There were more boxes

I did say that I’d have a finished thing for you today, I know that, and it is finished, it truly is. All blocked and the ends woven in, and I’m very happy with it, but it’s too damn dark in the house to take pictures in here, and I can assure you that it’s too damn cold outside to take them there. (With the wind chill, it’s about -30. I’d say we were in the middle of a “polar vortex” but here in Canada we just call it winter.)  I have to go out this evening, and I’ve been trying to come up with a way to avoid it all day.  I keep hoping someone who hates the winter as much as I do will cancel the meeting I’m headed to, but so far it would appear that the heads of the committee are made of sturdier stuff. I’m going to swathe myself in wool and cashmere, and just go.  Speaking of wool, since I don’t have pictures of my latest, can I show you another gift from Christmas?

birdiessweaterdonebetter 2015-01-07

A wee sweater for my niece Myrie. I’ve made her a lot of gorgeous things since she joined us, but the word on the street before Christmas was that she could use a warm, practical everyday sweater – one to pull on over clothes each day, or wear under her coat, or while she was playing. One that wasn’t so precious it couldn’t get filthy or worn – a sweater for using up.  A while ago I made one for Lou like this, although it fit him for 46 seconds, and that largely defeated the purpose.  I liked the look of it though, and so for Myrie’s sweater I started with the same idea.  (There’s details on how I figured the sweater in this post.) With help from a reader with a baby about the same size (thanks Deborah and Alice!) I started with some Cascade 220 superwash, and some Liberty Wool Worsted, and took off. For the weeks leading up to Christmas, this was my go-to on the go sweater. Simple, and easy, and it went with me to every function.

birdiesweatertree 2015-01-07

When I made Lou’s it was all out of the stripy yarn, and I got a little obsessive and weird about it. (Who me? Yeah, nobody saw that coming) With Myrie’s I didn’t even try the striping, because since I’d end up alternating the solid and the stripy, it would be a one way ticket to crazy town, and frankly, in the weeks before Christmas I’m already a few elves short of an effective workshop, if you catch my meaning.  I decided to do the top to the armpits in the stripey, and the body and arms in the solid.

birdiessweater 2015-01-07

I also decided that there was no way in freakin’ hades that this was going to be too small, or not last her through the long dark tea-time of the soul that is the winter in these parts, so the measurements were generously padded.

birdie sweateron 2015-01-07

Victory was mine.  It was big, but not so big that it didn’t fit with the sleeves turned up, and with the addition of the wee birdie buttons from the stash it was very stylish indeed. (I told her mother that I wasn’t sure it was hip enough so I put a bird on it. She got the joke. Birds make everything hipper. Apparently.)  I’ve had those birds in the stash for years, waiting to fulfill their destiny.  I think they’re very happy on a sweater for our own busy little birdie.

 

72 thoughts on “There were more boxes

  1. Love the sweater. I made a sweater for my granddaughter for Christmas. She lives about 400 miles away and I had to guess on the measurements. I guessed wrong. She will probably wear that sweater until she is in her teens.
    Glad you had a good time on your vacation.

    • Don’t feel bad about that! My mother once made me a gorgeous sweater–fortunately, out of a lovely olive-green yarn that didn’t look “childish”. I was about five. She swears she did a gauge swatch and everything. It came out huge.

      I wore it for years with the sleeves rolled up, over tights, as a sweater-dress. Then there was a brief period where it was too small for a dress and too big for a sweater (at least by the rules of my mother’s household). In high school, I wore it as a sweater until I, er, “developed” and it got tight across the chest. So instead of the maybe 2 years I would have got from it if it had fit, I got a good ten years of wear from it!

  2. That is so cute! I’ve made a few for new babies, but they won’t fit for a few months yet…. luckily, I can wait. 🙂
    It’s beautiful and those little birdies are just perfect, as is your little birdie girl 🙂

  3. Pingback: There were more boxes | Yarn Buyer

  4. Everyone needs an “everyday sweater”. I think I might actually just start one for myself (of all people to knit for!)

    This -30 weather is very inspiring for everyday warmth.

    🙂

  5. When my kids were little, I had a three-year plan: in the first year of a sweater, it was too big, in the second year it fit, and in the third it was a little snug. Since my kids were three years apart, the sweater could then move on down to do its duty for the next in line. The goal was six years’ wear from each sweater. The only catch was that my kids were not the same sex, so Isabel had to make do for years with unisex sweaters. However, now that she’s all grown up, she’ become the model for my designs and probably has the best collection of knitwear of any student at Queen’s (I hear she gets stopped on the street and asked about them!)

