Knitty Banter: Cutest Kid's Sweater Ever

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Cutest Kid's Sweater Ever

Is this not the most adorable little sweater* you've ever seen?

It's CAITLIN from KnitWhits. I saw it today and I absolutely MUST knit this for my grand-nieces. One for each. Different colors.

*Photo borrowed from KnitWhits

Trouble is, which colors? I doubt I'll use the recommended yarn (Gems Sport Weight) because the yarn requirements (three colors, around 900-1200 yards) makes it a bit pricey for something that will be the recipient of barf, boogers and bodily fluids. So that may or may not limit my choices.

I do like Encore, and they make a DK weight, but I'm looking for more color selection than they currently offer. I'm not ready to cast on just yet, so there is time to research my options. Since the sweaters are intended for toddlers, perhaps this occasion calls for the wonders of Ack. That's right. Ack-crylic. Because SimplySoft comes in a lot of nice colors and it's washable.

Because I'm crazy like that, and I have PhotoShop and know how to use it (ha ha), I played with the color options and came up with this:

Row 1, L to R
1-1 original scheme, rose/pink/teal
1-2 original reversed (the rose should match the darker pink in the original)
1-3 rose/pink/green #1
1-4 rose/pink/green #2 (reversed)
Row 2
2-1 baby blues/pink
2-2 baby blues/rose
2-3 lilac/green #1
2-4 lilac/green #2 (reversed)
Row 3 The Xmas Combos!
3-1 red/green/canary
3-2 green/canary/red
3-3 red/greens
3-4 white/red/green
Row 4
4-1 baby blues/pale yellow
4-2 teals/cream
4-3 teals/violet
Row 5
5-1 violet/lilac/red
5-2 teal/gold/red

Keep in mind niece LU is of Chinese descent whereas niece KU is fair, blonde, and blue-eyed. I haven't decided whether I'm going for Xmas sweaters or sweaters in general. If I go Xmas, I'm leaning towards Xmas 3-3 for LU and 3-4 for KU. Otherwise... I'm kind of loving the lilac/green combos 2-3 and 2-4 and reversing them might mean more economical usage of yarn and the whole alike but different theory; OR... for KU (the blonde), either 4-1 or 4-2 but with cream instead of pale yellow (maybe? or is the pale yellow OK? keep it from being too boyish?) and for LU 4-3.

LU looks good in strong colors like red, yellow, purple and black. Somehow I can see 4-3 looking really good on her.

****brief pause****
And... I had another inspiration, checked the color cards again, found that Gems comes in Cherry Red and Shamrock (which might look better than Bright Red and Fern Green) and did these:

For LU:

For KU (blonde):

Then again, they might be too close in color for a harried, hurried Mom to be able to tell the difference when getting the kids dressed in the morning. Maybe I'd (she'd) be better off if I made them drastically different. In which case, I think it'll be...

For LU:

For KU:

Don't you just love it when I think out loud? ;-)

The Truth Emerges
Come to think of it... maybe what this is really all about is that I just really want to make it for myself. Except it doesn't come in big people sizes. *pout*

Anyway, CUTE SWEATER. Love the color change cables and the vest effect. Really, really cute. (I'd make mine longer, though, like suit length so it would be less boxy on me. And I think I'd go with some sort of wine/tan combo, or maybe the lilac/green...)

Maybe like this? (Cloning feature, how I love thee...)