12.11.05

Finished Object: Cabled Toddler Pullover

Posted in Finished Objects at 6:24 pm by Rachel

Pattern: Cabled Hooded Pullover from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: Knitpicks Shine in “River”
Notes: Some of you may remember when I launched my line of clothing for misshapen babies this past summer. Well, I’m pleased to announce the addition of cold-weather wear to that line. If your one-year-old is broad-chested, twig-wristed, and has a head the size of a college linebacker’s, this is the sweater designed just for him!

Okay, it’s probably not as bad as all that. And it definitely came out better than I was expecting when I was about 3/4 done. Once I added the ribbing around the waist to keep it from being a cabled, hooded crop-top, it seemed to look a little more normal. Still, this should teach me that when I knit a gauge swatch and don’t get gauge, my response should not be to say “screw it, I’ll make adjustments as I go along.”

The things I’m happy about with this sweater: the yarn is soft and springy and a beautiful color; I would definitely use Shine again. And I do think it’s a cute pattern, even if I did not execute it expertly.

So who is this sweater for? Oops, what I meant to say is, so, for whom is this sweater? Well, originally I was making it for our friends who are expecting their second baby in April. The plan was to make this to fit their two-year old for a short time so it could be a hand-me-down to the second baby (sorry, as a firstborn I probably don’t have the appropriate sensitivity to non-firstborns’ need to have their own new things occasionally). However, due to a huge variety of factors, this sweater came out sized for about a twelve-month-old (I base this on standard measurements as well as on holding it up to a five-month-old and trying to extrapolate how much he needed to grow to fit into it). The problem is, the baby for whom it was intended will be one year old just as the weather is getting warm. That, combined with the undeniable imperfections in the sweater (which make me less proud to give it as a gift), leads me to consider putting it aside for either a) children of my own someday, or b) someone I like less. Yes, I said it.

Permalink