Actual knitting

I finally managed to take a little time to myself this weekend - a little guilty pleasure for the holiday weekend. And nothing goes better with a work-free Sunday afternoon than a new knitting project. I haven't done that in a while! To say nothing of writing two posts in one weekend.

I dipped into the Knit Picks yarn that arrived a couple of months ago, and started an Accordion jacket for one of the very little people in my extended family. I may not do too much holiday knitting this fall, but I do intend to make two of these for the boys. This is size 3 years in Swish Superwash, which is worsted weight, making it a fairly quick knit. I've already done the back and half of one of the front pieces.


So far, I love the yarn. This is my first Knit Picks purchase and above all, it's very soft. I am allowing for a little bit of vertical shrinkage, as this yarn does have a bit of a reputation for that. Just to be sure, I plan to machine wash and dry the pieces before assembly.

After a couple of years of experience knitting for the babies and toddlers of the family and receiving feedback from parents, I have learned a couple of important things. Firstly, all members of my family are genetically predisposed to having large heads. Even the babies. This means that pullovers are much more likely to go on if they have a button closure on the shoulder. Secondly, most little boys really hate to have you put anything over their heads. Struggling with an uncooperative kid with a big head means that short zippers in the front of the neck are especially out of the question, as they usually end up stuck in somebody's eye. I hope that this jacket will be loved and worn for a long time because it will involve minimal hassle to get it on, and the ribbed texture makes for a very stretchy jacket that should give quite a bit of room to grow.

Now that I know the yarn will work with the gauge for this pattern, and KP has introduced new heathered colours for this yarn, I plan to order a little more. The second Accordion will be a slightly bigger size 4 years; I'm thinking squirrel heather grey with Dublin green trim. And while I'm ordering, this might be the perfect opportunity to finally get me some good lace blocking wires. But that's all. Really.....