covering up

The other day, after a chilly first swimming lesson, Daniel sat shivering in his towel, eating his post-lesson snack, while Anya was warm and comfortable in a cover up. "Why can't I have a cover up?" he wanted to know. Why not indeed? I thought and promised him I'd have a look online for one when we got home.

Well, I looked. And looked. And came to the conclusion that manufacturers of children's swimwear and accessories apparently believe that only girls get cold in the water because they simply don't make cover ups for boys. A couple high-priced websites had cover ups for boy toddlers, but they stopped at size 4T, and Daniel is well past that size by now.

In all my ranting and raving about my issues with gender and children's clothing, this one truly baffles me. A cover up (in case you were wondering) is essentially a long sweatshirt made out of terrycloth meant to be worn at the pool or beach over a swimsuit to keep warm after spending time in the water. I just bought Anya's with her swimsuit when Lands End had a sale online, but you can get them for girls just about anywhere, and in a variety of styles. Some have hoods and some don't, some have long sleeves and some have short sleeves, some are pullovers and some zip up, but they are all made out of terrycloth, and are essentially like towels that stay on. So why not make these for boys? There is obviously a market out there, given that boys get in the water and need to warm up afterwards...it's not like you couldn't appliqué a football or the Incredible Hulk on there to make it more masculine for goodness' sake. 

So, anyway, I couldn't find a cover up to purchase, and he didn't want one made for a girl, so I said I would make him one. I told him over and over I couldn't promise success. I didn't know if I would find the appropriate fabric and pattern, but I said I would do my best.

Happily, the nearby Joanns does have terrycloth in stock (not super-soft quality, but it is 100% cotton and available in several colors). I wasn't sure I could find a pattern, given the absolute dearth of patterns for boys' clothes (I'm actually not going to complain about this since there probably aren't a whole lot of boys who want homemade clothes...), but there was one Burda pattern for a fleece hooded sweatshirt that I figured would work.

And it did. I tell you what, I'm sold on Burda patterns now. The instructions are minimal at best, but the pieces fit together and if you have some previous sewing knowledge you'll do okay.

Here's the result:

Daniel is pretty pleased, I think!

I had a few modifications to the original pattern. I used terrycloth instead of fleece, I lengthened the body by 2" (for more coverage, given its purpose), and I put patch pockets on the front instead of in the side seam as called for. The side pockets just seemed like a pain, and Daniel really wanted a heart on one and star on the other.

Pockets closer up:

The zipper is red because, well, Daniel likes red and besides, there wasn't a readily available separating zipper in bright teal. I'm pretty pleased with this project. I sewed the whole thing in about two hours yesterday morning and finished up with the pockets in about a half hour today. My skills sewing in a zipper aren't anything to write home about, but it's in there and it zips, so just don't look too close at it, okay?

The important thing is that Daniel loves his new cover up and it will keep him warm!

girdwood

I just finished up a set of hat and mittens for Daniel. Bless his heart, he gets really excited (still) when I make things for him, and he kept asking when they would be done. The other night as I was weaving in the last of the yarn ends on the mittens, I said to Stuart, "Look! These are done!" and he laughed and said "Just in time for summer, right?"

Daniel was more than happy to pose for pictures this morning. 

The pattern is Girdwood hat and mittens, by Mandy Powers and it is totally addictive. I think it took about three days to make the hat and less than a week for the mittens, even though there are two of them and I hate doing the thumbs.

It helps that there is a different pattern on the palm of the hand from the back, so it keeps you on your toes.

Here's the set, all matchy. My only regret is that I didn't think to do the little strip of red on the hat as well.

Anya wanted in the pictures, too, see? 

Also, I think she wants her own Girdwood set, too, because she likes to do things just like Daniel. She probably wants the exact same colors, too, but where's the fun in that??

Pattern: Girdwood hat and mittens by Mandy Powers (linked above), "big kid" size

Yarn: KP Wool of the Andes (dark blue heather, lake ice heather, and a bit of firecracker heather). I had to break into the second skein of the dark blue for the mitten thumbs, and I bet if I'd put the red on the hat I wouldn't have had to. I like KP WoTA for this kind of thing. I have a big bag in lots of colors for just this purpose, picking up small color work projects when the mood strikes.

