DS2’s birthday is this week and my goal is to gift everyone in the house a luxurious wool sweater for their birthdays this year. I had a great pattern all picked out, but couldn’t find the requested rainbow yarn in the right weight. So, I mostly had to wing it, using measurements from a slightly-too-large t-shirt. The book Top-Down Crochet Sweaters (Ohrenstein) is a great learning resource for figuring this out. Not knowing how to tackle the hood, I referred to this pattern.
The yarn is a hand-dyed, fingering weight superwash Merino wool from Yarn Bee (Hobby Lobby) in Meteorite’s Delight. It’s a good yarn for the price (less than $11/100g if you can catch it on sale)…a bit thick’n’thin and the hanks are really hard to match even within the same dye lot. I needed 3.5 hanks for this sweater (roughly a size 7).
My tiny tyrant is totally in love with his cozy new sweater, and that makes my heart so happy! He did, however, ask why there’s so much grey and so little rainbow…I told him it was because if the whole thing was neon rainbow I wouldn’t be able to look at him, it would be too bright! Which is the truth - that neon yarn is really hard on the eyes.
What a fantastic sweater! I love that you’re trying to make a handmade sweater for everyone in your household this year. I’m sure he will see photos from when he’s wearing it and remember it fondly!
I think it was last year that they all got ‘practice’ sweaters in inexpensive yarn (had to hone my skills a bit). Now, I’m feeling confident enough to use slightly more expensive materials that don’t hold up so well if frogged. I’m hoping to make a sweater in handspun by the end of the year.
I am so glad to see this all done! It’s been fun to see the progress shots here and there. It really turned out cool and I kind of want one just like it, even more for the cobra head!
Tell him that grey skies are a big part of what make rainbows special!
Which is the truth - that neon yarn is really hard on the eyes.
YOWZA! Your fantastic craft is one of this week’s Featured Projects! Congratulations! 
