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?

Pattern: Baby sweater on two needles, or the “February Baby Sweater”, Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock, “Gracious” colorway (from the first run of Magnolia Society)

Time Elapsed: This version of the sweater and booties set were knit in under a week.

Notes/Modifications: This is a sweater with a saga. In short: Since the pattern calls for dk-weight yarn, and gives no schematics, I was worried that a sweater knit in sock yarn would be too small. So I upped the sizing, and ran out of yarn.

I then ripped it out and re-knit as written, figuring it’d all work out. And it did–the sweater measures 18″ around, which is a fine size for your average 3-month-old girl. Knit as written, I had enough yarn left over for a pair of garter-stitch booties, too. While I may not have enjoyed getting to know my inner process knitter, I will admit it turned out okay in the end.

Now let’s just hope the wee one this is for stays “indoors” for another week or two!

Well, actually, it’s only partially her fault. I had this sock yarn that was just calling out to be a February Baby Sweater, but the pattern specified a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch. “That’s fine”, I thought. “I’ll just increase the size of the sweater by starting with a few more stitches.”

It sounds simple, and it was. I wondered about yarn amounts, since EZ doesn’t give yardage requirements (CURSE HER), but noted that someone on ravelry had done the same modification, minus an increase repeat, with only 350 yards of sock yarn. Since I had 400 yards, I figured I’d be set.

Well, perhaps not. Now, this is the second EZ project in a month that I’ve tried to modify to work with sock yarn. And I wound up running out of (limited run!) yarn both times. Although things finally seem to be working out regarding Tomten yarn, I knew I didn’t want to do the trade/sell dance again in such a short time. So there was only one thing to do.

Ahhh, catharsis. I noticed, as I knit, that the modified version would probably fit a one-year-old–even as large as my kids come. (Ms. Zimmerman also doesn’t provide much in the way of sizing information at her recommended gauge, at least for baby things.) So I decided to simply knit the pattern as written, in sock yarn instead of DK, and trust that it would all work out for a newborn size. Fingers crossed, of course, but it looks good so far.

Once this is crossed off my list, it’s finishing Tomten and then on to a sweater for Jacob, first socks for the husband, and more winter gear. I’d love some warm mittens this year, and the boys need them too. And as much as I love the timeless quality of Zimmerman patterns, the next few projects will absolutely be of the knit-exactly-as-written-from-a-pattern-with-schematics-and-yardage-requirements variety.

(Up next: a comically big hat for Jacob. Just as soon as he’ll sit still for the camera!)