Monday, June 18, 2007

Presto Chango

Believe it or not this was the first time I knitted a sweater. I chose this pattern for several reasons but the main three are these:

  1. My friend Val designed the pattern
  2. It didn't look too hard
  3. I love the story behind the sweater.
When I found out that my friend was having a baby I knew I wanted to make a cute baby sweater but I just wasn't sure which one. I had never made a sweater before but come on...I can turn a heel on a sock how hard can a baby sweater be?

Well, when I finally settled on Presto Chango I went to my LYS and picked out a yarn that I liked.

I chose the Trendsetter Yarn Scubidu! I loved how the yarn had so many complimentary colors that I could use as the front panel of the sweater and a speckled white yarn for the body of the sweater. It was the perfect choice!

I got home, printed the pattern and began to cast-on the stitches! It was no time when i had finished the back and was casting on more stitches for the sleeves! Crazy how time flies when you are working on something that you love! I had only worked on the sweater about 5 hours when I had the whole body finished! 5 HOURS! I don't know about any of you but that is fast for me!
Look how cute my stitch markers are! They are little sheep! I had to use them because I kept forgetting to do the 4 seed stitch for the collar.

I didn't start the first front panel until the next day which happened to be Saturday. My husband and I were going to the John Mayer concert at Red Rocks so we had to get there really early to make sure we got good seats (we were in general admission...which at Red Rocks is really good). What else was I supposed to do with my time? Yep, I knit! Right there in the car amidst people all around me drinking, smoking (legal and illegal things) there I was with my sticks in hand...knitting a baby sweater :-)

I underestimated my knitting skills because I only brought enough yarn to make one of the three panels I wanted to make. Wouldn't you know it that even before the opening band took the stage I was done with the panel and had NOTHING ELSE to work on!

#1 rule in public knitting: always have enough to last the whole time!!!

So, there I sat for the next four hours with NOTHING TO WORK ON! Oh well, at least I had good company!

Well, I the next day I worked on the next two panels I wanted to make and made a quick tip to the JoAnns up the road to pick out the right buttons. I was really happy that I had taken the sweater and the panels with me to match up the buttons because what I thought were going to be the right size turned out to be too small! Crisis averted!

I settled on the purlesent purple ones since purple is my favorite color and I thought they looked the best with the other panel colors. When I got home I got the buttons on the sweater and voila! Je suis fini!




21 comments:

Anonymous said...

So cute!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow--5 hours? I'm impressed. Your knitting needles must have been smoking! :)

Melody said...

u are fast! show off!!! it's very sweet...uh how was the concert? i LOVE Red Rocks.. LOVE LOVE LOVE

Throws Like A Girl said...

Sweater looks great! :) and I'm so jealous you went to that concert. But you deserved it since you had to listen to my kid wail for 2 hours. Thanks again for babysitting! You were a life saver!

amanda said...

Marly, it is so cute. Glad you made your first sweater, hopefully you loved it and will make more!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely Adorable, Marly.

I've been drooling over the Scubi Doo yarn and now you have made up my mind for me. How convenient that a friend of mine just told me that she is pregnant!!

Unknown said...

I am very impressed with your sweater. I saw it in line at Red Rocks and I'm blown away with what you accomplished since then.

It was a pleasure talking to you and John while waiting in line.

Hope you enjoyed the concert as much as Rachel and I did! What a great show.

Valerie said...

So CUTE!!!! Weren't you wailing about not being a very fast knitter a few months ago? You have to take it back now! I shall call you Speedy Bird from now on.

knitting2relax said...

Looking good!
5 hours with no knitting. Gack! Sounds like when I'm at work wishing I was able to knit. Oh well, I'm sure you had a better time than me working. LOL

Anonymous said...

The sweater looks great! I love the colors!

Anonymous said...

okay - so my baby is due in October - just kidding - that is a beautiful sweather - Do you think that i could do it? And what sizes did they have -

Jean said...

Great job! I agree about this pattern being fast because it's so much fun. Yours is lovely. Great color choices. How was the concert?

sara said...

In my best Chandler's ex Janice voice

*o. my. gawd*

I love the sweater and the chango panels!

Unknown said...

I came over from your comments on the Harlot. I download podcasts to spin and knit by. I'm adding you to my list!

Alison said...

Great job! Baby sweaters are so fun to knit- small pieces are easy to accomplish in a day!
Happy knitting-
ali

Pixie said...

Oh my gods -- how CUTE is THAT?!?!

Terrie D. (StarSpry) said...

Awesome job! The sweater is adorable :)

Purple Princess said...

Marly the sweater turned out great. How fun. Hope to see you Saturday.

kaoticorchid said...

That's sooooooo cute! I've also been knitting for a (albeit unexpected) baby in our family. (I'm an aunt!) Baby knitting is fun!

Knitted Gems said...

What a wonderful design! I just love the button-on lace panels.

Anonymous said...

That quick-change sweater is to die for!

Hey, I need to send you an email but I no longer have your addy, nor can I find it here. I have a huge favor to ask of you (it's regarding Annie Modesitt), can you please email me?

MysticsLady9(at)yahoo(dot)com