stash, knit, repeat

Richard Scarry’s “Busy, Busy Town” is the current favorite “read to myself” book around these parts. So of course, I give you the Busy, Busy Sweater:

Pattern: Chunky Cabled Sweater, from “Adorable Knits for Tots”

Yarn: Sublime Cashmerino Aran

Time Elapsed: Somewhere on the order of a month?

Notes/Modifications: I knit the 3 year old size, but lengthened the arms and length to accommodate my lanky toddler. To get the numbers, I measured a sweater that fit him well. All in all, this was a fun knit.

Jacob is a real sweetie about asking me to knit him things, but this time he out-did himself. He followed along on my progress avidly, wanting to know exactly what each piece was and how they would fit together. The morning after I finished the sweater, he retrieved it from my knitting basket, put it on over his existing shirt/sweater combo, and then refused to take it off. It’s gotten nearly daily wear since, excepting the days that reach above 40 degrees.

With all of those cables, in an aran cashmere blend, this is one warm sweater. For all of the apparent complexity, this was actually quite an intuitive knit and after the first couple of repeats of the major cable I didn’t need the chart anymore. (Oh, there’s one mistake in the directions, which is noted on Ravelry–I forget it now, but one of the rows should be a “rest” row and it’s listed as a cabling row instead. Row 6, probably?)

I guess the last thing to talk about is the yarn. The Sublime really lives up to its name in terms of the knitting experience. It’s smooth, it’s shiny, it’s got excellent stitch definition and is gorgeous when cabled. The downside is predictable, too–it’s a bit pilly. Still, I’d definitely work with it again.

Jacob says he’d wear it again, too–this sweater is his “favoritest”.

The destashing felt so great. The bulk of my stash is once again stuff I’m excited to knit with and dream about, it eased our finances enough to splurge on a couple of things, and hopefully it made some other folks happy too.

Meanwhile, knitting continues on at a maddeningly slow pace:

Yeah, that would be the very beginning of the front of a worsted-weight sweater in a 3-year-old size. In two weeks. SIGH. I ultimately decided to finish the back to see how it looked, and I think that many of you are right in that the muted color allows for a more complicated stitch pattern without looking too busy. Jacob pronounced it “gorgeous” and is harping on me to finish it. Maybe I’ll try to get the thing done by the time his school starts next week?

Of course, his feet are cold, too.

I had plenty of the emergency-acquired Bronzed Forest left over from Tomten, and I was stuck without appropriate needles at knit night one week, found a pair of dpns in my purse (just in case, you know, I ever had a sock emergency), and cast on. These are just basic 52-stitch socks (I get 8 stitches to the inch) in a 3×1 rib pattern.

I’m anxious to finish all of the Jacob knitting, though. One of the splurges I made with the destashing cash was to get some sturdy, less-spendy yarn for a more casual sweater for me. I feel badly wearing my really nice sweaters with the baby, who is still unpredictable in the spit-up department. The solution?

I can’t wait to cast on! Happy New Year, everyone!

Hi! Can we just pretend that it hasn’t been nearly a month since I last posted? That my knitting time hasn’t actually been eaten up by two adorable, variably-drooly little boys? Because I need your advice.

The knitting on tomten is finally finished, and it just needs a zipper to be truly jaunty. Photoshoot to come soon, I’m sure. With the knitting done, though, it was time for something else on the needles.

Enter the Chunky Cabled Sweater by Zoe Mellor, from “Adorable Knits for Tots”. It looks cute as pie in the book, and I had some Sublime Cashmerino Silk Aran in the stash that was suitable. Here’s the progress so far:

I like it, but here’s my question: Sometimes when I look at this sweater, it seems sort of busy. The back, front, and sleeves are all done in this cable and moss stitch motif. Is it too much? Should I make the back and/or sleeves simpler? If so, how? Thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions?