Friday, April 10, 2009

Byron's 2nd Birthday jumper

I can't believe my teeny little Byron Joshua...


is nearly 2! His birthday is May 17. I plan to be very Molly Weasleyish about birthdays, and knit my kids a birthday jumper each year. So far they have cold birthdays (here in Australia). I gave myself plenty of time to knit one... but finished it quite quickly! He put it on for me (I will have to fix the tight cast-off neck and do something about the roll-uppy bottom) and then he wouldn't take it off!

I couldn't find a pattern that made me want to cast-on, so I decided to try making my own. How hard could a little jumper be?


Here it is after 200g of yarn. The back is just 10x2 ribbing, like the sleeves and the bottom of the body.



And this is as still as I could get him to sit! He thought it was a great joke that he could run away from the camera and make me frustrated. But it fits him really well, and it looks (and feels) very cosy!


Of course, he can't have it for 5 more weeks Ü

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I used five 50g balls of Jaclyn (or DK weight), knitting with two strands held together on 7mm circular needles.
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Pattern

1. Cast on 96. Join in the round. Do 10 rounds of K10P2 ribbing. Place markers to separate the front and back (the back is all K10P2 ribbing).

2. Knit the front in K4P2 ribbing for 10 rounds.

3. Begin the cable pattern:

rows 2, 8, 14, 20, etc.: P2, K4, P2, CR, P2, K4, P2, CR, P2, CL, P2, K4, P2, CL, P2, K4

rows 5, 11, 17, 23, etc: do the other cables.


That is, of your 8 front ribs, the 4 on the right will have right leaning cables (CR) and the left 4 ribs will have left leaning cables (CL). You do the cable twist every 6 rounds. You alternate the cables so the middle ones and second from the side ones get done in one round, and the other ones (edge and 3rd from edge) get done in the other round.


4. When it's 40-45 rows, separate the front and back.


5. Front: cast off 4 on each edge, and then K2tog on each edge the next two right side rows. You've decreased 6 stitches off each edge.


6. Knit until you're up to about the collar, and just after a round where you twist the center cables, cast off the 10 stitches of those middle cables.


7. There are 13 stitches left on each side. On each right side, K2tog on the neck edge (once on each Right Side Rows) until there are 10 left. Continue until long enough to sit just over to the back of the shoulder. Stop after a cable twist and leave the stitches on a holder.


8. Back: Cast off 4 on each edge, and then K2tog on each edge the next two right side rows. You've decreased 6 stitches off each edge. Carry on until it can meet the front straps. Cast off the middle stitches, leaving 10 on each edge. Kitchener the front and back together.


9. Pick up 40 stitches around the arm. Put two purls at the top and front and back of the sleeve so there is 10 K stitches between them and 14 under the arm. Every 7th row, decrease two from the underarm rib. After 35 rows there should be 4 between the purl pairs under the arm. Start doing K4, P2 rib for 7 rows. Cast off.


10. Pick up about 45 around the neck, knit 7 rows and cast off loosely. (On the third attempt at the neck, I added a stitch every 5th on the 5th round and changed to 8mm needles. Then it was loose enough!)

5 comments:

kelgell said...

Wow, it's finished already. You were still doing the first arm when I was out there a few days ago. Is that the brown you bought a whole stack of for cheap?? Nice work. Now you can finish off my present and are you gonna do something knitted for Dad??

Alrischa said...

I've finished one of your socks. Hehe. I'm certainly not making socks for Dad, though! Bigfoot can buy his own.

Yep, it's the $1.99 yarn, so it cost me about $10. There's a heap left still!

Sinéad said...

Love the jumper, what a great birthday gift. Thanks for sharing the pattern! Happy Easter!

Sam said...

great looking jumper!

Tara said...

I love that you want to be Molly Weasley-ish. That's awesome.

Great jumper, you should be proud of yourself for your first design!

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