My Nanook

This post has been a long time coming.  Two years ago when I had my daughter and spent many wee hours of breastfeeding reading through the Archives over at SouleMama, I came across this beautiful sweater.  I knew I had to make one and wasted no time in ordering some yarn from Knit Picks.  At the time I didn’t really know what characteristics made up a quality garment yarn so I ordered some Wool of the Andes, Knit Picks’ workhorse wool yarn.  I fudged my measurements because I was barely postpartum with my daughter, didn’t do a gauge swatch, then proceeded to spend almost two years knitting this pattern.  After spending six months on the lace collar I knew the yarn was going to be too itchy to be the cuddly sweater I was yearning for, but I just couldn’t give up.

After two baths (one in lanolin and the other in hair conditioner) the sweater is wearably soft but still just itchy enough to make it a small relief to take off at the end of the day.  I did take a nap in it the other day but I’m very pregnant and have a toddler so there was a healthy dose of exhaustion in that mix.  Either way, I love the color, the fit is snug but functional, and the pattern is lovely.  It also has the bonus of being incredibly warm and the perfect layering sweater in this very cold autumn we’re having in Germany.

So, first sweater? Check! Onto something else!

Happy crafting.

Swing Thing for Little Miss Thing

Hot off the needles is a new sweater for my little girl.  There’s a chill in the air that is best kept at bay by handknits, especially mama-made handknits.  The main color is a beautiful mystery yarn dyed by my talented mother-in-law and the contrasting purple is Shine worsted by Knit Picks in the color Crocus (I think).  Pattern is Swing Thing with a few modifications. I cut out the first section of garter so the neck would be more open and probably did a few more things that I forgot to write down.  I’m terrible at record-keeping when it comes to knitting!

I love how it gives the Peppa-Pig-pajamas-inspired-outfit a little bit of a boost in the fashion department.  Have I mentioned that my toddler is dressing herself? And that she will only wear two tops, both of them Peppa Pig tops?  We’re all about freedom of expression and whacky outfits in this house, but I’m not doing pink laundry every two days so she can wear Peppa nonstop.  Luckily this sweater was a hit and she hasn’t seemed to notice that Peppa is not on the front.  Whew.

In other news, my husband and I celebrated our fourth anniversary yesterday. And by celebrated, I mean we saw each other for about an hour before bed. But that was enough and it was lovely. Today we’re hoping to go do something fun and silly like bowling if the toddler allows.  I’ll leave you with my little love note to him because we’re sappy like that.

To K: A year ago, on our last anniversary, I bought this yarn for socks. I also bought a skein for myself. As you can see, only one sock is finished. It’s orange (because you’re fun, fashionable, brave, and appreciate a good yarn sale), they’ve been pulled off the needles many times by our toddler (because she is), and it’s knit with so much love and so many memories. I took this knitting with me when you had surgery and on so many car trips around Europe. It has certainly been the year of wool for me. In another time of our lives all four of the socks would be finished like they should have been today (or yesterday, but who’s counting?). But this is the time that we are in and all the things that have kept me from finishing the socks are all the things I’ve loved and experienced with you and our growing (crazy) family all year. Here’s to four years of weirdness and passion and to many more. I love you.

Happy Crafting!