The New Kid On the Block

Toddler Aran
Originally uploaded by Sheepish.

It's been getting pretty cold around here the last few days. And, with the strong winds we've been having, I thought it was about high time I made a toddler sweater for Lambchop #2 (any decent mommy would). He's got nothing these days. Darn kids grow so fast.

So, what do I do? I've been asking myself that question for the last few days. I just couldn't come up with anything. I've got plenty of lace yarn, but somehow I just don't think lace would be his style. Then, I've got several rather nice, expensive skeins of yarn, but who wants to make a toddler sweater for a high price just to have him grow out of it in a month or stain it beyond repair? Besides there wouldn't be enough of any one yarn for a full sweater, anyway. Then it hit me. Well, it didn't hit me actually. I knew I had leftover aqua yarn from my Noro sweater (haven't forgotten those pictures, I swear). I was just a little worried that it would be too girly. I'm still not sure, but my husband assured me it was fine (translation: If you think you're buying another bag of yarn when you've got a whole wardrobe full, you'd better think again).

And, of course, I cast on. And, I'm really hoping I've got enough of it. We all know my troubles with lacking yarn. Anyway, I wasn't in the mood for a plain aqua stockinette job. I needed some more interest than that. So, I searched online for inspiring toddler aran sweaters. None to be found. Or, at least nothing that appealed to me. If there is anything out there that suits my tastes, I guess I just didn't stumble across it. So, I whipped out my hand-dandy pen and paper and went to work on the calculations and the swatching.

I'm happy to say that it only took me three cast-ons to realize I can't calculate - actually, I knew that, but I was hoping luck would be on my side this time. I finally beat the thing into submission, though, and away I went. And, what I've done so far on the front of the body is what you see in the picture.

It's kind of a cable rib thing that I came up with. That's not to say that it's never been done before, but I just sat down with the needles and let my fingers do the walking. I kind of like where they went. We'll see if they continue to steer me in the right direction. Incidentally, I think I really need to invest in a stitch dictionary. So far, I've gotten by with my Reader's Digest Handcraft book or whatever it's called. It's got lots of stitches in it, but not as many as I'd like. I'm realizing that more and more as I learn to knit better.