FO: Cal Baby Sweater

Cal Baby Sweater mosaic
Originally uploaded by knitswithasilentk

This is the secret knitting I kept mentioning. It's been received and they are overjoyed, and so am I!

The Sweetie went to Cal, also known outside California as Berkeley. We go to all of the home football games (yes, it is a bit of a long drive) and when one of his friends from college told us they were about to adopt a little boy, I got right to work on this. The colors are blue and gold, and they are the bears. In fact, whenever fans meet, it is customary to say "Go Bears!"

Pattern: Georgie Stripe Yoke Jacket, from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, 12-18 month size. I worked out a graduated stripe sequence and put it at the bottom and cuffs; it kind of resembles and old-fashioned letterman's sweater.

Yarn: Cascade 220 superwash. Yep, it's for a baby, so it's washable! I ordered this from the WEBS Anniversary Sale when my stash diet ended. When I looked through my stash to see what I had - there it was. Perfect!

Needles: KnitPicks Options circular needles, sizes 5 and 6.

Modifications: Striping sequence changed and moved, as noted above. I had these great buttons with bear claw prints, but the 6-row button band was too narrow. I widened them to 10 rows and they're perfect. I also did the fronts and back as one piece as far as the armholes.

Details: YO buttonhole was still big enough to get the buttons through (it's a tight fit, but hey, it'll only loosen up). I also did an intarsia-esque Big C in the middle of the back. I just drew it out on a scrap of paper, and worked it. The vertical portion of the C puffs out a bit, but I think it'll be all right. And I carried the blue yarn - hence intarsia-esque. (Is this still called intarsia?)

The pattern also calls for holding the top of the back on the needles and "sewing" the (bound-off) collar to it. I chose to kitchener it, and I must say it ended up with a nice, thin seam. I started in the center of both and worked left, and then right. I think I've finally gotten this Kitchener stitch thing figured out! Then I used mattress stitch (1/2 stitch selvedge) for the rest of the collar. The sleeves were sewn in and seamed with mattress stitch, 1/2 stitch selvedge. I also love how I got the stripes in the sleeve to match up perfectly by mattress-stitching them.

I knitted this in a hurry, hoping to have it done in time for their baby shower....didn't make the deadline, but it did arrive before the baby! (Oh, no, I will not be held responsible for holding up the adoption process by not finishing a sweater!)

I really love how this sweater turned out, and in fact am contemplating making a full-sized one for myself!