Vintage Garter Stitch Baby Sweater with Adult Possibilities

At one of our regular coffee and knitting visits,  a friend of mine, Marlane, gave me a vintage baby pattern book. The photo on the left is the cover of the pattern book.  Bear Brand from who knows when, I'm guessing the 1950's.   There were lots of fun patterns in it but one in particular intriqued me.  It was a little baby sweater done completely in garter stitch, from the front left edge sideways to the sleeve, cast off for the body, cast back on for the sleeve complete the sleeve, cast off sleeve stitches, pick back up body stitches from a holder, ,knit the back, repeat for other sleeve and front.  The yoke stitches stay on the needles at all times and are shaped by short rows, as are the cuffs on the sleeves.  I had enough heavy worsted in my stash and started right in on a little sweater for my grandson, Dorian.  He was due to join us with his lovely parents for the holidays this year and I thought I could probably finish it by then.  Here he is at that time, 4 months old with his Mom,  our wonderful daughter in law, Sarah.

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 The first photo shows from the cast on row , across the left front, the body stitches on the holder and the sleeve stitches cast on and the sleeve begun.  Then the finished sweater and hat.  And I did finish them for Christmas.
As I worked on this little sweater, I began to imagine an adult version.  After I finished it, I started to work with the yoke to body to sleeve proportions, pulled some more worsted wool out of my stash and got to work. The stash yarn was used the year before for a sweater for Dorian's Mom, Sarah, so they now  have mother/son sweaters. At least for a couple of months until he outgrows it!   I referenced heavily from  Elizabeth Zimmerman's work in garter stitch garments and her percentage system and yarn gauges! No photos yet, but I'm optimistic that it will be successful........more on that to come.....

Parfait Tunic

Parfait Tunic started from finding a couple of interesting lace patterns in a pattern enclyclopedia. I had been wanting to knit something suitable for spring and summer, somewhat dressy but very comfortable.  I did quite a bit of swatching for this design as I wanted the lace patterns to blend into each other where they met, in other words , not have strong "lines" where one pattern ended and the other started.  I started with the lower border pattern and the body pattern then realized it would look great to add a simple eyelet for the yoke.  This gives a nice balance to the tunic and also is super simple to work the yoke decreases!  

This layering of patterns reminded me of a parfait dessert, the word in French means perfect....Either reference will work just fine.   To accomplish the organic flow that I was looking for, the stitch patterns had to be modified.  Writing up the pattern for the size I made was quite simple.  I just wrote down what I did as I knit it.  The challenge occurred when I tried to write up the directions for the pattern in smaller and larger sizes.  The pattern repeats didn't always work out just right.   In the end though, I got it figured out.   Although it did take me a while to perfect the pattern, no pun intended!

I took the tunic with me to France in 2011.  The photos were taken at Tillac in the south west part of France, department Gers.  It was a cool and comfortable top to wear. It was knit in a sport weight cotton called Shine Sport from KnitPicks. It is 60% Pima Cotton and 40% Modal, which is a natural beechwood fiber and gives great shine, drape and silkiness.

The pattern can be purchased through my Ravelry account.

Latitude 41 Demi Cape

Lattitude 41 Demi-Cape

pattern available here buy now

This cape was designed to try out this gorgeous yarn from New Zealand.  It is 70% Merino and 30% cashmere.  I used a lace design that twists as it is knitted; I've used this on a sock design and scarf design as well using different gauges and yarns.  I wanted to see what it would do and am quite pleased with the garment.  Comfortable, warm and because of the shorter length, easy to wear and not restrictive..