Brooks' Sweater and Cap

After a few hints here and there, Brooks' birthday has finally come and gone and I can post pictures of the sweater and hat that I made for him.

The pattern is one that I found on ravelry: the Ribbed Baby Jacket. My gauge was off a bit, so I ended up making the 9-12 month size to get a 12-24 month size. Plus, {and this is just one of the many reasons why I love ravelry} everyone was talking about the sweater coming out a bit on the short size, so I made it longer.

In looking at all of the finished projects, I really liked the way these type of buttons looked and so I looked for them because of that {and got a pretty good bargain in the process too}.

I can't remember which project exactly had used them, but they also had made loops out of I-cord. Love the way they turned out.

I cast off the ribbing completely. Then, for the three loops, I came back and picked up two stitches on the sweater itself and cast on one more stitch. I used size 6 needles to get a tighter knit {and I could have gone even smaller}. Once the I-cord was long enough to make a loop, I cast off and sewed it to the back-side of the ribbing.

Even though making an I-cord is supposed to be idiot-proof, I find it difficult to keep my tension even and was glad that I didn't have too much to make.

I like this pattern, but if there was one thing I would change, it would be the seaming of the sleeve. I sewed them together about 3 times and wasn't really happy with the final result. I had wanted to use the seamless kitchener stitch, but to do that, I would have had to not cast off the stitches when finishing up the sleeves.

It's what I'll do if I use this pattern again.

Since the sleeve was knit stitches all the way to the end, it had a tendency to curl. I lined the end with a row of single crochet stitches. That only tempered the curl.

Luckily, the sleeves are really long and will be rolled up when Brooks wears it.

I love shawl collars. I don't think I'll ever get tired of making sweaters with shawl collars.

The pattern was fairly easy to follow and there was very little sewing together {which I love in a pattern}. And I love the result. Since it was finished way in advance of Brooks' birthday, I got to look at it every day and enjoy it.

But, it did seem a little lonely without a cap, so I found a hat pattern on ravelry: the Perfect Fit Newsboy Cap. Its one of the first patterns that I've actually purchased on ravelry and it was well worth it.

It's a crocheted cap and has a lot of give for a crocheted piece. And, the best part about caps is that it doesn't take much time at all to make it - just a couple of hours and you are done! I was worried that it wouldn't fit, but making another wouldn't have been too much trouble if it didn't.

We missed Brooks' birthday party but we did get to see him that evening. And even though it still is Summer {and quite warm out}, we tried on his birthday present, just to make sure it fit.

It did!

I must say, it does help to make things for such cute {handsome} models.

If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater,
suggest that he wear a tail.
~ Fran Lebowitz