cottington's so crafty: December 2018

Y'all are in store for a cozy twosome in this post! Camden gets to show off a new hat AND a new sweater!

For such a lovely sweater, I took so long to write the blog post that the Petite Polished shows wear. I would say it honestly started pilling pretty soon after finishing it, too. I wanted to hold out on allowing Camden to wear this design by Alicia Plummer, but since I finished it in October and she needed a pull-over, well, that was that. Originally, I'd wanted to sew her new jeans first for a nice photo combo, but I have yet to get around to sewing those. Maybe next week, aha.

There was some silliness in knitting this pattern, though the pattern itself was lovely. Because of my gauge, I added extra yoke rounds, but in doing THAT, I also added extra increases, which wasn't great for the sleeves, and when I started the first sleeve, I realized my mistake and had to rip back and decrease differently. I wasn't sure that it'd work, considering I couldn't just get rid of the original sleeve stitch count, but it ended up being okay. I alternated skeins, and while the gauge called for is looser than I like to knit a DK weight yarn, it does look nice. In saying that, I wonder if it'd be AS pilled as it is if I knit at a tighter gauge. I knit with Tanis Fiber Arts PureWash DK in the Luna Gray colorway. I was glad for Camden to have a somewhat neutral-toned sweater, which it is, but she really still needs another pull-over - and a cardigan, while we're at it. I had been desperate to try the PureWash base for some time (because of its more eco-friendly "super-washing" process, and it is nice to knit with, but I'm not sure I'll knit with it again, unless I do try some time, at a tighter gauge. Overall, the sweater is quite lovely, and Camden loves to wear it!

As for Camden's hat, this is another moment where I feel cool that I knit with deep stash yarn!!! The yarn was purchased way back in 2012, and I had paid an Etsy seller to knit a sweater for Camden, because I didn't trust my abilities or something and figured another person would knit it faster, LOL. Anyway, the remnants have been in my stash every since, some lovely Madelinetosh colorway - I think it was Truly, Madly, Deeply.

A tiny July 2012 Camden!

Looking Ahead, designed by Veera Valimaki, is a simple-enough pattern, thought I botched up the decreases a bit; it was hard to know how to stay in pattern, or I'd get off track. Either way, it is cute, and I also had a feeling it'd be super cute with a faux fur pom pom, and I was RIGHT! I am so glad I ordered from Thread Head Knits. She has tons of choices, and I bought my poms as a bulk order, but keep in mind that some colors can't be ordered in bulk buys. I was winging it on color choices, but I figured something I ordered would work, and the light pink is so pretty with the hat.

Even here, you can see the pilling. I really should get a Gleener!

I am pretty happy that I have been working through stash yarns - for the kids or for others. I am knitting two wee sweaters for twins right now - one down, one to go! And I have recently knit another pair of mittens each for the kids, both from scrap yarns.