Friday, January 18, 2008

Phillip's sweater

Last night I finished the seemingly never ending seaming of Phillip's "can de pois" sweater (the colour is very reminiscent of canned peas, hence the nickname). Since it's a gift for his first birthday, which is in June (I know, I'm a keener), I'm not going to post a full shot of the sweater. I want it to be somewhat of a surprise for his Mum and Dad.


Pattern: Shawl Collar Sweater by Debbie Bliss
Source: Essential Baby by Debbie Bliss

Materials: 6.25 skeins of Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in 210 lime
Needles: US 8/5 mm and US 7/4.5 mm circulars
Started: December 29, 2007
Finished: January 17, 2008

Notes: It's a pretty straightforward sweater. The only weird bit is that it says to put the uppermost back stitches on a holder while you work the front and sleeves, then you pick up the held back stitches and work the collar. Why not just work the collar as soon as you finish the back, and skip the holder altogether? I dunno.

I also used a new-to-me bind off for the collar to make it stretchier: Zimmermann's Better Bind Off. It worked really well. This would be an ideal bind off for toe-up socks. You can sort of see how it looks in the photo below.


The yarn is very nice. I like it better than Cashmerino Aran because it seems to pill less and it's equally soft. It's also superwash merino, which makes it ideal for a baby who will most likely drool and spit up on it from time to time.

Now I have to hide the sweater from Sherrie until June!