Decisions, Decisions...

After much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands, I have decided what sweaters to knit for the boys this season. (For those not in-the-know, I knit them new sweaters each winter.)  Last year the sweaters were cabled, so this year I thought that I would change it up and go with stripes. The pattern I decided on is the (aptly named) Boys Striped Sweater. And it happens to be free...score!

Boy's Striped Sweater photo courtesy of Prima Knitting Magazine.

Love the way it hangs, especially the straight bottom. I'm pretty excited to cast-on and can't wait until my yarn arrives from WEBS. And...speaking of the yarn...

Admittedly, my indecision on this yarn selection has been annoying to everyone around me. I have been pouring over cotton DK weight yarn choices online...looking for the perfect color/texture for the stripes. I know, I should be shopping at my local yarn shop (and I'd rather), but they aren't open after I get kids to bed. And lately, that's all the time I have.


The problem I have with shopping online is that the options are just so overwhelming. Color-wise, do I go with heathered, saturated or subtle tones? And when you can't see and feel the actual fibers, it's hard appreciate the qualities of each brand. I have been shopping online for this yarn for weeks. But I threw the gauntlet down (with myself) yesterday, I'd had enough. I needed to narrow the playing field so I could focus. Tick-tock. The leaves are turning already.


I decided to go with something I knew. Milk yarn. I love that stuff. I've made a couple things in the past out of Rowan's Milk Yarn. It knits up beautifully and time has told that it wears like iron. Sadly, when searching online, I discovered that my beloved Rowan was phasing out this line. They still seem to have it in "fine", but the DK is discontinued. Sniff.

Abel jumper knit in Rowan's Milk DK.

Farmer Fox was also knitted (and washed many times since) in Rowan Milk DK.

Luckily, a company called Viking of Norway is carrying what seems to be the same exact milk yarn fiber in a delicious array of colors. I stumbled upon them when searching on WEBS and promptly ordered 2 skeins each of green, blue, and brown to add to a couple of beige skeins I already have in my stash. It was on sale for $5.29/skein so I was pretty stoked that these sweaters weren't going to end up costing me a fortune. It looks just like the Rowan I am used to, hopefully I will fall in love when the package comes in the mail. I'm sure I will. I'm notoriously "easy" when it comes to soft, colorful skeins.

Viking of Norway's Milk and Honey collection...yummy!

Let's hope by the weekend I will be casting on for a green-beige striped sweater with brown trim and a blue-beige sweater with brown trim. My plate is very full these days dear friends...there will be so much to share here the next few months. :)

–Cassandra

Speaking of owls...

Oddly enough, I have another owl project to share with you today. I actually finished the Owls sweater (by Kate Davies) for my teenager about a month ago. The short review: I love it!

Cammy loves her owl sweater!

This pattern had been in my Ravelry queue for quite a while. I hemmed and hawed about making myself a pullover because it is just not practical for someone who works in an office. There are two temps at my place of work: freezing or boiling so cardigans are generally my sweater of choice. I was bummed because these owls are so damn cute! And then my teenage daughter saw the pattern, and fell (like a ton of bricks) in love.

I ordered the yarn spec'd in the pattern, Rowan Purelife Sheep Breeds Chunky, in Steel Grey Suffolk from Webs, one of my favorite online yarn resources.

I got the package of yarn in the mail and tore into it - ready to get started on this fun pattern. Immediately, I loved the color...then I noticed...the smell. Yeah, when they say natural, undyed yarn, they ain't playin'. This stuff smelled like a barn. I was sort of horrified that I spent so much money on yarn that stank up the house and, while I figured I could handle working with the stuff, I couldn't imagine my daughter being willing to smell like a farm animal. I'm pretty sure her boyfriend wouldn't appreciate it either.  So, I called the good folks at Webs at told them my dilemma. They hooked me up with a fiber expert who explained that this particular yarn could be a bit "sheepy"(yeah...they aren't kidding) and that I had two options: I could exchange the yarn for something else, or, I could keep it and wash my finished garment in Dawn dishwashing liquid. I decided to take my chances with option two and I'm glad that I did.

This yarn knits up like a dream. It feels great in your hands and, after blocking, relaxes into shape beautifully. Best of all, the Dawn dish washing liquid did the trick - it took away about 85% of the smell. For what it's worth, I prefer to use a more environmentally friendly soap for my dishes but, in this case, I needed the degreasing power of Dawn to break down the lanolin so I relented and bought a small bottle just for this purpose. If anyone has any suggestions of a more "natural" soap that would have the same effectiveness as Dawn for this use, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Regardless, once the smell was minimized, I can honestly say that I would use this yarn again in a heartbeat.

I love these clever owls!

The Owls pattern itself is so much fun. First of all, who doesn't love chunky yarn and size 10.5 needles? I made good progress every time I sat down to knit. This sweater was done a lot quicker than any other I have knitted. The pattern itself was clear and easy to read, there is no wonder it is so popular on Ravelry (4226 projects listed!) If I make this pattern again, I might go down a size. The sweater is supposed to be form-fitting and it ended up a little roomier than expected on my daughter. But, she loves it and I loved knitting it.

So, you might be asking yourself, what took me so long to write about this? Well, blame it on the weather (we blame a lot on the weather in Wisconsin!) It's not easy to get a teenage girl to model a chunky wool sweater outdoors when it's 95 degrees. But today it is only 85 which means...picture time!

I made my child model this sweater in 85 degree weather.

Overall, for me, this project was a love-fest between the yarn and pattern. I definitely recommend it to all my knitting friends out there. If you are looking for a warm, cute pullover...give this one a shot.

Have a great weekend!

–Cassandra