I found this pattern in Katia childrens' pattern book no. 39. It's knit in Katia's Nepal, which is a great bulky wool-acrylic blend (machine washable, very important for kids' clothing), with just a touch of texture to it. For a 6 year size it only took three balls, which means you can knit it for under 25 euros. Normally I'm not big on bulky yarn, but I make a few exceptions.
The sweater is actually supposed to be knit in reverse stockinette, with a p2/k1 rib at the bottom and cuffs and the rib at the yoke starting with p6/k1. I knit it that way (not that it makes much difference), changing the neck slightly - garter stitch instead of reverse stockinette - but then when I got it done and turned it inside out to sew the sleeve seams, I realized I liked it much better that way. The way it was supposed to be knit, it looked more like one of those cheap third-world sweaters you'd pick up at a market in Mexico or something. Cute, but really not the way I want my handknits to look. Turned 'inside-out' it looked more like a beautiful handmade sweater that somebody knit with love. I love that the sleeves are different colors, and I love the great stripes it makes. It also knit up really quickly, being bulky and knit on 7mm needles (slightly bigger than a 10 1/2 US, but not as big as an 11) - the yarn arrived, ordered from my favorite yarn store in Leiden, on Monday just before dinner, and the sweater was done Wednesday night (aside from sleeve sewing).
Anyway, my four year-old loves it, too. She also loves picking up and playing with all the scrap yarn that somehow ends up scattered all over our living room. I made it a size bigger, so hopefully she can get an extra year out of it. Kids outgrow stuff so quickly! At least I have another girl, now almost 5 months old, that I can pass all of the older one's handknits down to. Their birthdays are just three days apart, so they should be about the same sizes at about the same time of year (just four years apart). I'm a bit reluctant to knit for the baby much, as she'll outgrow it in just a couple of months - but I am knitting her a beautiful merino dress, which will probably be the next thing that shows up here.
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3 comments:
Gorgeous jumper! And that smile -- wearing a made-with-love garment always feels extra nice!
And with the weather lately, here at least, warm woolies are necessary. Cold, damp, and non-stop rain. It's a monsoon here.
Same weather here. I'm glad I got it done now. Been cold and rainy all week - we even have to have heat on in our bedrooms at night.
I use heat for an hour before bed to get the chill out of the air, but in the morning, I always wish I'd left it on overnight -- very difficult to throw back those covers and brave the cold.
Meant to say that the wanting of yarn scraps is due to Nonni giving her lots of them to play with, weave into webs on the backs of chairs, etc. She had a summer of knotting and weaving. I think she'll be another generation of knitter; she already loves gorgeous yarns.
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