I had a vision in the fall, of coordinated sweaters for both my boys, knit in the same season. It was a lofty goal, one I’ve never managed to achieve, and it was made even loftier by the fact that I secretly hoped I would also be able to make a coordinated sweater for their father. Stop laughing, y’all! I can’t help it – I clearly just don’t understand how the time-space continuum works.

I cast on for a sweater for Tiny Dancer in September, but then got buried in other knitting commitments. After Thanksgiving, I got back to it, finished the body – and realized I was very displeased with my colorwork. In addition to the fact that my tension went wonky, I also decided that my original vision for the sweater was a bit too busy for my kiddo. After Christmas, I finally ripped it back and redid, opting for a much subtler bit of color.

The end result is a pretty minimalist sweater design, which suits my little dude just great.

The Deuce

It’s an extremely simple, straightforward design – just a top-down raglan, with 1×1 ribbing on the neck, waist, and cuffs, with three garter stripes at the waist and above the cuffs. It’s kind of silly that it took me so long to knit what is basically the simplest sweater in the world.

garter stripes

I love this yarn to pieces and still mourn the fact that it was discontinued almost as soon as I discovered it. This is Plymouth Tweed, the same yarn I made my Allegheny Dress out of (in fact, the golden stripe is leftover yarn from my dress). I stocked up on a variety of colors on closeout in the fall of 2011, with hopes of eventually knitting sweaters for the whole family. Yes, I’ve had this dream for awhile it seems.

This tweedy sweater reminds me a bit of another sweater I once made him, and I couldn’t resist comparison shots.

The Deuce, on Tiny Dancer, age 9

How is this kid a tween already? I mean, perhaps nine isn’t really officially tweendom, but he’s on the verge of ten now, and trust me – the tweenish behaviors are all there. In fact, even though I think this sweater looks really good on him, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he finds it too embarrassing now to wear a sweater his mom made for him.

At any rate, here’s the first sweater I made him, when he was three years-old:

Cobblestone, on Tiny Dance, age 3

That sweater was knit in Cascade Elite Skye Tweed, which was also discontinued, and which I also bought a bunch of on closeout, also with a never-realized dream of coordinating sweaters for the whole fam. Ah, the kids grow up, but some things never change.

Given how long this winter seems to be going on here in Michigan, perhaps I can still get a sweater knit for his brother before things warm up?

raveled