    • My daughter is also at Queen’s and has a pretty impressive hand knit collection. I wonder if they see each other across campus and share knowing looks.

  6. Here in Portland there was an article the other day about how “put a bird on it” was over… so you may have to find another go to.

    Beards are now more our thing now, but I’m not sure how that would work for a baby sweater…

  7. It’s just a little warmer here, and a meeting my daughter went to a lot of trouble to arrange to get to was cancelled. They are wimps in Indiana, I tell ya.

    Have a good meeting.

  8. Oh, and that picture in your second link? The one with the yarn and the coffee cup? Was my computer wallpaper for weeks. With me it’s tea, not coffee, but that was my life!

  9. I routinely do baby top down sweaters with the stripes just to the armholes and then solid the rest of the way. The recipients think it’s “complicated”, but we know its easy peasy and no matching stripes to worry about!!

  10. Sweet. The buttons are charming and I love the wee purple stripe. That’s a lovely yarn.

    Things have taken a turn for frigid here in New Jersey as well, though it’s really the killer wind. I’m working on mittens for my oldest, who heads back to Vermont this weekend. Sadly, I haven’t been working on them quite hard enough so I’m almost done with one but haven’t started #2. Doesn’t help that he has gigantic hands and wants convertible tops as well. But it’s knitting up fast and sending him a care package is a fine thing. Cold weather definitely inspires knitting!

  11. Yeah a Portlandia reference! You rock YarnHarlot and I love this sweater! I’ve been thinking of making one for me but maybe starting with a little is a better idea-thanks!

  12. It is frigid here in Upstate NY, but two things have made me smile today, the arrival of sock from Webs and this post! Thank you so much for the much needed dose of cheer (next best thing to sunshine)

  13. She’s absolutely adorable and that sweater is perfect.

    For whatever it’s worth, in my experience the old superwash Cascade 220 made in Peru is a heavier weight than what they’re selling now from a Chinese mill with the same name. Watch those gauges. I made a baby blanket last year with a mixture of the two and was surprised at the difference, but there is one.

  14. What colourway is the stripe? I LOVE this exact sweater and it would make an awesome mother-daughter set for my toddler and I. Though I’d have to find buttons like that too 😉

  15. Nice sweater. And, who knows? Maybe it is just large enough that she can get some wear out of it next fall! (Good yarn choices, too. I’m a firm believer that items for babies, kids, pets, and college students NEED to be machine washable. Preferably, they can also go through the clothes drier.)

    And here in the States, we call that kind of arctic blast an Alberta Clipper. I think Alberta misses you and decided to follow you home!

  16. Extreme Winter, I think. Swathed in wool, in my house, I am thinking of knitting myself a blanket. The sweater is so perfect.

  17. Yeah, I kept hoping a meeting I was supposed to go to this morning would be cancelled — it was about six degrees here in Kansas. No such luck, so I went anyway and by chance met a relative of my son-in-law’s who had lost touch years ago. You never know.

  18. Lucky baby…the sweater is great! Bundle up and stay warm.

    Here in southeastern Virginia, school is being delayed for an hour or two in AM due to cold. However, it probably makes sense to get staff in place…and make sure buildings have running water and heat before the kiddies arrive. Tomorrow is supposed to be even colder!

  19. I told Alice she got a mention in today’s post and she clapped her hands. I’m sure that had nothing to do with the fact that I told her about it while she was in the bath and I was holding “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and she was excited to see “a beautiful butterfly!” (“Futterfly!”)

    And now I want to make her a sweater to match Myrie’s.

  20. Luv that baby sweater! I’m working on baby hat #2 right now. For my dental assistant, who frankly I don’t really know but, she’s due next month, and I’m pretty sure no one else is knitting her baby hats. So far: Barley and Golden Pear. Yay for babies!

  21. I’m a new knitter and new to your blog & I’m enjoying it so so much… this sweater is adorable! Thanks so much for sharing your process and thoughts with us- you give me the inspiration for completing projects (just completed my first- it is a shawl- I’m not completely in love with it- but it’s done and I’m on to my next- a scarf!). Thanks!! Sending warm wishes from Florida!!

  22. So beautiful! I absolutely love the sweater, and it’s taking all of my self-control not to go knit one just like it.

    Also, my hold on your latest book from the library finally came and it has me in stitches.

    I have bad news, though. Between when you went to school and when I went to school they came up with a new rule in dodgeball. Now, when you get out you have to stand at the back, trying to retrieve the balls that go out of bounds before they get back in bounds. If you can use it to hit someone still “in” you get to go back and play in the regular part. It makes the games way longer, and gives gym teachers the opportunity to yell at the kids who are out to “try harder.” Sad times.

