Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Starting with the finishing

Yesterday I went to Fabricville and went a little crazy buying buttons. They had a sale - 40% off. It was sweet. The Mogrunt was content in the wrap and enjoyed looking at the wall of buttons so I might have gone a little overboard. I am in LOVE with wooden buttons so I picked out some for two sweaters and then stocked up. I've always wanted a button stash. When I got home, I was so excited about the buttons that I spent the evening sewing them on the sweaters I had finished for the Mogrunt.

First and foremost, the Baby Yours Sweater by The Yarn Harlot:

shoes are too big yet



A boy and his sheep



Mr. Happy bought the yarn for me shortly after we learned that I was pregnant. He had planned a trip to the Big Smoke for his first "boys weekend" in years. The yarn is the same colourway as the one Stephanie used for the sweater shown in the pattern. It's hard to pick out colours over the phone. :) The size is the 6 month size. I thought I was going to run out of yarn until I remeasured the fronts and the back and realized that I had done far too much garter stitch on each piece. I ripped back and had enough left over to knit the button bands, etc., with lots of breathing room. Knitters take note.

I think that we can safely say that the Mogrunt likes his sweater and perhaps even enjoys his new career as a knitwear model:

baby yours sweater



Next, we have the Mogrunt's "Alliteration sweater" - called such because it is a Cotton Cashmere Cardigan:

jcrew, eat your heart out


This Debbie Bliss pattern is from her book, "Special Knits". It's the organza edged cardigan. Obviously, the Mogrunt and I thought that he would look a little girlie in organza, so we left it off.

I also modified the button band / neck edging. Instead of knitting the front pieces with garter stitch at the bottoms and as a 3-stitch repeat along the edges, I knit them in plain stocking stitch and then picked up all stitches along the bottom, where the button bands are and along the neckline and then back down the other front piece and along the bottom in the same manner. Then I just did garter stitch for 3 rows, decreasing and increasing at corners depending on their "direction" and inserting button holes as I went.

I was running out of yarn and while I think it could have stood a couple more rows on the button bands, I had no choice but to bind off. Now that the buttons are on the cardigan, I'm really happy with how it looks. Mr. Happy thinks it looks like a sweater that an Indy rocker would wear. The Mogrunt did get a xylophone for Christmas, so he's well on his way to becoming just that.

If you look closely at this photo, you will see that the Mogrunt has teeth. Two on the bottom. Let's not discuss what a big boy he is. I just can't deal with it.

The next thing I want to show you is a sweater that my grandmother made for the Mogrunt. Last year, I called her from my LYS's annual Boxing Week sale and asked her if she wanted anything. When she responded that she would like to knit a sweater for the Mogrunt, I picked up some Cascade 220 and a top-down raglan pattern for her.

My grandmother is 91. She has been knitting since well before any of you were even a twinkle in your father's eye. You could not fit in her house all of the things that she has knit in her lifetime. Despite that, she had never before knit a top-down raglan sweater. She called her younger sister (younger as in 85ish) about it. I talked to her afterward and this is the rundown of our conversation:

Me: Grammy, is that pattern going to work for you? I wasn't sure if you were familiar with knitting sweaters from the top-down.

Grammy: You know dear, I've never knit one like that before, but I talked to Mary and she's done them. So if she can do it, I'm sure it's not going to be a problem.

I would say that she managed quite well, wouldn't you agree?

whee!



that's Mr Elf to you, bucko!


The Cascade 220 is superwash and it's also beautifully soft. My grandmother knits quite loosely these days, so the fabric is nice and drapes really well.

Can you tell that I'm in love with wooden buttons? I think they are so wonderful. I bought enough wooden buttons at the sale to sink a small ship.

Grammy knit this for me



Ok, that's it for me for now. Expect more soon. I can't promise what day, but I'll be back.

12 comments:

  1. Could you sink a ship with wooden buttons? Wouldn't they float?

    That is one handsome little man you've got there, with fabulous knit wear to boot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. He makes a great knitwear model... the knitwear is all pretty awsome too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are right!!! You DO have the cutest little boy in the Northern Hemisphere!!!! He has the BEST smile!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. hee hee like the sweaters and the model -
    does he ever not giggle?

    ReplyDelete
  5. All the sweaters are SO CUTE! Your Grammy sounds awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  6. cutest knitwear model EVER! Beautiful sweaters and beautiful boy :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous3:06 p.m.

    What is the pattern for the cowl at the top of your page....first time at your blog....

    smeindl@kent.edu

    ReplyDelete
  8. AHHHHHHH!

    The cuteness!

    It slays!!!!

    Seriously, that is one happy little man. The cheeks alone could stop a herd of menopausal women.

    Nice knits, lady. Love that Baby Yours sweater!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:26 a.m.

    I'm sorry but I don't think he'll make a very good model - I hardly noticed the knitting for all the smiling cuteness!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh my goodness he's adorable! The knitwear is nice too. I'm with you on the button stash craving. I'm working on one myself. Mr. Happy has a point about the indy rocker looks but I think Mogrunt is working it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You literally sewed the coat (or sweater) around the button. :)

    Seriously, when are you going to get that boy a talent agent??

    ReplyDelete
  12. It looks like you plucked that boy right out of the Shire! Cutest little Hobbit I've ever seen. I almost feel like having another little boy so you can pass down these sweaters to me!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.