Firsts
I finished knitting my first sweater this weekend. I decided to start small...well, small in size. I knit Toby a sweater. I made it 18 month size, so he can wear it this fall and winter (hopefully, if he doesn't grow too much). I wanted to make him model it, but who wants to wear a sweater in the summer?
This is an Aran Pullover sweater, the pattern is from a book called "Knitting for Baby". An Aran sweater is one that has several different cable patterns on it combined to make one sweater. The style originated in the Aran islands in Ireland. I found out when I did a little research that the cable patterns actually have meaning to them...the honeycomb pattern, according to information on Wikipedia, symbolizes hard work (ie: worker bees) and a cable pattern is a wish for safety and good luck. I knew that the cable patterns each meant something, but it's kind of neat to find out the history behind this kind of pattern. As you can see, when I said I was starting small, I meant in size, not in difficulty. Although once I figured out what I was doing, it was pretty easy. I'm very pleased with the results.
I think one of the things that made this less intimidating was that the difficulty was in the pattern, not the shaping. The pattern is really a very boxy sweater, which is fine for a child. An adult sweater would have a little more shaping. This intimidates me since I have very little idea how garments are shaped or designed. Maybe now I'll be brave enough to try a sweater for myself!
I still have one skein of this yarn left, I'm thinking of making a hat to match, with a cable pattern around the brim and maybe some ear flaps. The kid is only young once, which means I have to dress him in ridiculously cute stuff while I can. :)
This is an Aran Pullover sweater, the pattern is from a book called "Knitting for Baby". An Aran sweater is one that has several different cable patterns on it combined to make one sweater. The style originated in the Aran islands in Ireland. I found out when I did a little research that the cable patterns actually have meaning to them...the honeycomb pattern, according to information on Wikipedia, symbolizes hard work (ie: worker bees) and a cable pattern is a wish for safety and good luck. I knew that the cable patterns each meant something, but it's kind of neat to find out the history behind this kind of pattern. As you can see, when I said I was starting small, I meant in size, not in difficulty. Although once I figured out what I was doing, it was pretty easy. I'm very pleased with the results.
I think one of the things that made this less intimidating was that the difficulty was in the pattern, not the shaping. The pattern is really a very boxy sweater, which is fine for a child. An adult sweater would have a little more shaping. This intimidates me since I have very little idea how garments are shaped or designed. Maybe now I'll be brave enough to try a sweater for myself!
I still have one skein of this yarn left, I'm thinking of making a hat to match, with a cable pattern around the brim and maybe some ear flaps. The kid is only young once, which means I have to dress him in ridiculously cute stuff while I can. :)