Needling Along

Jumping to the Head of the Pack: Isaac's Rugby Stripe Warm-Up Jacket.

On the Yarn Harlot's blog, I saw the Tulip Baby Cardigan from Dream in Color. It's just a multi-striped raglan cardigan, but it answers the siren song of all the little odds and ends of yarn I have sitting around. Some dear friends of mine who have struggled with infertility for years are going to be adopting a baby boy this week, and his homecoming warrants a hand-knit sweater. I decided to replace the silly yarn tie with a zipper. Ever since I plucked up the courage to try
putting a zipper into a cardigan, I've wanted to use them everywhere.

I'm not sure that I got the stripe transition exactly the same as the Tulip Baby Cardigan, but I like the effect of knitting the first (wrong side) row of each stripe. Very jaunty.

This was my first application of Garment Designer to a sweater. The sleeves seem much too wide at the base of the raglan, and the sweater looks like it's sized for a 2-year-old instead of a 1-year-old. Perhaps I'll have to knit a smaller one for Isaac and find another small child for this one. Anyone out there know a deserving toddler?


Rugby Stripe Baby Sweater

On the Needles: A zippered sweatshirt for my eldest in a dark purple Peace Fleece and a light lavender Peace Fleece.

The top part is a raglan rotated 90 degrees to make the yoke more striking. I think the effect would have been crisper if I'd filled in with short rows, but, for reasons that seemed good at the time, I didn't.

There are plait cables starting at the neck, going down the shoulders, and continuing down the sleeves. Patterning in the sleeves keeps me from going mad as I'm going around and around and around and around....

I tried doing the waist shaping with ribbing (knit on needles 3 sizes smaller than the main sweater, which was a pain in the wazoo). I do and don't love the results. I think it looks a little bold, but it does fit her nicely.

The rolled hem and neck ribbing are in place and sewn down. I left a space at the edges so I can sew the zipper inside the hem and collar.

The front edge is knit-in i-cord. I tossed in an extra row of i-cord every 8-12 rows to make the front edge long enough.


Zippered Sweatshirt

Off the Needles: A scarf knit of a space-dyed wool/silk sock yarn on size 0 needles. The yarn is all the shades of a peacock's tail. I knitted two downward-pointing chevrons towards the middle of the scarf. This makes the colors zigzag across the fabric instead of making plain old ordinary stripes.

Smokestack Lightning in progress

On the Drawing Board: A boldly patterned sweater of Vine Lace and Embossed Twining Vine Leaf in a gray-green Peace Fleece for my younger daughter. Some of the design elements are recalcitrant, so I'm going to let it simmer while I do some mindless knitting.

The basic idea is to have a center panel of Embossed Twining Vine Leaf (center pattern in gauge swatch, below) in a body of Vine Lace (lowest pattern in gauge swatch below). The sleeves might or might not be knit in Flying Wings (upper pattern stitch).


Gauge Swatch

I need to do more swatching.

Someone Else's Innovative Idea that I Just Have to Try: Nona's Sidewinder Socks

Even though I Don't Knit Socks, I'm going to try these. The process will no doubt keep me amused.