Thursday, July 14, 2011

A Knitting Challenge

A customer sent me a picture and said "Can you knit this for me?"   I did have to explain that a handknitted sweater is not going to have the fine look of a mass produced machine sweater.  The yarn I use is thicker, therefore a different look.


She then asked me if I could make up one and if she liked it she would order two of them.  I decided that would be fine with me as I knew  that I could sell it in the store if she didn't want it.  I also thought this would be a great opportunity to come up with my own design and maybe make it a sellable pattern.
The body of the sweater was pretty basic. This is a toddler size 1-2 and I have many patterns that could help me to size it.  I did start the neckline a little high for what I like, so maybe the next one should start lower.  See how the top button (on the above pic) is almost halfway up the armhole.  Most V-necks start at the bottom of the armhole.  That's what I would do next time.


The collar was my real trouble spot. So I made a muslin mock up to see how it would lay.  I wanted some rollover.  That really helped in the knitting of it.  The next one I'm going to add more cream rows to make it roll out a little more. 


The finished sweater.  She did order them.  The second one will have faux pockets and will hopefully have a larger collar.  She is buying them for grandsons that live a distance from each other, so she doesn't mind having them a little different from each other.


I don't know if I will turn it into a sellable pattern.  Realizing putting it on paper and making sure there are no mistakes, plus doing other sizes, is quite a lot to chew off.  If I find I have some spare time maybe?

I can't get enough of Eloise.  Aunt Naomi is blowing bubbles for her.







2 comments:

  1. That is a hilarious picture of Eloise! You all have too much fun with her!
    I can't even imagine making a sweater like that and it looks really cute.

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  2. Very brave of you to create a collared sweater.

    Mmm, bubbles! We haven't tried bubbles with Older Grandson (17 months on Sunday) - perhaps it's time we did.

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