Pattern: Tomten Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn: Sundara sock yarn, “Bronzed Forest” and “Mossy” (both from Autumn Seasons Collection I)

Time Elapsed: I finished the knitting in around a month of “work time”, but waited ages when I ran out of yarn and then again (for a whole month!) before putting the zipper in the finished product.

Notes/Modifications: I used a smaller gauge than she recommends–fortunately, the pattern is modular. For those interested in the numbers, I cast on 168 stitches and wound up with a 6-12 month size jacket. I lengthened both the body and the sleeves to make it a larger jacket-style sweater.

There is something to be said for writing up a FO entry as soon as you finish a project–I’ve mostly forgotten all of the in-progress stuff for this sweater!

I used two different colors of sock yarn, both from the “Autumn” season of Sundara’s first Season’s Collection. Convinced I’d run out of yarn well before starting the hood, I begged and bought and traded my way through several other hanks of these colors before finding two from the same dye lots. In the end, I needn’t have worried–the sleeves went extremely quickly and I’m sure I would have had enough yarn for the sweater with a mandarin-style collar.

All’s well that ends well, though–with the extras, I’ve already knit Jacob some socks and I have plenty more left. The yarns look gorgeous blended together (I did 2 rows of each and avoided all end-weaving–thanks, Ms. Monster Yarn, for the suggestion!

When I finished the sweater, I knew it needed a zipper. Nothing else would tame Daniel’s adorable pudgy belly so nicely, and nothing else would be half as quick to get on him. Poor Tomten sat for over a month, waiting for its zipper. I finally screwed up my courage last night, and it was far, far easier than I thought it would be to put in.

I guess the only downside to the whole project is that I feel like the shape of the arms is weird when laid out flat. This might be me–looking at the finished product, it seems to me that I should have decreased on the underside of the sleeve instead of the top. But I’m too lazy to check, because it looks just fine when worn.

All in all, this is a very successful first hand-knit for the new addition to our family.

Well, I think so, anyway. And Daniel can’t talk to argue.

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?

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!)

I’m not doing any yarn-buying these days, so I’m enjoying Seasons all the more. The colors are simply divine, this time, and I’m not at all regretting being a glutton and signing up for 3 seasons. The boys like it too.

Two seconds after this picture was taken, Jacob asked for his turn. :) In fact, Daniel seems to be taking after his brother, in terms of the hand-knits. He just loves being wrapped up in wool.

…and there, in his lap, is my current problem. Daniel’s tomten jacket is gorgeous so far, and he seems to love it. But I’m going to run out of yarn before completing the sleeves. Normally I’d scrap my plan of making it large enough to wear now and in the spring, rip back, and start over. But there’s not all that much extra room in it as it is:

(The white jacket fits well. Even snugly.) I’m really afraid that there just isn’t enough sock yarn in two hanks to cover my little sumo, at least in the jacket-length I’m going for. So… well, poop. What should I do, gentle reader? Here’s how it looks now:

I’ve got a message out on the Rav Seasons Club board, of course, but I’m not hopeful. My husband suggests a vest, which might work–I’d end the sleeves just before the side seam (and maybe crochet a trim around a mandarin-style collar, the sleeves, and down the front?). I’d planned to zipper the thing.

Alternately, of course, I could try using a different yarn to finish the sleeves. But I’m afraid of that just looking silly. So how about it, folks? Do you see another way?

Sneak preview of something I actually finished, by the gods. The bigger knitting news this week, though, is that I embraced my inner single-sock-knitter self. I’ve known for weeks that I just wasn’t pleased with the way my first Rivendell sock turned out. It’s lovely in pictures and in person, but just isn’t right for my feet. It feels and looks inside-out to me, when worn. I slogged through half of the second sock before admitting to myself that I had no desire to work on it or wear a finished pair. Within minutes, I’d frogged the sucker and written email asking if a certain shop owner might take a singleton off my hands. I feel So. Much. Better.

And then, I cast on something for Daniel:

After seeing a certain adorable baby in a partially-finished tomten, I just had to hop on the EZ bandwagon. A short swatch and I was ready to go. I’m hoping this will be suitable for this fall/winter and next spring, so I’m making it big. The current plan is to make a subtly-striped jacket out of two very similar Sundara sock yarn offerings.

That’s “Bronzed Forest” and “Mossy” sock yarn, both from the first round of Seasons Club (Autumn). We’ll see if the stripes work or if it just looks messy. Either way, it feels great to be done with the projects that lagged on for my entire last trimester. It feels like I’m really closing that chapter in my life, and that’s a good thing. Here’s to the new!