Finished: Too Much Work for Such a Small Sweater

I certainly hope the recipient of this sweater gets a lot of wear out of it, because I will not be knitting this pattern ever again.

Pattern: Trellis by Britta Stolfus Rueschhoff (spring '05 Knitty)
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease (50% cotton, 50% acrylic), color 122/Taupe, two skeins (200 g/414 yds)
Needles: 24" US 6 (4.0 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: October 29/December 26
Mods: used a three-needle bind off (rather than grafting) to seam the shoulders
Recipient: baby Samuel, who made his debut last week

This sweater is adorable, but it was way too much work for such a small sweater -- maybe even too much for an adult-sized sweater.

The knitting itself was fairly straightforward but required a pretty high level of attention given the cabled patterning. I cabled without a cable needle with the exception of the center cable crosses (worked over five stitches), which certainly helped speed things along. While the yarn wasn't the most pleasurable to knit with, given its high cotton content, it worked well with the pattern and makes for an extremely baby-friendly garment. The buttons are a pearlized brown plastic -- neutral but not cheap looking, in my opinion.

For those of you who might be considering knitting this sweater, here are a few words on its construction: The sweater is knit in five pieces (back, two fronts, and two sleeves). The lower hems and button bands are knit in seed stitch, and the background stitches on the cabled portions are worked in reverse stockinette. The button band stitches are placed on a holder at the beginning of the neck shaping and are later picked up and knit in seed stitch to form the collar. The two pieces of the collar are then grafted together at the back of the neck and the entire length of the collar is sewn to the neck opening.

The collar is what gave me the most trouble. I couldn't find any resource -- online or in a book -- to help me graft seed stitch, so I had to wing it. It turned out okay to the untrained eye; a more perfectionistic knitter than I would have ripped it out and tried again until it was perfect. By the time I reached this stage of the sweater, however, I just wanted it done -- and I figure that in its location at the back of the neck, that particular seam is not going to be scrutinized. I then used a row of single crochet to attach the collar to the neck opening for some added stability and shape to the top of the sweater.

So, in spite of how cute this turned out, there are several reasons why I didn't like this sweater. You all know how much I dislike seaming. With this project, I discovered that I really don't like seaming reverse stockinette. I also didn't like the way the increases in the arms looked in reverse stockinette, and I didn't like trying to seam seed stitch. I didn't like how much finishing was involved for such a small garment. That said, the amount of time I spent finishing (seaming, weaving in ends, sewing on buttons) was much less than the time I'd spend on an adult sweater, and I do love how the sweater looks. The pattern was pretty clear and easy to follow, but I'd rather spend my time knitting something else -- especially something with less work to do once the knitting is done.

A Bird in the Hand ...

Yesterday, in the middle of the last day of a very busy, very stressful week, I decided I needed a little pick-me-up, so I treated myself to a pattern that I wanted to knit as soon as I saw it: Kate Gilbert's Bird in Hand mittens. I couldn't wait to cast on as soon as I got home:

I'm using a skein leftover from The Mister's Seamless Hybrid and a skein left from my Central Park Hoodie. I really like the color combination. It's a little odd knitting with worsted weight yarn on sock needles (US 2/3 mm), but I think they will be nice and toasty when they're done.

I'm still working on Trellis -- back is done, as is the left front; right front has been cast on ...

and the swap socks are moving along nicely. We're in the middle of a nor'easter this weekend, so we're all holed up and I'm planning to knit the rest of the weekend!

No Pain, No Gain

My hands ache after working on this, but it's so worth it.

This is the back of Trellis, which you may recall I tried once before with little success. There were two problems last time around: the wrong yarn and a definite lack of skill in reading charts. I'm much better with the charts now (all that lace helped), and for this go I'm using Cotton Ease. It's not the easiest on my hands while knitting, but it will be easy for the recipient's mom to care for. (The recipient, by the way, is the baby brother of our flower girl, who is due next month but who may be making his appearance earlier if he's anything like his big sisters!)

Lest you think I'm now spending all my knitting time working with yarn that makes me hurt, feast your eyes on this wool/silk wonder:

Swap socks -- recognize the pattern? This is knitting up superfast and supergorgeous. It's really a shame I have to give these away.

Ooops, I Did It Again

Last night, the back and fronts of my Central Park Hoodie were all nicely blocked and ready for a bit of seaming before I could start the hood ...

But did I do that little bit of seaming so I could start the hood? Nope. Instead I cast on for something new:

This is the beginning of Trellis in Cotton Ease for a little boy who is due to arrive in mid-January (but, if he's anything like his two older sisters, is likely to arrive a month early). I think the knitty karma was working against me, though, because I had to rip and re-cast on three or four times before I was satisfied.

The good news is that my sock mojo was not affected. Look, I finished my first Lenore!

Did you know mostly black yarn is difficult to photograph accurately, especially when there's no natural light to be had?

Tonight I'm going to be brave and tackle the seaming so that I can start the hood, and I'm going to block the sleeves as well. I am so close to finishing this sweater that I have no good excuse not to work on it. I could use it to keep me warm, too, since temps have gone down to freezing the past couple of nights. Sweater weather has arrived!

How many of you, dear readers, are knitting sweaters right now? What sweaters are you knitting?