No sweat!

January tends to see the start of several knit-a-longs that last all year. I've always been put off by these thinking it was a huge commitment or a bit boring to be knitting the same type of item over and over again but when the fabulous Stefaneener came up with a grand plan I couldn't sign myself up quick enough. She has masterminded a Sweater-a-Month KAL.

Uh-huh, I have pledged to knit a sweater a month, every month, through 2007. Am I crazy? You mean you haven't figured that out yet? Of course I'm crazy, just for even thinking it, let alone trying it, but it's do-able right? I'm quite seduced by the prospect of 12 sweaters for myself and have been plotting and planning the year ahead. There's still plenty of time to sign up with the rest of the crazies if you think you're daft enough if you fancy it.

After signing my year away I had to choose a sweater. Unfortunately my big January project can't count because I can't show it off for months. I am knitting like a loon on my Sensual Knits submission for it's fast approaching deadline and so I needed something smaller to make that I could let you see. Fortunately I had a baby sweater planned for Sol's first birthday.

I chose the reindeer jacket from 'Simple Knits for Little Cherubs' by Erika Knight. I've been dying to make this for ages and even though the smallest size was for a 2-3 year old I went ahead anyway. Babies grow and Sol is quite a sturdy little lad.

I made a few changes to the pattern, some for ease of knitting, others to keep my sanity. To start with I used 2x2 rib instead of 1x1. I feel it looks better and a bit more modern. I changed the snowflakes from the bottom as the ones given in the pattern looked a bit floral for a little boy and the trees in the background of the reindeer simply had to go. I didn't like the trees at the top and seriously contemplated changing them, but by that point I was a little fed up with it all and went for the easy option of following the pattern.

I was supposed to be stranding the yarn all the way across the piece but instead I chose to work the reindeer and trees as intarsia. I also knitted the whole piece in one to the armholes which meant lengthening the body slightly so the sleeves sat in the top blue part only rather than cutting down into the white, by doing this it was a bit less fiddly to deal with. I completely ignored the collar pattern and picked up sts around the neck and worked in 2x2 rib for a few inches. I also missed out the snowflakes that were supposed to go around the lower sleeve. I tend to knit the sleeves plain on fussy or very patterned sweaters as I think it can look a bit much to have it patterned all over. I'm pleased with how it came out although the zip was sewn in by hand on the train and isn't my neatest effort. The yarn wasn't anything thrilling, just bog standard aran weight acrylic in navy and white, those little cherubs aren't always so angelic when it comes to staying clean.