Sharp little vest

I finished the sweater, finished the mittens, and was completely in the mood to cast on for something new, to the point of possibly making bad decisions. This yarn was an impulse buy two years ago (originally possibly for long fingerless gloves, but I’ve had trouble finding three-color patterns that seemed likely), and since then has just sat. It’s completely the wrong yarn for a toddler — thin, glossy, not exactly machine-washable, and that white is BRIGHT white.


And yet, I felt compelled to use it in little three-row stripes for a v-neck vest, and so off I went. I don’t have a pattern per se, and I definitely need to look into jogless striping, since the first few color changes have been pretty rough, but I’m all excited about it and whirring away the rows.


I should also probably check the sizing before I go too much further, and it wouldn’t hurt to make sure the black and green are color-safe. Such an ill-advised little project, but it was exactly what I wanted to knit, so off we go. 🙂

Mittens!

Funny to post for such a teeny tiny project, but it was such a satisfying knit that I’m not sorry. The kiddo’s hands have been freezing outside recently (it IS December), and so I took myself to Ravelry to search for great toddler mitten patterns. In a bit of wild serendipity, I already had the book that contained my favorite option, so I cast on with the remnants from last year’s pumpkin hat – doesn’t match the jacket (nothing will, it’s an unusual blue) but coordinates nicely. When I started to run out of yarn just after the thumb, I went stash diving deeper and found a mini ball of Karabella Aurora 8 left over from my very first sweater – perfect.

I think they’re so pretty. 🙂 And love that I managed to use up two tiny stash bits in one project. The 16 mos. kiddo, however, wants no part of any such things. He shakes his head no vigorously, he holds his hands behind his back, and if any mittens manage to make their way onto his hands, he pulls them off immediately and casts them onto the ground. Such intense dislike of the mittens! However, leave him alone with them, and you get 20 minutes of this:

Yecch. (He thinks that sound is funny, too.) At least my maternal/knitter guilt is assuaged – I provided mittens, not my fault if he’s a toddler and prefers to eat them rather than wear them. 🙂 At least Kevin likes them, too, so I’m not completely alone in my mitten fondness.

Encouraging — nearly there

We had a sweater try-on (I still need to finish the neck) and I couldn’t be happier with the result. It’s still a bit long, but the K5P1 ribbing is stretchy, and I think this has a lot of wear left in it.

The color is awesome – a variegated muted teal/blue/brown that works really well with the ribbing. Soft, comfy, bright yarn, and no protests from the kiddo as it went on.

So now I just need to pick up stitches round the collar, knit an inch, bind off, and wash, and the project is finally done!!


I’d dubbed this my “Summer Sweater” in Ravelry, and it’s turned into more of a Christmas sweater, but the size is perfect and I couldn’t be happier with the result. Yay.