raglan sweaters for my sweet heart and little star

  

from Pipsqueaks, knitted in Rowan all seasons cotton

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Thought about my knitting all day long, but didn't really get around to doing much of it. I ran out at lunchtime to another LYS that was having a sale and again I was so good that it's frightening. I bought a mere one ball of all seasons cotton.

(Break for applause. Thank you. Thank you.)

I decided to use some of my all seasons stash (leftovers from my first tank girl top, in fact) to make the next little baby sweater I've got planned, but wasn't absolutely sure that I have enough, so I gave myself permission to buy one ball to be sure. I'll be doing this sweater, but in all seasons cotton instead of the cotton glace called for. I've been wanting to make both of the sweaters in the picture for my boys for some time, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Not sure whether doing one now will make me more or less likely to make them for the boys. We'll see. Anyhoo, I'll be totally redoing the numbers, since the gauge will be much larger (yeah!) and the size much smaller (double yeah!). I'm also planning to add a small button band in the back, so it's better suited for a baby. Wouldn't want to make things too easy on myself! I'm excited about trying to rework this pattern and am hoping it will put an end to my recent knitting-related discontent. Who wouldn't be cheered up by candy cane stripes?

I couldn't help myself. I started the cute candy cane striped sweet heart sweater that I mentioned last week. What fun! It's so cheery. I'm having a heck of a time readjusting everything from sport to aran weight though. Especially since I'm also simultaneously reducing the pattern down from 2-3 year to 1 year size. Oh yeah, it's also a raglan! But with a little help from other patterns here and there, I think I can manage it. By the way, Rebecca recently posted that the color from her all seasons cotton tank bled quite a bit when she washed it in Woolite. When I heard that I got pretty nervous about my candy cane stripes. So I made one sleeve and immediately washed it to be sure that this sweater would work. I used Eucalan and thankfully had no problems whatsoever. Whew. New project on!

I picked up the yarn for this sweater and started fiddling with it because I finished the knitting on Smooch and was having a typical how-to-avoid seaming-and-darning moment. But with the help of my Knitsmith buddies yesterday, I made it through all the finishing. Smooch pictures tomorrow. Watch this space!

With the heat and all, I've only been knitting small amounts in stops and starts. I stopped work midway through the front of the sweet heart sweater, but did manage to sew together the other pieces. I tried starting tank girl six about six times, but couldn't get the gauge right. I can't help wanting to knit the Cotton-Ease at a tighter gauge than the all seasons cotton. Now that the temperature will be getting back to normal, I hope to make some real progress on it. Although I still haven't decided exactly what it will look like. Since I have yet to make it past row three, it hasn't really come up yet!

This sweater (well the baby it's planned for) isn't due until the winter, but I just had to keep knitting it since it's so adorable. The little heart came out so sweet and the writing isn't bad at all - sometimes I find knitted lettering to look a bit crappy, but the letters here are kinda neat. I did stranding across the back for the letters because I just couldn't deal with the alternative. But even with the stranding, I still have all of this awaiting me!

I'm surprised to discover how much I really want to make these pipsqueak sweaters for my boys. NOW. I'd planned to make them eventually, but now that I've got the modifications all worked out for using all seasons cotton instead of sport weight cotton, I'm thinking, no time like the present. (Quick, before I o.d. on all seasons cotton!) So, I'm working on getting the yarn together that I would need. I've got the blue yarn from my first attempt at Smooch all ready for the body of the "little star" sweater and some red still leftover from my first tank girl tank for the heart. That leaves only yellow and white to rustle up. And then I'll be sure to knit 'em right up and toss 'em in the basket with the other baby knits that I don't feel like finishing. Notice: no progress since the last time I showed that picture. Apparently, I don't heart finishing baby sweaters.

It looks like Claudia, generous and selfless as she is, will be sacrificing her tiny tank to give us lesson number one in knitting don'ts. And now I give you lesson number two....

