Two Cute!

No one in my family knits anymore. Way back in the day, my grandmother used to make the itchiest damn sweaters for us kids to wear. They were hot, thick, and if we wore them much beyond Christmas Day, it was probably only because it was -40 outside and we needed the layer. When I decided recently to take up knitting, I swore I would never make one of those dry, itchy, heavy sweaters for my kid.

I came across this pattern in a cute book I picked up somewhere along the way (probably Michaels?) called Hip Knits. Truth be told, it's not an amazing book full of super-awesome patterns, but there are some gems in there, and this is one of them. This pattern is the Cotton Candy Jacket on p.58. This was a fantastically easy sweater to make - if you can knit (or purl), you can make this sweater. It's all garter stitch, and knitted up on big needles too. I don't remember how long the large one took, but the small one I was able to knit up in less than 2 days. I would have finished it completely in those two days if I hadn't needed to make a trip to the dreaded Wal-Mart for buttons.

I did make a few small changes to the original pattern, which I will summarize:

• The pattern called specifically for Lion Boucle in Sprinkles. I opted for something a little darker, and used Hard Candies (large) and Popsicle (small)
• I used three smaller buttons instead of one large. I found that a big button required significant force to fit between the stitches (as there are no buttonholes), so smaller ones were required. And one just looked weird, so I used three!
• I decided to forgo the hood altogether. Where the pattern instructs you to pick up the necessary stitches and knit the hood, I did two rows of knitting straight across. That served to pull the shoulders and neck together, and create a teeny bit of a collar. As a result of skipping the hood, both sweaters required one skein less yarn than the pattern calls for.
  

And now, the pictures. First, the large one (size ~12 months):


Second, the small one (size ~newborn to 3 months):


And lastly, the larger one in action, on my little girl at the park: