Alice’s Chunky Lace

Last week we visited with family in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, where August evenings were chilly enough for Alice to sport her new sweater. I finished this sweater right before we left for our trip, but I had been working on it in fits and spurts for a couple of months. I knew it was going to be huge, so I felt no rush to finish it. Alice currently wears it with sleeves rolled, so I think it will last her at least a year.

The pattern, Olive’s Chunky Lace , was one I have been waiting to knit since Alice was a newborn, as the smallest size is 2 years. I’m not generally one for bulky yarns and chunky knits, but loved this pattern instantly…which is why I copied it right down to the light pink color. I chose to knit it up in Drops Eskimo, a single ply roving-type wool yarn, and I used the Light Powder Pink. The yarn broke on me a few times, but I ended up being quite happy with it, particularly at only $2.60 per ball!

I thought the pattern was generally well-written and easy enough to follow. Alice is small for her age so while it’s clearly large on her, I think the sizing was pretty good. If I were to knit this again I think I’d knit the sleeves down from the top instead of knitting them separately and setting them in. For whatever reason I had trouble making them fit in neatly.

I’m very happy with the finished product- it seems to me to be a comfortable yet pretty play sweater, which is exactly what I was going for. I saw that the designer recently wrote the pattern in adult sizes in lighter weight yarn…perhaps I’ll have to add it to my ever-growing list of sweaters to knit.