MaryGenser

If there’s a silver lining in having a very, very late spring this year it’s that I get to wear my new sweater! I began this sweater after Peter was born thinking it would be a quick, mindless knit, which it almost was. The pattern is Mary’s Sweater designed by Marianne J. Bjerkman, and is a design I’ve been wanting to make for quite a while. I still love the design, but I have to say that I found the pattern to be a bit lacking.

I never like it when patterns say things like “decrease evenly 112 stitches,” because of course the numbers never quite work out and I really feel like I paid them to do the math for me when I bought the pattern. Unfortunately, this pattern is full of that, and it also tells you to decrease huge numbers on single rows in the yoke, resulting in a ruffly look. I ended up taking the yoke out and then spacing out the decreases over the entire yoke. It’s better now, but the decreases are still a bit obvious in the white band. Ah well. Were I to make this pattern again, I would also add short rows to the back so that the front and back aren’t the exact same height.

I used Drops Big Merino in off white and “forget-me-not.” I’m not usually into superwash merino yarn because it pills and feels a bit too squishy, but I wanted a sweater that would be very baby-friendly. I remembered that when Alice was a baby she used to eat bits of my lopi yoke sweater and that it would irritate her cheek if she fell asleep while I was carrying her, so I chose something really cozy this time. When I blocked the sweater it grew by several inches, but I was prepared for that, having read on ravelry that this yarn really needs to be machine dried as well. After a tumble in the dryer it came out the perfect size.

I think it turned out to be just the right sort of thing to knit in the sleepy months after having a baby, and I know I’ll enjoy wearing it because I’ve already worn it two days in a row.

I’ve already blocked my swatch for my next project, which I think will be even easier than this one. I expect I’m going to want to make something that requires a bit more concentration someday soon, but not quite yet!

 

 

Peter’s Pebble Vest

This is my third time knitting this vest pattern and it’s such a simple project it doesn’t really merit its own post, but it seemed like the right time for a photo shoot with Peter. The pattern, Pebble, is one of my all time favorite baby knits, and can be found (for free!) here. It’s so much fun to knit up, is cleverly constructed, and is terribly practical due to side and shoulder buttons.

I used a hand-dyed worsted merino that I bought at a yarn festival last fall from a local woman who runs Spencer Hill Yarn. I would include a link but apparently her website isn’t up and running anymore…hopefully I’ll see her again next fall, because I really loved her colors and enjoyed speaking with her about her dyes and about running a small business. I bought some of her indigo dyed fingering weight too and am just now starting a project with it.

Peter is a fan of Alice’s old Pebble vest and I decided to make a version that was a little larger, hoping that he’ll be able to wear it through the spring (whenever it decides to finally arrive) and colder summer moments. I added six stitches to the body and used a heavier yarn with size 6 needles, but made no other changes to the pattern. In retrospect, a few more extra stitches probably wouldn’t have been a mistake…I may have to knit another version in the summer.

And a few little photoshoot outtakes, in case anyone was wondering what Alice was up to…

Always keeping the baby boy entertained!