accidental FO

I cast this on at 11:30 yesterday morning . . . worked on it idly during the day while working and doing some intense housecleaning . . . and was all but completely done at 9:30. I admit, even I was shocked.

366.175 • how the hell did this happen? (by mintyfreshflavor)

Child’s Placket Pullover (ravelry; pdf)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: Addi Turbo US 8
Size: 0-6 months (the smallest size)
Started: June 23
Finished: June 23

This is the yarn I mentioned having bought in the last post, the yarn that Penelope swore would get me a full February Baby Sweater. For some reason I decided the Child’s Placket Pullover would use less yarn—or, at the very least, it offered a lot of small sizing options. Plus Rachel‘s knit a thousand of them and it looks cute; I’d made a Feb Baby before.

child's placket pullover (by mintyfreshflavor)

In order to maximize the yarn, I knit the body as directed, then instead of pausing to work the sleeves, I did a provisional (crochet) cast-on for the number of stitches the sleeves would have been, and worked the yoke as directed.

child's placket pullover (by mintyfreshflavor)

Then I went back and knit the sleeves from the top down, working the decreases at about the rate that the pattern calls for increasing. I knit the sleeves at the same time so that I could knit until I ran out of yarn. In truth, I ended up with a small pile of yarn left so I went back after that picture above was taken and lengthened the sleeves, each by about 10 rows (it’s so hard to estimate yarn!). I may have been able to get a little more out of the skein, in fact, but I was done jiggering. In the end, the sweater matches the pattern measurements almost exactly, so I could have just knit it as written and been fine.

child's placket pullover (by mintyfreshflavor)

Um, was I supposed to put in butonholes? Eh, it’ll just be an open collar for this little boy. It grew a bit upon blocking, but that’s all for the better, because now I can be sure the baby will fit in it. If I were to do another out of one skein of Cascade 220 (and at $10 a skein and just 6 hours of knitting, this is a really economical gift!), I’ll add some length to the body and maybe take a few rows off the sleeves.

Now I’m now more than ready for the upcoming baby boy of the person for whom I originally knit the Baby Surprise Jacket. I was worried I wouldn’t be done in time for the shower—in August. Hm, now what?

26 Responses to accidental FO

  1. Elinor says:

    I love that you knit a baby sweater AND cleaned your house in a day. Either one of those would take me a week.

    It looks beautiful and in my experience, buttons are completely unnecessary and frequently problematic with baby wear. B loves to yank as hard as she can on buttons and always has. Bummer.

  2. rebecca says:

    i like it best without buttonholes, have seen ones with and without on ravelry and it looks more sleek, more modern without. great job! i’m working on my second sleeve from the cuff up and hope to finish mine by weeks end.

  3. libraryliz says:

    What an adorable FO.
    I like it w/o buttons too…leaves the potential for the collar to be open, you know, should the baby be a badass. And what baby isn’t, at least a little?
    Hmm. I’ve got a skein of 220 in red & friends who are expecting a boy in November. He will undoubtedly need a sweater.

  4. Karma says:

    I’ve always wanted to make that sweater for a baby boy; do you remember which size you followed in order to use just one skein of 220? (It’s been a while since I looked at it, maybe there is only one size!) Anyway, I love the color you used, bravo!

  5. Rosa says:

    You had me at green! Too cute. That is a lovely piece for a very lucky child. But I would want to frame it and hang it on the wall.

  6. nancy says:

    umm. that is really cute! i might commission that from you instead of the baby surprise jacket! it looks like the perfect fall sweater. anyway, i only have a few more weeks to go! so, we’ll talk soon!

  7. schrodinger says:

    Um… you can show me how you get your knits (even the baby kind) done so quickly – or maybe I can just rub your head for some knitting speed mojo.

    Love the colour of the placket pullover btw.

  8. Maritza says:

    Looks great, and very smart of you to knit it the way you did. I think I may copy your methods next time I make this sweater (and there will be a next time as it seems to be my go-to baby sweater pattern when making stuff for pregnant friends and family).

  9. whitney says:

    Very cute sweater, and wow, that *is* an economical gift. I think the lack of buttons is totally fine, since babies like to just yank on them, anyway.

    If only I could manage to knit one of those *and* clean my house all in the same day…I suspect that would take me a few weeks, actually!

  10. earthchick says:

    Dang you’re fast!

    I knit this without buttonholes but did use buttons – just really small buttons that could pop through the seed stitch, like the sample in the book. Yours is so adorable!!

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