The Deuce, #2

After all the talking I’ve done about this sweater, actually finishing it and showing you pictures seems a bit anti-climactic. Especially since I didn’t finish it in time for winter wear. As I mentioned last fall, I set a goal of knitting both my kids sweaters in one season – an idea I’ve found challenging in the past because kids have that pesky habit of growing. It’s been difficult to start and finish sweaters for both kids before one or both outgrows whatever I’m making.

This time, I wanted to make coordinated colorwork sweaters for the two of them, and I was going to design them myself. That was my first problem, because trial-and-error ended up slowing me down. Then some other knitting got in the way, and the next thing I knew, it was February before I was finally finishing up Tiny Dancer’s sweater.

After watching me take so long finishing his brother’s sweater, Little Buddha asked me if I would please not work on anything else until I finished his sweater. I obliged, and it took me a little more than three weeks to make – much better than the nearly five months it took me to finish his brother’s.

garter stripes

Like his brother’s, this sweater has garter stripes at the waist and the cuffs. I was going for a pretty low-key look, and I think I got it. I wanted to use up some of the tweed in my stash, which I bought years ago in sweater quantities for the whole family. Unfortunately, I had no lime green, which was the color Little Buddha really wanted (his favorite color). I found this Cascade Tweed in the right shade. It has the tweedy look, but not the tweedy feel, which was a disappointment to me – I really enjoy knitting with rustic yarns.

striped cuffs

The stripes in his sweater coordinate with his brother’s sweater and with yarn I have in my stash for sweaters I have planned for My Old Man and me. Of course by the time I get around to knitting those, I’m sure the boys will have long outgrown their pullovers.

Even with maintaining project monogamy and finishing this knit in less than a month, I still didn’t manage to get it done in time for cold weather. I mean, it did snow once after I finished knitting (on April 15, because this is Michigan and the weather doesn’t have good manners), but it didn’t stick around.

Little Buddha

By the time he can wear this sweater for real, I’m sure the sleeves and body will be too short. But that’s the good thing about knitting, right? I can go back and redo it, and make it right. So in the fall, I will be able to start the season with two basically brand-new sweaters for both boys, and that sort of counts as reaching my goal, right?

 raveled