sweater dilemma

Here is the most recent little sweetie I've been working on. The customer who asked for her requested that she be as small as possible. Well, I was limited to the finest yarn I had, because I didn't want to buy three skeins of yarn for one tiny toy. The finest stuff I had was alpaca fingering weight that a friend gave me, which originally came from her mother's stash. I have no idea how old the yarn is, but it's only slightly nibbled by moths, and makes lovely socks. I only had 2 shades of brown, so I used some grape kool-aid to dye a bit for the dark points. It worked great, and the kitty smells like grapes :)

I used 2.25mm needles, so the fabric would come out dense and not show the stuffing. She is so tiny and adorable, like a new kitten! I was going to use bead for her eyes, but once I stuck the buttons on her face, I just knew she needed those huge turquoise eyes.

I've also been working on a big teddy, since I only ever made Strudel from the pattern. I'm using some fluffy white acrylic yarn I bought a while ago, so the toy will be fine to give a child. Machine-washable toys are usually a good idea when wee ones are involved. I wanted to design a new sweater, rather than put the new toy in overalls. But I having rather a lot of trouble with that. I had the second attempt 90% done when I realized I hated the way it fits.

I decided the problem comes down to this: I am trying to design the sweater based on techniques used for people sweaters, but teddies are not shaped like people! The teddy has no shoulders, short arms, and a chubby tummy (okay, you could say this about some people, but I'm sure their sweaters fit terribly too). I wanted it to have a yoke with pretty stripes in different colours, but I don't think this will work at all. I'm back to square one, and not sure how to proceed.

A raglan sweater isn't much better, because by the time I've done enough increases (or decreases) to get the body and sleeves wide enough, the underarm is nearly at the teddy's wrist. I could do drop-shoulders with a basic set-in sleeve like most of the other sweaters I've made for the toys. They're simple and fit all right. The stripes I want to do might not look quite as good as on a yoke or raglan top, but I'm going to have to make a compromise somewhere. I just want to decide what I'm doing, before ripping out the sweater another 2-3 times.

no time for me

soft pair
Originally uploaded by baprime

I knew the last couple months before Christmas would be a busy time for me, but I still hate that I have no time to knit anything for myself. I started a pair of socks, but felt so guilty about knitting them I put them away over a week ago. The greenish yarn in the photo is some hand-spun BFL a friend gave me for my birthday. The bluish yarn is some amazingly soft hand-spun I picked up In Nova Scotia on my honeymoon. I plan to use them together in a neck warmer of my own design. I am itching to get started with this stuff, but I am strong enough to put it aside and make the toys on order.

But come the middle of December, it's all about me! I plan to give myself two months of just knitting what I want. This may include the twin to the sock I knit for my husband last year. If the sweet, soft yarns for my socks and sweater don't tempt me too much ;)

sweaters

I've only knitted myself a shrug so far, and I've never worn it, so some day I will probably take it apart to knit something else. But I haven't given up on sweaters yet. Sweaters are my most favourite type of clothing, and one of the reasons I love living somewhere with long, cold winters. I am determined to knit more, and keep knitting them until I am good at it.

Of course, there is the problem of finding a pattern I like, and I'm terribly picky. The other problem is the cost of the yarn for a big project like that.

Thanks to another blogger, I came across a sweater pattern I love. And thanks to Knitpicks, there is nice and affordable yarn I can use for it. But I was wondering if any of you have tried their swish superwash and/or Andean silk yarn. Which do you think is nicer? Or do you know of another yarn in the same price range which is super soft and warm?