Sister Sweaters

Last winter when we were in Arizona, I worked on knitting two child size sweaters. The first one was for our granddaughter born in April. The second one was for her older sister, who is about 22 months older. I thought it would be fun for the girls to have matching sweaters.

I also wanted the baby size sweater to match a pair of cotton print pants I had made for my daughter when she was a baby. I have no idea what size they are. I had knit a baby sweater for granddaughter Blair that matched the pants, but the sweater turned out very small, and I thought the pants were for a bigger child. I forgot about it, and by the time we had Blair try them on when she was about 10 months old they were capris instead of pants.

I came up with the plan of sister sweaters last December when I was assembling yarn and supplies for knitting projects to work on in Arizona. I found the following 100% merino wool yarn at Tangles to Treasures in Fergus Falls. The colors matched the little pants and there was enough for both sweaters.

I had a top down pattern on hand that I liked, with two buttons on the girls version. Click here for a link to the Wee Cardi pattern from Big Bad Wool on Ravelry.

I started with the smaller sweater, casting on for a size six months. Since the baby was due in the spring, she would be more likely to wear a sweater in the fall.

I did not make a swatch or check the gauge, until I got done with the raglan yoke increases. It did not really matter exactly what the final measurements were. However when I got to the body section after putting the sleeve stitches on holders, I measured the gauge I was getting. The pattern said to knit for 4 1/2″, but I was getting more stitches per inch than the pattern, so the length would not be in proportion to the width, based on the number of stitches.

I used double pointed needles for the sleeves. Since my gauge was a little different, I tried to adjust the number of sleeve rows. There were a few decreases, but I thought the sleeves looked very big around. There also seemed to be a mistake in the pattern, so that if you followed exactly what it said the sleeve would be way too long. Or maybe I misread the pattern. Given all of that, I was close to finished with the first sleeve when I decided to rip it out and start over, with more decrease rows spread out evenly, and ending up with a narrower sleeve and more reasonable overall length. The front band was knitted on after picking up stitches along the center front.

Following is a photo of the smaller sweater after the knitting was done, but before I wove in all the ends. Torri had used the same yarn to knit a sweater for her mom. She told me that when she tried to block it, it got all stretched out. That got me worried as I have had a bad experience before with blocking a sweater. Later she said that after washing it in the washing machine it was all good.

I wove in all the ends, but decided to wait until I got home to block the sweater in my washing machine there, instead of in the laundromat at the 55+ Resort where we were staying.

For the second sweater I cast on for size three. Blair is at the top of the growth chart, and by fall she would be over two years old.

When I got to the sleeves on the second sweater I figured out how to do magic loop with a long connector cord. I do not like using double pointed needles, as I find they are sticking out all over, get caught on things, and I am prone to accidentally pulling a needle out of the stitches by mistake when I am supposed to be grabbing the empty needle. I should have been able to figure it out on the bandana/cowl knit for my sister, but for some reason I had a mental block about it that time.

I finished all the knitting on the second sweater towards the end of March in Arizona. I worked on weaving in ends and sewing the buttons on in the car on the way back home. The top button seems a little too close to the top, and the second button too close to the top button. It was too late to change the placement of the buttons since the button holes were knitted in to the front band. Or maybe it is never too late, but I was not going to re-do the front band. They will just be quirky sweaters.

Following is a photo of the two sweaters after blocking.

In the spring when Nora was born, the six months size sweater was too big, and Blair was not into sweaters or jackets. Even when it seemed cold outside to me, she was fighting anyone trying to wrestle her into one, or taking it off if you got one on. Then it was summer and there was no need for sweaters.

We went to their house recently for a few days to help out our son with the girls. Kelsey was on maternity leave all summer, but went back to work in September. James is on leave now for about six weeks. He is a very capable parent, but right after Kelsey went back to work, she had to go on a work trip. James had agreed to do a couple of work tasks that were easier for him to do than to show someone else. We were happy to help.

While we were at their house I found the sweaters I had finished in the spring. I was not sure if they were the right sizes, or if Blair would be willing to put hers on. I was very surprised when Blair saw the sweater on the coffee table, and attempted to put it on over her pajamas. The colors matched and it fit reasonably well, if not a little big. I was very relieved that it was not too small.

The nice thing about five month old babies is you can dress them up however you want.

I put the infant sized sweater on Nora, with the flowered pants. The sweater was a little big, and the pants were a little small, and the patterns are a bit much together, but the outfit works.

Blair was willing to put her sweater on again for a photo with Nora the next morning. Yay! They look cute. Not sure how much use the sweaters will get, but I had fun knitting and photographing them.