    • I had a particularly sadistic gym teacher who invented “every man for himself” dodgeball. The whole gym, 5 balls, and you just ran around desperately trying to avoid being hit. I myself actually tried TO get hit, hopefully by someone with a gentle throw. There was one bully who threw the ball so hard it left welts.

      In this game, if someone tagged the person who put YOU out you had to go back out again, so there was some advantage to being put “out” by the bully, since everyone was afraid to hit him and if you did it early you could sit out the whole game on the stage.

      God I hated gym class.

      • I would have loved this version for some stupid reason… Mind you, I don’t have the best aim or a hard throw, but I still love dodgeball.

  23. As a mother of 2.5 year old DD, I completely agree that you were successful at making this sweater appropriately “grow-into” size. Love the colors as well. DD’s favorite color is purple, mine green, and gray is my most picked neutral. Lucky niece! (sjn821 on Rav)

  24. Ok once again you made my whole day! The birds were perfect and what an adorable little girl. It’s 74 and sunny in
    San Diego are you sure you don’t want to come and give a talk? I know a guild…. bookstore…. : )

  25. I want that sweater for myself! Totally sweet without being “kiddie” treacle. Hopefully Myrie will continue as a fashionista!

  26. Oh it makes me want to cast on right now. Adorable and know what you mean about the birds. Some deeply stashed yacht buttons have just had that experience too. Waited for the right jumper

  27. So cute! I made one very much like that, with the Cascade Superwash and Liberty Wool, for a co-worker who had a baby. Top-down raglan. No buttons though. I also use the Liberty for fun randomly striped socks.

  28. Myrie is one lucky little girl!. The sweater is beautiful and functional. I want one for myself. Dang it, that mean I will have to suck it up and knit a sweater.

  29. Hi, I saw recently on Pinterest that you had posted how to finish the Baby Surprise Jacket. I have made a couple of those baby sweaters, God Bless Elizabeth Zimmerman for her awesome pattern. I was wondering if you knew how to enlarge the pattern? I would like to make another BSJ, but don’t know how to increase the sizing for a 6 year old girl. Any thoughts? I did buy a pattern that was published about making the BSJ bigger, but don’t understand how to do it. Thank you for any help or advice you can provide. Nice blog, by the way!

  30. Two things, in response to comments above: one, a great idea! an everyday sweater – I always think that when I knit a sweater, it has to be ‘special’ and all, but I really do like a nice comfy sweater to hand out in…usually an old one, but why not knit a nice comfy sweater for everyday?? Someone up there mentioned something about this, and it got me thinking!
    two: too-big sweaters on little kids. I think they are adorable! I always put them on my kid when he was little, and he just looked so cute! When I would knit one for someone else, they would always say “but it’s too big, you made the wrong size” but really I just thought they were so cute plus they provided ‘grow in’ room. I especially love the comment about the sweater that lasted ten years as a dress etc – that is the way it should be!

    • I wish there was a way to edit this as soon as I send it. I checked it several times and only after I send do I see that I typed “hand out” instead of “hang out”…oh well!

  31. You flew back to Vancouver this morning. Just think of how much knitting time you would have had if you had stayed there for the intervening days. Missed opportunity!

  32. There used to be a business here called Dogwood Lane that made and sold ceramic buttons. I bought a zillion at their going out of business sale. When you run out just email and I’ll be glad to share with you! Love that sweater!

  33. It seems the -30 with the wind is with us here in Ottawa until tomorrow… -10 (-30) with the wind! How can -10 be -30 with the wind? I don’t believe in the new polar vortex term… it is winter. Thank goodness for bulky wool cowls and wool socks!

    That sweater for Myrie is adorable!

  34. Diğer rahatsızlıklara karşın hangi LR Ürünlerini tavsiye edildiğini görmek istiyorsanız sizi lr ürün arama motoru sayfasına bekleriz.

    Bu rahatsızlığın tedavisi ve önerilen ürünler hakkında aklınıza takılan veya sormak istediğiniz sorular için iletişim bölümünden bize ulaşıp sorularınızı sorabilirsiniz.

    Not: Bu sayfada paylaşılan bilgiler kullanıcıların yorumlarına dayanır. LR Aloe Vera’ sı bir ilaç değildir, tıbbi hastalıkların tedavisinde öncelikli olarak doktorunuzun tavsiyelerini dinlemelisiniz.

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