Tag Archives: toddler sweater

Nearly There

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I’ve just about done it- I’ve got all the big pieces for the toddler Ben-ish pullover finished. (And right in time for summer-y weather to set in. Though this is Seattle; I’m sure it’ll get back to cold and rainy before the week is out.)

The sweater looks so good! I just love this cable pattern- it’s making me want to knit up another Ben for myself (the one I made for my husband 10+ years ago and that I subsequently adopted/stole back is looking pretty disreputable). I can’t wait to see this on my little guy. He’s naturally got a real “tenured professor” vibe, so it’s basically a crime that he doesn’t have a cabled sweater already. Maybe I should add some elbow patches, too.

Anyway, all that’s left is to seam it, add the collar and block it. And if I say it like that, it doesn’t sound like much, but I’m sure it’s going to take a few weeks for me to actually get around to finishing up everything. Because why would this step take any less time than any other step? For a tiny little sweater, it’s really taking a lot of work. Long gone are the days of finishing an entire adult sweater in two weeks.

How do you feel when you get close to the end of a project?

Buying yarn

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I have been thinking about why I’ve been so uninspired by my knitting recently, and what I can do to help turn that around in the new year. And I realized something. I haven’t bought any new yarn since Covid started- almost 3 years ago. I bought a little new yarn when I made the stocking for my little kid (before he was born, 2 years ago). And I bought an extra skein to add to my big kid’s stashbusting sweater this summer. But that’s it. And I ordered them online.

All that’s to say, I was looking at my dwindling stash and I found what I thought was enough yarn for a sweater for my little kid- 1 whole and 2 half-skeins of Berroco Vintage, which made me decide to make a Ben sweater for my little guy. It’s one of my favorite sweaters- I made one for my husband right after we got married years ago, and since then it’s “mysteriously” ended up in my wardrobe. Funny how that happens.

I did a little swatch on smaller-than-called-for needles and measured a bit of the gauge, then ripped it out- I knew I was going to need every last inch if I wanted to make my 2-year-old an entire sweater. I did a bunch of math, and sketched out a simplified, toddler-sized version of the Ben sweater.

I was just about ready to cast on, when I realized two things: 1. There’s no way I have enough yarn for even a toddler sweater- it’s less than 200g, with both colors combined. Maybe enough for a newborn sweater, but not enough for my “robust” 2-year-old. And 2. I want to buy some new yarn!

So I called over my little guy and asked him what color he wanted, to which he of course said “Geen!” (Green is literally the only color he knows, luckily he looks great in green.) And I ordered myself some new yarn! I picked out “Okra,” this cheerful heathered “geen” colorway.

Now I get to wait impatiently for the yarn to come in the mail and I get to start working on my little guy’s sweater. I’m so excited!

What’s the last yarn that you’ve bought for yourself?

Yikes! Stripes!

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Why I love making sweaters for my kid:

  1. They’re super cute.
  2. They go super fast (at least compared to a grown-up sweater).
  3. I usually have just enough yarn just hanging out in my stash to make something fun.
  4. The dang kid grows so fast, I don’t really have to worry about sizing (as long as I make the sweater big enough). He’ll grow into it in about fifteen minutes.
  5. Makes me feel like some sort of Type-A-Martha-Stewart-Ma-Ingles impressive mom who’s got it all squared away.

Why I don’t love making sweaters for my kid:

  1. The dang kid refuses to wear them.

I mean, he’ll wear them sometimes, if it’s cold enough. But currently, Seattle is not cold enough in his opinion. (He runs hot like his dad. I’ve been wearing sweaters since August.) Also, with being in quarantine for the last… several months, I’ve been a little lax about the whole “getting dressed in actual clothes” thing. Most days he spends in last night’s footie PJs, or just running around in a diaper. I can’t really blame him. I currently have my “Day PJs” and my “Night PJs,” so I’m not doing much better.

Anyway, all that is to say: I finished his Striped Pullover. It’s super cute. It’s gigantic. And he probably will refuse to wear it until mid-December. So, here’s a picture of it, nicely blocked and laying out on the floor. (Not pictured is my kid, just out of frame, spreading LEGOs all over the living room.)

I love how the stripes turned out, and how all the disparate colors ended up blending pretty seamlessly (though, part of that is the poor color balance on the photo. The green stripes are much more green and the red stripes are much more red in person.) And, as far as I can tell, it’s going to fit the kid. (I managed to get the collar over his head, just to check if my bind off was too tight for his giant noggin. It’s not.)

Though, compared to his current favorite outerwear, it’s massive. I’m just going to say it’s “oversized,” “cozy,” and “he’s going to grow into it”.

Maybe by the time he’s ready to wear real clothes again, he’ll fit into it properly.

Do you ever knit for kids?

Sheep in a Jeep and a Sweater on my Needles

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I’m stoked, you guys.  I finished my work knitting (thank god), and that means I finally get to work on the sweater I’ve been thinking about for months now!

That’s right, I’m going to do it!  I’m going to make a Sheep in a Jeep sweater for my kid!

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I dug through my stash and, would you believe, I had all the colors I needed for my design!  (Except for white, which was easy enough to fix.)  I’m using Knit Picks Hawthorne, because it’s sturdy enough to hold up to a one-year-old, it’s machine washable and it’s fine enough that I can do color-work in it without it getting weird.  Also, it’s what I had in my stash, and you know I like knitting from my stash.

I’m kind of winging the pattern, basing it roughly on the measurements of a similar gauged sweater (Christmas in July), but making it a bottom-up, raglan, v-neck, instead of a top-down, yoked, crew-neck.  So basically it’s an entirely different sweater.

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The bottom of the sweater will be brown, with a row of radishes “growing” in the soil, then blue sky above.  I’m kind of on the fence if I want radishes on the sleeves, too.  I don’t know if color-work sleeves are a good idea for a toddler sweater.  But, I’ve got a while before I have to decide.

I’m so excited about this project!  And, if it turns out, I might just turn it into a pattern!

What are you excited about these days?