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)!

Knit Not Lost

Despite the long vacations between posts, I have not forgotten how to knit.  It seems rather, that I've forgotten how to blog.  Like exercise, vitamins, and sleep, I should be knitting and blogging daily in order to remain "healthy" (or at the very least sane).  Going forward, I will try to do just that - exercise, take my vitamins, knit, blog, and sleep.  Nothing else!

Going backward, here is the sweater I knit for nephew O for his 4th birthday.  This picture makes the sweater look huge, but fortunate for tiny little nephew O, the sweater is between a 4 and 6T.  At his current growth rate, he should get a year or 2 of wear out of this one.

Duplicate stitching on the B was interesting.  It wasn't difficult, it was just time consuming.  If you've never done this technique before, I highly recommend watching a video tutorial. Stitching side to side (top and bottom of "B") produced a much nicer, flatter fabric than did the verticals.  The verticals puff out a bit due to the yarn crossing back and forth on the inside of the sweater.

The pattern overall is wonder, easy, and quick.  No seaming what-so-ever.  I will actually be using this pattern again to make a sweater for niece A (nephew O's little sister).

Sweater Specs:  Children's Neck Down Pullover, Dream In Color Classy in Happy Forest, Berroco Vintage in Wild Blueberry.