I started this sweater for Sophia just about two months before she was due. I was knitting on it five weeks later, the evening I went in to labor (three weeks early thankyouverymuch). I did find some time to work on it here and there but really did not get much headway on it until this last week. I was left it with the task of reknitting the sleeves (I substituted yarns, my gauge was off and well, Sophia not being in the womb anymore is growing like a tree so I wanted to lengthen them), knitting the collar and finishing.

Picking it back up I marvelled at how huge it looked to me back when I was first knitting it (I knit the 18 month size) and how strange it was that Sophia would wear this now. I hope she can get another season out of it. The weather here is perfect for this type of sweater.

Peapod Baby Sweater, Interweave Knit, Summer 2006
Pattern by: Kate Gilbert

Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too, Parfait Solids

Buttons: From the Family Button Box (My Grandfather used to work for Rochester Button Company).

Details raveled here.

This yarn? Is awesome. A great yarn for this project if you’ve got the patience to work with the gauge.

I have to say that when I started this pattern I found the little lacy bits challenging. We all know that I am not a lace knitter as I find charts confounding. Between the time that I started knitting this and finished the sweater, I met Kate (the designer) in real life. Her brain is incredible and she is, by far, one of my favorite knitwear designers (as well as one of my favorite people). Talking with her and getting to know who she is somehow helped me to understand how to knit this pattern better. It was as though a peek into her mind allowed me to occupy it a bit when I was confused or lacked confidence. Those of you who know Kate may understand how this is possible. She’s just real, she means what she says and now that I know that I can read her patterns and know - yeah, she means what she wrote, trust her, don’t read in to it.

I once showed Kate a hole in one of my heel gussets on a sock. I asked her if she had any hints or tips or secret codes to make them go away. She asked me to show her how I was knitting on it. I did. She looked at me and said, “You just gotta pull the shit out of it, make the stitches tight, and then make them tighter.” (yes, I paraphrase here but I swear this is just about what she said.) That’s it??!?! And it was.

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day 2: Nothing wrong with a little love for the K to the G. She deserves it.