So often knit writing is focused on finding the important life lessons in the everyday magic that is knitting. Today I'm offering up my own variation on this well used, and abused, essay form and am recounting the stupid things I did wonderful learning experiences I had in completing a recent raft of baby sweaters.
Baby sweaters are wonderful. Baby items are cute and fast. At least they're cute, even when not quite so quick.
Sometimes it is the complexity of the pattern, or size of the yarn that can make even the tiniest garment feel like you are reading a 19th century novel originally published in serial parts. My third sweater was a Debbie Bliss stranded pattern done in Rowan Botany, lovingly purchased while on a business trip to the UK, just after learning I was pregnant in 1994.
I was lucky to get the finished garment onto my daughter in 1996. In my defense, the damned pattern was written to be knitted flat on size 3 needles. Purling in two colors? How did I ever finish it? Now I would instantly convert the pattern to the round, but it was a triumph of foolhardiness persistence and love to have finished it as written.
These days I opt for simpler items. Even these often test my knitting ingenuity. Among recent trials was this beautiful side-to-side cardigan. I started it in September 2006, with the intention of gifting it to a colleague who had recently had her second child. The baby was only a month old and I was wisely making the 9-12 month size. I chose a lovely hand dyed merino from Brooklyn Handspun and cast on in my hotel room while on a business trip. With a couple of long train rides I figured on being done in no time.
I knit and knit. It was great. The yarn and the pattern worked together fabulously. I could knit without thinking, the yarn was luscious and it was progressing quickly, despite being on small needles. Then the fates struck a harsh blow. Before reaching the halfway point it was clear I didn't have enough yarn. What to do?
I let it sit for a few months.
Then I emailed Marie in the futile hope that she would have some lying around, or could dye some more. She graciously offered to dye up a solid that would complement the colors in the original as matching the original would be impossible. But, I struggled with how to fit the new colors into the design so it would look like I meant to do that from the beginning? Without an answer I let the project languish some more.
I didn't take Marie up on her kind offer, but by chance, I ran across some Dale Baby Ull that I knew would work perfectly. I grabbed the yarn, and after a few more months of marination I picked up the sweater and finished it using a stripe pattern to bridge the center back. By this time it was too late for the original recipient, she was preparing to go off to college. Luckily another friend had a baby girl and I had a ready made gift!
Then there is the tale of adapting the baby raglan from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Here was a chance to use up some Rowan Handknit DK left over from other projects, plus I could play with the pattern to create a button placket along the shoulder. I worked out a stripe pattern that was good for the colors and amounts of yarn on hand and forged ahead.
I don't know when I finally realized I was making my life harder by trying to work a seamless garment. The whole thing would have been much easier to knit flat, but I do love how it turned out. Check it out, I even got an arty shot. Now it's ready to be mailed to a friend in Germany.
The little sweater from Not Just Socks? No problems there, but it was a cute baby item so I thought I'd include it in the round up. This one is off to Chicago.
Now, what went wrong with the Dream in Color sweater besides proving I'm a lemming (more on that some other time)? This one served up a hiccup I've never had to deal with in all of my knitting years. Don't get me wrong, I am completely on board with this as a potato chip knit -- one is not enough. I could knit this sweater over and over. It's just too much fun.
The knitting was perfect; I was screwed by the finishing. The baby is here and is already a month old. She won't be wearing it for a while, but I wanted this off my list and out of the house. Call it part of a largely futile attempt to reach stash stasis (inflow = outflow; there is no hope of reduction). In my frenzy, I took a short cut. I knotted the colors in the sleeve at the joins. I used a good, well-tested square knot and then trimmed the ends. After all, it's a baby sweater, how often will she ever wear it?
My blocking decision was also foolhardy. I was starting a cold load, it was superwash, in it went.
When it came out, it had to be rushed to surgery. I would have taken a photo of my fingers poking through the gaping wounds, but that would be too much for this "G" rated blog.
Luckily, ten minutes with a crochet hook and it was resuscitated. The sleeve knots are now reinforced with sewing thread and the fix is invisible except to anyone who checks out the inside seam.
The moral of my tale? Keep it simple. Buy more yarn than you think you need. Don't cut corners.
But, you knew that already, right?
