibility to it.
The sweater name - "ranger" is one of the characters from the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. I listened to "Smokin' 17" and "Explosive 18" while knitting this sweater. Hysterical series that I can't get enough of ... as well as Ranger (wink, wink)!
