Homemade Friday: Baby sweaters in a hurry! (Maile and Master Charles)

The thing about giving yourself a deadline is that there is no one else holding you accountable but yourself.  So you have to be responsible.  Also not very nice to yourself.

When I realized that I had three weeks until my mother-in-law left for Germany and I had two sweaters I wanted to knit so she could take them with her, I probably said ‘sonofabitch!’ and fretted for a bit, then moved on.

I had no time to stop and decide if I really wanted to put myself through what I was about to.  I just did.

The first baby pattern I knit was the Maile sweater.  It’s been on my ‘want to knit’ list for a long time, but I never got around to it because of all the other projects on my ‘want to knit’ list.  I’d actually planned on making it for Adele, because it’s so simple and sweet, but also has just a touch of decorative lacework to make it interesting.

As usual, my gauge was off so I just cast on the amount of stitches for the newborn size instead of the 3 month size, which was what I wanted it to be when it was finished.  Thankfully it worked.  I made it long because too many times I think that baby sweater patterns end up not shorter than I’d like. 

For the sleeves I didn’t decrease as much as the pattern called for on either size.

And I love this little sweater  (I know I say that about a lot of baby sweaters, but they’re just so adorably small).  I love it even more since I found those little Peter Rabbit buttons.  It may be hard to see them from the photo but trust me, they’re almost edible they’re so sweet.  Luckily I bought all they had (which actually was only 3 packets) so I can use them on another project for one of my kids, too.

The yarn is Knitpicks Shine Sport in Hollyberry, using size 3 needles.

It took me 10 days to finish it, which may not sound fast to some of you but when the only knitting time you have starts at 8 p.m. and ends at 9:30, it’s pretty good.  For me at least.

The second sweater is for a little boy who’s older than the baby the Maile Sweater is for.  This one is the Master Charles Sweater, and I may or may not have been sold on it because of the bright blue eyes of the little boy modeling it on the pattern.  Click on that link and you will see what I'm talking about.

It’s size 12 months and gauge was off so I cast on for the 6 month size and just adjusted the body and arm lengths to that of the 12 month.

I love cables on little boy sweaters and once I figured this one out it was super easy.  It’s no fault of the pattern that I had to rip the cable section back three times, all the way down to the start.  I just wasn’t reading the chart as closely as I should have. 

Yarn is Knitpicks Swish Worsted in Squirrel Heather, using size 6 and 7 needles. 

This one I finished in 9 days.  

So I was done with the knitting part of the sweaters, by the time my mother-in-law left, but the Master Charles sweater was still wet from its blocking when I took it and the red one over to my mom’s so she could sew the buttons on.

(Don’t laugh – the last time I sewed buttons on, for these bunnies, one fell off after only two days.  I prefer to trust a professional.)

But the sweaters made it with the help of a friend who was leaving for Germany a little later than Chris’ mom.