Sticks: size 7 circulars (and DPNs) for the hat, size 4 DPNs for the mittens. I didn't swatch, but fortunately the gauge worked out just fine. Daniel's got a little room to grow into the mittens, but not the hat, so we'll see what actually fits him next winter. 

rare opportunity

Every once in a while, I do actually get a chance to sit and knit at a coffee shop and chat with friends while one or both of my kids plays contentedly. These are rare, but appreciated. I had one such opportunity last week:

I'm having lots of fun with small knits lately, and I'll have more to share soon.

blanket

It is 9:30 on the night of the recall election for Governor Scott Walker, and things are not looking good for  those of us who voted against him. I remember how awful it was in 2004 when we were hoping to unseat  George W. Bush, and this...well, this is even worse. Maybe things will turn around later, but I'm not particularly optimistic at this point.

I can't imagine what tonight is like for my neighbor, a teacher on medical leave for breast cancer. It must feel like the world is against her right now. She goes into surgery tomorrow, and I left this on her front porch:

It's a version of the blanket I made for my SIL when she was in treatment for Hodgkins Lymphoma three years ago.

This time I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick-n-Quick, which knits up to a slightly bigger gauge, and may have turned out to be a slightly bigger blanket.

Honestly, today has me so distraught I can't bring any more words together right now. This blanket feels inadequate in the face of grave illness and a toxic political climate.

Pattern: Mad Knitting Chunky Basketweave Blanket
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick-n-Quick, nearly 8 skeins. I liked the yarn more than I thought I would, but I'm not running out to buy more.
Needles/gauge: size 11 needles for a gauge of 2.5spi
Mods: I altered the stitch count somewhat to account for the different gauge, and I think this blanket came out a little bigger than the first one. I left it on ___'s front porch before I had a chance to measure it, though.

summer knitting

Ah, Wisconsin weather. Last weekend, we hit temps up in the 90s and thus much enjoyed the opening weekend at the pool and nearby splash pad, the spinach in my front yard garden bolted before I could enjoy more than one salad from it, and we resisted - barely - turning on the air conditioner. Then it got chilly and wet and I found myself wrapped in wool and drinking hot tea for a couple of days because I couldn't get warm.

Ironically, I finished the knitting on my neighbor's blanket while it was so hot. I still need to hide the ends and block it to take pictures. That's going to be tricky, since she lives next door and all, and she spends quite a lot of time out in her back yard tending to her garden (which is quite an amazing garden, I might add).

Today, though, the weather was perfect. We spent nearly all of today outside, biking to the salon so Stuart could get a hair cut (gone is his beautiful deep-auburn ponytail in favor of a close cut for summer), then to the farmers' market, where we missed the strawberries but got a handful of the last asparagus for the season, then all afternoon at a picnic. It's been, well, exhausting, to be honest, but in a good way.

Somehow, I got just a bit of knitting done:

This is the start of a hat for Daniel. The pattern is Girdwood, by Mandy Powers. I started the mittens for him over the winter but set them aside because my gauge was all wrong (mostly because I misread the sizing chart! *dope slap*). I love the design so much, I'm determined to get it right eventually. This time I started with the hat. Hats are so nice because you only have to knit one and there are no thumbs (for some reason, knitting thumbs on mittens annoys me to no end). In case anyone is curious, I'm using Knitpicks Wool of the Andes worsted (Solstice Heather and Lake Ice Heather) on size 7 needles, and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the gauge works out.

My knitting plans change from day to day, depending on my whims, but for now I think I'd like to spend the summer knitting things that are small, portable and badly needed in the colder months, things like hats, mittens and socks for my children, (and maybe a few for children in Afghanistan as well). Of course, I could change my mind about this by next week...but the nice thing about knitting is that it doesn't really matter what I'm knitting, as long as I am knitting!