The Lament of the Too-Small Sweater

Once upon a time, an ambitious aunt decided that she would hand knit a sweater for her niece and nephew on each of their birthdays. So far, given that her niece is 2 and her nephew just turned 1, this has not been too much of a struggle.

Witness:
Niece Year 1



Niece Year 2


Nephew Year 0 (modeled at 7 mos)


Which brings us to Nephew Year 1. And my great hopes for this beautiful sweater called George. I chose Cashsoft which makes me happy. A gorgeous red to break out of my green rut. And had to do the pockets 4 times to get them right. And, given that my nephew is on the short side, I thought making the 1-2 year size would be perfect for him for the next few months. Unfortunately Jaeger has a different idea of sizing and their land is full of midget babies. (Colleen is much smarter than me and actually realized this sizing problem along the way and made adjustments.)

It's WAY too small. My sister-in-law was gracious enough to offer to stuff her son into it but I didn't think the torture was worth it. So it will go to a pregnant friend and I will have to accept the fact that i'm a bad, bad auntie. Better start working on next year's oversized sweaters now.

From shapeless to shapefull

Tivoli completed!



I call this "Self-Portrait with Horrible Lighting".

Here is a better one:


Pattern: Grumperina's Tivoli T-shirt
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay

I LOVED knitting this. It was very easy to do, completed in about 3 weeks while I was suffering 4S (Sockapaloooza Second Sock Syndrome). And it's one of my few knits that I actually think is flattering and that I'll wear more than twice. And the best part (besides the beautiful yarn and shaping)?? NO SEAMS!!

I have no memory for where or when I found this pattern. I think she updated it as Picovoli which adds some extra steps that I did not want to do. Luckily, Norah is doing it so we can compare when all is done. Hurry up Norah!

Clever Ruse or Complete Overkill?

I will admit that my primary motivation for starting this thing is to make sure the Knitsmiths do not forget me when I leave. An additional bonus is that, since once I move, I can no longer rely on Alison to generously post pictures of my projects, my sister and other knit-tolerant friends have somewhere to look at my progress. Or lack of progress. I consider it a small miracle that I figured out how to link when i wrote "alison" just then. i don't know how to do cute buttons or anything else. Help?! what have i done?

SO, to inaugurate my first legitimate post, I thought I would go back to the beginning. Don't worry- this won't take long. I learned the knit and purl stitches from my "Grandma" Wilma as a child but I don't remember doing a real project until sometime in college. And this is it:

The yarn? No clue. The pattern? I think I have it here somewhere. The result? Can anyone say "oversized"? There is a reason I haven't worn this in years. I do have to say, that although my seaming techniques leave a LOT to be desired, I havc improved since this sweater. I remember buying green thread to sew this altogether. Oy.