Sugar/Spice/Everything Nice

When I noticed in the spring that Becky was outgrowing the last sweater I made her, we picked out yarn and a pattern for another one. A couple of weeks ago, we picked out buttons. And now, the munchkin has a new sweater:

Yes, she's adorable.

Hood up, still adorable

It’s a modified version of ChildHood from Knitty made with KnitPicks Shine Worsted in Crocus. The modifications consisted of no striping (obviously), lengthening the body and sleeves (Becky’s a beanpole) and working the buttonband differently (I didn’t do the thing with leaving the extra width on the bottom band; I just worked the fronts all the way across and then picked up from the bottom edge and worked around, skipping every 3rd stitch). Oh, and I did a crocheted button loop for the top button, which is larger than the others.

And Becky absolutely loves it, which is the only really important thing about it.

Next up, one for Zacky. Same pattern, different mods — there’re going to be stripes all over! And we’re going to roll dice (a d10 for the color and probably a d6 for the number of rows) to determine distribution.

Spring Startitis

In addition to the little shawl I mentioned starting (and which I intended to finish last night had I not left my yarn somewhere that is not Here…grrrr), I cast on a sweater for my daughter and my first pair of socks in years. The sweater for Becky was planned — she’s just about outgrown the last sweater I made for her, so she’s due.

8 rows of garter stitch...exciting, huh?

This one is going to be a zippered hoodie just like the sweatshirts she practically lives in. I think she’s going to love it a lot (I’m adapting the Childhood pattern from Knitty, using KnitPicks Shine Worstedin Crocus, which appears to be a discontinued color). I got the bottom border done (working the back and both fronts at once up to the underarms), but then didn’t have the right size needles with me to continue. More accurately, I had the right needles but they had another project on them so I worked on that instead (my Carnaby skirt, also from Knitty, out of LB Collection Organic Worsted in Teal — which I should be finishing up this evening).

The socks were not as much planned as serendipitous. Craftgossip linked to the Fun in the Sun KAL at Knitters Brewing Company. I’d never heard of them, but they apparently do these knitalongs quite a lot, and they have gorgeous yarns and great notions so I’ll definitely be going back. This particular pattern made me think immediately of the Seacoast Handpainted Merino Tencel in Kelp that’s been aging in my stash for several years, and in fact almost became my second pair of Inflorescence. But it became clear that the yarn didn’t want to be that and so it’s just been hanging out since I ripped them a while back. Clearly, this is what it was waiting for.

Another super exciting pic...no matter how involved, three rows of a project just isn't that compelling

So I cast them on, thinking I’d at least get the ribbing done while I caught up on the DVR…yeah. Turns out the ribbing is not plain as I’d expected, but pretty heavily patterned. Makes for a gorgeous sock, but not so much TV knitting. I’m going to try to do a round or two a day — it’ll take me awhile to get through them at that rate, but I can only do what I can do.

I also re-started a hat of my own design…should be able to finish that up in the next couple of days and hopefully get the pattern up first thing next week. Keep your eyes open — it’ll be a freebie! Now I’m going to try to return to the rule I (sort of) successfully instituted last year: I can only start a new project when I finish a project that’s currently in progress. It seems to actually work pretty well for me, except that I still continue to pile up new projects that I want to make a lot faster than I can finish what I’m currently working on. Still, though, every little bit helps.

And now, it is time to bake some cakes, for Saturday is Becky’s party and I have promised to make her a castle.