I "Finished" Something!

Well, except the buttons!  Silje and I will be picking some out while we’re in town today.  I’ve been making so many things for this baby, I saw that Silje was feeling a bit left out.  That surprised me because she normally doesn’t care whether or not something is homemade, and she has plenty of nice clothes.  Still, I wanted to make something special for her, so as another diversion from what I should be working on for Christmas, I took another small break to make this for her:

I don’t think the picture is quite the right red, and looks more pink in the lighting.  It’s actually called “cherry red” and uses the same kind/brand of yarn that I used for her little sister’s sweater here.  However, this yarn must have been from a different batch because it’s not nearly as soft as the other yarn, and I actually talked with my local yarn store about it.  They said that their employees have noticed it, but I was the first customer to point it out.  That, and the fact that I’m on a first name basis with most of the employees there might be a sign that I spend too much time there.

I used a pattern called the “tea leaves cardigan” although the mini version, as the original is for adults.  What attracted me to it?  What else…it’s knitted all in one piece with little finishing.  No seaming at all.  As you can tell, it still needs buttons.  I motified the pattern to have buttons all the way down, instead of just 3 at the yoke and open at the bottom.  I just think it looks nicer that way. Also, I made full length sleeves instead of the 3/4 length ones that the pattern calls for, and I made the body a bit longer because she’s so long.

When I had Silje try it on as it progressed to make sure that the sleeves were long enough, I could tell her holding back in saying something.  I think she was expecting something flashier, or something.  I picked cherry red because I thought it would be festive for the upcoming season, and she said she liked it, but her face didn’t light up like I hoped.  Then I got an idea to make a matching headband for it.  I didn’t have a pattern for the headband.  I just did a circular band of stretchy ribbing on my needles, and attached this crocheted flower that I whipped up while watching t.v. last night.

That did the trick.  She loves matching and accessorizing, and this huge trendy flower headband made her swoon over the whole set like I was hoping.

(Side note…I got the flower pattern from one of my newest reference books in my sewing library:
Here’s one more plug in…I got this book, and the other reference books that I’m trying to build up for a great crafting room library for free by using “swagbucks.”  It’s basically using a specific search engine like you normally use and you earn points by using the swagbuck search engine instead of whatever else you normally use.  You can buy tons of things with these points, but I like to buy amazon.com giftcards.  Since I signed up a few months ago, I’ve gotten about $60+ in giftcards.  It’s not a lot, but it’s less guilt when buying something just for me!  I’ve gotten about 4 great new crafting books through it so far.  I get points if I refer people, so here’s a picture link if you’re interested:

(I don’t intend on putting a bunch of ads on the blog…I just figure is something is relevant I’ll post it.)

After I get the buttons on, I’ll post pictures of Silje wearing it.  I picked the color cherry red and the pattern, so I figured I’d let her pick out the buttons.  It seemed so huge to me that I thought she would be swimming in it.  I kept measuring her, checking my gauge, shaking my head, but in the end, she tried it on and it fit like a glove.  I just can’t believe that she’s that big!

I was kicking myself a bit too, because this project wasn’t as quick as I was thinking it would be.  Don’t get me wrong, it just took a few weeks, and not even working non-stop.  It’s just it’s getting down to crunch time for making handmade gifts for Christmas and I don’t have a lot of “diversion crafts” time left.  After making a run of infant things though, I forgot how long bigger sweaters take!  Not quite the instant gratification.  However, I DO plan on doing this pattern again in the future because it was so well written, and the finished product turned out so well.  My only regret is going ahead with this yarn, as I’m worried it will pill pretty bad, so I’ll just have to take extra care when washing it to see if I can avoid that.  In the future I think I’ll opt for a higher quality yarn.