Sweater - Take 2

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)!

Winter Warmth

It may be months between posts on this blog, but that just means that I have been busy knitting! I keep saying to myself that I've got to download the pictures off my camera and onto the blog, but instead end up knitting more rows!

I quickly started and finished a hat for my son, but I wasn't thrilled with the way it looked on him. So, I started and finished another one, complete with mittens, that came out much better. He loves them!

The set is knit in Bernat Camouflage - his choice. Although it is not my choice of yarn to knit with, it has worn and washed well so far. I wrote my own pattern for the hat - rolled brim followed by a section of 2x2 ribbing. The remainder of the hat is stockinette stitch with evenly spaced decreasing rows at the crown. Instead of a pompom or tassel, I made 5 curly-Q's at the top (CO 15 stitches. BO all stitches). The mitten pattern is from "The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns". I knit these with a tighter gauge for warmth and longer cuffs. My son does not like snow on his wrists (who does) but gets equally frustrated with bulky mittens tucked into his jacket sleeves. The two pattern changes made the perfect mittens for my little guy!