Second Milo: Lazy Daisies

As I suspected, another Milo vest has been knit. This one has no cable but does have some daisies embroidered with some bulky-weight wool. The green yarn is Knit Picks City Tweed DK in Basil. The yarn is really more worsted than DK, but it's very nice to knit with.

Obviously someone is very happy with her new vest.

First of Many Milos

I first saw the pattern for Milo about two years ago and instantly loved it. My son was 2 at the time and always runs hot, so I rarely knit anything for him that isn't a winter hat, and my daughter, who was born August 30 (was it only 16 days ago?!), wasn't even a thought at the back of my mind yet, so the pattern went un-purchased and un-knit. 

Finally buying the pattern this summer, I managed to knit one vest before my little girl was born. This one, knit in Berroco Vintage for ease of washing and its wonderful "squishiness," is the 6-month size. I used the heart cable motif, and look forward to knitting more Milos with other cables: my stash is calling me!

Milo, red hearts version

Heart cables (detail)

Orange You Glad I Knit You a Sweater?

A recent splurge has become this: 

A top-down raglan pullover for my son. I've used tubular cast-off on the cuffs and waist, and TECHknitting's post on the subject is really well done. After having my son try on the almost-finished product, I abandoned the idea of also using this bind-off at the neck and instead just picked up stitches and worked a few rows of stockinette stitch for a nice rolled edge. I used a suspended bind-off that I've used before.

Knit 1, *slip st back to LH needle, k2tog through the back loop; rep from * until one st remains and draw end of yarn through last st to secure.

I knit the sleeves straight until just before the cuff, where I did a few rounds of decreases before switching to 1x1 ribbing. In hindsight, I think I would have preferred using paired decreases from the elbow to the wrist: next time, right?

Man on the Moon

I love to knit for my husband: searching for the perfect Man Hat pattern, knitting it in something washable yet soft in a deep green, or navy, or the orange and brown of his beloved pro football team. In the past year or two, when I offer to knit for him, he says something like, "I have so many hats. Knit something for yourself."  

As one might imagine, it was a mark-the-calendar day at my house when my husband requested a hand-knit sweater this spring. He, of course, had something particular in mind:

Andy Kaufman, of Taxi and Saturday Night Live, not to mention his comedy specials.

Yes. I was being asked to custom-knit Andy Kaufman on a grown man's sweater. I did a little digging on the internet, just in case something was already available. There are plenty of bizarre, lovely patterns available, and since there was actually a Big Lebowski sweater pattern out there, I thought there might be something  for an Andy Kaufman sweater. 

I did not find a pattern, but someone had already done the hard work of rendering Andy Kaufman in intarsia. The chart is from DomiKNITrix. (If you were so inclined to knit a Bruce Lee sweater, she has that covered, too.)

I bought ten skeins of worsted wool in a natural color and one in black. I used a basic (very basic) men's sweater pattern that I used many years ago for the second sweater I ever knit for my husband and added the chart. In hindsight, I should have moved the portrait up about two inches, but overall the effect is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

My husband swears this is his new ski sweater, to be worn all the time. All. The. Time. All I can say is, after this much stockinette stitch, someone had better get some wear out of it.

Simple Things

Sometimes I get caught up in patterns with intertwining cables, intricate color work, and outrageous construction. The challege is exciting, and the new techniques are inspiring and educational, but sometimes it's nice to go back to basics, because the basics can make for some pretty, sweet, and often nostalgic garments.

This is girl's smock was knit from the top down in the round with a garter stitch yoke, stockinette body, and garter stitch hem.




Three wooden buttons were sewn on at the margin where the end of one round and the beginning of the next meet, making a sort of faux buttonband.

These simple but classic elements along with Patons Classic Wool in a natural heather colorway add up to, in my opinion, a sweet smock that can be dressed up or down.

New Pattern: Big Sweater, Little Pockets

I'm so excited! The pattern for Big Sweater, Little Pockets is live on Ravelry.

This sweater is sized for 2, 4 and 6 years and is intended to be oversized. Learn some new tricks, like the tubular cast on, and then relax with some stockinette stitch in the round. Two tiny afterthought pockets add a little interest to the front of the sweater, and bulky yarn means this project knits up quickly.




Buy it on Ravelry! See what some other fantastic knitters have done with Big Sweater, Little Pockets! Not a Ravelry member? Join here or purchase pattern without joining by clicking the "buy now" button below.

Striped Raglan Sweater

I've spent the last three weeks knitting a sweater for my 2-year-old. Due to his age and proclivity for messes, and my general dislike of handwashing, I used a superwash DK wool. I had a little bit of dark green left over from my ice cream cozy, so I added some stripes to keep it interesting. It's a percentage sweater. I used Elizabeth Zimmermann's wonderful book, Knitting Without Tears, and tried a tubular bind-off method for the first time. I can't say enough about the percentage method: you get exactly the sweater you want, and as EZ promises, you get it without shedding any tears.