12-12-2015

I knit the swatch today. Prewashing, my gauge seems to be right on. I’m impatient to start but I will be a good little knitter and wash/dry the swatch before measuring again and then casting on.

Okay, I waited. My gauge is 19 x 28, which is pretty close. Although my daughter is over 3 years old, I measured her chest at 22 inches which is smaller than the size listed for a 2 year old. I guess she’s skinny for her age, but she’s tall, so I will cast on for the smallest size but probably follow the row counts for a larger size so that the sweater comes out longer.

I’m alternating skeins. When I was winding the skeins into balls I didn’t think I would need to alternate, but I’m glad I did. One skein is definitely lighter than the other. I have a third skein that I will probably need.

12-15-2015

I finished the yoke and am ready to divide for the sleeves. I’ve never done a backwards loop cast on, so that will be something new. I’m thinking I should have cast on fewer stitches because it looks like the neckline will be too big for my daughter. I’m hoping I can tighten it up with some crochet.

12-25-2015

I finished binding off the body today. It’s 9 inches from the underarm to the hem. I used the Icelandic bind off, which I’ve never done before. I’m happy with how it looks. I think with more practice I can get the stitches a little more even. But hey, blocking!

http://knitfreedom.com/bind-offs/icelandic-bind-off#techn...

I started the first sleeve. I made a mess picking up the underarm stitches and ended up working backwards - purling instead of knitting. So I switched directions after a few rounds. Hopefully the next sleeve will be smoother.

I picked up 8 stitches instead of 6 and then did two k2 to reduce them to the pattern number. I have 41 stitches on the needle. I knit 30 rows before the first decrease round.

12-26-2015

I knit 70 rows on the first sleeve before starting the garter rows. My daughter is sleeping now so I can’t try it on her to be sure, but I’m pretty sure it will be long enough.

12-29-2015

The sleeves are done and I’m on the button bands. The first band has 71 stitches and the second one has 62. Pretty big difference! I’m going to redo the first one.

12-30-2015

Finished with the knitting! I’m so glad I redid the first button band. It took some fiddling but I got it to 62 stitches to match the other band, and it looks so much better. The first time around it must have been an inch longer than the cardigan.

Now for the weaving in of ends and trying to close up the small holes where the sleeves meet the body. I ordered some buttons online, hopefully by the time the sweater is blocked they will have arrived so that I can sew them on. Hoping my daughter can wear this New Year’s Day!

01-02-2016

I finished weaving in the ends and will block it hopefully later today and sew the buttons on tomorrow. Missed my hopes for having it ready for New Year’s Day, but now am hoping to have it done for when she goes back to school.

01-05-2016

Imogene has worn this a couple times now. The neckline was pretty big, so I did a row of slip stitch crochet with a 3.5 mm hook to tighten it up. That helped a lot, but I didn’t slip stitch across the button bands because I thought it would look weird. But now there’s a little notch where the button bands are because it’s a little lower than the rest of the neckline. Oh well.

Also if I were to do this again I would add short rows along the back to raise up the back neckline, because it’s kind of low. Not unwearable, but I think it would sit better if it were a little higher. It’s my first sweater so I wanted to keep it simple and just follow the pattern, but I think for my second sweater I can handle some short rows.

Over all I’m pretty happy with this. I love the buttons. They are 17 mm shell buttons from Jimmy Beans Wool. I’m so happy that my first sweater ended up as something my daughter can wear, at least for a few months! Now to make one for myself!