FO: sweaters, vest for my little boy

[nannaknits]

Wow! I love them all, but I really love the vest. So nice.

[auburnchick]

aw, thank you!

It took me some courage to post here after seing all the complicated things people make... these are easy...

I think that the longer you knit, the more you'll discover that people tend to knit certain things well.

I, for instance, am a sock knitter. They come easily for me. However, sweaters? That's another thing altogether. I'm petrified of them.

You do wonderful work. Don't doubt yourself. And, consider yourself fortunate that you can use patterns loosely. I'm a knit-by-the-lines kind of gal. I cannot improvise. That has proven difficult at times.

Give yourself a pat on the back. You're doing a great job!

[Breezed]

Wow, every single one is just perfect looking. I wish I was that inspired and talented! Great work. Those are just wonderful.

[Jaxhil]

You are so talented! I love all of these! Especially the gray one with the buttons..and the cream one!

[ArtLady1981]

Oh my goodness...your work is priceless...and impeccable! I love this collection of sweaters for your son! Fantastic! I can't say enough! I am very impressed with your ability to pick up the stitches around the neckline! Perfection! It's always been a critical area, IMHO. (A pet peeve: bad or sloppy neckline pick-ups) Your work is wonderful.

[Olha]

... your ability to pick up the stitches around the neckline! Perfection! It's always been a critical area, IMHO. (A pet peeve: bad or sloppy neckline pick-ups)

I am all blushing and smiling Thank you for your comments on my threads.

As per stitches around the neck, there are a few things that were discovered experimentally Say, I always do the 'slip first and purl last' edge stitch on all edges even for the neck line. However, sometimes it's better to knit the last to make this long stitch, not the twisted one. So the whole edge looks like a chain, like an edge stitch. Sorry, if it's confusing, I think I should make a video at some point

So usually, when picking up stitches I go under this edge stitch, leaving both loops on the wrong side. And I pick as many stitches as there are loops, that's it.

But just a few days ago I discovered a secret, sort of "reverse engineered" it from the sweater someone made for me as I was frogging it to make, ahem, a lilac sweater. It also had the same round "roll type" collar made with stockinette stitch (please, insert the proper name for it in the comments)

So, the stitches were picked up through the edge stitch, leaving one loop on the right side and one on the wrong side. So loop on the right side serves as 'padding' and leaves no holes, and the one on the wrong side looks like a line and doesn't stick out.

[Lighting57]

Wonderful work. With skill like this who needs to follow a pattern?

[MerigoldinWA]

I love your neck treatment on the first sweater, but my favorite is the ragg looking one with the button placket at the shoulder. Very rugged and masculine looking for a little outdoor boy. Simple but I love it.

Good work on all of them.

[TreshaRuthe]

I've seen a few other items by you and your work is amazing, always, but I think you've outdone yourself on these sweaters. They are wonderful pieces and I'm sure your son will love them.

As for being someone to work without patterns, when it comes to crochet I definitely do that for most things as I have a hard time following a pattern too. (I often get lost in it, forget where I left off when I put it down, etc.) But as of yet, I don't know enough about knitting to be able to do that as much. Right now I'm working without a pattern on a kitchen hand towel that will button onto my apron. So, yes, there is someone else around here that likes to just see what comes off the hook... er.. needles.

[Olha]

Very rugged and masculine looking for a little outdoor boy.

Isn't it funny when you make a 'grown up' outfit for a little one? I am a bit fed up with Doras and Diegos and Cars... but I also dislike 'sexy' outfits for little girls. Tacky! So this is my middle ground