Phil'Onde Baby Sweater: February 2008 Archives

I've managed to finish the body of the Phil'Onde baby top.  It still falls into the category of "strange looking garment", but at least it's getting closer to the finish line.  This top will have a lot of volume in the back, given where the armholes are placed.  I think it's still going to be pretty large on Z when it's finished, but the farther I get, the more I think it's going to be pretty cute. I just wish I had a few more pictures of the completed garment so that I could be sure that I understood all of the finishing instructions.

True to normal form with Phildar patterns, all the collars and cuffs are knit separately and sewn on.  So that will be the next step in this project, and then I'm going to have to find some pretty buttons.  I'm just dying to get this project finished, because I have a truly spectacular project coming up to work on next, and I also want to work on making Z some hand knit toys.  It seems like we have a lot of those plastic made in China toy store toys coming home to roost at our house, and I would really love for there to be some soft toys that were made with love in Z's own home.

Happy Valentine's Day!

John and Z and I will probably be celebrating by ordering pizza from a local organic pizza place and watching Mythbusters.  Not as romantic as some of our Valentine's Days past, but just as special because this year I have a new tiny Valentine in my life.

I love the rhythm of knitting a sweater in the round (makes you wonder why I haven't done more of them, eh?), but I find photographing them to be challenging when they are still on the needles.  My next little sweater project for Z is just flying -- I'm already past the point where the sweater is divided to make the sleeves. 

True to my experience with most Phildar patterns, this one has a couple of clever construction components that I hadn't really encountered before.  This is the first time I have put a pocket that opens on both sides on a garment, and the sleeve construction, so far, is unique (I'll try to explain it better once I've finished it -- right now I'm still watching it come together and I haven't decided whether I think it's incredibly clever or just convoluted). 

For anyone interested in the pattern, it's numbered 405-287 and I think it was in one of the Phildar children's magazines that came out about the same time that the yarn did.  I purchased the pattern as the English only leaflet, and now I wish I had the book as well.  The English instructions are handy, but they lack the diagrams found with the French instructions and without the diagrams, some of the instructions aren't as clear as they might be (Phildar patterns are one of the things that really make me wish I'd stuck it out longer with my French language classes, in general, their patterns are quite elegant and easy to figure out when you can work from the French instructions). 

So far, this garment seems rather large, even for a 12 month old baby (yes, I am still getting gauge, I have checked several times), but since the top construction which will determine how the garment hangs is not finished, I will refrain from too much judgement.  And compared to knitting for adults, one of the things I am truly coming to appreciate about garments for small people is that exact sizing is not all that necessary.  And too big is always better than too small!