Mikknit

I finished Arlo’s sweater the other night. I have to laugh at myself, knitting him a sweater in July, but it is cotton and it’ll be cold soon enough (although not too soon for me!).

The yarn is organic, colorgrown cotton in a brown and white marl. You may be able to see that it’s thick and thin - it was quite entertaining to knit with, though I usually prefer a more evenly-spun yarn. This is similar to the Blue Sky Alpacas organic cotton yarn, but not as soft, not as even, and not as expensive. I believe these were 4oz skeins and I have at least 1/3 of a skein left out of the two I bought, after knitting a roughly 18-24 month size sweater. I bought the yarn in Ashland, from Northern Dyeworks. They have a site, but it’s under construction, so I was told to email them if I wanted to order more. If you’re interested, it’s info at northerndyes dot com. Aside from the cotton yarn (which comes in other colors than I used), she stocks alpaca yarn, Peace Fleece in worsted and sportweight, wool/hemp yarn, and possibly some others that I don’t recall. They also sell GREAT tie-dyed items, and we have several of her things. I didn’t buy any tie-dye this trip though, as I chose the yarn instead.

Some brief specs on the sweater: knit circularly from the bottom up on a 16″ size 7 Bryspun circular (which I like very much), sleeves were knit on size 7 bamboo DPNs (no idea what brand, bought them from Borealis). 88 stitches on the body, started the sleeves with 24 and increased to 36. I originally intended to leave the front right raglan open and do a button closure, but I goofed that up (added placket stitches on both sides of the seam, not realizing that it’d add almost 1″ to the fabric), so just ripped it out and knit it the regular way. I don’t doubt that it’ll fit over his noggin, it’s not as big as his sister’s melon, but I can hardly get him to hold still for a diaper change, much less to try on a sweater when it’s hot.

I started a sock yesterday, Opal Rainforest in the Parrot colorway. Not much to look at yet, only 1.5″ or so of ribbing. If this kid ever goes to sleep, maybe I’ll get to work on it some more.