Size Issues
Over the weekend, I finished up the little linen-stitch top I designed for my nieces. As you can see (though the picture is a little blurry — sorry!), it’s quite cute.
Because I had only 1 2/3 balls of yarn to use for this, I did a provisional cast-on just below the armholes and then knit both tops upward (back and forth) and the bottom downward (in the round). This worked marvelously, though I’m still no expert at that provisional cast-on business.
I have to wash and dry it yet, which will determine the final size. (Denim yarn shrinks lengthwise the first time you wash it.) I’m not sure it will be big enough for the twins. I was aiming for about an eighteen month size, and I came in a little under, with a twenty-inch chest. (That’s an eighteen month size with one inch of ease. I think two inches would be preferable.) Unfortunately, when I asked my mother-in-law what size the girls are wearing these days, she said that they’re in twenty-four-month clothes. They are twelve months old. Did I mention that these are mega-babies?
So I’m not sure what I will do just yet. Should I mail it to my sister-in-law and ask her to check whether it fits? I don’t want to make two tops that don’t fit, certainly. I could make the second one bigger, because I have more yarn to use for it — two full balls of Knit Picks Shine. Or I could just give this one away to a smaller baby. I am undecided.
In other news, the end was in sight on the Tedium Bathmat, but then it skittered away. I only have one more stripe to do before I run out of yarn. However, it is now clear that the bathmat won’t be large enough. It’s about your average bathmat size, but the bathmat it is meant to replace is extra-wide. The only thing I like about the original bathmat is its dimensions, so I feel that I have to come pretty close to replicating them for the new bathmat to be of any use. I sent an emergency e-mail to the Mass. Ave. Knit Shop in Indianapolis, Indiana, where I bought the yarn, but I haven’t heard back from them yet regarding whether they have more of it. Anyone have a few skeins of Ironstone Flake Cotton they’re willing to part with? It’s not the easiest yarn to find.
Finally, I returned to working on my grandma’s unfinished sweater (backstory is here and here) last night. It took me a while to decide what I wanted to do with the sweater after I basted it together and determined that I wouldn’t like it if I finished it the way she had intended and that I didn’t have enough yarn to reknit the sleeves anyway. Ultimately, I chose to rip it out down to the beginning of the armhole shaping and reknit the top of both the front and the back as a crewneck instead of a wide boatneck. Later, I will make short sleeves to fit into the raglan armholes. I think I will like it and be able to wear it that way — perhaps even when I go to New York next month for her memorial service. That would be nice.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:50 am
If your readers don’t cough up the yarn, and Mass Ave Knit shop (whose url I’m pointedly ignoring — they get enough of my money at Stitches every year) try knitswap…
(http:://groups.yahoo.com/group/knitswap). Access to over 1,000 stashes to rummage through!
April 16th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Aw, the baby sweater is really cute! If there’s a chance that it will be too small, I would probably knit two bigger versions and wait for a smaller baby to come along. I really like the transitions from one color to another.