Have you guys seen Grumperina’s adorable new baby boy ? Oh, he just kills me. I love it when knitblog friends and flickr friends have babies, because I get to obsessively look at pictures and videos of all those sweet baby moments and enjoy it all vicariously, without, you know, having to actually change any diapers.
Kathy, aka Grumperina, is one of the most generous knitters that I know, in that she shares her knowledge and what she has learned (and continues to learn) so thoroughly on her blog. I have learned a lot from her over the years, and, equally important, been inspired by her posts and her pictures. Her inspiration has made me a better knitter. If you follow her blog, then you know that she’s been experimenting with handspun, and even with spinning, over the last year or two, including designing a baby sweater specifically for handspun.
When I learned she was having a boy (and that her due date was the same as mine had been – not that either of us had our babies anywhere near our due dates!), I immediately knew I would spin up some yarn and make her little boy a sweater.
So this:
Southern Cross Fibre Polwarth in “Deep Blue Sea”
became this:
200 yards bulkyish 2-ply (you’ve seen it before in this hat .)
And this (linking to SourCherries’ photo of the original fiber since apparently I never took one – this is Hello Yarn November 2010 Fiber Club, Shetland in “Minerals”) became this:
168 yards bulky 2-ply
(good grief I love spinning Shetland! I think it might be my favorite fiber to spin)
And inspired by verabee’s Handspun Baby Sophisticate , I decided to make one myself (read: I totally copied her).
I knitted the whole sweater in five days in March, which should have been plenty of time to get it mailed to Kathy well ahead of her due date. But then I noticed that I’d knit one cuff slightly longer than the other (by just two rounds), and for some reason that took me forever to get around to correcting (like, um 3 months). And I also freaked out a little bit about the buttons and didn’t get those put on until June either. The sweater is too big for him to wear as a newborn anyway (not that he would need something like this in this heat wave!), so I finally sent it on last week and I’m hoping it will work well for him this fall.
All in all, this sweater was a delight to make (I did make the larger size, having read the comments about the pattern running small, plus my gauge was fatter than pattern gauge, as I was using a bulky yarn). It’s very happy-making to give something handspun to someone who truly appreciates handspun. I’m thrilled with how this turned out.
earthchicknits 
This is absolutely beautiful. I frankly want this exact sweater for myself (not for my children — for me). Can you give me a money-back guarantee that when my children are the same age as your children I will be producing handknits this gorgeous? (I don’t even need a guarantee on the spinning.) Your productivity gives me hope that such a thing is possible!
that is really lovely! i adore that pattern and it looks so good in handspun.
I thought that looked like Minerals. Wonderful sweater! Like Rachel, I’d like one of those for myself!
Eeep! So teeny and wee! I love it! I wish I had friends who were having babies to dress, but everyone I know with babies either knits or wouldn’t take care of wool. I’ll just have to wait until I’m making my own family ❤
This sweater is sooooooo so sweet – perfect for little Greg! Baby sophisticate is right – it does have an adorably srs look about it.
Very cute! I love the way the colors worked out.
I have knit two of these and love them except for a problem I seem to be having with the wrap and turn. I seem to get a hole on both sides of the start of the collar as well as a set of unsightly stitches. I did the W&T in this way: slip stitch from left to right, move yarn to front, slip stitch back to left, turn. In this way, the yarn is then in the back and ready to knit in garter stitch.
Another question I have is for Row 7: k to 2 sts from wrapped st, w&t.
Does this mean that I wrap and turn on the first of those 2 stitches and just leave the other alone? Wouldn’t that leave a hole?
I’m also wondering if picking up and knitting the wraps would make a difference, although many knitters say this isn’t necessary when working a garter stitch.
Any advice you can give me is appreciated. I’ve watched youtube videos but still end up with those holes and unattractive stitches.
Thank you!
OK, after doing some sample swatches, I think I’ve got the pattern figured out!
Just seeing this now – SO SWEET! Thank you for the lovely words and of course for the gorgeous sweater! We are so lucky that you thought of us. Can’t wait for the baby to wear it!