The pattern is all done, and tech edited and ready to go.  See the Shop, the email patterns page.

(use the Contact form to let me know if you would rather have a Word doc. or a PDF. file)

 I am now getting ready to reknit it for myself, in black with a hot pink border.  I’m looking forward to sitting around in the morning, lounging with  my tea, all romantic like.  (I wish!)

Check out the specials page…I have a couple of yarn packs available for the Willy Nilly Almost a Pi Shawl….the same soft pink/grey, a soft blue grey, and a lovely heathery purple.  And the shipping is free! 

The pattern for the Feathers wrap is being tech edited, and will be available as soon as Shelley is done (need a tech editor?  Contact me, and I’ll put you in touch)

There are a limited number of skeins of the Feathers yarn available in the colourway used in the wrap.  Again, contact me.

This is my latest project, the Bear Hills Pi shawl.  I named it after the area around Prairie Fibre Mills.  Flowers in the long grass, and hills and coulees.  Again, the pattern is being tech edited, and will be available shortly.

So there! Ms. V.  I am only one project behind on the “finish up UFO challenge”.  Plus of course finishing one for May.  But that’s a whole other subject.

I just returned from the HWSDA conference in Olds Alberta, where I met up with a lot of old friends, including Ellen.  I love the garments Ellen knits.  She just casts on, and away she goes.  Here she is with a sweater made from her dyeing class yarn, ala Kaffe Facett (she started with a pattern then wandered off on her own)  Notice the bling stitched to the front, and the button assortment.  

KNITTING FOR KIDS  (ORIGINALLY IN STRANDED ON-LINE NEWSLETTER)

When I first started knitting sweaters for my kids, I was dismayed when the boys so quickly grew out of them, or, even worse, refused to wear the sweater at all. Over the years, I discovered some techniques that helped solve both problems. I am sharing these with you in hopes that your child’s sweater will fit longer than a month, and have a chance to wear out from constant use.

1. Colour Just because the child says “I want a blue sweater” does not mean that blue is the colour of choice. Dump out your stash that has enough yardage to make the sweater, and let them pick the colour. If they want two colours, use them. This can be a happy surprise. My son once chose a muddy brown and a bright, bright blue. Horrible. But when it was knit up, it was a beautiful sweater that everyone commented on.

2. Yarn choice Make sure the child likes the yarn. One of my sons could not stand the feeling of alpaca or any other soft yarn. I used to knit a little sleeping bag from the yarn for one of their small teddies. If the teddy was never in the bag, then I didn’t use the yarn. Use the best you can afford in the yarn and material of your choice. This is not necessarily the most expensive yarn. Look for a good twist in the yarn for longer wear.

3: Sweater style In my experience, a raglan or drop shoulder sweater fits a child longer and accommodates the strange growth patterns every child goes through at some point. Check the depth of the armhole, and if necessary make the changes to give generous room. If you know how to knit a gusset for the armhole, better yet. (A book on Guernsey sweaters usually explains this well) A sweater with binding armholes stays in the drawer. If possible, a top down pattern is best. This style makes it much easier to pick out the cast off and add a couple of inches if needed later. A pullover is better than a cardigan as kids rarely pause long enough to do up buttons or zippers. But be sure to make the neck roomy enough to go over the head. Kids’s heads are large in proportion to their bodies. A two or three button placket worked in the front is my favourite solution. If the boys didn’t do up the buttons they still kept warm, and the sweater was very easy to pull on. The kids were also less likely to drop the sweater on the ground and have it lost and gone forever. If the sweater is for really cool weather, consider adding a hood rather than knitting a matching hat. A hood can’t get lost, and most kids will actually pull it up if their ears are cold

4. Pockets In a word, Don’t. They will be stretched out in no time from holding frogs, dolls and other treasures.

5. Length Most frequently, a sweater is too small for a kid because it’s too short in the body or the sleeves. To knit extra length in the sleeves and avoid having the sleeve hanging down and dangling past the fingers, try this. Find the difference in the number of stitches between the ribbing and the top of the sleeve. Increase this whole amount immediately after the ribbing, and then knit straight till the sleeve is about 1 or 2 inches too long. The extra length will “blouse” over the ribbing making the extra length less obvious. This method has the added bonus of making the sleeve roomier for playtime. For extra length in the body, just make it longer. Unless you have a very tall thin child, use the same or close to the same number of stitches in the ribbing as you do in the body. Kids are mostly shaped like blocks, and using 90% of the body stitches for the ribbing quite often makes the sweater ride up around their waist.

6. Fit Be sure to check the difference between the “blocked” chest and the “actual” chest measurements and go with a little larger difference. Some patterns have a small difference between the two. The heavier the yarn used, the greater the difference should be. Pick your pattern based on the child’s chest size, not by size 1 or 2 etc. There doesn’t seem to be an agreed on standard for numbered sizes.

7. Light Colours Light coloured ribbing generally gets very grubby looking in a short time. If you are knitting a light coloured sweater, consider casting on the ribbing (or casting off if it’s a top down style) in a dark colour. It adds a bit of interest to a plain sweater, picks up one of the colours in a patterned sweater, and keeps the cuffs looking clean for a much longer time.

8. Weight of yarn If you are knitting for very cold weather, consider going with a finer yarn than you might usually choose. Then, knit a matching vest using double strands of the yarn. Make the armhole depth of the vest an inch longer than the sweater. Consider adding a hood. Kids don’t like clothing that ristricts their arm movement which chunky wool often does. A vest keeps the chest warm, and usually will be kept on when a heavier sweater will be tossed on someone’s lawn.

I hope these tips make it easier and more pleasurable for you to knit for the kids in your life. Many of the tips given are for the little ones in your life, but they are useful for the bigger ones too.