But if it was? I would win. (Not that I would be competing against unborn infants. That would be wrong.) The twins sweaters are finished, and the twins aren’t here. (I shall advise her today that she may fire when ready. )
The sweater for the girl half of the set.
This is Rutelilje, from this book in the 0-3 month size. Yarn is baby Ull and Lanett superwash. (I often combine these two to get a broader range of colours. They are not identical, but they are close enough for company work.) I love everything about this sweater. The picot neck, the little blooms around the yoke. The sixty million miles of seed stitch which turned out to be totally worth it….
Modifications? Er. Always. I made the sleeves a little shorter than they asked for, and I put three buttons at the top instead of five running the length of the front.
The sweater for the boy half of the set.
Erle, from the same book as the sweater above. (This book is fast becoming one of my favourites, I heard a rumour it was discontinued…can anyone confirm or deny?) Yarn is Baby Ull, and after an enormous debate in the button store (White buttons would *too* have made it Christmassy) Meg chose the buttons.
Modifications include altering the pattern for five buttons instead of six (I like odd numbers), lengthening the body by an inch (as per a helpful comment from Mary) and shortening the sleeves, just as I did with the sweater above.
If I’m going to make a sweater for someone younger than six months (and why wouldn’t you? They are so conveniently small.) I almost always shorten the sleeves by a bit. I’ve been trying to figure out for years why it is that infant patterns pretty much uniformly have them too long. After long consideration (and no, I don’t think that thinking about baby sleeves is a waste of my time) I’ve decided that it must be that pattern makers measure baby arms the same way as adult arms. (Thanks to Sam for letting me boost the Bitty Baby out of her room for these pictures.)
To measure an adults arm, the arm is extended straight and measured along its length. This works pretty well, since (you can feel free to check this) when your arms hang by your sides they are more or less straight. Same length as they were when they were extended.
Trouble with baby arms is that if you pull them straight to measure them you’re going to have sleeves too long, since once you let go of their arm, it’s going to flex.
Until babies sit, crawl or walk, they hold their arms (and their legs, now that I think about it) in pleasant curves. In a sweater sleeve, especially one that’s a little roomy, the arm curves within the sleeve and suddenly you have all of this extra length. Cuffs fall annoyingly over tiny fists, babies suck and chew on your perfect ribbing and every-time you see the sweater on the kid, the mum has rolled up your beautiful cuffs. I shorten them, which makes them fit better, albeit for less time. I don’t mind.
For my American friends, Happy Memorial Day (is that supposed to be happy? I looked it up and it seems like a sombre day.) and for my Toronto friends, hang tough. Try to think of the TTC Strike as a great start to Bike Week. (Note to self: must watch more news, didn’t see this coming.) Funny how having to ride your bike from one end of the city to another always seems to coincide with the heat eh? I’m betting that the 31 degrees with a humidex of 39 (that’s 102 for you Fahrenheit users) will be enough to wipe the Bike Week enthusiasm right off my face round about the time I’m hauling my bike and arse up that huge hill on St Clair. Drink your water Toronto, and don’t forget to buy an extra one to give to a street person you pass today. The 12 weeks of heat in Toronto kill more people than the 22 weeks of cold. Go knit under a tree.
Added later: I know it’s wrong to obsess about these things and that it really doesn’t help, but the humidex temperature outside is now 42 (That’s 107 Fahrenheit ) and I’m thinking about painting the side of my house with a sign that reads “Climate change is real”. Rant over. I shall resume melting quietly by myself.