I'm starting the first of the pipsqueaks sweaters without having all the yarn. Let's review. I had four skeins of all seasons cotton in a lovely shade of blue. Smooch required six, so I set about ordering the extra from my local yarn store. While waiting for the yarn to arrive, I, well, didn't wait, but cast on and finished the back. The yarn is on its way, I think, what could go wrong? Oops, that color is discontinued and can't be ordered anymore. A brief attempt to acquire more online fails and I start over on Smooch with new yarn. I wash and rewind the blue yarn, excited to put it to use in the first of the pipsqueak sweaters for my boys, the little star sweater. The blue might be enough for the main color, but I don't have any yellow. And although I've got enough red left over from the baby version of the sweet heart sweater, I don't have any more of the main color. Do I wait to cast on with the blue until I've got the yellow or until I am assured that I can get my hands on the now discontinued color needed for the other sweater? Nah. The yarn on it's way, what could go wrong?

Three finished projects in one week. I'm on a roll! Of course, the sweet heart baby sweater here just needed some finishing, like sewing on these adorable buttons! I'm so pleased that this little experiment in readjusting for gauge and resizing worked. I really hope that our cousin likes it. She comes from a family full of knitters, so I was really feeling the pressure to turn out something well made and unique. Still, this project has reminded me of how much I love knitting for babies on the way. Which reminds me, don't I have another baby gift around here in need of finishing.....

The boys had a great birthday, complete with balloons and a fire engine cake! I hate to say it, but the fire dogs were the yummiest part.

No new knitty gifts for the boys this birthday, but they did wear their lederhosen that I knit for them last year. And the mailman brought the yarn I need to make their pipsqueak sweaters. Yay!

In other birthday news, some belated but awesome presents arrived for me, including Vintage Knits, Burda and Ottobre magazines, and lots of fabric for sewing projects.

Birthdays are good.

After taking a wee break for the big birthday, I'm back to my regularly scheduled knitting in front of the tv. Yesterday, while watching a few episodes of Coupling, I finished up the back of the little star sweater and cast on for the front.

Man, am I having a hard time recreating the same gauge. As I was knitting all those tanks, my knitting got tighter and tighter but then I switched to loose, loose, loose for the comfyKami. Now my hands are a little unsure about where this project was in the range between. I generally like to knit tightly because I know that I can produce nice, even stitches that way. When I decide to knit more loosely, I have to concentrate more to maintain that evenness. I have to be sure that with each wrap approximately the same amount of yarn "falls" over the needle and each finished stitch "slips off" the needle but without any pulling or gaping. Loose knitting should be like an exercise for shaping up the control freak in me - learn to relax and let go a little - but it doesn't work so much when I'm trying to match the gauge of something I've already knit. EXACTLY. Aaaaaaaaaa!

I finally began the lettering on the little star sweater. I'd put this off for a while because my evening tv has consisted lately of foreign language films that require a bit more attention than two-color work will allow.

This is how far I was during last night's less demanding tv schedule. I decided to do stranding again. Not sure why I'm so nervous about duplicate stitch. I guess I'm just worried that if it doesn't work out I'd have to reknit the whole piece. With the writing done, it's on to the actual star now. That'll require some real focus with all the ends needed for the intarsia.

And speaking of ends.

I've now woven in ALL the ends on the back of the native sweater. I celebrated by eating the rest of the boys' birthday cake (including a couple more fire dogs). Oh, I earned cake alright: before, after. I feel good about getting the sleeve ends woven in this week. And then I have to knit the front and sew it all up. This time, I'll be weaving in the ends periodically as I go!

Looks like it's going to fit! I pretty much made up the sizing, since the gauge called for in the original pattern was so different that I couldn't really use their numbers at all. It looks like it should be a good 3 year-old size, which means the boys could get a year out of these pipsqueak sweaters. Fingers crossed. I've already had to pack the aran sweaters away because they're now too small and I'm not ready to do that again anytime soon!

