Saturday, July 7, 2007

Pictures as promised

Here's the front of the Jeep sweater I'm currently working on.

IMG_0591

And here's a close up of the ribbing on the sleeve.

IMG_0595

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Current knitting project

So, I said this was going to be a knitting blog. It will be. I just have to figure out how to start posting some pictures. In the meantime, what I'm currently working on is an adaptation of the Yankee Knitters roll neck sweater. Harry was given a sweater for his first birthday that had a red jeep profile on it (the sweater was commercially made and bought for him at a local store - it was the last one). My husband has a red jeep wrangler and LOVED the sweater. Unfortunately it only fit Harry for about a week and then it was too short for him. So, I decided to recreate it.

In my search for a similar pattern, I recalled the two roll neck sweaters I've made for Harry - both using the Yankee Knitters pattern. So, this is what I've done:

Instead of being a roll bottom, it has a turning ridge where I will turn the bottom of the sweater up and stitch it to the inside of the sweater, creating a plain edge. The sleeves are a 3-1 ribbed pattern all the way up and the neck will be a basic 2-2 rib. The body of the sweater is an oatmeal color and the arms and neck are navy - kind of like a baseball t-shirt. I'm knitting it all in worsted weight cotton.

After searching high and low on the internet for the appropriate yarn in the right colors, I bought some Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. cotton, without noticing that it was mercerised. I spent about $60 getting all the colors I needed for the jeep intarsia. It arrived and while it was very nice yarn, it just didn't seem appropriate for a child or for the design. The shiny-ness just seemed like something for a grown woman.

A few days later I was at A.C. Moore, (where I typically don't like to buy yarn) and I stumbled across a ton of Lily Sugar 'n Cream 100% cotton yarn in the perfect colors. At $1.20 a skein. What was a $60 sweater suddenly became a $16 sweater! Perfect for a sixteen month old who a) won't appreciate the effort or the cost and b) will likely spill something all over it within minutes of its first wearing.

Pictures to follow soon.