Swatching and sweaters

I'm knitting "Hey Teach" for the winner of the Pete's Greens giveaway/fundraiser run by Juniper Moon Farm. The yarn arrived yesterday, and I swatched last night. Unbelievably, my very first swatch matches the gauge exactly. The yarn is a surprisingly soft worsted weight wool, and lovely to knit with. I'm planning to cast on tonight.

Three cakes, one minus the swatch amount.
Two leftovers, just in case, and because I have a cool idea for them. It turns out the skeins are marked with more yardage than indicated on the web site, so three should definitely be enough for this sweater.
I also cast on a sweater for Fintan on Monday, because the yarn hadn't arrived yet, and because he needs me to be knitting for him right now. I chose the main color, he chose the pattern and contrast colors. To make time for the Hey Teach, I also hustled to finish the sweaters I've been working on for the older two. I especially love the one I finished for Sophia. This is a simple raglan, knit with sock yarn from the Midnight Sheep, beautifully hand dyed by my friend Helena. The sweater is a bit large on her, but she'll be able to wear it for a few years, and she doesn't mind baggy. She loves the colors. I started out with a textured stitch on top, and then really wanted to see the colors in stockinette, so I switched for the lower body. I love the effect. Also, on Friday I told Sophia that if she would go for short sleeves she could have the sweater within a week. She enthusiastically agreed, and I finished the sweater on Sunday. I knit six inches of the body, and did all the finish knitting on Friday and Saturday, and spent several hours Sunday weaving in those ends.






And here's Dante's sweater, which barely fits. It's exactly the right size, but it looks uncomfortably fitted on him, because he normally wears baggy clothes, and because he probably grew an inch around in the two weeks it took to knit this. Also, I like the look of the collar, but it only really looks good on Fintan. On Dante it fits so closely that the collar tends to lay too far back.Live and learn. I do a lot of guessing when I knit for the kids. Anyway, it looks like I'll be knitting another sweater for Dante before too long.


So, I committed to a pair of socks, mittens, a hat, and a sweater for each child this winter. So far I have remaining on my list: sweater for Fintan, sweater for Gavyn, hat for Dante, hat and mittens for Sophia. Not too bad. I didn't know if I could do it, but now I think I can get them all done before the snow goes away.