Two sleeves for the little star sweater. Had to knit these together right away as I am apparently too lazy to write down any of my pattern changes. In addition to changing the size I'm also changing the cast off, but I still can't be bothered to write it down. I changed the cast off because I've sort of declared an unofficial summer vacation from picking up stitches to do neckbands and such. Since these raglan sweaters have such straight edges, I thought I could simply make the cast off rows nice enough to use as the neck. I liked the cast off edging that the Pagan tank used (pick up stitches on right side, cast off on wrong side) and so am using that same idea here. But instead of picking up later, I'm just casting off on the wrong side whenever it says to cast off. Because the sleeves are striped raglan sleeves, I'm getting this cool striped cast off edge. I did the same thing on the baby version of the sweet heart sweater and was pleased with the result.

Don't be surprised to see the sweet heart sleeves soon. It's either do them right away or write the numbers down somewhere. Just another way to motivate myself to do something, I guess!

Peppermint sleeves for the pipsqueaks' sweetheart sweater.

It was nice to finally get some knitting done! After working just on cookies for the last couple of days, I was happy to sit down with the needles again. The all seasons cotton is still a genuine pleasure to work with, but I have to say that my love affair is coming to its conclusion. I'm less excited about knitting tiny tops in cotton and want more and more to start fall projects. These sweaters for the boys are a nice transition project. Cotton, long sleeves, perfect for those first chilly days. I'm looking forward to them already. And to some yummy projects I've got planned, like this, this, this, and this. Sweet!

I promised Michelle an update on native, but instead of working on it as planned, I jumped right ahead and started the sweet heart sweater. I just got jazzed by getting those sleeves done. Plus, the back is all simple stockinette, so it made for perfect tv knitting while watching Amazing Race. (Alas, simple stockinette in light grey is does not make for an exciting picture, so you'll have to go without today.) Gotta go read Terri's run down of the show now. Have a good weekend! I promise to work on native and show you my progress next week.

Just can't get enough intarsia, I guess. Here's the front of the sweet heart sweater, modeled by B, who will only let me try things on him while Dora is on. I'm trying to squeeze in a bit of knitting and finishing on these pipsqueak sweaters between long sessions with native. I even got the little star sweater all sewed up at Knitsmiths on Sunday.

Awww. I've still got all the ends to weave in though. And as the ends on native will be plenty to keep me busy for a while, I'm not sure how motivated I'll be to complete the finishing on these right away. More baby knits for the finish-me pile, I guess.

And finally, here's B enjoying the cookie recipe that Marg shared in the comments on Wednesday.

Awww. (Thanks, Marg!)

This is becoming a trend. I seem to have little odds and end to report each week. My little list for you this week.

I took a trip out the fabric store last week and picked up some snaps to put on the button bands of the sweet heart and little star sweaters. I decided to go with snaps after hearing the suggestion from Gina. It's a very functional way to close the neck and you can still attach decorative buttons on the outside of the button band if you want. How clever! I found some grosgrain ribbon to give the button bands a bit more hold so they can stand up to snapping and unsnapping.

I've spent the last few weeks at Knitsmiths seaming and weaving in all the ends on these sweaters, so now that I've got all the little finishing supplies, I'm ready to cross these babies off the list!

I also picked up a zipper for the ribby cardie. It should match the yarn (Manos!!) I'll be using for the button bands quite well. Makes me almost excited about picking up a few hundred stitches.

And in other little goings-on, I've been futzing around with my finished projects gallery. Check it out if you're bored!

I finished the pipsqueak sweaters just in time for the cool weather yesterday. (All I had left to do was sew in the snaps.) The boys wore them for a trip around the pond to feed the ducks.

Okay, so only about half the crackers made it to the ducks!

Here's B wearing the sweetheart sweater while playing with his trains waiting for us to go. And here's S wearing the little star sweater while enjoying his new blinky sneakers that we got yesterday. Isn't the first cool day of fall fun?! New shoes, new sweaters, and I see we haven't quite grown into those jeans yet either. My little pipsqueaks!