Saturday, July 28, 2007

Change-O!

My cutie 6-year-old has let me know that spelling a word c-h-a-n-g-o means that it should be pronounced "chan-go" (rhymes with fandango). Hmmm. Anyhoo, here it are!


I finally finished the 24-month-size. PeeWee won't let me put it on her for a glamour shot. It's just as well--I don't have the buttons sewn on yet. I posed the sweater with these daisy buttons but I only have 8 of them. I'll probably get some more of these green shell buttons

  • Pattern: Presto Chango by yours truly; size 24 months.
  • Yarn: Blue Sky Organic Cotton #81 Nut, just barely more than 2 balls.
  • Modifications: I widened the cuffs from 3 to 5 seed stitches. I wish I had only done 4; 5 is a little too wide. I specified 3 stitches in the pattern because I thought it would be easier for people to remember to knit-purl-knit on the end of every row rather than worry about whether it should be kpk or pkp. I think I needn't have worried. After all, I didn't let that stop me from using 4 stitches along the front.

    I shaped the shoulders by increasing 4 times every other row on the uphill side of the shoulders and decreasing equally on the downhill side. I got the idea for the shoulder shaping from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Bog Jacket.

    The sleeves are shaped with short rows, 4 turns before the center line of the sleeve and 4 turns after. I was worried that I'd have a hard time matching the second half of the sleeve shaping to the first half (since I hadn't written anything down) but I just peered at the wrong side of the knitting and tried to do my turns in approximately the same places. I picked up the wraps and knit them in behind the stitches, but they did leave little lumps. They'll probably smooth out when I block it.

    I also knit a different pattern on the front panel. I knitted the front panel while listening to Harry Potter 7 read aloud by my dear friend Wendi. She and her husband hosted a weekend Read-HP7-Until-We-All-Pass-Out-Or-It's-Over-Whichever-Comes-First Party. It was fantastic. I got to listen to Harry Potter AND knit. In honor of the occasion, I knit a lightning bolt into the front panel. :)

    If anyone is interested in the specifics on the sleeve or shoulder shaping, I'll type that up and post it...


Jen of Knitting Sutra is having a great contest and looking for pool-defying sock pattern suggestions. Here are the details, so go give her your ideas--and be sure to tell her I sent you (because then I get another shot at the gorgeous German yarn and the nifty Dutch bag she's offering).

I can't bear it--I want to have a contest, too. I'm such a lemming. And I want to reward the hardy souls who made it to the end of this post. :)

Does anyone remember the frog accessory case that I tried to give away a couple of months ago? The prize winner never came back to claim it. Sad, I know. But I have learnt my lesson: I shall try again, but I will ask for email addresses! I'd like to send Froggy out to someone with some sock yarn--So if you're interested, send me a note at shoeless UNDERSCORE valerie AT yahoo DOT com (there's a link on my blogger profile) and tell me your favorite kind of pie. Hey, I like pie. It's not really a contest, is it. I just thought it would be interesting... I'll put your names in a hat and draw one out on August 1 after dinner, say 8 PM? Good? Okay.

4 comments:

Jean said...

I'm now up to three Presto Changos in the works! I think I'm going to make a second panel for each of the three. I was thinking about a different pattern for the second panel, so I really liked seeing your lightning bolt. I might try to approximately copy that, or I may browse the stitch dictionaries. Either way, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. Your mods for the larger size look wonderful.

Anonymous said...

I just found your pattern at Jimmy Beans and passed it along to a friend, who immediately responded by saying how much she liked it. I suggested that it would be fun to use different stitches on the front panel and then decided to check out your blog. With perfect timing, you have just posted this new version, which is even lovelier! By all means, please post the sleeve shaping and any other stitch details you care to share. Thank you so much for a beautiful pattern - it's definitely going to be my next baby gift!

Lynn said...

Hi, Tola gave me the link to your blog. I've been designing a lot of what I knit since I discovered "The Sweater Workshop Book" 20+ years ago.

That is a great baby sweater! Isn't designing fun? Come on over and say hi!

kemulvey said...

I'm about to knit one for my boss's 3-month old who is a LARGE girly. So she wants me to make one for her and make it in a large size with a tuck in it. Can you let me know how you modified the pattern for the larger size?

very grateful!
Karen =)