Two November Sweaters

Two November Sweaters

The first November breeze makes us reach for a cardigan with alacrity. The Lady-of-the-House took a fancy to designing a little girl’s cardigan that gave the feel of a forest in November. The natural brown wool resembles the bark of trees – and the fallen leaves that have dried and crunch like brown toast under a garden boot.   

   

Acorn buttons also speak November, don’t you think? The yoke is knit in a luxurious Noro yarn. Garter stitch sets off its colors from the body as does a round of soft-white above and below.

The yoke style of sweater has the attractive feature of being seamless. If self- stripping yarn is used it forms its own interesting design. And the decreases are hidden among the varying colors.

Any plain pattern invites possibilities for designing. Knitting creative touches into a sweater for little ones already arrived, and those yet to be born is, for the Lady-of-the-House, a doubly comforting experience – a mingling of dreams and relaxation.

"People have to know what relaxes them, and not feel guilty about using a piece of time when it is necessary for them, or when they do not use it exactly as somebody else would."

Edith Schaeffer

The yoke sweater was made some years ago. This November the Lady-of-the-House finished a sweater for Baby Joseph. She used left-over Brown Sheep from the yoke sweater adding a Lumber Jack check at the bottom. The colors would go nicely with his dark hair she thought. 

She altered the pattern to make less seaming for herself. The cardigan’s front panels join the back on a circular needle. They form one wide piece. She knit up to the armholes finishing each panel separately to the shoulder. The only seams are at the shoulder.

Here’s a tip. A crochet hook picks up stitches easily and neatly. Chained onto the hook this readies them to be slid off the back of the hook onto needles where they are knitted in a nice workable tension. 

She picked up the sleeves this way (no seams here) and then knitted in a round - top down.

On Sunday afternoon, after sewing on the wooden buttons, she held it up to show the Man-of-House with a delightful feeling of accomplishment.

“Very nice,” he said.

“Let me see your buttons,” she said.

“What for?” he asked, puzzled.

“I just remembered something.” She stepped closer to see which way his shirt was buttoned. Then she examined the sweater in her hands.  “Oh, no, I put Baby Joseph’s buttonholes on the girl’s side!” She was crestfallen. The thought of unraveling the ribbing to start again was discouraging. 

The Man-of-the-House instantly consoled her with his familiar stand-by phrase, “No one ‘ll notice.”

"I suppose so,” she said weakly. Exploring the subject further she reasoned that with the amount of sartorial slackness going on these days the button placement could very well go unnoticed by the average onlooker.

“And it’s not like he’ll be buttoning it himself,” he added.

This last statement made the strongest appeal. The Lady-of-the-House was won over. The November sweater is tucked away (as is) in the Christmas closet awaiting wrapping. Please do not breathe a word of our secret to Baby Joseph – about the buttonholes, I mean. 

Until next time,
Karen Andreola